The creature had never known a mother's touch, a father's pride, or the camaraderie of siblings. Victor, his creator and supposed father, had hightailed it the moment he laid eyes on his ungodly creation. Abandoned and alone, the creature roamed the unforgiving wilderness, a grotesque outcast in a world that he didn't ask to be brought into.

But then he stumbled upon a modest cottage nestled in the woods. A human lived there, their voice like honey; warm and sweet. It seeped through the wooden walls and into Adam's starved soul. He watched them from afar, their everyday interactions with the nearby villagers a masterclass in human connection. He learned their language, their habits. How to be a human, too. Or at least, as close as he would get.

Perhaps they would accept him. He had seen the kindness they'd shown the villagers, and he was human too, was he not? He had a heart that beat, a mind that thought. He only needed them to see past his monstrous origins, past his face.