“Alright, thanks.” Daniel said, hanging up the phone. He sighed in relief. His landlord had just gotten back to him, and the new door would be in at... some point. The timeframe wasn’t clear, but he said it would be soon. In the meantime, he agreed to meet up with Samantha on Saturday to borrow her car and get a new TV. Things were looking to get back on track.

  As the creature emerged into his house with its latest bounty – a half open pre-packaged bag of ravioli – and sauntered into the living room. This time, Daniel smiled at the creature. He wouldn't have to deal with it much longer, so letting its discretions aside felt natural. He had to admit he’d grown some fondness for the creature, though the smallness of that amount shouldn’t be understated.

  Nevertheless, he reached down to touch the creature, a gesture of recognition for their days shared. It would be a little quieter after it was gone, and maybe he would miss it. But as his finger made contact with it, Daniel felt something slimy, and his hand lurched up in surprise. As he lifted his fingers, he was assailed by a foul smell coming from his digits. He started sniffing the air, and he was suddenly made aware of the foul stench that was coming most heavily from the creature itself. Daniel got up from the couch suddenly, to the creature’s confusion. His eyes tracked all across its carapace, noticing many dirty patches, stains, and slimy residue on its surface. It looked like it had been digging through garbage, and judging by the bag of ravioli on the carpet, that was probably the case. Feeling a sense of urgency and disgust, Daniel brought the creature to the bathroom.

  He shut the door and turned the ceiling fan on. The creature followed him around the bathroom curiously. Despite having explored most corners of his apartment, it had never been in the bathroom before, since the door was always closed. Oblivious to this, Daniel opened the bottle of dishwashing liquid he’d brought with him. Then he thought for a moment, before putting it down and getting a bottle of shampoo out instead. He was pretty sure that dishwashing soap wasn’t made for consumption. Well, shampoo probably wasn’t either, but it felt better. The creature began to examine the bottle of dishwashing liquid.

  Daniel turned the hot water faucet, waiting a few moments before also turning the cold water on. He squeezed a generous dollop of shampoo into the tub, mixing it around in his hand until a lather formed. He let the water go up into a decent level before turning the faucets off. Satisfied, he looked down to the creature, only to find it missing, the spot where it had been inspecting the liquid soap bottle conspicuously empty. He turned around to look for the creature, only to find it pushing up against the door, leaning as far away from the bathtub as it could. It stayed stock still where it was, staring at him and the bathtub.

  Daniel frowned.

  “It’s only a bath; there's nothing to be scared of.” He said.

  It still didn’t move. Daniel sighed, making his way over.

  “It's alright, just come here...” he said, grabbing it by the sides.

  The creature let him grab it by the torso, but when he tried to lift it, its legs stayed stuck on the ground. He pulled its body left and right, and then circled it around a little. But no matter what he did, its feet stayed firmly attached to the tile floor.

  “Oh, come on.” Daniel said, letting it go.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Its body recoiled like a pulled string, causing it to bob around on its legs for a bit before settling. It looked at him innocently, heedless of its crimes. Daniel grabbed his face with his hand, thinking for a while. He had heard his co-workers discuss bathing their pets, and it had always seemed like a harrowing ordeal. As he dug through his memories, he was looking for a specific instant, some half-remembered comment one of them made, about a method to make their pet behave. In a flash, he remembered – he needed a bribe. No, wait, a treat. To make a naughty pet behave, and to ensure it doesn’t speak out when it shouldn’t, rewards were better instead of punishments. That way, they would be more eager and willing to obey you.

  Now that he thought about it, were they really talking about pets there...?

  In any case, Daniel couldn’t exit the bathroom, because odds were good the creature would escape as well. So, all he could do was coax it with promises.

  “If you take a bath now, I’ll give you another prawn.”

  The creature perked up slightly, but was still leaning away from the tub.

  “2 prawns?”

  It loosened a bit, but still wasn’t completely on board.

  “And a boiled egg?”

  The creature visibly relaxed, but its proboscis drooped in resignation.

  “Alright buddy, here we go.” He said, picking it up by the torso.

  It came off quite easily this time, and Daniel took it to the bathtub. Even though it was letting him pick it up, it still seemed reluctant to enter the water – as he lowered it into the bathtub, its legs shrank up, avoiding the soapy foam. As the warm water lapped the bottom of its body, however, it did eventually stretch out its legs to stand up shakily in the bathtub. It still wasn’t willing to submerge itself, but it was in there.

  Daniel thought for a moment before grabbing a sponge. It clearly hated the water quite a lot, and he felt it had been brave enough so far, even though its legs were shaking, causing it to slip on the bathtub. Slowly, Daniel dipped the sponge into the water and began wiping the creature off. He aimed for the dirtiest parts, rubbing them until they were clean. It was just like cleaning a plate, only the plate trembled sometimes.

  He slowed down when it came to parts that he wasn’t sure of – parts with complex geometry, like the underside where all the legs met, and around its eyes. Some spots were more stubborn, so after thinking for a moment, he grabbed a bristled brush from the laundry machine that was next to the sink. Daniel brushed the tough spots, and for good measure, gave it a good brushing all over.

  After that was done, he turned the faucet on a little to wash it off with fresh water. Things went well, except for when the creature shivered under the cold water and splashed it all over him. In the end, he lifted it up out of the bathtub and set it on the floor, causing it to shake like a dog and splash him some more. Finally, Daniel took a towel and wrapped it around the creature, before pulling the plug on the bathtub. As the fetid water swirled into the drain, he reflected on the experience.

  Honestly, it was quite harrowing. Daniel had never washed a cockroach – and never wanted to – but that was what it felt like. He got an up-close look at how the joints connected, how its shell fit together, where the stinger was hidden by its body; he saw everything in gruesome detail. It was an experience that didn’t bear repeating, he reflected, as he rubbed down the goosebumps on his arms. But...

  As Daniel stared at the creature, swaddled in the human-sized towel, he had to admit that it wasn’t as bad as first impressions had made it out to be. It was quiet, intelligent, and rather polite, as far as alien insects go. While he would do anything to avoid having to wash it again, he didn’t mind it as much as he used to.

  After a while, Daniel stood up and opened the bathroom door, before telling the creature, “Let’s go make your boiled prawns.”

  The creature extracted itself from the towel and dashed out of the bathroom very quickly. Daniel chuckled and picked up the discarded towel, throwing it into the laundry basket before following the creature towards the kitchen.