Sophia fell asleep surprisingly quickly with her face buried in my chest. I had more trouble, maybe it was the unfamiliar bed, maybe it was the stress, I didn’t know, but sleep eluded me for a long time.

Some time during the night, I woke up, not knowing where I was for a second. Once I realised that Sophia was next to me, I regained my bearings and, after a moment, heard what had woken me up. Someone was at the front-door, trying to open it but not quite managing to do so. It sounded like a key was scratching at the lock, until it finally slid in and the door opened with a soft click.

In the silent appartement, I heard a pair shuffling feet and indecipherable mumblings, possibly because of the low voice, possibly because they spoke a language I did not know or because of some other reason. I believed the voice to be female, but unless the person looked in on us, I would not disturb Sophia’s sleep

I must have fallen back asleep, as I woke up to Sophia stirring in my arms.

“Good morning, sweetie.” I greeted her in a soft voice. She was still not good with mornings, mumbling for a moment, before taking in her surroundings.

“So, it wasn’t a nightmare?” she asked, in a sad voice.

“That your parents had a huge fight? No, I am afraid not. But I think your mother returned to the appartement during the night. Do you think I should try to vanish before she realises I am here?” I asked, speaking in a gentle voice.

Sophia looked at me for a moment, before shaking her head. “No. No, I want you to be with me.” another moment passed, before she continued, “But I doubt that it will be relevant, mom never gets up before noon, certainly not when she was out the night before. And I have to work a shift later today.”

We stayed cuddled together, until I heard a cute growl and Sophia blushed a little.

“I believe we need to feed that growling animal, before it devours us both.” I suggested with a teasing grin, causing her blush to deepen.

After we took turns in the bathroom and I was dressed in another set of her clothing, we started to prepare breakfast. There was little to work with, but we managed to whip up something resembling food but I would never dignify the caffeinated brew, mixed up from some sort of instant-powder, with the description coffee. I had once heard about a type of coffee, made from beans digested by some sort of cat or rodent-like animal. Maybe, someone had tried to reproduce the mechanism, but simply ground up rodent-droppings and sold them as coffee. It would explain the consistency of the powder and the taste of the liquid. It was one of the rare days that I drank less than a full cup of coffee for breakfast.

Once we were finished, Sophia wanted to snuggle some more and I was happy to oblige, so we moved to the sofa, with me sitting down and she trying to curl up on my lap. She was small, but not that small, so we had to arrange us a bit, until she was happily ensconced in my arms. Both of us were lost in thought, when a gasp pulled us back into the present. Looking up, I saw Sophia’s mother standing in the door to one of the other rooms. She did not look any better compared to the first, and last, time I had seen her, so long ago, when I was still Alexandria. There was absolutely no recognition in her eyes, something that did not surprise me, not with the alcoholic fumes she had given off back then and the changes I had undergone.

“Good morning, mom. I didn’t expect you to be up.” Sophia said, in a soft voice.

“Gotta get up. The useless bum’s gone, ya know? Gotta get stuff.” she mumbled, in a slurred voice.

“Mom, what exactly happened?” Sophia asked, her voice insistent.

“The useless bum, took our money. What’m I supposed to do? The fool said it would be given to God. What does God want with our money?” It was a little surreal, neither mother nor daughter made any attempt to address the fact that Sophia was sitting in a stranger’s lap or the fact that there was a stranger in the room. I watched as Sophia’s mother stumbled to the fridge, looking lost for moment, before grabbing a beer-can, opening it and draining it in a single, long swallow.

I thought her mother mumbled something along the lines of “Need more beer.” but was not quite sure if it was what she said.

“I threw the useless fool out, you know. No more of the stupid God this, salvation that crap. I got back some of the money, but most of it was already gone, to that stupid church of his.” With each word, there seemed to be a fire growing within her, her voice slowly turned clearer and she seemed to gain some energy.

“Mom, don’t worry, I have my wages, you know? It’s not a lot, but we can make it, together.” Sophia said, trying to cheer her mother up. Her mother got a strange gleam in her eyes and the fire in her grew.

“Yes, you are my little girl. You will not leave me behind, will you? You say, you have some money, that’ll get us through the month. I’ll think of something for the next month.” The way she said that worried me, but I decided to ignore it, no need to worry Sophia further. If her mother did something criminal, well, it was not as if either Sophia or I could claim that everything we did was legal. We would deal with it, if it happened. Or, more likely, once.

Sophia had still not introduced me, but suddenly she stood and pulled me up with her.

“Mom, I gotta go, you know. I’ll be back in the evening.” There was some sort of mumbled answer, while Sophia dragged me out.

Sophia was still not saying anything, simply dragging me behind her, but there was a sort of intent in her movement, she wanted to go somewhere. As we passed a coffee-shop, the smell drew me, like a magnet. Sophia must have realised that my steps faltered for a second, and she had seen me often enough to recognise the signs of caffeine-withdrawal. After a moment, she must have realised that I had no money with me, so she handed me a small bill and gave me a soft push towards the shop, so I could sate my desire.

A few minutes later, I stepped out of the shop, a large to-go cup filled with the nectar of the gods, the true black gold, in hand. When I saw an unknown man standing in front of Sophia, talking intently to her, I frowned for a moment, before making my way over.

“Please, Sophia, I only want your best. If you stay with her, you will turn into a harlot, a sinner of the worst degree, You will go to hell, no doubt about it. The Revered Father told me that there was a place in the community for you, you will have to repent and renounce your ways, but it will help you, there is still salvation for you to be found. It was almost too late for me, but I found salvation on the righteous path.”

“No, dad. I will not simply leave mom. And I’m not a harlot and I won’t become one.” Sophia rejected his words, shaking her head.

When I got closer, the man took notice of my approach and glared at me.

“You should be ashamed, young lady, showing off your body in the streets, trying to tempt good man into sin.” he spat at me.

“No, dad. She is dressed like that because she dropped everything when I needed her yesterday.” Sophia said, while taking my hand.

That caused his glare to go from antipathy to hate, a deep and murderous hate. It made me glad that looks could not kill, unless matched with the right Power, or I would have dropped dead, right then and there.

“You are the whore that seduced my daughter into a sinful heathen lifestyle?” The sheer amount of scorn and hate in his voice shocked me.

“Seduced? You know, dad, I kissed her first. If one of us seduced the other, it was me, seducing her.”

He looked at Sophia and the look in his eyes changed. Only a deep sadness remained.

“So I see. I hoped that I would be able to save you. Your brother was lost, but I had hope for you. Now, I see that my hope was a false one. You are no daughter of mine. But I will still pray, pray that you will find it in you to repent and renounce your sinful ways.” With that, he turned and walked away.

Sophia looked stricken for a moment, before resuming our silent track. Soon, we were back into the small park we had used before and she pushed be down, so I was seated with back against a tree. I had an idea what would happen next, and sure enough she needed to be held, while she led her tears out once more.

We stayed like that, until it was time for her to go to work. I waved off her apology, telling her that I meant it when I said, I would be there for her. After a deep kiss, we split and I made my way back towards my bunker, feeling emotionally exhausted. I needed some time with my heavy bag, to get back to an emotional equilibrium.