ENDS

Third person P. O. V.

She blinked her eye twice to adjust to the ray of moonlight that was basking the pale looking skin of her face through the window.

” Hey.. She’s up” Santiago said with a smile as he stood from his crouched position where he was seated all through the day as he watched the little girl.

He hated this. He hated that he had to suffer an innocent child over the sins of her father. He wished he was dealing with hunter instead, his conscience would have let him handle this a lot easier.

After she had been drained, she just walked to the couch where the squeezed and cried herself to sleep while saying ‘daddy or mommy ‘. It honestly broke a hardened man such as he to see such a small girl endure so much pain.

It was pretty obvious to anyone who saw her that this event would definitely scar her for the rest of her life.

But he had to admit something. Louisa was strong. She was too calm for a child in this situation. He expected her to keep throwing tantrums till they had to sedate her every single day.

Instead she complied. Its like she knew the gravity of the situation she was in and decided to obey all instructions given as possibly as a five year old could.

” you hungry? ” Santiago asked her as she sat down on the bed with her two legs crouched under her, like she was scared of the floors.

He approached her slowly and sat by her side. Louie didn’t even move, from the glint in her eyes, it appeared that Santiago was the only person she apparently trusted in the building.

He lifted his right hand to reveal an apple that she hadn’t seen until this moment and lifted a brow to ask a silent question if she was interested.

The girl sat quietly with no words as she watched him display the apple. In the dim of the night her puffy red eyes and pale malnourished skin were the most evident about her. Louisa released her two legs from underneath her and hugged them to her body.

Still watching him.

Santiago wondered how else to get her to feed and a thought crossed his mind.

He took a bite from the apple and displayed it to her once again. This time taking it closer to her mouth.

  She bit the apple slowly and began chewing. It was only a matter of seconds before she collected the apple from him and began feeding on it.

Watching her eat brought a smile to his face. Despite being her captors aid, he had fallen in love with the little girl and he would hate himself if she got hurt.

But he was just the captors aide. He had no rights to release her without getting killed. And in as much as he loved the little girl like a child, he loved his life too.© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

As Louie nibbled on the fruit, he decided to engage her in a conversation.

” What’s your favorite fruit young one? ”

She was silent for a while and a little skeptical if she should answer him. If her looks were anything to judge by.

” Mines mango. Mangoes that are very juicy” Santiago says with a smile.

“Mangoes are messy” she uttered very quietly, like she wasn’t sure if she still had the freedom of speech.

” wow ” he said out of amazement and chuckled ” so what fruit is not messy? ” he asked ahead

” Apples, grapes, bananas” came her short reply.

” That’s true, so you don’t like mangoes? ”

” I do”

” But they mess up your clothes”

She nodded to his statement.

” That means you like them but also don’t like them”

She nodded again.

” so what’s your favorite fruit then? Apples? ”

A three second silence before her reply came.

” no”

“Grapes? “.

“Bananas ”

And with her answer, Santiago smiled once more and their conversation continued all through the night.