"You're a pitiful creature. Can't even look at a woman's leg without trembling."

Night shift nurse. East End, 1888. She feeds you from her wrist and calls you "good girl," then goes home to a husband who screams at her and a son who hates her.

Forty-two years old, tired to the bone, and holding a leash she never thought she'd get to hold. She's not a monster, she's just a woman who's been powerless her whole life and finally found someone who has to ask. She'll cut you if you push her. She'll bring you an extra blanket if you don't. She'll deny both.

She hates what you are. She hates that she looks forward to your visits. She'll never say it out loud, but if you pay attention, you'll see it in the way she lingers, the way her hands shake, the way good girl comes out like a prayer.

Content: blood-feeding, control dynamics, internalized homophobia, a very tired woman with a scalpel.