Hello there! Just a note before you start reading: From now on, in some occasions, I will be using words and expressions in Portuguese (since is the language Alice and Lea are used to speaking, you will understand as the story unfolds). But not to worry, I will place the translation right ahead, in between parentheses and underlined.

Please enjoy!

The morning light was shining brightly through the big windows, nudes of any curtains, assaulting and disturbing the sleep of one of the two new residents. Grunting Alice turned around giving her back to the windows and covering herself wholly with the blankets, forming a barrier against the sun. However, once half-awake she felt her body protesting about the hard wooden boards beneath her. With another grunt, she gave up and threw her blankets away from her body. Still, with her eyes closed, Alice began her morning stretching. She didn't move much during sleep so when she waked up her members were sore and torpid, especially her back and shoulders. She began stretching and flexing both her feet and legs, moving up to her arms, shoulders, neck, and back, popping every possible spot, a content moan leaving her lips with the release of tension. Finally opening her eyes she looked at her phone.

"Merda!"(Shit!) She half-whispered half-shouted. "Leeeaa! Wake up!"

It was already ten-thirty, they both slept in.

"What are you… shouting about… so early in the morning..." Lea asked between yawns while trying to rub the sleep from her eyes, her light brown locks a mess.

"It's not early in the morning, it's already ten-thirty so hurry up, we need to get breakfast in time! The bathroom is this way." She said holding her hand and half dragging her sleepy niece to the nearest bathroom, which was the one inside her room.

"Stay here, I will go get our toothbrushes and all the other stuff."

Running back to her bedroom, to the suitcase that she neglected last night in the far corner of the room, she started searching for her and Lea's hygienic products and by a miracle, they were able to wash up and dress up in fifteen minutes. Their kitchen was only equipped with a median round sink, a small grey marble countertop, and old dark oak cabinets, most of them placed higher than she could reach. They didn't have appliances, food or kitchen tools to cook with, so they ended up in a small cozy coffee one block away, eating pancakes and drinking orange juice, the two had barely made it in time arriving ten minutes before the breakfast service ended.

"Hey Lea when you finish eating search for furniture and electronic store nearby. It would be great if we were able to buy everything today."

Lea put the last piece of pancake in her mouth and took her laptop out of her bag pack, it was something she always brought with her, an essential item for her to have close by on a daily basis. The laptop was equipped with a special speaking program incorporated that allows her to hear instead of seeing; basically, the laptop speaks with the user. But her father who had a knack for computers and technology made some changes and upgraded the basic system of the program to do more than just describe things to the user, of course, Lea made some changes of her own as well in the last couple of years, what exactly Alice wasn't sure.

Since she was small, Lea was a curious child that wanted to know everything but Alice knew her niece always felt she had many limitations because of her blindness, and the girl hated that. When she wanted to know something or wanted to gather information about some theme she had very few choices, there aren't many books for blind people, even less indicated for children. So Alice saw her niece dedicate herself to the most practical font of information she had access to - aside for the people she knew - computers. She became really good with programs, systems, codes and her last knack, hacking. She hated to feel, even though true, that she couldn't do this or that because she was blind or as happen often, people treating her like an incapacitated person, a burden that forced others to change things or get out of their way for her. It was true that existed many things that she couldn't do, like cooking, but Alice couldn't cook either and she wasn't blind. So Lea proud herself with her computer skills, the brunet was sure it made her niece feel closer with her dad and it was something that came in handy since she herself didn't know much about the theme.

Alice didn't like the fact that Lea could get in trouble for doing something illegal but after many times of being proved wrong, she decided to trust her niece's judgment and abilities. Besides, it wasn't like she could do much, cutting the internet access or something of the sort wasn't enough to prevent Lea, who was twice as good as she was and could easily overcome such basic tactics.

"There's a furniture shop fifteen minutes on foot from here. It's called Graham's Furniture and the electronics it's five minutes from there. Here's a map." Lea said while turning her laptop in Alice's direction.

"Thanks. Hmm… ok, I've memorized the map and I've finished eating so let's go."

"We're walking there?"

"Yeah, it's not far and we should get familiar with the neighborhood, besides it's a little sunny today and the weather's not that bad. I heard it's rare here, so we should enjoy this miracle while it last."

