When I woke up the next day, the sun was already high. How long had I been asleep, I didn't know. There was no way to know, though. Knowing time is a luxury. I don’t even own a clock. Not that I know exactly how to read a clock.

But, there was something I noticed straight away.

Hera was gone. She was gone—despite telling me she would be here when I woke up.

“Hera...?” I called out of despair. No answer, as I had expected. Of course, there was no answer. There was no one. I was alone again, even after she told me she would be with me. I thought, how awful of her to give me false hope like that.

I looked down on my mattress, where she had laid down before. It no longer felt warm. She must have been awake long ago, leaving the unsuspecting me alone. She built my trust, only to shatter it the next morning, killing me ever so softly.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Suddenly, I heard her, and I immediately looked at the curtain that separated my nest from the rest of the world. There she was, looking surprised and concerned. Maybe I looked like I was about to cry, but she immediately sat down next to me and held my hand.

“I’m sorry, Vega,” she apologized profusely. “I woke up a lot earlier this morning and you looked like you won’t wake up any time soon, so I thought, why not stroll around for a minute instead?”

I just nodded.

Hera showed a loaf of bread and some other breads with chocolate filling. “I went and saw a bakery a few blocks away. I talked with the owner, and he was nice enough to give me some,” she explained. “Here, eat up. You haven’t eaten, right?”

Again, I nodded. I accepted the warm, freshly baked chocolate bread and chomped it down. It tasted sweet and fresh, it warmed me inside. Suddenly, I had the urge to cry. How long had it been since the last time I ate something this warm, I wondered?

“Tasty, right?” Hera said softly. I turned my head to see her sincere smiling face. Oh, my tears really were about to escape my eyes. I nodded softly, then I felt the corner of my lips forming a smile. I was really grateful for her presence right now. Hera herself munched down one of the breads and put down the rest on an old container—the only clean container I had. “What do you do usually?” she asked me.

I thought long and hard. “I... do nothing, mostly. Well, looking for food and all that, that’s it,” I replied matter-of-factly.

Hera raised her eyebrows. She stood up and extended her hand to me. “Then,” she said, a little too cheerful for me. “Why don’t we go on a stroll?”

I didn’t know where she was planning to take me, but I accepted her hand without second thoughts. “Sure!”

And she took me on a tour around the neighborhood. Even within this hell of a slum, Hera noticed the little things here and there. She showed me the river where people washed themselves was fairly clean. She told me about the species of birds and butterflies when we saw them. She pointed at a cat with really funny spots that looked like moustache. She showed me a rundown building that had a staircase behind the alley, where we could ascend to the rooftop and watch sunset—she promised to take me there.

I started to see the neighborhood on a different way myself. I started to look for the beauty in it from time to time. I looked at people’s faces and I found it funny. I looked at a collapsed wood bridge on the river and I found the beauty in its age.

Maybe, life won’t be kind to you, but I think it’s worth to find kindness in this cruelty of a world.

And I started to smile again—sincerely, now.