Afterwards

Visitor

She was shaken awake. Her first instinct was to flail out but she was still wrapped in her makeshift blankets and, instead, resulted mostly in just tangling herself up in them. Through bleary eyes and the darkness, it was hard to make out who was there. Cait could see a shape in the darkness that suggested that whoever was there was far smaller than her.

"Cait? Are you awake?"

It was Susan. "Susan! Kay. Uhm. What are you doing here?"

"Visiting. We're neighbours now."

Cait had thought that she was rebellious sneaking off at her age. Here someone who was practically a toddler had showed her up.

"Susan. How did you find me?"

"Oh, we saw your light earlier in the evening after someone followed you into this building."

Cait's head was still trying to grasp the full implications of Susan being there. It was like trying to fumble for some unfamiliar shape in the dark."

"Do you know how to feed a fire Susan? Can you get my stove going again?"

"Yep! One second." With that, Cait was suddenly blinded by the shining glow of a flashlight being turned on right into her eyes. Susan kept it pointed down, avoiding it shining out of the window and kept it directly on the task at hand. Despite her age she was well versed in the task and quickly had the little fire going. After a moment she quickly began bustling with a large piece of fabric.

"What's that?" Cait said.

"Its to block the window so your light can't be seen."

That was a good idea. "Did you bring that with you?"

"Uh-huh. Dad said that you might need it. I know he was mean before but he's just trying to protect us."

"Protect you? From what?"

"You know. Stuff."

"Does he know you're here?" Cait was suddenly concerned. The last thing she needed was a group of people thinking that she had kidnapped Susan.

"Yeah, of course. I wouldn't just sneak off. That's irresponsible."

"They just let you wander at night?" Cait wasn't positive that Susan was telling the truth, but didn't really know what to do about it. She wasn't familiar with the city

"I didn't wander. I came right over here. I sneak real well."

Cait could attest to that. "Wait, I barricaded the door. How'd you get in?"

"Oh, that. You barricaded one door. There were three to get into this office."

"Office? What's an office?"

"Its like. Its where people used to work in jobs."

"Oh. People didn't live here?"

"No!" Susan giggled at the thought. Apparently there was something very funny about Cait's lack of knowledge.

With the fire going, Cait dug her way out of her pile of clothing and glanced, jealously, at the thick coat that Susan wore. It was shiny and looked like it was made out of the same material as the sleeping bag she used to own. She pulled a cigarette out of her pocket and lit up. She glanced at Susan and offered her one from the pack. Susan looked timid for a moment then, after steeling herself, grabbed one. From her handling of it, Cait could tell that it was Susan's first time handling one.

"You don't have to be afraid of it. Flip it around and then you pull on it like you're breathing in while you light it."

Susan followed the instructions, carefully, and lit it off of a long campfire lighter that she had. This was almost immediately followed by a loud cough, redness rushing up her face and matching the watering eyes. Cait was careful to keep herself schooled and not to laugh or make fun.