Chloe awoke to a loud shriek. The first thing she saw as she scrambled to her feet was the dark figure towering over her. She hurriedly backed away from it as it shouted at her. “What are you doing!?” Chloe let her vision clear and saw that the figure was an older woman, not so old as her grandmother might be, but her sun-tanned face definitely showed wrinkles and graying hair.

While Chloe was not so scared of this figure, she still thought it best to leave. Without hesitation she attempted to stand up and run before any more trouble came. But her strength failed her and she merely stumbled backward and fell. Oh no, she thought. Here it comes. Any second now she would be smacked with a garden shovel or worse. Now that she couldn’t run away this was it for her.

But the unexpected happened. Rather than threaten her with the trowel she was holding, the old woman dropped it altogether and rushed to Chloe’s side. Bending over her, the woman grabbed Chloe’s arm and tried to help her sit up, saying “Oh, oh dear! Are you okay?”

The lady helped Chloe stand up and continued to hold her hand. She stared at Chloe for an uncomfortable minute before asking if she needed to come into the house.

In all honesty Chloe was quite taken aback by this. This woman’s behavior was so different from everyone else she’d met so far. Cautiously Chloe nodded her head and the lady helped her inside. The lady escorted her into the living room, looked at the sofa for a minute, looked at Chloe, looked at the sofa once more, then told Chloe to wait one moment and rushed into an adjoining hallway.

A moment later she came back with a towel which she spread onto the sofa. “Please sit down.” she urged, much to Chloe’s relief. Still cautious, Chloe sat gingerly on the sofa, trying not to pass out. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but look around the room. The most noticeable feature was the large windows. They seemed unnaturally large, especially for a structure of this size. Half the room exposed the barren plains.

The color of the walls was a light sandy beige, like the outside, but the whole look of the room was much smoother and more refined. Sea shells and strange paintings decorated the room. The furniture, Chloe thought, was not overly elaborate but still elegant, with fine wood tables and shelves. The couch she sat on had green vinyl upholstery, rather than the cloth Chloe was familiar with. Clearly, while not rich, this lady was certainly better off than anyone Chloe had ever known.

The lady came back with a glass of water and a large pitcher. “Here,” she said. “Drink as much as you like. Oh goodness, you look miserable. Let me get you something to eat.”

Before Chloe could even utter a raspy reply, the woman went into the kitchen again. In a moment she came back with a cup of hot tea and a plate full of pastries. “I made these about a couple days ago. They’re not fresh, but they should be something.”

The lady sat down on a chair opposite to the sofa. She gave Chloe an intense, quizzical stare and Chloe stopped gulping her water. She darted her eyes around to try to avoid the woman’s stare but couldn’t avoid feeling puzzled. What did this woman want? Was she no longer welcome?

Finally the woman drew a heavy sigh and spoke. “Where did you come from?

Chloe, whose mind was more focused on the pastries in front of her, met the woman’s gaze. The woman’s dark careworn eyes remained fixed on Chloe. And suddenly she felt vulnerable. It was as if this woman somehow knew everything about her, even the things she wasn’t proud of. What if she suspected her of stealing? All of the previous guilt washed back and Chloe felt herself building a barrier against this woman. And yet she couldn’t just stay silent.

“I… I’m from…” Chloe stammered. She still didn’t know if she could trust this woman.

She looked down at her feet, which were absolutely encrusted with dirt. This momentary distraction made her forget herself. She decided to try to trust this woman. What choice did she have?

“I’m from Terzep.”

“Terzep!?” The look of shock on the woman’s face took Chloe by surprise. “On the border?”

Chloe nodded.

“Isn’t that where they had the fighting a few months ago?”

Months? Chloe felt a rock in the pit of her stomach. She looked back at the dirt on her feet. How long had she been walking?

“There was fighting, yes.” Chloe said. Unpleasant feelings started to resurface, but she tried to ignore them.

“Dear gods above! Your parents must be worried!”

The feelings Chloe had held back returned in full force. She spoke softly so as not to give away the tremor in her voice.

“Why did you run away?” the woman continued, almost accusing Chloe, it seemed to her. “You shouldn’t do tha…”

“I didn’t run away! They’re gone!” Chloe blurted. She could no longer hold back the flood of memories. “I ran because I couldn’t go anywhere else!”

The woman simply stared at her as she bawled into her hands, her harsh gaze softening. “Oh my, oh my…” was all she could say. Then she shot out of her chair and ran to pick up a nearby phone. She fingered the rotary dial frantically and began shouting into the receiver. “Hello, hello? Pick up, pick up, pick up… Yes! Armin? Armin, where are you? What? I don’t care if you’re working! Get over here right now!” After a pause she yelled back “Look, I don’t care how important it is. Get your sorry self back here! I need your help.”

Chloe found the whole conversation bizarre, and wondered who she could be talking to. She hoped it wasn’t the police, but it didn’t seem likely. The woman had called the person by name.

After a short exchange the woman set down the receiver and turned to Chloe. “There now.” she said. “My husband will be here any minute. In the mean time just relax and eat. Drink as much water as you need. I’ll prepare a room for you.”

Chloe nodded and spent the next few hours eating and drinking to her heart’s content. The cold clear water quenched her parched throat. Though, she couldn’t eat as many pastries as she liked. Her stomach was stuffed after only a couple. She was about to lie down on the sofa to take a nap when the woman returned.

“All right, I’ve set up our guest room. You can stay there for now.”

After getting cleaned up Chloe was shown to her room. Her ragged old clothes were thrown out and replaced with an oversized shirt and shorts. Although they were comfortable, they felt very clunky and she felt silly wearing them.

