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Her name was Sunny. I never found out her last name, how old she was, or where she had come from. I mean, I knew her only for a few hours. I had just made it through the fractures and crossed dimension and tried to kill Angel on arrival, so you might say I was pretty clueless about anything. It was so bizarre, seeing cars for the first time. People. So many many people, and all of the same species as I was, when previously there had been only Father and myself, and everything else was either food or trying to kill us. I jumped on the roof of a bus without even realizing it wasn't some kind of fast-moving animal, just to get away from the Hyperion. I hadn't managed to kill him, and he had not killed me, and that freaked me out more than any of the bizarre new world around me.
When I jumped off the bus again and scouted the area I had ended up, I saw some guy slapping someone around. That ended with me slicing his ear off and beating up his back-up, and then the person whom he had been slapping around, Sunny, took my hand and pulled me away. Now I know she was trying to help me, because those guys were armed, and it had been just dumb luck on my part that they hadn't gotten around to using their guns. I had no idea about fire weapons, or what they could do. Anyway, Sunny could have done the normal L.A. thing, which is what happened to me later on quite a lot - she could have freaked over what I did, and gotten the hell away while I was busy. But she didn't. Or she could have said "thanks" and parted ways with me as soon as we were clear of the guy who had been hurting her, whose name was Tyke. She didn't do that, either. Instead, she took me to a place where she stayed for the night. She talked to me. Much of what she said didn't make any sense to me then - I mean, she thought Quortoth was in Mexico when I told her where I came from - but that wasn't important because I thought I knew what she meant.
She said "Lots of folks squat here. Most are cool, but... If a fat guy, wearing furry slippers asks you to play 'teddy bear in the hole' just tell him to get lost" and she could have been speaking Chinese, but what I heard was "let me take care of you". That was so new, and so strange, in a good way, unlike everything else so far in this world. Father and I had always taken care of each other, of course, but he was my father, and I was nothing to her. A stranger. But she took me into her room and shared her food with me. Something you fight over with all the other predators around in Quortoth. It was candy, by the way, though I didn't know that then. It just tasted sweet and alien, and I could have listened to her for hours because her voice sounded different from anything I had heard before, too. Her words were even starting to make sense by themselves, not just what I thought she meant.
"Why did you come to L.A.?"
she asked me, and I said it, though I never would have told either of them.
"To find my father."
She looked surprised.
"Really? Heh. I came here to get away from mine. - Parents should have to take like a test or something, before they can have kids. And if they're - drunks, or idiots, or evil - they should be sterilized."
"When they are evil, they should be killed," I said, and thought: But I had failed at it. All my life he had prepared me for the moment, and still I had failed. Now I wish I would have listened better, instead of thinking about my own stuff. It was nearly the last thing she ever said to me, and maybe if I had asked about her father, about what he did to her, she wouldn't have - anyway. The next thing she did was leaning in and kissing me.
It was the first time anyone did. I didn't quite know what to make of it, and pulled back first because I was so surprised. All I knew was that of all the kind things she had done, this seemed kindest. There was something left of the candy we had just shared in the taste of her, and her lips were warm and soft, so after a moment, I leaned closer again and kissed her back. Not such a terrible world after all. It had this.
She smiled at me, jumped up and said she'd be back in a moment. I must have fallen asleep then, because when I woke up, I found her in the bathroom, slumped against the side of the bathtub. There was a tourniquet around her upper arm and a syringe still sticking out of her forearm. I know that now; back then all those terms were unfamiliar to me, but I did know, at once, that she was dead.
Like I said, I wish I hadn't been so clueless. Yeah, she was an addict, and sure, you don't kick a habit just because someone talks with you, but see, she can't have been that far gone. She shared her place with me, her food, and if I had kept her distracted for just an hour, or maybe half an hour, she would have been alive when Angel arrived. She'd be alive today. It's not that I was in love with her or anything; you need more than a few hours for that, or at least I do. But she was kind and good, and I never forgot what she did for me.
When I jumped off the bus again and scouted the area I had ended up, I saw some guy slapping someone around. That ended with me slicing his ear off and beating up his back-up, and then the person whom he had been slapping around, Sunny, took my hand and pulled me away. Now I know she was trying to help me, because those guys were armed, and it had been just dumb luck on my part that they hadn't gotten around to using their guns. I had no idea about fire weapons, or what they could do. Anyway, Sunny could have done the normal L.A. thing, which is what happened to me later on quite a lot - she could have freaked over what I did, and gotten the hell away while I was busy. But she didn't. Or she could have said "thanks" and parted ways with me as soon as we were clear of the guy who had been hurting her, whose name was Tyke. She didn't do that, either. Instead, she took me to a place where she stayed for the night. She talked to me. Much of what she said didn't make any sense to me then - I mean, she thought Quortoth was in Mexico when I told her where I came from - but that wasn't important because I thought I knew what she meant.
She said "Lots of folks squat here. Most are cool, but... If a fat guy, wearing furry slippers asks you to play 'teddy bear in the hole' just tell him to get lost" and she could have been speaking Chinese, but what I heard was "let me take care of you". That was so new, and so strange, in a good way, unlike everything else so far in this world. Father and I had always taken care of each other, of course, but he was my father, and I was nothing to her. A stranger. But she took me into her room and shared her food with me. Something you fight over with all the other predators around in Quortoth. It was candy, by the way, though I didn't know that then. It just tasted sweet and alien, and I could have listened to her for hours because her voice sounded different from anything I had heard before, too. Her words were even starting to make sense by themselves, not just what I thought she meant.
"Why did you come to L.A.?"
she asked me, and I said it, though I never would have told either of them.
"To find my father."
She looked surprised.
"Really? Heh. I came here to get away from mine. - Parents should have to take like a test or something, before they can have kids. And if they're - drunks, or idiots, or evil - they should be sterilized."
"When they are evil, they should be killed," I said, and thought: But I had failed at it. All my life he had prepared me for the moment, and still I had failed. Now I wish I would have listened better, instead of thinking about my own stuff. It was nearly the last thing she ever said to me, and maybe if I had asked about her father, about what he did to her, she wouldn't have - anyway. The next thing she did was leaning in and kissing me.
It was the first time anyone did. I didn't quite know what to make of it, and pulled back first because I was so surprised. All I knew was that of all the kind things she had done, this seemed kindest. There was something left of the candy we had just shared in the taste of her, and her lips were warm and soft, so after a moment, I leaned closer again and kissed her back. Not such a terrible world after all. It had this.
She smiled at me, jumped up and said she'd be back in a moment. I must have fallen asleep then, because when I woke up, I found her in the bathroom, slumped against the side of the bathtub. There was a tourniquet around her upper arm and a syringe still sticking out of her forearm. I know that now; back then all those terms were unfamiliar to me, but I did know, at once, that she was dead.
Like I said, I wish I hadn't been so clueless. Yeah, she was an addict, and sure, you don't kick a habit just because someone talks with you, but see, she can't have been that far gone. She shared her place with me, her food, and if I had kept her distracted for just an hour, or maybe half an hour, she would have been alive when Angel arrived. She'd be alive today. It's not that I was in love with her or anything; you need more than a few hours for that, or at least I do. But she was kind and good, and I never forgot what she did for me.
