#thelatchling

It clings to you like a second spine, weightless but never absent. You will never feel its hands, only the relief that follows. You will never see its eyes, only their impression left in the dark. It feeds, and in doing so, it keeps you whole. But what happens when it starves?

🛑 What Is the Latchling?

At first, you may not even notice it.

You’ll simply feel lighter, as if a great weight has been pulled from your chest, your mind, your heart. The grief that once consumed you dims like a candle in the wind. The ache of old regrets softens. Your burdens become memories rather than weights pressing on your ribs.

But then… the questions start.

✔ Why do I feel okay when I shouldn’t? ✔ Why can’t I seem to cry anymore? ✔ Why does my shadow look... wrong?

And then, one day, in the reflection of a darkened window, you will see it. A shape behind your shoulder, small but undeniable. Hands, too many to count, gripping, adjusting, clinging. It peeks from behind you, but its face—if it has one—is always just out of sight.

🚨 This is your first and only warning. The Latchling is not a gift. It is a debt.

🔍 How Does It Feed?

📌 The Latchling thrives on sorrow. It is not evil, nor malicious—it simply exists to consume what you no longer wish to carry.

When you cry, it grows warm. When you grieve, its grip loosens. When your suffering is great, it purrs—a vibration you do not hear, but feel in your bones.

And for a time, this seems like a blessing.

📌 But here’s the problem: Emotions are finite.

If you run out of pain to offer, it will not simply disappear. It is hungry. It is waiting. It cannot starve.

And if you are not grieving, it will give you something to grieve.

🚨 What Happens When the Latchling Starves?

If the Latchling goes too long without feeding, reality bends in its favor. It does not whisper. It does not scream. It simply makes things happen.

📌 First, it starts small.

A lost object. A keepsake gone without explanation.

A minor injury. Nothing fatal—just a reason for you to wince.

A distant sadness. A creeping sense of loss for something you cannot name.

📌 Then, it escalates.

Missed calls from numbers that no longer exist.

A photo on your phone that you do not remember taking.

A person you once loved no longer recognizing you.

A car swerving too close, just once, just enough to make your heart race.

📌 And finally, the worst stage.

A death you did not expect.

A reality where someone was never born.

A life that unravels before you, one thread at a time.

The Latchling is not punishing you. It is keeping itself alive.

If you cannot suffer naturally, it will find something for you to suffer for.

🛡 How to Care for Your Latchling

There is no getting rid of it. There is no exorcism, no fire, no knife that will sever its hold.

📌 But you can manage it.

✔ Give it small griefs. Let it drink from your sadness in controlled doses. Revisit old wounds in quiet moments. Remember the dead. ✔ Feed it sorrow before it feeds itself. Do not let it starve. A single tear is better than a loss beyond repair. ✔ Avoid emotional stagnation. If you are too numb, too indifferent, too at peace, it will take drastic measures to shake you.

📌 If you wish to be free…

There is only one way.

You must grieve everything. Every love, every memory, every ache. You must give it everything you are, until you are hollow, until nothing is left to take.

And when you finally have no sadness left, when you have bled every sorrow dry,

The Latchling will leave.

You will wake up lighter than ever before. Lighter than should be possible.

And that is when you will realize... it took more than just your grief.

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