“I’m very sorry. These are my old clothes. We don’t have any children, so this is the best we can do.”

The woman was surprised to discover Chloe’s watch. Even more, she was surprised to discover her attachment to the now battered item, but promised to have it fixed.

Chloe was surprised to see that with the mud washed away, her ghostly pale skin was sunburnt red. She thought herself quite unusual, almost grotesque with her white hair. Her lack of pigmentation certainly did her no favors.

The two of them soon ate lunch, and as they ate Chloe heard the low hum of a motor draw near the house. The door flew open and an older sunburnt man with visibly graying hair and an unkempt face stumbled into the kitchen.

“Well I’m here. What’dya want that was life or death?” he said, almost running out of breath as he said it. He glanced briefly at Chloe. “Who’s this? We taking care of the neighbor’s kids now?”

The woman rolled her eyes and put down her spoon. “’This,’ is the ‘life or death’ situation. I found her in our garden half dead.”

“Oh really?” the man threw up his hands. “’Cause you know kids just show up at our house all the time.”

“Armin!” the woman scolded. “She’s a war orphan from Terzep!”

Te man’s face went from snide indifference to alarm. He blinked. “Terzep!? You mean on the border? With Antassim!?”

“Yes.” said Chloe, but the man just ignored her.

“Yes, where all that fighting was.” The woman replied.

The man turned to Chloe again, this time with wide eyes. The he shot back to his wife. “That’s over two-hundred kilometers away!” He sat down slowly, as if exhausted. He then looked at Chloe. “You expect me to believe that this kid crawled her way over two-hundred kilometers of barren wasteland from a war-torn part of the country? How are you not dead!?”

“I don’t know.” said Chloe. She felt it hard to get a response in between all his talking. “I just walked as far as I could.”

The man mulled this over for a second. “Well you can’t stay here.”

Chloe’s heart sank.

“Armin!” The woman shot out of her chair with a fury Chloe didn’t think her capable of.

“This is no place for a kid to grow up.” The man defended himself. “She can’t stay here.”

The woman stomped over to him, looking ready to smack him at any moment. “Well what are you going to do, throw her back out? She couldn’t even stand up this morning!”

“Look I didn’t say that! I just said… Look, this is an industrial area. It’s too dangerous and most people here are transients with no family. Besides, we’ve never had any children. We don’t have enough to take care of a kid, and even if we did…”

“We have enough, Armin.”

“But we don’t know how!” the man protested. “Kids need young parents with the energy to take of them. We’re both too old for this.”

The woman sighed. “You do have a point.” Chloe, sensing her opportunity slipping away, chimed in. “I won’t be too much trouble. I promise! I’ll help out.”

Both the man and woman glanced at her, then the man said “Look, we’re not going to throw you out.”

The woman glared at him, then he chuckled. “Excuse me for a second. Me and my wife have to discuss this.” They both left the kitchen. Chloe could hear them arguing, and in a moment they both came back. The man looked defeated while the woman smiled with smug satisfaction.

“Okay, here’s what it’s going to be.” The man said taking a seat at the table. “We’re going to let you stay for the time being.” Chloe beamed with excitement. She could stay!

“But,”

Chloe frowned with disappointment.

“But we’re going to try to find you a home. My wife here is going to call the adoption agency in Sassan, and we’ll eventually find you a new family.”

Chloe was relieved to hear this.

The man continued. “The fact is this is a very dangerous place, and it wouldn’t be a problem if we weren’t so old. Plus you need some brothers and sisters to play with. The nearest town is several kilometers away.”

“Thank you.” Chloe said.

“Don’t thank me just yet. You’re going to do your part. You’re going to help clean up and take care of things. I can’t have you making too much of a mess around here.” The man held out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Chloe was so happy to hear this news. At last her search was over! She got out of the chair and ran to the man to give him a hug. The man was a little taken aback by this, and pulled her away after just a few seconds.

“Don’t get too comfortable.” he said getting up. “It’s just until you have a new family, alright?”

Chloe nodded.

“By the way, we haven’t introduced ourselves.” The woman chimed in. “I’m Anahita Naptya, and this is my husband, Armin.” The man nodded. “I don’t believe I know your name.”

“Chloe.”

“Chloe.” Anahita repeated the word. “A most unusual name. Definitely not Artabanian. Isn’t that a north Ioan name?”

“If I remember correctly I think it’s east Wilslandian.” Armin said.

“Aagh, how would you know.”

“I’ve been to Wilsland!” replied Armin indignantly.

“Four days on a business trip does not count.”

“Hey! I’ve seen people with that name before.”

Chloe, tired of their arguing, got up out of her seat, put her plate away, and walked to one of the bookshelves in the room. There was one with pictures, so she grabbed it and sat back down on the sofa. She hadn’t even cracked open the cover when the couple entered the living room and stood behind the sofa.

“Ah, I see you found one of my books.” Armin chuckled. “I guess we’ll make you an oil engineer yet!”

Anahita laughed with him. “Well you had better pay her!” Then they both laughed together.

Something about the way the two of them laughed together reassured Chloe. Now she felt she could trust them. Even if it was only temporary, staying at this house would be a blessing.

That night Chloe slept in the one spare room they had. It was sparsely furnished and the air was a bit stuffier than the rest of the house. Nevertheless her bed was a full size, which was quite comfortable. The room was filled with dusty old books, which Chloe found intriguing.

“If you need anything, me and my husband will be across the hall.” Anahita said, then shut off the light.

Chloe looked out the lone window. The vast starswept plain no longer seemed so scary now that she had a bed and four walls. It was not hard for her to fall asleep.