Lucifer?

"Wake up sleepy- head!"

Carl opened his eyes and saw Gen smiling at him. He noticed some cinders on her face and smiled.

"I made breakfast!" she said.

Carl widened his eyes in surprise and stood. He looked at the kitchen and smiled again as he was grateful his kitchen was not on fire.

Gen led him to the kitchen. Carl was surprised of what the little girl did. She really made breakfast! Omelet and fried bacon were served on both their plates.

"How did you learn to do all of this?" Carl asked curiously.

She smiled and sat on the chair. She always had hard times trying to climb on tall chairs, but she always managed to anyways.

"Let's eat and I'll tell you."

Carl sat and tasted the food served to him. "Not bad kid! So tell me."

"I learned to do a lot of things even before because I was forced to do so by my former guardian."

Carl stopped for a moment and then said, "I'm sorry you have to go through all that!"

"I'm excited to go to the university. What is it like?" the little girl asked.

Carl grinned a little bit and replied, "Oh about that. I'm sorry Gen. The university's director cancelled all the classes due to some issues."

Carl noticed the little girl lost her smile. He noticed disappointment in her face, but he understood since it was his word and he broke it.

"Hey cheer up! I'll take you next time! And by the way, I'll be leaving you for a while, but I promise to come back early. I will be just gone for groceries. Would you be all right? Can I trust you?"

"Okay," she replied in a solemn voice.

Carl put on his coat and his hat and went out. After Gen had done the dishes, she went to her room and looked for her bag. She found it inside a drawer and immediately get the book she failed to finish reading. She read silently for few minutes and then stopped to gaze at the window. She noticed birds pecking on the flowers displayed outside the window. She closed her book and opened the window completely. The birds flew as fresh air swiped the hair off of her face. She noticed the flowers were gloomy and the soil were dry, so she decided to water them. She grabbed a glass of water and tried to reach the flowers. But her arm was too short to reach them. She though never gave up. She rolled a card board into semi- circle and slowly pushed it into the pot until one end of the rolled card board reached the soil inside it. She then pour water from the end she was holding and slowly water dripped into the soil. She watered the plants in this way until all had been watered.

Before she had the chance to close the window, someone from across the building called out for her attention.

"Pssst. Are you alone?"

Gen looked up to see who could it be and saw a half-naked fat guy. Gen got annoyed and thought it was just a stupid pervert. She rolled her eyes and tried to close the window again but again the man insisted.

"No no no wait! So you are alone, now hear me out first. Little girl you are in great danger!"

As soon as she heard this, she opened the window up again. She looked at the man but did not respond to what he said. "Do you know the man who take you there?" the man asked. "His name is Carl and he is a professor!" the innocent little girl replied.

The man started to lean forward out his window and said, "Hey, you are right, he's a professor in some university but education is not what he only works for. You can not trust this man kid! He's not what you think he is! Oh no! You don't know him, but I do! I have been here for many years kid, I've seen some nasty things. I beg you run away now, while he's still not around! You are just his another victim! If he told you he's going to take care of you, well that's exactly what he told those poor homeless girls."

As the little girl heard this, she was starting to feel nervous. She could hear her heart pounding fast and loud. At this point of time, she doesn't even know whom to believe into. She was confused if she was going to believe the man that was telling her things or trust the man who was showing him good things.

She left the window open and went for the door. She thought of looking for exits in case the man who treated her good things had really no good intentions. She turned the knob but it was locked.

She started to believe more to the guy he was just talking to. She had inner anxiety and started freaking out a little, but she wasn't still sure. It could be just that Carl locked the apartment because he was not used to have somebody around to look for it.

Gen started to worry for herself because she was aware she is defenseless. What could she do if Carl was really a bad guy?

So the little girl locked the door of her room. She waited quietly sitting on the bed. She placed her bag beside her and covered it with the blanket. She was feeling nervous as she waited for Carl to get home.

