Chapter 4: Fossils of the Heart

The silly girl had bits of cheese on her lower lip, but I wasn’t one to point that out. I wondered how long it would take for her to notice, honestly. She gently pushed the fork down into the last piece of cheese omelet, swiping her hair aside with her other hand, and then put the forkful into her mouth. Her face lit up in a bright smile as she enjoyed the taste, humming softly. I couldn’t understand how such a simple thing brought her so much joy.

When she put her fork down, she had a satisfied expression, her blue eyes twinkling in an afterglow. Then a panicked expression spread across her face, growing horror mounting in a gasp.

“Ohmygosh, I didn’t make any for you! I’m so sorry,” she raised her hands, frantically waving, “I can make another one really quickly though!”

This girl... would she ever realize that I never intended to eat her mortal food in the first place? Besides, she seemed to gather far more joy from the meal than I ever would have.

“Don’t worry.” I brushed her concerns aside. “Like I said, I ate earlier.”

“Oh, right. Well,” she jumped off her stool and grabbed her plate from the island, “I better clean everything up for you at least, especially since I basically just ended up imposing on you...” The realization sunk in, her features dropping again.

If this skinny mortal hadn’t gotten that food in, she’d be liable to die of starvation. I didn’t see the big deal.

I stood up from my chair as well, forcibly grabbing the plate from Zophie. “Don’t worry about it. I got it,” I said gruffly, forcing the issue.

“Are you sure?” she questioned hesitatingly, wincing slightly.

“Yeah,” I waved her off. Knowing her, she’d accidentally shatter the dishes or some such nonsense.

Forcing myself through her, though I was careful not to hurt her, I made my way to the kitchen. As I was gathering up all the cookware she’d used, placing them in or near the sink, Zophie grabbed my attention again.

“What do you want to do now?” she asked chipperly, already moving on to the next thing.

“I’m doing the dishes.”

“Yeah,” she said in a tone that suggested an eye-roll, “But what about after that?” she continued eagerly.

Letting out a sigh and realizing she wouldn’t be satisfied without a way to occupy herself, I decided to ask the one last question that might save me from her presence.

“What are you still doing here, anyway? Don’t you want to go home or head to work or something?”

For almost a minute, the only sound was of running water and clacking dishes.

“A-ha,” she forced out an awkward laugh.

Turning my head around briefly, I could see she had one hand behind her head, a conflicted look on her face.

“Yeah, well, I guess you would want some time alone anyway...”

“That’s not what I said. Don’t you have some kind of responsibilities?”

“Well,” she tilted her head, counting off on her fingers, “my last job fired me on the first day, my landlady said she’s turning off the heat to my apartment since I can’t make service payments, and I can’t think of anyone who might want to hang out with me.” Despite her absolutely depressing circumstances, she didn’t say any of this with any amount of sadness in her tone. She actually tried to frame it as if it was no big deal, just a ‘whoopsie’ that would resolve all on its own.

For a moment after she finished, her blue eyes dimmed, something heavy crossing her features. She forced it away with another smile. “Well, it could be worse. I’m just thankful I have a roof over my head, honestly. God knows I’ve been in that situation before.”

“Yeah, no.” I denied vehemently. I finished putting the last of the dishes into the dishwasher before turning around. Grabbing a small hand towel, I dried my hands as I said, “You aren’t living somewhere without heating. It’s barely spring, the temperature is still possibly deadly out there.”

She looked ready to refute me, but I put my foot down. “I bet you don’t even have a space heater; what, are you just wrapping yourself in blankets and hoping for the best?”

“Sleeping bag, actually! I know it sounds silly to most people, but I’ve always been fine with less. I guess I just... don’t want to bother anyone.” She managed to sound chipper.

This was getting comical. How could anyone possibly be like this? This was... this was... she was some kind of anomaly— an impossibility. And yet, something stirred in me that I hadn’t felt in many mortal lifetimes.

Maybe I’d have to pay Zophie’s landlady a visit.

Zophie tilted her head at me in slight confusion. “What should I do, then? If you don’t want me to go home... I don’t really have anywhere else to go.”

My mind completely made up, I stated firmly. “I’ll talk to your landlady— work something out.”

Her face lit up in bright optimism. “Oh, thank you! I’ve let a lot of people sleep at my place before, but I’ve never been invited to stay at someone else’s before!”

This girl... how had she not been assaulted?! Killing people with kindness didn’t work out so well in real life, despite what this walking anomaly wanted me to think. Shaking the thought away, I opened my mouth to speak up again. But I quickly noticed a distracted Zophie turned away, rummaging through some old stuff.

“W— I didn’t invite you to stay here.” How had she gotten that idea?

“Ohmygosh!” I could hear her smile, barreling right over me. “It’s an old box TV! I love these things!” She blew on the old cardboard box, sending dust everywhere and causing me to frown. “You even have an old VCR set here! What are these treasures doing just rotting in away in your living room for? You could set them up over here,” she pointed to the far wall, “in front of the couches!”

“Those were there when I moved in.” I hadn’t bothered to change anything about the place after moving in. I slept here, that was it. Why would I want to bother with mortal furnishings?

“Well, I’ll be fixing that.” She nodded her head in determination, already pulling out a jumbled mess of wires. “here, can you help me pick up the TV?” the old box television looked to be heavier than the tiny woman herself, and she looked ridiculous trying to squat down and pick the massive thing up.

If I didn’t help her, she might drop it and create a giant mess. Walking over, Zophie smiled up at me as she saw me make my way over. With a sigh, I bent down, helping to pick up the other side. Together, we started walking to the far wall.

“Right here is good,” she decided for us, bending down to put it down.

I followed her lead, setting the TV right on the floor.

“You really are nice, aren’t you Asmo? Thanks for helping me move it; too bad there’s not something better to set it on.”

Before she could dwell on it further, Zophie quickly pattered back over to the old boxes, shuffling around in one for a few moments before pulling out some kind of human rectangular artwork. The front seemed to be showing off giant lizards walking through a canyon.

“You have a VHS Land Before Time?!”

I winced from her volume, halfway turning my face away. “I guess?” I had no idea what a vee-aich-ess was.

She held the tape to her chest, her voice softening. “I used to watch this with my mom when I was little. It always made me feel... safe.” That’s it; we’ve gotta watch this.” She turned her head up from the rectangle, her eyes wide and begging. “Unless you don’t want to?”

I was still exhausted from an entire night of hunting, my sleep long interrupted by this anomalous girl. We’d already gotten to midday, after all those omelets. Maybe if she was distracted for long enough by this odd human contraption, I could get some decent rest.

“Fine with me. Just don’t make a mess.”

She ran up to me, the rectangle still in one of her hands. “Oh thank you!” Her body collided with mine, her arms wrapping around me and her torso pushing into me. It felt... warm. “I promise you’re gonna love it,” she finished softly.