[Contains NBM/MBM elements]

The bus screeched and hissed to a halt, nearly jolting Em's head off of my lap. I rebuilt my new friend and led her onto the street, all wide eyed and overly curious still, which was starting to grate a bit. We only had a 10 minute walk to my place, but it felt much longer than it should have been.

"What's that?"

"It's a motorcycle."

"Oh, like a normal bike but... no I remember. Sorry!... Oh, is that a bird!"

"Yeah, it's a pigeon."

"Oh, yes, got it now."

"When is your brain going to start working properly, seriously?"

"Very soon, I promise! I know it must be irritating with me asking all these questions, but I will start functioning normally... oooh, is that a dog?"

Em was pointing at some hairy form on the edge of the road.

"No, that's a badger."

"Oh yeah, those things... can I pet it!"

"It's roadkill, Em. It's dead."

"Oh."

The final stretch had a deafening silence. I'm not sure if I traumatised her or not, but it didn't stop her asking even more questions when I opened the door to the apartment building.

"Wow, is this your house?" Em nearly fell over taking the cheap and bland lobby in. I'd given up giving straight answers this point.

"My house is in this building, if that helps."

"Ahh, interesting, it's like an apartment building, with loads of little houses in it!"

"Pretty much."

"Ok, got it. Carry on."

We took the two flights to my floor and continued walking. I was pretty sore by this point in the day, but Em seemed to be quite energetic still. I guess she'd just been... born? Anyway, I got my keys out of my bag and nearly fell to the floor of my humble abode.

"Ok, here we are. Don't worry about your shoes, I'm not one of those people."

"My shoes? Do you not like them or something?"

"No, I mean... never mind."

I really wasn't one of those people; my place was in a bit of a mess. My door led straight into a front room with a kitchenette in the corner, the bathroom to the left, my bedroom along from there, and another box room across from it. I could go into how my decor was of a warm palette, following shabby-chic design principles, but that's a long winded way of saying that I'm cheap and don't clean up as much as I should.

I started showing her what was what. "So, this is where I cook most of my meals," I gestured to the air fryer on the wood-top counter, "and this is where I relax," my hand floated over an old couch with enough scatter cushions and blankets to cover most of it. We made a few steps to my bedroom, with my clothes scattered across the floor, and then the bathroom.

"Is this where you hide?"

I assumed that's what Emily did back at the shop, so I thought I'd play up to it. "Uh... I cry here sometimes." I said semi-sarcastically.

"Ah, just like Emily does. Good to know!"

Taken back somewhat by that comment, I quickly moved onto the box room, even if it was a dumping ground, mainly full of delivery packing I couldn't be bothered to break down or random crap that I don't have room for in the rest of my place. I flicked the bulb on to reveal the semi-organised chaos all over the floor and the spare furniture.

"I don't really think I need to, but you might as well see where I dump my stuff."

Em's eyes widened a lot looking at the poorly lit storage space.

"Wow, this looks so cozy! You even have your friend in here!"

"Who? what are you talking about..."

She pointed at a box for a massage gun on top of an old dresser, with a picture of an overly-indulged woman on the front, how looked strikingly similar to me, which I hadn't realised before.

"What's her name? I want to meet her!"

"Em, she's a woman on an empty box."

"Oh, she must be out. When is she coming back?"

"....Um... what are you on about?"

Em paused (for once) before opening her mouth again. "Don't you put bodies in boxes to, you know, have them when you need them?"

Somehow, she was finally making sense.

"No. I think you're getting confused with normal people and the 'people' Emily uses in the shop."

Em's eyes told me that she had an eureka moment, or at the very least, realised what she'd been asking was pretty insane, and almost sadist if the context was different.

"So that's not you on the box?"

"No."

"Ah, got it, it's just a box, no people, I've got it." She throw her thumbs up to me in reassurance. "At least that's one less person to accommodate."

"Ha, you're right about that... wait, what?" It felt as if a fuse had gone in my head, "You're not actually *staying* with me, are you?

"I don't have to go back for another 2 weeks, where else am I meant to go?"

I leaned on one leg and crossed my arms in concentration, trying my hardest not to panic and come up with a solution: I couldn't make her sleep on the couch for two weeks, it's barely suitable for sitting on; I can't book a hotel, I might as well go and get the therapy done now for that kind of money; and she sure as hell wasn't sleeping with me!

"Emily didn't really explain what I was meant to do with you, not in this way at least. I guess I could ask my neighbour if he has a spare mattress."

"A what?"

"*sigh*... it's what people sleep on, like what you saw on my..."

"Oh yeah! Got it!... Sorry..."

