Chapter 5: Echoes of the Fall

Sitting down on the leather couch, I let my weight collapse down into it. I could already feel the exhaustion creeping into me from all the time I’d spent awake. The living room around me was connected directly to the kitchen, due to this apartment only having a single bedroom and combined living/kitchen space. The lingering scent of fried egg lingered in the area, and the dishwasher made gentle running sounds.

The far wall had a few windows, leaking the indirect afternoon sunlight into the room. At that wall, Zophie kneeled on the floor, fiddling with the box ‘VCR player, as she called it, and the TV. For anyone else, the gray carpet and dark-colored walls might make them feel cooped up inside, but I enjoyed the way they sucked in the light.

Zophie managed to untangle the mess of wires and set up the TV within just a few minutes. “I didn’t know you were an electronics expert,” I mentioned idly.

She smiled wryly. “Oh I’m not an expert at all,” she said as she awkwardly smiled. “I just remember how to set these up from my Dad. Daddy and I used to sit and watch together after dinner— before he passed.”

“Oh,” I let out, not knowing what to say. What was it that mortals did in this situation? Right, “Sorry.” I grumbled reluctantly, the platitude sounding hollow even to my own ears.

She shook her head gently, a fond smile on her face. “No, it’s okay. I just remember the happy things, like how I’d always sit in his lap and ask him questions about what might happen next or about things I didn’t understand. I can still hear him now.” Zophie’s voice took on a deep affectation, “‘Keep watching,’ he’d gently say, ‘The story will answer your questions if you pay attention.’ I used to get so frustrated that he wouldn’t answer my questions, but he taught me to love storytelling.

“Look!” she focused on the TV, The Land Before Time beginning to play. “We’re past the previews!”

Zophie scrambled away from where the TV sat on the floor, running over to the couch. Instead of sitting on the couch with me, as I’d expected, she sat down on the floor, leaning her back against where my legs were resting.

I didn’t quite know what to make of it; she could have sat anywhere else. The contact made me uncomfortable in my own skin, so I pulled my legs up and lay down on the couch instead. Besides, laying in this position would make it a lot easier for me to nap. I almost asked her why she was down there, but she seemed content enough.

Now fully leaning back against the foot of the couch, Zophie’s voice came over the gentle opening with the giant lizard and her spawn conversing. “I forgot how sad this movie is...” she trailed off for a moment. “But maybe, all good things in life require struggle.”

Such things were the empty platitudes of the weak, but I wouldn’t bother voicing that aloud. As the inciting scene played, the mother lizard passing away, I saw tears streaming down Zophie’s cheeks. But other than a small sniffle here or there, she remained quietly enraptured by the story. I felt nothing for these fake lizards— who would? But for Zophie, some message struck deep into her soul, and I found myself staring at the woman rather than the TV screen.

The movie remained uninteresting, for the most part, and yet I couldn’t fall asleep. Each time my eyes began to drift, some new expression would take hold of Zophie. Even though I could only see part of the side of her face, each emotion played across her face like music drawing me in.

When Spike did something silly, her entire body lit up with amused giggles. When Sharptooth, the tyrannosaurus rex, chased the main characters, Zophie’s fists went white, clenching against her pant legs. How could someone feel so much, for pointless animations on a screen? I thought I’d be disgusted by it all, but instead, she drew me in. When Cera finally joined Littlefoot, Ducky, and Petrie at night, Zophie had the most serene expression.

During each scene, I found myself studying her reactions, trying to understand why she felt so much emotion for something so insignificant. These myriad feelings were something I’d cast away long ago, but for Zophie, they made her who she was.

When the little dinosaurs finally managed to smash Sharptooth with the giant boulder, I felt no small amount of satisfaction. This was the way the world worked, after all. The strong survive.

But, with Zophie in my frame of view, I couldn’t help but notice the way her breath hitched, her body flinching when the boulder hit the villain. A wistful sadness overtook her then, a deep, hiccupping sigh releasing from her.

“I always wished there could have been a better way. Even though I knew it was coming... Even though Sharptooth is the way he is... I don’t know,” she explained without prompting, her eyes staring into the distance.

What she said didn’t make sense to me; I thought she’d be glad that her little dinosaur friends beat the ‘bad guy’ as she called him. Zophie seemed hopelessly naive in my eyes, like she couldn’t possibly protect herself.

She suddenly turned around to face me, the TV still playing behind her. “Do you think there’s redemption for someone like that?” her prodding eyes hit me like a boulder.

