Pushpin | Jacq Parairo | Literary Fiction

Description

Humans? No thanks. I roam the streets and belong to no on—and that’s how I like it. That’s how it should be.

But when I’m injured and too weak to run, a quiet, bruised, small human offers me food, shelter, and something worse— kindness. I don’t trust it.

I stay anyway.

Days blur into a fragile rhythm. Slowly, I heal. Slowly, I get to know the small one and his strange ways. Slowly, I understand his story.

I stalk beside him through city streets, sleep next to their stone home, learn the weight of silence between us. Their home is filled with broken plates and loud voices, and yet, the small human’s hands are soft despite the violence around him.

For the first time, I’m not just surviving—

I’m watching over someone.

I don’t understand the words he speaks, but it feels like belonging. It feels like home.

But when the small one’s world falls apart and I’m ripped from it, I realize I may have let down the only creature who ever needed me. If I ever make it back, I’ll have to face what I’ve always avoided: maybe we weren’t meant to be alone.