She doesn't stop crying, but she's not crying loudly anymore.
It's that type of crying where it's just tears.
Anyways, she allows you to get closer to her. She wants that orange you got by the way.
I rip off my bag, and unzip the top. There, on the bottom, lays a small orange and a protein bar.
I sit doen slowly, and scootch closer, bit by bit until I'm about 3 feet away from her. The orange is pretty easy to peel, and I toss the peel into the woods. I hold out a segment of the fruit, juice pouring down my hand.
What's she going to do?
Is it even a good idea to be this close?
Take off my jacket, even though it's below freezing, and wrap in around her.
I pick her up and carry her, like a firefighter, for about 15 minutes. With a peeled orange in hand, I carry her to the edge of the woods, and rest for a bit. The journey continues until I reach my dusty mint house, unlock the door, and plop her on the couch ad bibrant as the fruit in my hand.
I can't just undress her and give her clean clothes, but since she's wearing a button up, I take that off from under her sweater and slip her into a large crow neck sweater.
I place her back on the couch and throw a huge comforter over her, as she must be freezing. I decide to leave the rest of the orange and a half empty bag of dill chips for when she wakes up.
I don't want someone with a voracious hunger like that staying in my house.
Should I have even brought her here?
Guess I'll have to see...
"Uhm. Hi. Hello. Uhh..."
I try to find some sort of explanation...
"You fell asleep next to me in the woods... and I thought it would be better if you stayed in a warm place, with food,,,, and clean clothes...?
...
.........
"This is my house, by the way."
...........
.....................
"Um... what....what's your name?"
"Well. Um. Lina. What... Why were you in the woods? Do you need medical help?"
I get up, and quickly rush to my bathroom to grab the medical kit, and rush back to Lina. Just in case, I think.
"Oh boy. Uhm... I'm Ivan." I'm tense, and when I'm tense I tend to fidget with my ponytail. The band I used to secure it breaks, and my black hair falls in a swath of darkness over my shoulders.
"You can stay the night here, no payment, promises, or deals included. But in the morning you have to tell me what the hell... what the hell you are. There's stuff in the fridge and you can get clean clothes from the basement, by the dryer. Don't devour everything in there, ok?"
I turn, and start walking away.
"..."
".........."
"Goodnight."
"What so you want now?" I'm still pretty groggy, so all I see are her red eyes glowing from the edge of my bed.
"If you need something to do, then go out for a walk or something. It's like midnight, so no one wi be awake, much less out on the streets."
I up and head out of my room, and grab a heavy fleece lined jacket from a black metal coat rack.
"This should keep you warm enough, and if you put up the hood you should just look like some lump of fabric wobbling around."
I give her the jacket as she's shooed out of my room. I need to get some sleep. But just like Lina, it's impossible for me to keep my eyes closed for long.
You can just wait for morning, I keep thinking. You made a deal that in the morning you'll learn more about her.
And before I know it, I'm opening my eyes to the sun glaring in my face. It's a Saturday, I think, so I have the probably the entire day to spend with that... that girl.