“Redemption, huh?” I repeated, my voice strained. In a world abandoned by heaven, where the strong devoured the weak, what use was redemption? If redemption still existed, it wasn’t here. “No,” I decided firmly. “Sharptooth did what he needed to survive, to eat. Nothing more, nothing less. Redemption has nothing to with it.”

Zophie smiled, but it wasn’t filled with her usual warmth. Instead, she looked at me with sadness in her eyes.

The rest of the movie played, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Her words kept playing in my mind. What use was redemption in this world abandoned by heaven? Not that it didn’t deserve it. God had already thrown the boulder, and we were just riding down into the deep end.

Even when the tiny lizards made it to the Great Valley, and Zophie cheered in second-hand triumph, I barely paid attention. This mortal really didn’t get the way the world worked, and that thought bothered me.

Later, as the credits rolled, Zophie’s soft voice talked over the music. “Littlefoot was always my favorite character. Though, Ducky is cute, too.”

“But he’s a boy, isn’t he?” I hummed. “I thought you’d like the girl best.”

“What, Cera? No way! Sure, Cera’s cool once she learns how to get along with everyone, but she’s kinda mean before that.” Zophie turned around, resting her arms and upper chest on the couch, her face coming close to my stomach. “Who’s your favorite?”

I had to tilt my chin down to look at her from where my head rested on the armrest. “Sharptooth. He was the only realistic one of the bunch. He represents reality: eat or be eaten.”

Zophie playfully smacked my leg with a wide expression. “Sharptooth can’t be your favorite; he’s the bad guy!” She shook her head incredulously, “I can’t believe the bad guy was your favorite...”

I shrugged, but I wasn’t sure if Zophie saw it. Her eyes had glazed over a bit, looking down in deep thought.

“I think I understand you better now,” she said simply.

Her words struck a chord in my stagnant soul, her statement resonating with me. With a half-smile, I replied, “That’s funny; I thought the same thing about you.”

My words caused her entire face to light up with joy, her eyes meeting mine. For the briefest of moments, my frozen heart beat in my chest, but it stopped again soon enough. How was she doing that? I didn’t understand.

As if reading my mind, Zophie reached forward and stabbed me in the chest with her finger. “See, you do have a heart. You just have a hard time hearing it.” Framed by the sun setting behind the windows, her smile lit up the entire room.

Pushing her hand away, I hastily stood up. This all made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, like some weird warmth was crawling up my chest.

She looked up at me, still kneeling on the floor with her upper body resting against the couch.

“I’ll find you a blanket. You can sleep on the couch.” I was already walking to my room. Despite my initial intentions, I hadn’t managed to sleep at all during the movie. I was running on fumes, probably one of the main reasons it felt so darn stifling in here.

“Um, don’t you want to eat dinner?” her gentle voice prodded.

Quickly shaking my head, not even turning around, I replied, “It’s fine. Just eat whatever you put in the fridge earlier.”

After that, I walked to my room, grabbing a blanket from one of the closets. The stupid thing was covered in dust, so I had to smack it a few times. If Zophie had some kind of bad reaction to it, I’d have a hard time sleeping through her coughing fits. Maybe I’d wash it tomorrow.

Ugh, the lack of sleep really was getting to me. She wouldn’t be staying here tomorrow anyway, I’d confront her landlady tonight and resolve that problem. Refusing the heating for her apartment had to be some kind of crime this time of year. Even if it wasn’t, it almost certainly still counted as a sin.

Without a word, I walked back out and handed the blanket to Zophie. She still hadn’t moved from her place on the floor. She didn’t take it right away, so I just dropped it on the couch. Luckily, I’d managed to get most of the dust off.

I turned around to leave.

“Asmo?”

I stopped but didn’t turn around. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

I grunted. “Sure.”

“Good night. I really enjoyed spending time with you.”

I... didn’t know what to say to that. Something quick, maybe. I was too exhausted to deal with this right now. “I’m glad,” I replied simply.

Normally I never bothered with it, but this time I went to the apartment door to make sure the bolt was locked. Didn’t need any of my... acquaintances walking in on Zophie. That’d just be a recipe for stress.

By the time I made it into my bed, I stared up at the ceiling for a while. I usually never had any trouble falling asleep, and despite my whole body feeling overworked and overtired, I just couldn’t relax. My muscles were wound taut, my mind racing over the events from today.

If I couldn’t fall asleep, maybe I’d go out hunting early tonight.