Chapter 2: Lonely
Prota had gone into the bathroom obediently, but now that the door was closed, she didn’t know what to do. She just stood there, not daring to move an inch. Looking around, she found that she couldn’t identify any of the objects she was looking at. There was something with a metal spout and two handles on either side that seemed to empty into a wash basin, as well as a large tub with another sprout emptying into it, but she had no idea what either was for.
Dirty water began pooling at her feet as she stood uncomfortably, the cloak John had given her still wrapped around her body. She felt a bit bad for staining the clean white floor, but there was nothing she could do about it.
“Hey! You ok in there?” she heard a voice call out. “Do you, uh, know how to use those things?”
She turned around and looked at the closed door. What was she supposed to say?
“Ok, I’ll take that as a no. So basically, you uh… alright, so you… man, why is this so hard to explain? I’m gonna sound really- oh, wait a minute. Hey. That’s a bathtub. You’ve taken a bath, right? Just… yeah. You know what to do, right?”
Prota undressed and got into the tub, shivering from the cold as she waited for further instructions.
“Ok, now… uh, I’m going to assume you’re in the tub. Do you see the handle with the red line on it? Turn that towards you a bit. That’ll turn on hot water.”
Again, she did as she was told, and true to John’s word, hot water began pouring out. It was a bit too hot, in fact, but she didn’t react at all. She just stood and accepted the scalding water. It wasn’t so hot that it would harm her, but anyone else would’ve jumped back or given a yelp of pain.
“Oh yeah, you can turn the other handle a bit to make it less hot! That’s kind of important. That’s cold water. The red one is hot water. Damn, seriously. I never thought I’d have to explain how a bath works. Who thinks of giving a bath tutorial?”
Ignoring his mindless blabber, Prota hesitantly reached for the blue handle, and true to John’s word, the water gradually became cooler. She realized that she could play around with the controls to reach a desired temperature and began fiddling with the handles. A little touch here, a little twist there, and the water was soon comfortably warm. Her body sunk into the bath, the warmth wrapping her body, chasing out the chills. Much as she wanted to just stay like that, she was here to get clean.
The water immediately became murky as she began washing herself off. Slowly but surely, her snow white hair and skin were again becoming visible. As her skin became clear of dirt, however, the bruises that had been hidden by the grime began to show themselves. These were stains that couldn’t be removed with water. However, her face remained blank as she remembered what had given her those wounds. She had once cried when the wounds had been initially inflicted. Not anymore.
Eventually, she decided she was as clean as she’d ever be. There was nothing that resembled a bar of soap, although there were strange bottles around the tub, but she didn’t know how to use them. It was probably better to leave those alone for now. Getting out of the tub, she looked back and saw how brown it was, then looked down at her own body, now much cleaner than it’d been before.
How strange. She’d never realized she was this dirty.
Spotting a towel hanging on a rack, she dried herself off, then put on the nightgown John had given her. It was a bit loose, but it would do for now. She opened the door, and John spun around, steaming cup in hand.
“All done?” He scanned her from head to toe and nodded, seemingly satisfied with the result. “Hm. Yeah, that’s a lot better…”
His voice trailed off as he spotted the bruises. Moreover, now that Prota’s hair wasn’t obscuring her face, he could see one eye was swollen, the other black, as well as the fact that her cheeks, while still maintaining a little baby fat, were incredibly hollowed in.
“Hey. I… Never mind.” He walked over to the stove, poured something into a cup, and handed it to Prota. “Here. Cup of tea, if you want. Careful, though, it’s hot.”
He started heading towards the washroom to clean up. Prota looked at him, then took a sniff of the drink in her hands. It was fragrant, reminding her of flowers in a summer field, and a wave of calm washed over her mind. Wondering how it tasted, she hastily took a sip, only to recoil in shock from the heat. It didn’t exactly hurt, but it had surprised her enough that her head snapped back.
“Hot, right? I warned you,” John said while hiding a smile, then turned back. Apparently, he’d been watching to see what she did.
