"Wind?"
I can feel the wind blowing in my face
"Where am I?"
I open my eyes to see the dark sky and the road ahead of me. I was riding a horse but where was I going again?
"Jet?"
Oh that's right I was heading towards David's house
Behind me was a girl. A girl I had met before. A girl that had saved me from past strifes.
A girl that I owe my life to.
"Jet, what's wrong?"
She called my name again. I turn around and shook my head. I had sworn to myself to pay back all my debts towards this girl.
"Nothing, let's keep going"
"Hiyah!", I shouted to command the horse to run faster
We rode and rode until we had reached David's house.
I dropped down the horse and started heading towards the front door.
*knock* *knock*
I knocked on the door twice, but there was no response.
"That's to be expected"
I tried turning the doorknob but it wouldn't move.
*knock* *knock* *knock*
I tried knocking thrice, but there was still no response.
"Can I try?"
Kyou offered to help but she has already helped enough, I did not want to trouble her further.
"No, just stay near the horse. I will handle this"
Kyou fell silent and started walking back towards the horse
I tried looking through the windows. It was the middle of the night, but there was naught a single speck of light inside the house. I tried looking for another entrance that would lead me into the house, but I couldn't find anything
I found something else though, A small shed located at the back of their house.
"Was this always here?", I asked myself
I had never seen a shed the last time I came to this house. Maybe I just hadn't seen it, or David had built this recently.
Outside the shed was a puddle of water
"Strange..."
The last time it had rained, it was 2 days ago. Why was there a puddle of water outside this shed?
I shook my head and reached for the door of the shed.
I couldn't believe my eyes
A little girl with bruises all over her body was lying on the floor. She was wearing clothes that had resembled filthy rags.
"How could this happen?!"
I touched the girl and her body was extremely hot. Did she catch a cold?
I tried breaking down the front door to David's house but it was no use. I went back to try and carry the girl but when I lifted her up, something dropped.
"A key?"
She holding unto a key. A key which I had assumed to be the key to the house. But something was bothering me, if she had the key, then why didn't she come in the house?
Had David not allowed her to come in?
No, no. There must be a reason for this.
I carried the girl and started walking towards the front door. I gave the key to Kyou, and she had opened the door.
"W- What's going on here? Who is that girl?"
I didn't reply, I was too busy panicking over what to do.
I had brought in the little girl into David's bedroom. I laid her down and started heading towards the kitchen
I grabbed some cloth that I had found within David's bedroom and started soaking it with faucet water.
I was panicking, I soaked the cloth as fast as I could and started running towards the bedroom.
Standing in front of the bedroom door, Kyou had told me to stop.
"What? Can you move please? I need to get inside the room"
"What do you think you're doing?"
"I am helping her! Move please, I need to help her!"
I was shouting at her. The girl who had saved my life, the girl who I had to owe my life to. But this was not my fault, right? I'm just trying to help the little girl and she's stopping me. For what reason?
"Can you not see what you are holding?"
"What do you mean?"
I looked at the cloth that I was holding and realized that it was dark. It was not dark because of the color, it was dark because of all the dirt that had stayed on it.
"Oh, I had not noticed. But that doesn't matter now! Move aside!"
"Stop!"
She had shouted. This was the second time she had shouted at me.
"Just let me handle this. You should go outside and maybe buy some medicine."
"..."
I had not said anything. I stayed quiet after she told me to leave. But I didn't waste a single moment.
The moment I stepped outside I started running towards the local pharmacy.
"Do you have any medicine for a fever?"
I asked the person running the pharmacy.
"Sure, how much do you need?"
"Two please"
"That would be 2 silver coins"
I gave the coins to the man and started running back towards David's house.
"Kyou!", I screamed as I opened the front door.
"I'm still in the bedroom! Grab the pot on top of the stove and bring it here!"
I hurriedly rushed to touch the pot but it was hot. I burnt my hand but I didn't care about that. I went inside the room, the pot in my hand. And inside the room was Kyou nursing the little girl that I had found.
"Put it over there"
She pointed towards a wooden chair
But I had not paid attention. I was looking at the little girl who had fallen ill.
"Jet!"
If only I had arrived sooner.
"Jet! What are you staring at?"
If only I had listened to David at the time
"Jet!"
If only I had been stronger
*smack*
"ah-"
Kyou had hit me.
"This is not the time to be spacing around"
"Y- you're right."
I placed the pot on the table and started helping her nurse the little girl.
Soon enough, the little girl opened her eyes and started coughing.
"Are you okay?"
Two of us shouted at the same time.
The little girl had raised her hand and started reaching
for
me..?
"P- papa- why did you not come home"
The girl had seemed to have mistaken me for her father.
"n- no! I'm not your father"
Tears started welling from the little girl's eyes.
"No! You are my papa! Why did you leave me alone! I was all alone! I tried looking for you all night but I couldn't find you! Why did you leave me alone!"
The girl had shouted at me. Within her eyes rested anger, sadness, but most importantly...
FEAR
fear of being rejected
fear of being left alone
Something tugged at my heart. I soon realized that the girl was like me. Alone, scared, and pitiful.
I reached out for her hand and hugged her.
"It's fine now! Your papa is here! I'm sorry for leaving you alone!"
"Papa!"
The girl had burst into tears into my arms
"Papa please don't leave me alone again!"
"I won't!"
"Papa!"
"I'm here!"
"Papa!"
As if searching for warmth, we both hugged each other and gave each other the warmth that we had lacked.
"Pa-"
Soon she had grown tired and had eventually fallen asleep in my arms.
I placed my hands on top of her head and started stroking it.
"Have a good rest"
"..."
Kyou had stood there and witnessed the scene. She was not smiling, instead, she had worn a blank expression
Was she surprised and not knew how to react?
She probably was.
"She-"
Kyou had spoken up
"She?"
"She has not eaten yet"
Oh, right I forgot we were supposed to give her food and medicine.
"It's all right. We can feed her when she wakes up. She must be really starving."
Kyou had stood up and started walking out. But before she could, I called her
"Kyou-"
"What is it?"
"Thank you for today. If you hadn't kept me in line I would have messed everything up."
"..."
She looked away from me. Was she mad at me?
It was the complete opposite. The girl's face was filled with a joyous smile. But she was too embarrassed at that time to look at him.
"Are you mad at me?", I asked her
"No, that's not it"
"Look I'm really sorry for today"
"..."
"..."
Both fell into an awkward silence.
"Then"
"...?"
"If your really sorry, take me out on a date tomorrow"
"W-what?!?"
"Are you refusing?"
"No! I'll take you out on a date tomorrow I swear!"
"I see"
That girl was smiling as hardest as she could have. This was one of her happiest moments of her life.
"What about the girl though? We can't just leave her alone"
"If she's still sick by then we can move the date. But if she recovers, we can take her with us."
I nodded
Kyou had left the room in a happy mood.
I looked back at the little girl on the bed. She was sleeping comfortably. I took my hand and placed it upon hers. Making sure she doesn't feel alone during her sleep.
"Thank you for fulfilling the promise. I hope you take care of her, as she is much like you"
A voice had said to me. But before I could realize it, I was tired and my eyes were starting to close. I gave in to the sleepiness and had closed my eyes.
I had fallen asleep on the side of the bed. But even though I could not see anything, I felt safe.
It didn't feel alone, nor painful.
There was only warmth.
I accepted the warmth and the warmth had accepted me.
I could tell.
I could tell that this was the start of a brand new life. A life filled with warmth and love.