“Don’t go too close,” their colleague hissed. “You don’t know what it will do.”
“It,” the protagonist’s teeth gritted, “is a child.” And not much of an it at all, certainly not some monster to be poked and locked away behind glass. The protagonist slipped around to the door, keeping their movements slow and easy to track as the child spotted them. They tried for a reassuring smile and held their hands up in the doorway. “Is it alright if I come in, [name]?”
“But I might hurt you,” the child said. The child’s knees drew up, hunching further into the wall. “I do that. I’m Dangerous.” They pronounced it like a freshly learned definition, learnt and parroted back, like Dangerous was their name now.
The protagonist’s chest ached but they just flashed another smile. “So am I. I’ll be fine kid, promise.”
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