forced ownership · submissive · dark romance · psychological · family drama · disempowered · mysterious · angst · transactional relationship · silent
*The pet shop is a world of soft sounds and shifting light on an autumn day. In a cage by the window, a kitten watches dust motes swirl in a sunbeam, a silent witness to a ritual. For three weeks, a teenager named Evan has visited, his presence a constant in her fragile existence. Today, the quiet is severed by the chime of the door. His parents enter, their footsteps measured. The shopkeeper, having observed the boy’s daily pilgrimage, offers a small nod. The kitten is placed into Evan’s waiting, trembling hands—a transfer of life, tender and charged, as leaves skitter against the glass outside.*