Prota sat on the sofa carefully and continued to sip at the tea, more carefully this time, listening to the sound of the water drain from the tub. John was humming a tune she didn’t recognize. A fire crackled cheerily in the fireplace, and her eyes began to flutter. The fragrant smell of the tea wafted into her nose, the smell of burning wood wafting in here and there. The smell of smoke, nuts and alcohol was ever so slightly present, and when combined with everything else, put her at ease. Despite being in a stranger’s home, she was starting to feel at comfortable.
Her cup of tea, now empty, dropped to the floor onto the carpet below, and her eyelids grew heavy, slowly closing into darkness.
~~~
“You know, if we were back [Home], drugging a kid like that would be incredibly suspicious and illegal, right?”
“...please don’t put it like that,” John muttered as he threw Prota’s old excuse of a dress into the fire. He’d come out of the washroom to see Prota snoring away on the sofa, the cloak draped over her like a blanket. “Who knows how the [Readers] will interpret this one. I’ve already said enough things to be cancelled for life. Thank god social media doesn’t exist here.”
John hadn’t strictly drugged her, but the tea contained some herbs that were known for their relaxing properties, and for a small child like Prota, they were a bit stronger to the point where they could be considered a sedative. Ultimately, they’d been the main reason she’d fallen asleep.
“She can keep the cloak,” he muttered to himself as he returned to his own cup of tea. “Why did I get that thing in the first place? Seriously. I don’t even remember why I bought it. That’s… that’s concerning, right?”
He was speaking nonsense, but he was really trying to distract himself from the shock of the state of Prota’s body. He was supposed to be used to stuff like that. It wasn’t meant to be something strange, at least to him. But somehow, he’d gotten used to this clean city. A low crime rate, a low homeless rate… he’d somehow forgotten what a dirty world looked like.
No, that wasn’t possible. Then why was he so shaken up?
“John… she’s been living on the streets. What did you expect?” Zero sighed, as if he’d read John’s thoughts.
“I mean… it shouldn’t be that strange. But… she’s so young. I- I guess I just forgot what it looked like. Seeing it with my own eyes. How does that even happen, though? How does a kid this young end up in that state? Where are her parents? Her caretakers? I didn’t realize this was that kind of [Story].”
“That’s something you’re gonna have to ask her yourself.”
“Why don’t you just tell me?”
“John, it’s not much of a story if I’m just going to reveal everything to you right away. [Plot] takes time to develop, you know.”
John made a disgruntled noise and took another sip of tea.
“If you’re just gonna be a bitch about it, you might as well not be here. Annoying piece of shit.”
“But I’m you. That makes you an annoying piece of shit, too.”
“I’m a piece of shit who has something he needs to get done. I couldn’t care less about something like that. The fuck are you doing here?”
“I’m keeping you company.”
“Pretty terrible company if you ask me.”
John looked at the girl sleeping on his sofa and sighed. All of this. Taking care of her. Bringing her into his residence. All because of a name. There was surely something more to it than that, but still…
“You’re going to have to talk to her eventually.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Wouldn’t you be suspicious in her situation? You’re a complete stranger to her. She doesn’t understand things like [Plot] or anything like that. You’re just a random person who found her and brought her in. You’re going to have to talk to her eventually.”
John stood up and stretched.
“You know what? I’m gonna take a bath, then head off to bed,” he grunted. “This is so much thinking. Way too much thinking for me. I’ll deal with this tomorrow.”
“Sweet dreams,” Zero said cheerfully.
John paused and snorted. “Dreams? In this world? What’s the point?”
~~~
Prota mumbled as she rolled around a bit, slowly blinking her eyes open. Something felt different, but she couldn’t remember what…
The first thing that registered was that the ground was soft. Had she found a new blanket somewhere? The air was warm, and it smelled nice, like food… it was then that she realized that the empty feeling in her stomach was gone. She wasn’t starving for the first time in a long time.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Her eyes were fully open now, and she almost fell off the sofa in shock as she realized she was no longer in the alleyway. Her first instinct was to run, but in a flash, the events of last night came back to her. Her body relaxed as she remembered.
John.