Not only was I pretty exhausted by this point, but I was starving, so I made some very quick pasta with a ready mix sauce and sausages which I couldn't really care enough to check if they were still in date, but we were both fine afterwards, so that doesn't matter I guess. Seemingly Em know what eating was, even if she was a glorified manikin, which meant we could have at least some resemblance of a normal conversation.

"So, what do you usually do when the shop's closed? I doubt you have anywhere else to go."

"We just turn off most of the time, unless we have something planned."

"Don't tell me you have office parties?"

"Does it count if it's technically all the same person?"

All I could think of was a dozen Emilys mooching about making small talk, if that was even possible, but I was too tired to even think how that would work.

"I guess. So you always stay in the same place?"

"We get rotated on a monthly basis. I was part of a display set for miscellaneous parts near the back, novelty stuff for fancy dress and all of that, so it was my turn go to the front after my storage period. Emily calls that front display the..."

"Wait, storage period?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"As in, you get locked away in cupboard for weeks on end?"

"No, it's the backroom! It's much bigger than a cupboard." She speared the last pieces of fusilli as she explained. "We get broken up and put into boxes for a couple of weeks. It lets Emily check us over about twice a year for any defects. It's also really nice to have a break for a while, get to know somebody a bit better, or just sleep. I always come out feeling so refreshed!"

"So you're stored like mannequins in boxes, then put together again when you're on display?"

"Exactly! We don't have any particular parts we own either, we're all the same anyway, give or take a few models."

"So you don't sleep on a bed?"

"Ha! Do you really think we have room back at the shop? It's rammed as it is! The closest thing I have to a bed is a box with my display number on it, and that barely fit's my head. That's why I was so pleased you had a load of boxes in your spare room!"

I heaved a sigh of relief. I didn't need clarification, but I asked just in case. I didn't know what to expect after a day like today.

"And you don't mind being put into a box to sleep in?"

"Do I? You've got plenty of boxes... all of me can sleep now!"

Suddenly I didn't feel so tired after all. I finished up my meal and took our dishes to the sink, deleting a prepared grovelling message to my neighbour begging him for something close enough to a mattress for EM, and took her back to the dump which was my spare room.

"Ok, take your pick. You know what you're doing..."

It didn't take long for her to find 4 suitably sized receptacles for her body, all slightly different shapes for different parts of her. Some had a few knick-knacks which I happily tossed into other boxes, but I insisted that she had at least some old blankets to make herself more comfortable, to which she obliged. Now with her 4 boxes aligned in front of her, she started taking her trainers off.

"Emily always makes sure keep her storage clean, so I'll leave these her." She place them by the door and sat on the floor, rolling her ankles before reaching down to yank off her feet, doing something similar to each joint. "Since this body has been unused for so long, I need to warm it up before I start detaching."

She had split in half at the waist before breaking the rest of her lower parts down into suitably sizes pieces small enough to fit one and a half boxes, before lying flat on what was left of her back and yanking her off her mid-riff - thankfully she didn't undress in during the process, which was a worry initially. I had no idea what the process entailed.

"Do you usually do this yourself."

"It depends really. Emily does it if she want's me for something specific, but I really like doing it myself." a little calming sigh came after as she pulled her left shoulder away from her truncated body. "It's like having all those really satisfying things happen all at once - that funny stretch people do when they haven't moved for a while, a full massage, cracking your back really loudly, that tingly feeling when someone plays with your hair... you name it, I feel it!"

At this point she was left with her upper chest, her right arm, and her head, so I thought I'd help her out, which she was only too happy to let me do.

"So I just pull, yeah!"

"Exactly that. Take my hand. You pull and I'll pull." I took hold of it and did as she said, and it came off almost immediately. "Ta da! See how easy that is?" Her fingers wrapped around mine, seemingly demonstrating how good it made her feel. I must admit, there was something quite cathartic about pulling someone apart like that.

We finished her dismantling, leaving her head in my hands ready to plant it in the final box, filled halfway with an old scarf for her comfort and convenience.

"I guess this is where I say goodnight."

"Yep, I can't really do much else like this." Her assortment of parts gestured to me with several movements, mainly squirming since they were almost in capable of doing anything else. "See you in the morning..."

I deposited her head as best I could, facing her upwards as if she was lying down. I turned the light off and turned towards to the door before a thought came to me.

"Em, what should I do with you in the morning, since you're, you know, not in one piece?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine, trust me..."

She winked with an air of mischief as I closed the door and headed to bed myself. I hit my pillow and fell asleep almost immediately. There's only so much weirdness I can take for one day.