"Please come in! I think she's sleeping in the room. Don't wake her up yet!"

Gen woke up from the noise of murmurs in the living room. She realized she had slept waiting for him. It was dark and when she looked at the clock, it was 7: 25. Carl had finally got home and she was even more nervous when she heard him talking to somebody. She stealthily stood from the bed and walked into the door to clearly hear them.

"She will be delivered to a new client this midnight. You said she's special? Good job!"

When she heard this, she turned pale as sheet. Her body was warm but her hands were cold. She was trying to explain what was happening until she had inner anxiety attack.

She slowly peeped in the keyhole to see the man Carl was talking to. She saw a tall man with a very dark eyes smoking a pipe. Her heart was pounding louder and harder. And it skipped a bit when they stood and was looking into her direction. She leaned away from the keyhole and went to bed and immediately hide beneath her blanket.

The men tried to open the door but it was locked. There were big knocks- two or three. She tightened the grip to her blanket and started to cry.

"Gen! Open this door! I brought you a surprise. I'm sure you like surprises!"

Gen was stunted and couldn't utter a word. She did not know what to do until a blow of wind brushed her hair away. She looked at the window, and she knew that was the answer. She stood, carried her bag and went out through the window.

"Gen! Are you there? Don't make me do this to you! Gen!!! You little brat!!!" The men knocked harder on the door but still there was no answer. They tried to open the door banging their shoulders unto it.

"Where's the key?!"

"I don't know! I left it in my case! It's in your car!"

"Damn it!"

Several blow of winds swept off her dress as she stood still on the ledges of the building. She looked for somewhere to go and finally found a staircase- a fire escape that was two windows away from her. She slowly took a step aside, into the staircase, never looking back. She just felt scared, not by heights but because she knew she'll wander the streets again- vulnerable. She had strong grip unto her bag as she slowly went into the fire escape. She safely passed one window from her apartment and before she could pass another window, a man called out to her. "Little Gen! Come back!"

She looked back and realized it was Carl. She began to shed tears and then shouted, "Go away! I trusted you! You're a bad guy! You called me brat!"

The man tried to get out of the window, but it was too small for him to go through. He was frustrated and tried several times, but he was hopeless. He gave up and said to her, "I'm sorry Gen! Please come back! I had to say those things because I had to! Please come back! The man already left. Please!"

The little girl stood still, weeping. She looked at Carl and saw frustration on his face. She was easy to persuade and planned to believe in the man, but her mind changed as she saw smoke coming out from the window. She knew, that Carl's associate had smoke with a pipe and that he was still there, and that Carl was lying.

"I don't believe you! He's still there! You're lying. How come you have done this Carl! I trusted you! I trusted you!" she shouted.

"I never told you to trust me! You trusted me by yourself. Lesson learned kid! You can never trust anybody in this world!" he replied.

She shed more tears and then continued walking until she finally reached the staircase. She stopped for a moment and carried her bag behind her back. She looked back one last time, but this time, she saw nobody but an open window. It was though Carl and the man had given up.

She then hurriedly run down the staircase and had landed safely unto the ground. She wiped her teared eyes and walked into the streets. There were a lot of things in her mind. The man she trusted turned out to be a bad guy and she survived her unexpected escape, and now she was homeless again.

She walked quietly with her arms crossed, frustrated and scared. It was not long enough before she began to notice strangers following her. But she had to make sure though because she did not want to overthink things. She changed her direction in ways, nobody would normally do. She started to suspect it was Carl and the man who were following her. She waited for a chance to see their faces. She turned into a direction where she found a lamppost and had to pass their intentionally to shed light into their faces.

When the lamp finally shed light unto their faces, she saw malice faces of two men and one of them, she wouldn't mistaken, is Carl. She got more scared and immediately run away as fast as she could. The two men followed her. But the little girl was clever and chose a direction with a lot of people walking by

She had to run into the crowd. One lady had to stop her and asked, "Are you all right young lady?" She ignored the lady and continued running away. She ended up in some corner of the streets, where it was deserted and dark, and the only thing shedding light to it was the bright moonlight.