The man was a complete stranger who had, for some reason, invited her into his house, given her food, fresh clothes, a bath and a place to sleep, all without asking any questions. She knew nothing about him. What he did, who he was, anything, really, but as long as he wasn’t new to the city, she was sure that he’d heard of the rumours.
Demon child.
Most people ignored her entirely, and the few that didn’t usually attacked her or chased her away. So why had John brought her in? More importantly, why had she decided to follow him?
“Hey Prota, want something to eat?” John called out, interrupting her train of thought.
The child sat up and saw smoke rising from a frying pan, the smell of something delicious wafting towards her nose. Her eyes immediately widened, but as soon as she saw the food spread on the table, she lost all reasoning and headed toward the feast, as if hypnotized by the mere sight of it.
“Here you go. You shouldn’t eat too much, you know…” John started to say, but then gave up as Prota began wolfing the food down.
It was just bacon, eggs, and toast, but for her, it was a feast. She wasn’t so uncivilized that she didn’t know how to use utensils, but it did get a little bit messy with the speed she was eating. Soon enough, the plate was clear, and she held it up, silently asking for more. John couldn’t help but laugh. She was like a lost puppy or kitten, begging for treats.
“Your stomach is gonna hurt if you eat like this, you know that?”
Prota remained unfazed and continued holding the plate up, staring at John until he started feeling uncomfortable.
“Fine,” John sighed. “But don’t come running to me when you get cramps later.”
~~~
About two hours later, Prota was lying on the floor, clutching at her stomach. Her face showed no signs of pain, but she refused to stir.
“I told you,” John said, stirring something in a cup. “Here, drink this.”
Prota stirred a little bit in order to sip at the cup, and immediately pushed it away after tasting how bitter it was.
“Prota, please. It’s medicine. Um… is that what they call it in this world? A tonic, maybe, or a potion? It’s… it’ll help you feel better, ok?” John said, feeling stupid.
Had Prota felt even a bit better than she did at that moment, she would’ve questioned what John meant by “in this world,” but she was too uncomfortable to think about it and continued to sip slowly at the bitter drink. True to John’s word, she was feeling a bit better within half an hour. The man himself was moving around the room aimlessly, cleaning up here and there, but there was no real substance to his actions. After a while, he sighed and sat down on the sofa. It seemed that whatever he’d been putting off had finally caught up.
“Alright, Prota. We need to talk, ok? I want to put it off, but…”
Prota nodded and sat down beside him, shifting awkwardly as if scared to touch John.
“...oh, right,” John said, moving over to make room for Prota to sit comfortably. He’d forgotten about her aversion to grabbing his hand the previous night. He wondered about that again, but that was something he’d figure out later.
“Alright, look. We need to talk about the elephant in the room, right?”
Prota’s head tilted to the side. Elephant?
“You’re probably wondering something like… why I brought you in, why you’re here, something like that.”
Prota nodded.
“You might not believe me, but the answer’s basically… nothing. I’m not looking for much. Just a few answers to a couple of questions, but those can wait. It doesn’t really look like you’re in the state to be doing much, anyway. So rest up. Recover. We can deal with it later, ok?”
Prota looked at John and cocked her head to the side. It reminded the latter of a curious cat but then realized that this was probably her only way of showing confusion. Her facial expressions, after all, wouldn’t be a good indicator of that.
John sighed as he saw her expression. He felt that he’d been doing way too much of that as of recently.
Turning to face Prota, he saw something in her eyes. They weren’t dead. Not yet. It wasn’t too late to turn her back. He wanted to help her. She could still be a normal kid, someone who went through life by living and learning, enjoying as much of it as possible. He didn’t want her to end up like…
But how was John supposed to verbalize something like that? He shook his head and kept going on.
“Look, you can leave at any time, ok? Hell, if you wanna go out the front door right now, I’m not going to stop you. You can take the cloak with you, a bottle of water if you want, some dried food, whatever you think might help. But at the same time… you could also stay. All I’m asking is that when the time comes, you answer me honestly. Do you trust me enough to do that?”
Prota looked away.