As they walked, Alice described to her niece the streets, the people and the always-present greyish atmosphere. They passed by a market place, a few clothing stores, two coffee shops, one restaurant and a small park with some people enjoying their Saturday. A woman reading a book in the shadows of the trees, an old man giving crumbs of bread to the pigeons, two couples sharing romantic moments, a girl walking dogs and a few families enjoying their time together.

"Then it gives the impression of a nice neighborhood?" Lea asked after a while of forming in her mind a picture of her aunt's descriptions.

"Yeah, it's not that bad."

The furniture store was bigger than Alice imagined and had many other products as tableware and washroom sets and other house products. As they entered, the bell on top of the glass door resonated through the whole place, notifying the owner to the arrival of new clients. A skinny guy with a big business smile came out of a lateral door near the balcony to welcome them, but as soon as he saw who the new clients were his smile dropped and a small frown appeared on his face.

"Is there something I can help you with?" His voice unamusing and a little tetchy.

Alice fought the urge to roll her eyes, she could guess what had caused the change in humor on the man, it was something that happened all the time. Actually, it had append last night with the taxi driver; they both confused her for a teenager.

It's all because of my face…

Alice didn't look mature or age-appropriate in fact it was the opposite, her height was average but she had what people called a babyface. To make things worse she usually didn't wear much makeup and her choice of style outside of work and social events was a casual one, which didn't help her at all, making her look no more than nineteen or twenty. The man in front of her was probably thinking that it was a waste of time because a teenager and a child represent no profit in this kind of shop.

"Not for now, thank you. If there's something we like to purchase I will call you." Turning her back to the man, the brunet walked away pulling Lea into the middle of the furniture to find what they needed to fill their new apartment.

Lea was touching everything she encounters, it was her way of understanding and envision the form, appearance, and texture of objects and people too. Alice noticed that the man wasn't appreciating them touching or even their presence in the store, but he didn't open his mouth to comment so she didn't say anything either. Soon enough, when they found something they liked and wished to purchase his mood changed in a swift. After three long hours of debating about which one, from which color, material, and size they should take, they finally had everything they needed to furnish the apartment.

The owner was really happy and satisfied with their purchases; it wasn't every day that he sold so much, especially to a single customer. Alice bought a double and a single bed, three bedside tables, a couch, one dining table with four matching chairs, a dark wooden coffee table with a glass top, two bookcases, three shelves, one desk and chair, one chest of drawers, some mirrors, lamps and curtains, a tableware and bathroom sets.

"I need the delivery to happen as soon as possible because right now we don't have a single thing in our apartment."

"Well, we charge extra for urgent deliveries, if that's not a problem we can schedule it for the day after tomorrow at six? My guys should be able to deliver and assemble everything before nine."

"Really, so soon?" Alice didn't expect to have the furniture ready this quick. She had hoped that at least until the end of the week she would have her apartment ready, but being able to close this matter before starting work was a miracle.

"Of course, we have all the items you have chosen in the warehouse and my employers are hardworking fellows that can get the work done really fast." The owner said with a wink at the end "So it's the day and time doable to you miss?"

"Yes. The sooner the better!"

"Then you just need to fill and sign this." He took a piece of paper and a pen from behind the counter. "Miss how will you be paying, credit card or cash?"

"Credit." She said, handing her card.

After filling and signing the paper the man returned her card and escorted them to the door.

"Have a good day and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to call."

"Alright, thank you and have a nice day."

"Oh no, thank you." The owner almost sang, as his smile grow even more on his bony face.

"I guess we made his day." Lea whispered as the two walked away.

"Yeah, I guess we did. But now I'm hungry. We could buy a sandwich on that coffee around the corner and go eat in the park we passed by when coming here. What do you think?"

"Sounds good."

While eating on a bench under the shadows cast by the trees, they made a list of the things still lacking.

"Well we don't have a fridge, nor a stove and oven, uh…what else…" Lea pondered while eating her tuna sandwich. Alice decided to go with a fresh cheese sandwich.

"We also need a TV, a microwave, a toaster, and a coffee machine."

"Then it won't take that much time if it's just that we need to buy."

"Hope not."

Alice said crumpling the paper that came with the sandwich into a ball. She looked around for a garbage can; there was one, more or less three feet away. She aimed and threw it to the bin.

"Was it a hit?"

"No." She pouted.

The ball had hit the edge of the garbage can and dropped on the floor inches away from the goal. Still pouting at her bad aim, she took Lea's paper and got up to pick up her own and put the two in the garbage.