She tried to catch her breath and looked for the men. They were nowhere to be found and so she knew she lost them. She still though was scared and knew she wasn't safe, and that sooner or later, they will find her . So she thought of stop running and hide somewhere dark, to completely lost the men. She found a dark alley filled with dumpsters of different sizes, and decided to hide in one of those dirty dumpsters just like what she did before. But this time though, she wanted to hide from real danger!

Unfortunately, all the dumpsters where fully loaded. There was no empty one. But then she heard two men talking, approaching into her direction. She had no choice but to hide inside one of the empty boxes filed up beside a dumpster.

The two men stopped at the alley entrance and examined their surroundings, but they just did not have any idea where the little girl went. The little girl who was just meters away from them, hiding inside an old box, peeped into a hole to see the two men. The only thing she saw was two dark figures and their dim shadows cast by the moonlight, but she knew it was them because her heart was beating faster and faster. She remained very quiet and covered her mouth. She even overheard them talking.

"She must have not gone far! Not with those little feet! Let's check the next street, may be she went there! She'll tire at some point!" one of the men said.

"Forget it kid! She's clever! She's gone! I'm tired, let's go back. Don't worry, I will not tell the boss, you failed!" one of the men said as he was trying to catch his breath.

The two men walked away. At last, the little girl felt safe.

She then came out from the box and went deeper into the alley. It was dim, but not totally dark, because the moonlight was upon her. The alley though was not long, in fact it was short. She continued but it was just short steps for her before it was a dead end. She saw card boards laid in a corner, next to a stinky dumpster and some huge plastic bags of trashes. She had planned to spend the night in the alley- sleeping on the card boards.

She still had deep breaths from the running and still tried to catch her breath. She placed her bag beside a big plastic bag full of trash , and then sat down to calm herself.

"That's my place kid!" a voice called.

She immediately stood and looked for the source of the voice. In a corner, sitting, beside an open plastic bag, was a man- a beggar, who was eating a loaf of bread.

"Who are you?" she asked trying to distant herself from the man.

"No. The question is - who are you?" the man replied.

It was a man in his 50's and rather looked old because of his thick white-haired beard.

"I'm sorry, I just needed somewhere to sleep!" she said in a solemn voice.

The man finished his last piece of bread and stood. He approached the little girl and said, "Ah! I'll make you a bed out of those boxes. I'll sleep on those card boards!"

She smiled but lost it when she realized, she was not sure of trusting the man. But who could blame her when the last man, she trusted, turned out to be a bad guy?

"What if you're a man with bad intentions? What if you'll sell me just like what Carl did?!" she asked.

The man sat down on the laid card boards and replied, "Look, I don't even know this Carl you're talking about. I'm homeless kid, and besides, if I had bad intentions, I could have done it a while ago. I heard everything earlier and I could have told the two men who were looking for you that you were hiding in a box. I could have exchange you for some change and buy myself something to eat for tomorrow, but I did not, did I? Because I understood you! I know how it feels to be haunted! But if you don't believe me, then go! Leave me in peace!"

The little girl changed her mind. She thought he was right and that he wasn't bad after all. She even took pity in the man.

"I'm sorry mister... I just have trust issues, but I would be very glad if you make me a bed just like what you said!"

The man smiled and stood. He then grabbed some boxes beside a dumpster. He ripped two big boxes and joined them together. He then finished the bed by placing some of his shirts from his bag inside the box to feel more comfortable. He then placed it beside his laid card boards.

"Here you go kid! A nice comfy bed!"

The little girl finally approached the man and went inside the box.

"I fit! This will do thank you mister!" she said.

She got out from the box and sat beside the man. She grabbed her bag and got a chocolate bar from it and ate. She even offered the man a bite but he nodded and refused.

"What's your name kid?" the man asked.