“Woah! For real, what are the chances?” the red haired woman asked with suppressed laughter in her silky smooth voice. She and the man who accompanied her were carrying large paper bags filled with vegetables and other groceries. A small, black haired girl peeked behind the man, observing me with large eyes.

"Where is your girlfriend?" the woman chuckled. I looked down as I didn’t want to cry in front of strangers.

“She is gone,” I muttered, my hands shaking.

“Huh?” The woman’s smile disappeared pretty much instantly.

“They took her,” my breathless voice cracked.

“...Have you eaten lunch yet, young man?” she asked after a moment of silence.

“What does that have to do wi-”

“Have you?” she interrupted, this time with more weight in her voice.

I wiped a tear away with my wrist, “No.”

“Well, luck strikes again. You may taste my husband Alan’s delicious cooking on his day off while you tell us everything. Oh and just for the formalities, you can call me Evelyn.”

I looked up again, surprised at the sudden invitation which catched me off-guard. The man next to her eyed me curious, but even more confused. Then my gaze met the little girl. She wore a white dress which reached down to her knees. Her black hair was tied into two pigtails that gave their best to defy gravity. She quickly grabbed the shirt of her father and hid behind him again.

“My name is Mae,” the girl mumbled, nearly unhearable.

“Alright, I take that as a Yes. Everyone, after me!” Evelyn ordered and started marching.

Their apartment was located in another narrow side alley close-by. I was just taking my last bite of meat and grilled vegetables, despite the fact that I had no appetite when I got here.  The meat was tender and even the vegetables were better than anything I had tasted at the orphanage. Sunlight fell through a window, drowning the room in a pleasant warmth while Mae played with multicoloured building blocks on the floor. Alan must have given his wife a soft kick under the table as Evelyn suddenly tore her gaze away from her daughter and started talking again.

“Oh right, I haven’t even asked for your name yet!” 

“It’s Nathan.” 

“What happened to your friend, Nathan?” she asked softly.

I spat out nearly everything that had happened in the last few days while new tears ran down my cheeks. Dammit, stop already.

“Crying is allowed just for today,” Alan assured me with a subtle smile as if he was able to read my mind. I coughed out a laugh. Staring proudly at her own creation, Mae had built a large tower by the time I finished talking. Evelyn and Alan locked eyes for a second, then looked back at me.

“There wasn’t anything you could have done, Nathan.” Evelyn told me, her voice steady. Her husband nodded with a serious face. “You should join us for dinner again tomorrow, maybe we can do something,” he added.

“What do you mean by that?” my heart beat accelerated.

“There really is no point in explaining now. Just make sure to knock on our door around seven tomorrow.” 

I was about to step out of the door when something grabbed me by my shirt.

“We play tomorrow?” Mae asked with blushed cheeks and wide dark eyes. Trying to muster a sincere smile, I nodded and returned to the orphanage. Luckily, the streets were already empty.

Miss Cera wasn’t all too upset about me. In fact, I got away with just a sigh and a grim headshake. 

Has she gotten thinner?

“Hello Nathan!” a known voice interrupted me. It was the girl from before who told me about Lory in the gym. She gave me a smile, sorted her shoulder-long dark blonde hair - which revealed a dark scar stretching from her hairline to her eyebrow - and then casually hopped past me.

“...Hello...” I responded into the void since she was already out of range. I have no idea who you really are and how you know my name. To be honest, this situation left me puzzled. For years, no one had talked to me or Lory and now suddenly...whatever this is?

***

The next day, I went out to meet Evelyn and her family again. They had handed me a small piece of paper with their family sign and an excuse message. It was quite pleasant to see the director's surprised face - she looked at me, then the piece of paper in her hand, then back at me again. 

“Just..don’t do anything unnecessary…” were her words with which she let me go.

Listening to her demand, I didn’t take any detours through the city this time in order to avoid people’s gazes and went straight to Evelyn’s apartment. I knocked on the wooden door and waited. A tiny caterpillar with black spikes used its stubby legs to crawl over a nearby branch. It was a nice summer day. Not a single cloud was to be seen in the blue sky and the warm air blew comfortably around my skin and hair. I could hear unrhythmic footsteps approaching before the door opened after a short moment. It took me a split second to turn my gaze down - it wasn’t Evelyn who had opened me, but Mae. She mustered me with her dark eyes. This time, her black hair was bound into one short braid that stood up a bit. 

“Uh, hello.” I greeted. Instead of answering, the little girl grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. Her bare feet tabbed carefully over the floor. Evelyn hopped around in the kitchen, cutting vegetables on one side while occasionally turning around to stir in a large pot. She appeared to be in quite a rush.

“Ah, hey Nathan,” she greeted me casually. “Alan should be back in a few minutes, so just make yourself comfortable in the meantime.”

Mae pulled my hand down and pointed to a corner right next to the window while gazing at me with a demanding expression. The small place was covered with multiple toys - figurines, stuffed animals and so on. Well, I had promised her to play.

I think I would have preferred the building blocks from yesterday, but apparently it was puppet time today. Sitting cross-legged in front of me, Mae had pulled out two figures that were carved out of wood and dressed in robes of fabric, one black the other white. I grabbed the black one to get a better look.

“No! You can be the bad guy next time!” Mae scolded me as she snatched the piece of wood out of my hand.

“Mae! This is not how you treat guests!” Evelyn shouted from behind the counter. The small girl looked down and pouted.

“It’s okay. You can have it.” I said. Her eyes lit up and a broad smile formed on her face.

Playing with her turned out to be much more exhausting than I had originally expected. She made up tons of stories that changed without warning while I had to come up with answers. It was quite amusing though - whenever I said something that didn’t line up with her imagination, she would whisper lines to me so I could correct my part of the dialogue. I wonder how Lory would behave here. I quickly banished the thought out of my mind. There was no point in getting upset or sad now.

Minutes passed, and after roughly half an hour the keyhole of the door clicked. Mae shot up, “Daddy’s back! Daddy is a monster hunter you know??” she told me with her chin raised proudly into the air. Alan set foot into the room. His grey pants and green shirt had a few mud stains on them, and his hands were covered with cuts.