Lisa squints her eyes a bit, trying to see beyond the heavy raindrops that collide mercilessly against the windshield.
She bits the inside of her cheek. She hates driving while it's raining.
It's dark. The only clarity, aside the faint one provided by the car headlights, is produced by the lightings that soar in the sky.
It's late. Later than Lisa thought it was before deciding that as much as she enjoyed her job, she was not going to be physically able to create something valuable without proper rest.
She only became aware of the weather once she actually left her workplace.
Right now, slightly nervous, Lisa tries to concentrate on the road that leads her home, the thought of a warm bed and an even warmer fluffy company filling her mind.
She's thinking about trying to fit yet another playhouse in her not-so-big apartment for Leo not to feel too bored when she leaves for work, when the lights of the car illuminate a strange silhouette besides the road.
Lisa almost didn't see it, both due to her acceptable driving spend and the utterly poor visual conditions.
She diminishes the pace slightly, considering for a moment.
She really, really wants to get home as quickly as she can, the slight ache at the bottom of her back begging her to keep driving forwards.
It could be just trash.
Or it could be a lost animal, Lisa thinks, or a bunch of abandoned ones, just as her own cat was.
It's the memory of a starving, shivering baby Leo whining along his brothers under a broken piece of paperboard the one that makes Lisa turns her car around and drive back to the unidentified shadow.
As she gets closer, though, she realizes there is no way it belongs to a box full of kittens.
Lisa can't see very well, but the size of the shape is quite big. Everything is a bit blurred; the storm seems to have become even stronger.
The blonde stops the car a few meters away from her destiny. She's a bit scared, honestly, but she hesitates just for a moment before reaching for the handle.
She's not Lisa if she ignores a call for help.
She gets closer carefully as she feels the rain immediately drenching her.
The blonde is already just a few meters way from the figure when she actually becomes able to see it more clearly.
And the sight makes her chest hurt.
It's a girl, curled into a ball with her forehead pressed against her knees in an attempt to cover herself from the anger of the tempest. She's shivering violently, her arms uselessly wrapped up around her own tiny figure, her chocolate hair drenched just as the white garment that covers her body.
Lisa attempts to take a step closer, but she stops abruptly.
Her heart starts beating almost uncomfortably fast, her mouth opening slightly. She stares at the girl, unable to say anything for a while.
The blonde is only able to snap out of her stupor when she starts to hear sobs coming from the brunette curled on the floor.
"Hey", Lisa says in the softest voice she can muster.
That doesn't prevent the girl from jumping in fear.
She launches her body away from Lisa, her cat-like eyes wide, scared, and her lips still trembling a bit due to her cries.
Lisa stares at her, stunned, a sad feeling pulsating from her heart.
She knows.
So the blonde leans down on the floor, worry adorning her features.
She speaks steadily.
"What happened to your wings, angel?"
The tiny girl looks at the blonde, shock covering her face.
It hurts. Everything hurts so much. Her back, her legs, her head.
There is a pressure practically crushing her chest.
And she's freezing and she's just desperate.
"I lost them", the brunette sobs openly, "I lost them".
Lisa's heart aches a bit more.
"It's alright. Let me help you".
She extends a hand towards the crying figure.
The brunette hesitates, her mind drifting to the only clear memories she has.
Danger, she thinks.
But the blonde girl is looking at her with such softness in her features she feels the way in which her already weakened determination starts to crumble down.
"My name is Lisa. I can help you, I promise. You'll be alright."
She shouldn't, she really shouldn't take this unknown human's hand, but she's just so exhausted.
So she lets the blonde girl intertwine their fingers softly.
It feels kind of nice.
"I promise I won't hurt you", she says, her voice mellow.
The brunette lets herself be leaded to the copilot seat of a black car.
Lisa takes off her own jacket and puts it on top of her companion's body. She drives for a while, silently trying to organize her thoughts.
I'll take her home, and then...
And then?
"How did you know?" the brunette interrupts her reflection.
Lisa looks over the tiny girl. She wonders faintly how she manages to look as ethereal on Earth as she would've been back home.
"Are you a special human?" the shorter girl insists just seconds later.
The blonde nods slowly, her gaze fixed on the road once again.
"I'm special".
The brunette does not speak again, the warmth of the jean jacket and the smooth movement of the car prompting her eyes to close against her will.
She should be attentive, she thinks, and tries to memorize the road. But it's pointless, her mind overwhelmed and her body aching for some rest.
Lisa diverts her eyes for a second to check on the brunette.
"You can sleep if you want", she offers.
Her companion shakes her head with determination, her eyes half-closed.
Lisa purses her lips a bit in worry, but sighs in relief when she notices the fury of the storm diminishing.
There are still a few kilometers left to reach her apartment.