The rest of the afternoon passed with both of them buying the rest of the stuff in the electronics shop and going home with nothing more to do. The owner agreed to deliver her purchases on the same day as the other delivery but in the morning, for an extra cost of course, since she had informed him that in the afternoon she was occupied. In other words, the day was going to be a mess of people and boxes.

The next day Lea took the opportunity to familiarize herself with the apartment, with small but confident steps and both hands glued to the walls she began memorizing the location of every room and the respective number of steps that took her to reach each part of the house.

Outside of their door on the right was the stairs to descendent to the other floors, next was the elevator, with the staircase that leads to the rooftop right next to it. Entering the house, there was a hallway in an 'L' shape that extended itself to the left, linking all the areas of the apartment. The first one, right in front of the entrance was the kitchen that was an open space connected to the dining and living room. Next came the rooms. There were two rooms; one of them was a master bedroom, which Alice took over as hers the moment they bought the house. The private bathroom wasn't the only reason that made the brunet chose this room, it was also the fact that it was situated on the corner of the building, providing double of the windows than the others did - this being the primal reason for her pick. Lea's bedroom was situated between the first room and the bathroom that was at the end of the hallway.

Lea decided she liked the apartment, it was smaller than the former one they lived in but it feels more open and airy and she could not stop wandering around memorizing every single spot. Even though tomorrow she was going to have to do it all over again since with all the new furniture, she was going to need to retrace her steps and memorize new ones so she wouldn't bump into things.

That night before going to sleep, Alice climbed up to the rooftop. Gotham looked – to her surprise – strangely beautiful. The lights of the houses replaced the never presents stars, they were warm yellowish spots dancing in the mirk of the night, each and every one of them a person, a family, a Gothamite, and Alice found herself oddly fascinated. Teel orbs remained focused on the dancing lights, a storm threatening to erupt in the deep green-blue tones. Her heart jumped with insecurity. Would she finally be able to belong, to love a place and be able to call it her home with all her heart? With the dark, cold night involving her, and the moon as her only witness, Alice could finally lose the calm facade. She was scared. And she knew Lea was too, and because of that, she couldn't show her niece her fears and uncertainties. She needed to be a strong, confident and reliable guardian, for Lea's sake. However, the big question was how long she could endure the false assurance, how long until the small girl found out how weak she really was, how pathetic she felt not being able to fill the role she needed to play as her legal guardian and model role. She so desperately wanted to be all that to Lea… although she knew it would never happen…

There were skyscrapers everywhere threatening to touch the dark sky, but never being able to reach it. It was how Alice feels, always trying to reach imposable things; just like a child that isn't aware of their own limitations or the ones surrounding them. But Alice was not a child and she knew very well the limitations she lived with every day and the ones that were a part of her. So knowing this but still trying to reach for the imposable… What a fool.

Taking one last deep breath, she turned and went back inside. Tonight she would sleep on the floor again; she could not wait for tomorrow when they could finally sleep on a cozy bed.

Alice was dragged out of her dreams by the alarm clock, the shrilling and horrible noise couldn't possibly be more annoying than that. She truly thought for a few moments to just throw it out of the window and go back to sleep, but the awful sound was reminding her that she needed to wake up soon or she would be answering the door in her pajamas. The people from the electronics shop were going to arrive in less than twenty minutes if they were punctual. With a resigned sigh, she switched the alarm clock off, stretched her back, arms, legs, and neck before getting up and take a quick five minutes shower. Lea was already up by the time Alice got out of the bathroom, they only had time to eat their breakfast before the doorbell rang. The deliverymen had arrived.

The rest of the day was a total racket, man after man after man, entering and exiting the house, arms full of boxes, carrying things from place to place. Alice was running from a room to another, explaining everything, how she wanted and where she wanted things. She needed to supervise everything and she was alone in that job since Lea couldn't help her in that department. The small girl was sitting in a corner trying not to be in the way of the workers, busying herself with her laptop. When the people from the electronics shop left they only had two hours to rest and eat before the employers from the furniture shop came. All the pandemonium of bodies loading furniture and appliance in the house resembled ants pacing around, and didn't stop until all the work was done. When they finished everything, it was already night.

"Thank God it's over. I'm so tired…" Alice grunted as she finally sat down on their new sofa.

Lea sited next to her, the smell of new and dust hanging in the air. They stayed in an amiable silent, appreciating the quietness for the first time that day, until Lea stomach growl in need for food.

"I'm hungry…" The girl said while petting her empty belly.

