They did, in fact, manage to get up. When the body awoke, it was on autopilot, waiting for a guide, so Stephen took control. The child’s scared thoughts raced around, but it was so far into a sleeping state, he doubted it’d wake up anytime soon.

He took to cleaning them and the floor up, and checking out the new features of this new body. They looked like an absolute mess. Hair was matted and patchy in some places that the child actually managed to pull out, their already strange skin was now covered in healing scratches and bandage wraps, courtesy of Stephen. Swollen eyes looked almost lifeless as they stared through the mirror and into themselves. 

He noticed that their eyes had changed. Where they were Stephen’s light blue and an almost coal color earlier, they had now settled into a dead gray.

Stephen, mesmerized by these miraculous changes, and wanting an excuse to stare and analyze some more, took a comb and gently threaded through the mismatched hair.

He decided to get them out of the bathroom while he still had control, but only made it into the kitchen before he felt the child wake up.

It was like a powerful shock going through his brain. The body froze, stiff as a board as everything in their brain suddenly lit up with uncontrolled chaos.

Before the being could fully gain consciousness, Stephen managed to sit the body down in a corner on the floor, hoping that would give the child a sense of safety not to start its destructive streak again. 

He retreated into the rattled mind to find the child’s conscience. 

‘Hey…’ he approached slowly when he found them, not far from where he was, but just out of view.

The being saw Stephen, or rather the manifestation of his consciousness, and latched itself onto him immediately. 

Everything around them suddenly felt calmer. There wasn’t an overwhelming buzz of energy waiting to be released.

‘...Are you alright?’ He asked carefully, patting its back awkwardly.

It looked confused. Stephen realized they still had quite a language block, but before he could try to interpret how to communicate, especially now that the child had full access to his mind as well, it turned away from him.

Sharing its sight for a moment as he felt the body moving, he saw that it curiously stared at the wraps and plasters all over their arms and legs, twisting them a bit, and running their fingers over the covered parts of their body. Stephen had even changed the clothes they wore, and tried to erase all evidence of a breakdown that could trigger the child into another.

When it saw the bandages, Stephen started praying to anything that it wouldn’t set off again. After what felt like forever, the child relinquished motor control, and retreated into the headspace, right out of view once again.

Stephen tested the body a bit, seeing what they could still do, and what triggers it had with the child’s presence now there. 

For instance, the child didn’t like when Stephen touched their hair. He felt almost crippling anxiety when he tried to pick it up into a ponytail just to get it off their neck, so he compromised. When it was in control, he wouldn’t mess with the hair at all.

It seemed to be miniscule things, a way they sat, a chore Stephen tried to do, the feel of the clothes as he folded them in an effort to feel a bit of normalcy. He had to be attentive, as this being sharing his mind was a time bomb. 

A lot of compromises from both ends were made in the following days. During breakdowns (which happened about two to three times a day at first), Stephen would either advise the child to take them to a corner and try to breathe, or do it himself. They still needed to eat a bit, so the child was asked not to interfere, as that usually led to burnt food and body mishaps.

After long weeks of adjusting to the change, and a couple of days of trying to separate at first, the two beings had a semblance of rituals they strictly followed to keep the body from being overloaded with their equally troubled existences. Stephen eventually had to step out and get groceries, and since they hadn’t talked about it until the moment had arrived, it was hard to manage the overwhelming signals the space being sent out. Stephen was in charge of the body in public, since the child was still riddled with fear. He made it a habit not to go out much, so they wouldn’t have to constantly fight the urge to scream in the face of strangers.

Another month passed, and a sort of saddening feeling seemed to wash over the place. The two couldn't seem to figure out why or how this happened, and no amount of research was making anything better. The news said that the search for the creature pulled from the waves was a bust, and so they stopped searching. That should have sparked some sort of joy, seeing as they’d no longer have to lie and fidget while the authorities searched in vain for the “monster” that was right beside them. 

It didn't, however, and the saddening feeling only continued to get worse. Stephen hadn’t struggled with depression before, so the feeling was intense, and they usually spent hours sitting in a corner somewhere around the house, as neither wanted to move. After a while, Stephen realized that they didn't have to eat anymore for some reason so it had all the time in the world to waste...which was bad.

He’d suggested they try to get some sun, step out in the yard, go for a walk, just to not see the same place that was a shelter as much as it was a cage. 

The child, though unhappy, refused the idea.