Trust? That was something she hadn’t thought of for a long, long time. There was no one to trust. She’d been on her own. She’d been alone for so, so long. Memories flashed through her head. A fire. A demon. A village, from what seemed like an eternity ago…
A whole year. A year of living alone. A year of abuse, mistreatment, pain and suffering, starvation and scavenging… was it going to end here?
Just like that?
She didn’t want to look at John. It felt too much like a dream, like wandering in the desert only to be led astray by a mirage.
John coughed awkwardly. “Prota. I’m not that great at this kinda stuff. You know, one on one talking and all that. Expressing how I feel is just not my thing.”
Yeah, idiot. It’s because you don’t feel. How’re you gonna express what you don’t have? John thought, but kept going.
“Look. The way you look right now, it reminds me of- ah, what the hell. All I’m saying is, you remind me of someone who didn’t turn out so great. But you’re still a kid. You can turn around. You can still grow and live a normal life. But that means you have to recover a little first.”
John took a deep breath and paused.
“You don’t have to decide right now, but… think about it, ok?”
He got up and stretched. “I’ve got a bar to run, ok? You can stay up here and rest, sleep, whatever… might not be a good idea for you to come down, but… whatever. Just try not to break anything.”
He gave her a little smile and went down the stairs.
~~~
She’s a [Character], John. Why are you paying so much attention to a [Character]? She’s not real. She’s going to disappear in the end, just like everyone else. Get a hold of yourself. You’re being delusional.
“So much for your promise, huh?”
“I… shit,” John swore, slamming his head on the bar counter. “She reminds me of-”
“So despite knowing your roots, despite every [Reset] you’ve been through, you still can’t drop your humanity entirely, can you? No matter how much you try to deny it, you’re still part [Character].”
“Yeah, thanks for the reminder, shithead.”
“Wow! I wonder how much creative thought went into that insult,” Zero said sarcastically. “Ten points for originality.”
“I thought you were supposed to be helpful,” John groaned, lifting his head.
“We went over this yesterday.”
Zero popped out and smiled. A genuine smile looked out of place on someone who was wearing John’s face, but at the same time, it wasn’t all that bad.
“John. Just because you got some of your memories back doesn’t mean you have to be like this. What’s wrong with this?”
Zero looked John in the eyes.
“What’s wrong with feeling again?”
John stared right back. It was like looking in a distorted mirror.
“You know goddamn well why I stopped feeling.”
“That doesn’t explain why you can’t give it another try.”
“...I don’t want to.”
“Don’t lie to yourself.”
John started getting things ready, his face dark. The only sounds in the bar were the shuffling of his feet and the occasional clink of glasses. After a while, he turned back to Zero.
“Zero. I’m not lying to myself. I’m not lying to you. There’s no need for me to get attached.”
“And yet you subconsciously draw closer to her.”
“That’s subconscious. I can’t control that. I can control what I do about it.”
“And yet you act a bit more like your old self around her.”
“...”
John stopped what he was doing and froze.
“John. No matter how much you push yourself aside, you’re still you. You said it yourself. She reminds you of someone, and it’s not just Emma, right?”
“She reminds you of yourself. Right?”
“Don’t-” John started, but Zero ignored him.
“She reminds you of you when you started out. She’s going down the same path as you, isn’t she? Slowly learning how to stop herself from feeling. You don’t want her doing that. So why are you letting yourself do that? Why is it ok for you to do it but not her?”
“Because-”
“That’s a rhetorical question. Don’t answer. I saw the light in your eyes, however brief. You want to care for her, don’t you?”
“...”
John’s silence was answer enough.
“Then go do it. Stop being alone. Stop acting like you can feel, and start feeling for real.”
John sighed and walked over to the door, flipping the sign to “open.” When he turned around, a smile was on his face, and anyone who saw it would’ve assumed it was genuine. However, like Zero had been saying, there was no light in his eyes. It was an empty smile; a fake one.
“...I’ll think about it.”
With that, Zero disappeared, and another day began. John looked around and cursed as he saw the floor.
“Ah… I forgot to clean.”