Unwound — Yolanda Olson

Unwound is the story of Caelum, created as 3257. Unlike humanity, Caelum describes his birth as something that began with an idea and a stitch; the brainchild of a deranged genius. He is torn for his love between his mother London and his want for freedom. Partially constructed as another one of London's cruelties, he's meant to only feel pain and fear. He must decide if escaping from London and her delirium was worth venturing out into the world he knew nothing about other than the small glimpse of life he once saw. As the time passes he has thoughts of going back and possibly destroying her but his time is running out as he notices that he's beginning to slow down and wither away. Caelum then decides that the only way to keep himself alive, if he can call it that, he must return and confront London to get his hands on the one of her many journals to understand how to survive outside of the walls of her mansion of horror and torture. On the way he meets a young boy who gives him his first genuine gift, an inhuman misfit who gives him his name, a mysterious woman named Morrison whose intentions are never clear to him and more of London's creations which confirms what he believed all along. That he was never the only one. In the world outside he learns more emotions: revenge, guilt, hope, satisfaction, pity, happiness, pride, and the most powerful; anger. Caelum must make his way back to London as his time is ticking slowly away.