Saturday was quite busy,  I had to take care of errands in preparation for the bakery's grand opening that was merely 2 weeks away, ive been working hard to make this happen for a while- so everything had to be perfect.   by the time I was done with all the errands it had already turned dark.

I recently moved to a pretty rural area,  so its oddly quiet at this time of the day.  As I was making my way back to my apartment I was considering the last talk I had with my mother,  she kept asking me about my love life, which is pretty much nonexistent-  you see, I haven’t really had time for dating recently,  with the bakery's opening and being gay in a conservative community.  But soon ill have more time, and people seem to be more accepting here, so it was something to consider.

I kept spacing out as I was walking until something unusual caught my attention.   A beautiful melody struck my ears, someone was playing the old piano at the park,  hitting every note perfectly,  quiet but powerful,  it was magical.   As I got closer to check it out, to surprise it was a girl playing it.  pale skin and long black hair that sparkled under the city light.  She had soft features and looked quite attractive- I thought to myself.  She was wrapped in a couple of old coats and seemed to be completely zoned out,  playing the the melody until the end, quiet and beautiful-  I could see the moonlight reflecting on a few silent tears on her pale face, she looked very mysterious and gave off an ethereal aura. 

I waited until she was done before announcing myself.   She flinched with a very cute coo when I approached her and quickly turned around to me,  I could see her eyes were red from tears,  the poor thing has been crying a lot. 

"h-how long were you here?!  I didn’t notice you…"   she mumbled meekly.   "I just got here, ill let you know that you are very talented!" I replied enthusiastically.  "no… im not.  Im awful."  another tear fell down her cheek.   I was feeling concerned and so I asked her "are you okay?"  she looked at me and pouted, her eyes avoiding mine.  "do you really care?"  I smiled at her "of course I do!"   she looked down into the ground- her pretty eyes full of shame, and lowered her voice.  "Well, you shouldn’t…  I'm a monster.  I will only hurt you."   i really doubted that, but this girl seems to have been abused into feeling that way.   "do you have a place to stay in?" I asked "no.. not really.   I sleep by the water mill"   She was dressed in old clothes, and smelled like she hasn’t showered in a while, so her answer didn’t surprise me,  at that moment, I made a rush decision that should have been better thought-out,  but my heart was hurting for the poor dear. "how about you come stay with me for a bit? Take a shower and get you in some clean clothes?"   she looked at me in shock,  not expecting such kindness from a stranger "thank you miss"  she muttered quietly.   I smiled gently at her "its Arin."  "Lola."  She replied. 

The streets were empty as the two of us then made our way to my apartment, it really felt quite different than the city life I was used to, crowds always bustling in the night-  but it was a refreshing change that would grow on me, I thought. Lola quietly tailed me so I made sure to slow down to her pace to not leave her too far behind, she was silent, but I didn’t mind that too much. Maybe I could get her to help with the bakery after the opening-  I thought to myself.  When we finally arrived I pulled out the key from my purse and unlocked the door.   I turned around to Lola and said "so… this is it!  this is where I live, in a moment I'll give you a short tou-"  I stopped talking when I noticed her shivering, her eyes glowing with need and desperation as she leaned closer to me and finally opened her mouth "will you promise to always protect me?"  she said limply, her lips barely parting.   I muttered tentatively "i- uh,  I'll do my best"  she then launched herself towards me and hugged me tightly.   I sighed to myself… she really is an odd one, isn’t she?   She sure caught me off guard with that question but I didn’t hesitate to smile and hug her back anyway.    If I only I had known what was yet to come.