Evelyn didn’t know where she was wandering off to. She just wanted to find a nice quiet place to sit down and cry. She could feel the tears coming from behind her eyes. She found herself a nice hidden spot underneath the stairs. Quiet. Isolated. Not a soul in sight. She sat down and let go.

Her jaw locked open as tears slightly rolled down her cheek and onto the floor. She wanted to cry out in pain but she couldn’t. Somebody could have been watching. The large metal grate next to her was blowing cool air near her. She carefully covered her mouth and slightly let out a muffled wail.

Suddenly, near her, she heard footsteps.

“Why are you crying?” A tiny voice said.

Evelyn shivered in shock. She looked around but didn’t see anyone.

“Over here, estúpido.” The voice said again in a spanish accent. The voice was that of a child’s. Evelyn jerked around and peered into the metal grate. It was a little girl. She could have been no more than eight or nine years old. She sat inside the vents with a look of worry on her face.

“Uhh...What?” Evelyn said as she shifted away from the metal grate.

“You’re crying. Why?”

Evelyn shook her head and wiped away her tears. She paused for a moment and tried to put it in a simple way.

“I am...upset. I...I did something bad.” Evelyn said as her words tumbled out of her mouth. The small child reached up to the metal grate and pushed it out and aside. She had a bright blue shirt with brown overalls. Her hair was brown and tied up in bouncy pigtails and her skin was lightly tanned. She sat in front of Evelyn, uncomfortably close to any curious child who would be at their age.

“Want to talk about it?” The child began to speak. Evelyn was about to answer her when suddenly she spoke again. “Oh! You could speak to Sister Mary Joseph!” The child said.

Evelyn put her hands up, defensively. “Nah, I don’t need to talk to a nun r-”

Her words halted when she saw the child pull out a tiny puppet out of her overall’s front pocket and in a high pitched voice she spoke, “Tell me my child. What seems to be bothering you.” The child said as she made the puppet dance back and forth. The puppet was all cloth, dressed as a nun with a little yellow ruler and big blue button eyes.

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Evelyn didn’t know what to say. She didn’t expect her day to turn out the way it did. She most definitely didn’t see herself getting therapy from a puppet being wielded by a child underneath the stairs. But heck, life sure is weird.

“It’s never too late to say you’re sorry or ask for forgiveness.” The nun spoke. “That's right Sister Mary” the child responded in her normal voice. This whole scenario seemed really silly to Evelyn but she decided to roll with it.

“I...broke a promise with a friend, Sister Mary.”

“And she is mad at you”

“No, not yet. She doesn’t know. I’m in a bad place. And I...okay at first I wanted to take advantage of her getting me out of jail by saying to her I am going to get professional help. Honestly I wasn’t planning on it. But then...something happened.”

“Go on…” The nun said as it did another little dance and waved its little fluffy arms.

“Something happened. There's this kid. Well not kid but, like she has to be ten years younger. Something about her I just can’t put my finger on. She seems...so innocent and nice. Annoying as hell-”

Evelyn’s words were cut off as the child gently whacked her on her head with the puppet.

“Do not say the H E double hockey sticks word, please.” The nun said.

Evelyn blinked a moment.

“Sorry...Sister Mary Joseph. Anyway, after I ran into her and things have been just straight up weird. And when Parker showed up and the man with the gun and Io, I kind of took a hard look at myself. I could have died. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like where I was and I wanted to get out. Jane and I...we know one another. We were pretty good friends. And I messed it all up. We haven't spoken to each other for awhile. And...heck this all can’t be just a coincidence. And I made a promise with her. I told her I wouldn’t drink. But I just did and now I feel guilty.”

The child and the nun nodded simultaneously.

“It’s gonna be okay.” The child said as she hugged Evelyn briefly. “Besides if you didn’t care about getting better you wouldn't be upset about breaking your promise with your friend. A promise is a promise is a promise.”

“Okay...uhh” Evelyn sat there for a moment in silence and thought over what she just heard. The hug surprised her more than anything.

“Sure..okay, kid..uh Sister.” Evelyn said as she took a deep breath. “Thanks” She muttered.

“So why are you here? I’ve never seen you before.” The child asked.

“We came here with another friend of mine, her machine. And it's somewhere in the basement but I don’t know how to get there.”

“Oh! Thats easy.” Said the child as she pulled out a plastic keycard from her pocket.

“La guardia always takes a nap here around this time. I can show you to the basement.”

“Wait...what? How?” Evelyn said in a surprising tone.

“Me amigos and I play hide and seek here. They can’t find me if they don't have the key.”

“Dirty...I like it. Wait. What do you want for it?” Evelyn said as she leaned back. The child cracked a grin on her face.

“Candy...and a free ride home.”

“A ride I can do. Candy? I can’t.”

The child dropped her hand with the card in it and let out a small whine.

“Aw...why not?” The child said, pouting.

“Cause if I had any candy I would have eaten it by now.” Evelyn said. “But a free ride home, I can promise you that.”

“Free ride and then we get candy?” The child said as she tucked the nun and the keycard back into her pocket.

“Sure....if we can.” Evelyn agreed.

“Yay!” The child said in a high pitch squeal.

“Just stick with me and I’ll lead the way.” The child said as she got on her knees. Her pigtails bounced in the air as she stood.

“What's your name, kid?”

“Nyssia.” Nyssia said with a mischievous grin.