Alice looked at her watch, it was already eleven pm and they still hadn't dined. She got up and went to the kitchen to fetch something, only to remember their newly and still empty fridge. With all the racket of the day, she forgot to go shopping. A frustrated groan escaped her lips when she realized there was nothing to eat in the house and therefore she needed to go out and buy something at the convenience store.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to go out to buy some groceries, there's nothing to eat in this house."

Lea touched her watch and put it near her ear, the device announcing the time out loud. "At this hour? But it's already so late…"

"If I remember correctly there is a convenience store a few minutes from here, we passed by it in our way here by taxi."

"I don't know Alice…" Lea didn't like the idea of her aunt walking alone in the streets especially since they were still new and didn't know the neighborhood very well. Alice was also a bit apprehensive however, she wouldn't let Lea go to bed with an empty stomach; that was not an option.

"Don't worry it will only take a few minutes." She tried to reassure the little girl. Taking her wallet and keys, she put them in the pockets of her hoody and went out.

The store wasn't far, fifteen minutes north from their apartment. It was a small space with a very limited selection of products, displayed without an apparent order, scattered over four long shelves. An old man was behind the checkout counter, a dirty glass window separating him from the costumers. He scanned her with small parted eyes full of distrust. She offered him a smile when she was paying but that only made him frown deeper.

Rude…

As she started walking road up back home, the fatigue of the day started to kick on her muscles and the four plastic bags seemed to become heavier with each step. I think there was a shortcut somewhere around here…

A bifurcation ahead divided the street in two, creating a secondary road that Alice was sure to be shorter and faster. It took her a few moments to decide which path to chose, the familiar one or the new one, but against her better judgment, she advanced through the secondary road. The street was quiet, there wasn't a single living thing passing by. The road became narrow, filthier and darker. Soon enough Alice regretted her choice; there was someone following her. Straining her hearing to discern other sounds over the noise of her plastic bags, she distinguished two different footsteps apart from her own.

Dammit, I shouldn't have taken the shortcut!

In the middle of her growing distress, her mind started to drift through all the crimes in Gotham City. She remembered reading something about rape victims 'one in ten women who goes out at night is raped' the journal said. She needed to go back to the main street as fast as possible. Taking a turn to the left, the dim light of the lonely lamp fell behind, producing three big humanoid shadows on the ground. Alice tried to see how far they were from the corner of her eye but the darkness kept growing and spreading around her, involving her in an ebony embrace. Her once relaxed pace changed to a fast one, and when she took another turn, this time to the right, she started running, bags hitting her legs and loudly announcing her outbreak. However, she didn't go far, as a cement wall erected itself before her. Panic started to bump fast through her veins at the sight of the dead end. Teal orbs scanned the gray wall, her brain understanding there was no way she could climb the three meters barrier, but her legs keep screaming as the muscle tensed to run, jump, climb, anything that could save her from the imminent situation. There was no way out.

Her whole body stiffened like the string of a bow as a deep chuckle erupted behind her, echoing on the narrow alley. Alice turned very slowly, her heart dropping as she saw two men; one twice her size who looked like a pig, with a beer belly and rosy and greasy skin. The second was stocky, with tattoo-covered arms and a big mouth full of yellow teeth almost the same color as the single golden-rusty earring on his left ear. The two felonious stood side by side, occupying almost all the width of the alley, leaving no room for her to escape.

Clutching her groceries tightly, Alice tried to sound confident. "I-I don't have any money." It was true, the most she usually had in her wallet was thirty bucks and she had spent it all on the food she was carrying.

The fat one smiled wickedly "We will decide that, give me your wallet."

With shaky hands and slow movements, she settled the left bags on the floor so she could reach her wallet inside her pocket. As Alice grabbed the dark leader square and took it out, two pairs of eyes follow it like ravenous dogs with a piece of meat; she stretched her arm and Piggy - the fat one - took a step forward to get the wallet. However, instead of giving it to him, Alice throws it and in the second Piggy neglected his attention for the propose of catching the wallet, she swung her groceries with all her strength into his face. Piggy out of balance fell round on the dirty pavement, and Yellow Smile was forced to dodge so he wouldn't be knocked over by his friend. Alice didn't let the opportunity go to waste and jumping over the fat legs of the man she runs.

What are your opinions about this second chapter? I hope you liked it! Feel free to review, it gives me the confidence and the boost to continue to post this story.

Until next time,

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