I stomp until the memories of this hard week beg for mercy beneath my feet. I sway until the clinging sadness gives up and falls away. I punch the air until my frustration is splattered across the ceiling like invisible neon paint.
It’s nothing. I mean, it’s perfectly normal to mess around and experiment with your avatars, right? Especially when you always end up having a dozen characters in each game you play. That’s just… everyone does that. It’s NORMAL.
The sign was dingy. Scribbled on cardboard, jammed onto some long-abandoned nail, reading “FREE HUGS!” with an arrow pointing to the big drainage pipe.
“Sophie, dear, what’s wrong?” Forest Mother asked, her beady eyes squinting as dozens of mandibles shifted and clicked into a shape resembling a reassuring smile.
It was one of those nights where Monty wasn’t sure whether he’d run away from home. It wasn’t like he’d decided to never go back, he just… he didn’t want to be in that house right now. For the third night running.