The parrot’s green eye never changed. The lion never hid. Even the zebra owned its stripes. Why was he cursed to keep shifting, never just being?

Then the shadow came — silent, hungry.

Others scattered, exposed.

He stayed still.
Invisible.
Safe.

Maybe he was never changing. Maybe he was always himself.

Kezang Choden is a writer who finds stories in the quiet, overlooked moments of life.