John and Bella pt. 4
It was 8 a.m. and John was laying in bed on his phone, scrolling through social media and just generally getting adjusted to being awake. After about 30 minutes, he put on some comfy pants and a hoodie, and made his way out his bedroom to make breakfast and check on Bella. It was his day off, and he had planned to spend it entirely with getting to know Bella. He was starting to realize that maybe he tore off a bit more than he could chew, but he still planned on keeping the poor thing. He was the closest thing to comfort this little train wreck had ever known, and he knew giving it back to the store would simply break it beyond any repair.
Before passing out last night, he did some research about pillowfluffs. Turns out, even the most well kept ones still suffer with bouts of depression, which worried John even more. He didnât have tons of time on his hands, and he could tell you right off the bat there were gonna be days where he just didnât feel like having much contact with anyone. He could give her a comfy bed, food and water and some tv, but constant attention? yeah whatever. Sheâll be fine, right?
Anyway, he made his way to the living room and saw Bella in her bed. He went to give her some pets, and saw her face absolutely caked in with tears.
âAwe sweetheart, everything okay?â
âbestest mistuh jawn nu wub fwuffy. bestest mistuh hate stoopid dummeh nu weggie bewwaâ
âNow where did you get that crazy idea?â
âbewwa sai wub mistuh jawn before beddie wast dawk time⌠bestest jawn nu sai nufin backâ
Ah. Fuck. John was afraid of this. See, from the moment Bella felt safe in her new home, she had been begging for John to be her new dad, but John just felt weird about that title. He didnât want a child, he wanted a pet. Whenever you bring a dog home, you donât have to explain itâs role to it. The dog just kinda goes âneat we live together and you feed me and sometimes throw me a stick and i love you foreverâ and thatâs kind of it. John tried explaining to Bella that while he isnât her daddy, he could still be her friend. He didnât expect THIS kind of persistence or complete heartbreak and regression simply because he didnât respond to a toy saying a pre programmed âwub yuâ.
âHey, weâll talk in a minute. Will a great big hug make ya feel any better?â he said, lifting her up.
âpweese neba wet go mistuh jawn. bestest nice mistuh eba. am sowwy am tu dummeh tu eba yu babbeh. wun bwight time, bewwa twy bewwy hawd tu be wowstest babbeh?â
John didnât know what she meant. Maybe like some sort of ranking system? Like right now she thinks sheâs not even good enough to be what fluffy herds would call their poopie babbeh? He didnât know, but he knew someone who could.
âJust huggies right now, okay? we still have lots of talking to do. Just know I picked you cause I like you and you wonât have any big, uh⌠âhurtiesâ here.â
He sat her down, and tears immediately began welling up in her eyes again. She was already missing the comfort of her only friends touch. The only nice thing sheâs ever came into contact with.
John filled her food and water, watched her eat and drink to make sure she didnât kill herself, turned on nick jr. and stepped into his bedroom to call his friend Kori.
Kori was eccentric, and i mean very eccentric. He didnât have hardly any hobbies besides fluffies and fluffy psychology. He had probably over 30 in his house. Some he bonded with and others were just experiments. He was a weird cat, but if anyone knew anything about the mind of a fluffy, it was this fucker.
âOooooooooh hellooooooooooooooooooooo my friend!!! how is you? how are you? can i help you?â
âyouâre a fuckin nut, manâ said john.
âBut yes, actually there is. See, i picked up this little⌠uh⌠okay you need to come over actually if thatâs cool. Can you swing by here in about an hour?â
âOh why of course darling!! anything for my johnny boy!â
Kori abruptly hung up the phone.
âThat dude is literally a fucking autistâ said John.
âBut god damn, i hope he can help.â
In the meantime, John sat in front of bella, and didnât say anything. He stroked her fur, scratched behind her ears, gave her some skettie treats. He was doing everything he could to make her feel safe. He even replaced her cloth swatches with new smells to keep things interesting for her.
Eventually, Kori came climbing through his window
âHi i donât like doors anymore did you want me to come over still?â
âDue the fu⌠Uh yeah just come over here.â
Kori laid his bright green eyes on the mess that was Bella laying on her pillowfluff beddie kit.
âOOOOOOOOOhhhhhHHHH and what is this?â
John led Kori to the next room and explained everything. the trauma, how he got her, all the incidents and emotional outbursts since he had brought her home. Kori got serious for a second, something John had never really seen before.
âMy best advice, friend? Kill her. Honestly. You could give her a perfect life, but iâm telling you. Pillowed? thatâs automatic depression. Alicorn rejected by her mom early on? Thatâs some life long attachment issues. Brown fur? Inferiority complex that will likely never leave. Severally abused from the beginning of her life, and then abandoned in a box to be put in the throw away at a pet store? Dude, happiness is not an option for her. Not complete, total happiness anyway. Sheâll have her moments, sure. But everything about this fluffy is working against her, and sheâll always have that underlying pain and trauma.â
âShit⌠so thereâs nothing i can do?
âThere are some, yeah, but none cheap. All very extensive and none will ever completely fix her. You could fix one issue, but all the others will still be there and some issues she has you simply canât fix.â
âoh⌠okay. sure.â
âI could take her, get it over with easy if youâd like?â
âNo, itâs fine. iâm an adult, i can handle it.â
âOkay,â Kori said, opening up Johns window.
âlet me know if you need anything.â he said as he fell out of it.
âI still hate doors!â he said, walking away.
âYeah.â John said closing the window.
He looked at bella, napping with a lavender scented cloth on her nose.
âI hate a lot of things.â Whispered John.