After the opera Shilo went to her mother's tomb. As she lay facedown on the cool stone of her mother's grave she felt as though she might have been the corpse inside it. She was finally free, and yet everything that kept her grounded, everything that defined her life, was stripped from her in a single night. Without those guiding walls she found herself falling apart in the dark grave. Her body ached and her hands were bloodied from pounding the tombstone with her fists. She was filthy, cold, and if she did not eat soon she would starve. It was going on a week now since the opera, and her belly roared in desperation. She had to eat, because even though she had nothing to live for but herself she did not want to die.
Shilo sat up as slowly as she could and still managed to make herself dizzy. In the midst of the fuzz she thought she heard her father, but he wasn't speaking to her like he usually did. He did not call her Shilo. "Kid. Are you there?" Shilo groaned and positioned herself against the wall of the tomb so she could lean her head back, and she closed her eyes as she heard the door creek open.
One black boot hit the dirt floor in front of Shilo, sending up a little cloud of cool, pungent dust. Graverobber kneeled next to her, half-wondering if she was still alive. He reached out and touched her shoulder, resting his hand there. She opened her eyes then and he sighed with relief. " Damn, kid. I thought I was going to have to check you for Zydrate for a second. He smiled, she didn't. "Thanks." She said, spending her last dose of sarcasm. "What are you doing here, kid?" "I don't know I just ended up here. I'm hungry though. I was about to go back to my dad's. You know, to eat and-" "And you weren't planning on going alone, right?" "It doesn't matter, I'm not sick anymore." She was whispering now, straining to stay awake. "Trust me I'm not worried about you being sick, it's the rest of the world you gotta watch, kid." All that escaped Shilo was a noise that sounded remotely like "Ugh." "Come on kid, let's get you home." "Thanks" Shilo breathed. No sarcasm this time, only exhaustion. Graverobber picked her up like a baby and began to trudge through the graveyard towards the Wallace residence.
When he had managed to open the gait and front door he was unsure where to set Shilo down. He sat her in a musty looking high-backed chair in the parlor and began to search for a kitchen. The door next to the staircase seemed to be a match so he started to search for food. He was hungry too and he found much more food stored in the dark wood cabinets and chilled in the ancient refrigerator than Shilo could eat in a month. Graverobber thought for a moment about what she might like to eat and decided not to fix her much, just incase her stomach couldn't handle it.
In a few moments he had brought her some toast and juice, only to find her sound asleep in the chair. "Kid! Hey, kid you gonna eat something?" "Shilo" She whispered, without opening her eyes. "What?" "My name is Shilo." She opened her eyes then, just for a moment before rolling them shut again. "Whatever kid. Look do you have a bed or something? You don't need to sleep in that chair." "Upstairs." She murmured. Without a word Graverobber picked Shilo up again and began to carry her up the staircase. He found her room easily enough and after making a face at her plastic-shrouded bed he laid her down, and covered her with her strewn blankets.
He left the room with a single glance over his shoulder. She was lovely, and innocent, and so undeserving of this whole circumstance. He wondered who would take care of her now; now that everyone she'd ever known was making friends with a less lively crowd. "Poor kid," He said before grabbing a piece of toast and walking out the front door. When she woke the next morning he was there, perched in her window, looking out over the city.