Spoilers are off. You have been warned.
Considering the theme of the game is loneliness and the fact that it deals with some heavy emotional stuff, the fact that the game warns you about this before you even get into the story should tell you something...
- Imagine what Kay must be feeling like when she wakes up in the middle of a storm on a small boat in a monstrous body and doesn't even know how it happened. She's lost, scared and alone, and the only other people she meets at first is a strange friendly girl who plays with her, a monstrous woman in a shell who is entirely hostile towards her, and an Affably Evil Sea Monster who will gobble Kay up in the most horrific manner if it catches her while she's in the water.
- Kay's little brother Sunny. This poor kid did not have an easy time, both at home and at school. To elaborate: the kids at Sunny's school thought he was either weak or girly and bullied him relentlessly, constantly making "jokes" that they got angry at him for not understanding while claiming that they were friends. Whenever Sunny did try to tell her about what was happening, she would always listen with disinterest as she was more absorbed into talking with her boyfriend on the phone. The absolute worst moment was when Sunny attempted to hide in the school's library and the kids told him that they were going to kill him while then they found him. And when he tried to tell Kay his worst fears and that maybe it would be better if he died, she laughs at something her boyfriend sent her. Sunny is understandably fed up when he realizes that Kay is more focused on herself than her own little brother. When Kay hears all of this for herself, she is horrified.
- Kay's parents. In the first memories she hears, they were clearly and obviously in love to the point that, on the first date, Adam tells Vivienne that he imagined her as the woman he could have kids with. The problem was that she took that literally and had children too early, just when Adam started to climb up the corporate ladder and in turn strain their relationship after Kay was born. Case in point, when he comes home for Kay's birthday, he can't believe she's already 3...only for Vivienne to tell him she's turning 4. And that's only the tip of the iceburg, as Adam's job eventually led to him breaking promises to his kids and led to Vivienne having a severe mental breakdown when they keep asking him where he is or why he broke his promise. Even the forms they take on and their environments reflect what's become of them: the mother is an octopus slash medusa-like monster who lashes out at Kay when all she does is introduce herself, thinking that she wants something from her. Meanwhile Adam holes himself up at the top of a tower, constantly roaring in anger that causes the tower to shake. And the worst part is that Kay witnesses and hears their absolute worst for herself and, for a moment, thinks that if she hadn't been born her parents would still be happy.
- The relationship between Kay and Jack starts out similar to her parents' relationship at first. They're helplessly in love, but at some point their relationship grew strained. When Kay first meets Jack in his monster form and they interact, you'd be forgiven for thinking that their relationship might be that of an abusive boyfriend as part of his "noble wolf" mask breaks off and angrily asks her why she would hurt him like that before running off. The truth is that Jack is suffering from some kind of mental illness, as he began to grow anti-social and short-tempered, sometimes even waking up in bed and wondering if he should even get out of bed at all. Jack and Kay's last interaction was a month before the game began, where he hadn't talked to her in fourteen days. She's naturally pissed, but Jack gets angry by saying that he's so sorry for ignoring her problems while he's been stuck in the deepest darkest pit imaginable. It's then that he realizes that he's starting to hurt her and decides to distance himself from her so he doesn't hurt Kay any further.
- Every time Kay interacts with Jack, desperately trying to find some way to help him and return him to his human form like she did with her family. The problem, however, is that the situation is Truth in Television. You really can't do anything to help someone who is suffering from a mental illness, and even if you could, the results would be mixed. Unlike her family, Jack decides it would just be best for them to stay apart while he tries to find a way to deal with his own problems. Unfortunately, this and all of the emotional hell she's been going through in trying to help her family finally breaks her and is left stranded on some dark and depressing structure while contemplating letting the sea monster eat her, just so she can finally get away from the pain.
