Dad, What’s the Price of a Hug?

The Story

A ten-year-old girl faces a household where basic human needs carry a heavy financial tag. Stella lives under the Ashford family’s bizarre and cruel rule that every small daily convenience demands payment. She pays fifty cents for a glass of juice and a full dollar just to take a shower. This strange domestic law has defined her entire life, turning simple moments into transactions and trapping her in a system of constant cost.