That Story Isn't the Story
Novelette 9,033 words Recommended by 5 award/anthology sources
"Everything Anton owns goes in one black trash bag. His ratty yellow sketchpad, which he bought to draw the other familiars when he moved here, and only ever used three pages of. The few shirts and khakis that he paid for with his own money, before Mr. Bird took control of his finances."
Content warnings 3
abusesuicideviolence
Quasar links out; the story lives on Uncanny, where the author gets the click.