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Attachment with Nothing There.

You stared at the awful words written on your schedule with a look in your eyes that could only be described as pure unadulterated dread. What kind of attachment work can you even do with that thing? Brush it? Have a tea party? Well it usually works with Laetitia……

For some reason the thought crosses your mind that a little girl and the gore monster might have different preferences. Just a hunch.

“Well….. Might as well get this done and over with….. I think we still got that storybook lying around?”

You stuff the paper schedule in your back pocket and begin to walk down to the containment cell that housed the bane of your existence. It’s nothing too unusual when you get there, but for some reason Nothing There seemed to be in its more ‘human’ (You use that term loosely) form.

You barely manage to hold back the urge to wretch at the sight, the intestines hanging out of its abdomen, its apparent lack of skin. It made genuine chills run down your spine….. “HELLO?” It practically yells at you, one could mistake it for a greeting, you could understand that, unfortunately you knew better than that. It was just mimicking what you knew. Because that's the only thing it can do.

“Hello you…. Right, attachment, I shouldn't insult you.” You relax your posture with some minor difficulty, every muscle in your body fighting the instinctive urge to tense up in fear. Still, you manage, like you always do, because you want to live.

“Alright…. sit down boy, i got a bedtime story for you.” You sit down cross legged on the cold, industrial floor of the containment unit, book in hand, it was a cartoony one with lots of pictures meant for small children, you and your fellow workers mostly used it for the abnormalities when needed. Nothing There, whether it could actually understand you or not, sat down across from you, seemingly attempting to cross its semi muscular legs like you did, but failing.

In the end it managed to sit down somewhat awkwardly, it was kind of endearing in a nauseating way. Kind of.

You spend the next half hour or so reading to the gore thing, trying your best to engage with it by showing it the pictures and asking what it thought of the story (though you didn’t expect a coherent answer). By the end of it Nothing There seems happy and you still have your skin, a job well done, you think. However, right as you were about to leave the containment unit and beeline it straight to your department’s main room, Nothing There puts a wet, cold ‘hand’ on your shoulder. It turns you around and stares at you with those big wet eyes that always manage to fill you with disgust.

“What do you want now you- ehm, Organism…?” You were trying desperately not to offend it at this point, you didn’t actually know if it had the mental capacity to be offended, but why take the risk? It could literally kill you.

“I LOVE YOU.”

Ok well you dont know who taught it those words. Much less why it would say them to you, did it even comprehend what love is? Could it even? It’s a silly thought to have about a skinstealing flesh mimic.

“I uh, love you too…?” You’re not sure why you said that, anything not to die though right? Maybe you could placate it if you just entertained its incoherent rambling for a bit?

Might as well try? right?

……

Right….?