How Not to Disappear Completely

A housebound, OCD-ridden man is forced back into the world when his catastrophically injured cat needs a vet—on the same day his ex-mother-in-law starts leaving increasingly unhinged messages about “someone he left behind.” Determined to make it home by seven and avoid whatever’s coming, he muddles through a series of small, chaotic encounters that test his fragile grip on reality. But when he finally makes it back—late, battered, and overwhelmed—he finds a guarded sixteen-year-old girl on his doorstep: the daughter he’s never met. Their reunion is awkward, funny, and quietly seismic—two people who should mean everything to each other, and currently mean nothing at all.