A ragged boot squelched into the mud of the street, the dark clouds above dumping daggers into the owner of said boot's face. Sky blue eyes squinted through the torrential downpour as the sky grumbled above, ahead was the side of a well known sandwich shop. The young girl pulled her olive jacket tighter to her body as the winds picked up, howling over the tops of the buildings around her. As she approached the side of the shop her hand extended to the lid of the dumpster on the side of the building and lifted the lid. To her disappointment it had recently been emptied, only a few papers stuck to the walls and bottom remained inside. She let the lid drop back into the closed position and slumped against the wall of the shop, letting her mind wander back to the past.
"Child! Get out here!" Called out her 'father' from presumably the front room, the only place he spends his time when not sleeping in his room. "It's Zaila" she thought to herself as she slid off the slab of metal topped with a sorry excuse of a mattress they called a bed. As she stepped out into the front room she gave an exasperated look to the man sitting in his chair. "Yes?" She questioned him, earning a pointed look from the man 3 glasses into his bottle. "Yes, sir…" Zaila amended, mentally cursing him out in the two languages she knew.
"The trash needs to go out, it fuckin' stinks and is gon' attract flies." the drunk barked to her, taking another swig of his drink while waving her off to the kitchen. Inside the kitchen Zaila found the third, fourth? Girlfriend of the pendejo out in the living room. This harlot simply glared dagger at the red-head, whatever she did to deserve such malice was unknown to the girl. With a great heave she lifted the disgusting and simply unsanitary bin from the kitchen floor and carried it to the back door, tapping the release with her elbow.
A bright flash from the sky and a door opening beside her pulled Zaila from her mind. To her left stood a Male Besalisk staring down at her. "Y'know i've still got left-overs from today, right? Can't sell it tomorrow so it'd be thrown out by the morning. come on in and I'll get something made." He said as he strolled back inside, the door staying open after him. Zaila didn't immediately move, she was too shocked to. When she didn't move from her seated position the Besalisk called out from inside. "You comin' or what? Storm's only gonna get worse and I don't peg you for the type who wants to stay out in that."
Zaila pulled herself up to a standing position and stepped through the side door, hitting the button to close it and sliding her feet along the mat inside. When she looked up she saw the owner prepping a sandwich behind the counter, and the sight reminded her that she had not eaten in almost twelve hours. Zaila quickly made her way over to the counter, eyes almost brighter than the moons. "The name's Trask, what's yours kid?" he'd ask as one of his four arms set the plate with Zaila's sandwich on the counter.
"My name's… Zaila." She'd reply, having to hold herself back from looking like a feral Akk dog tearing into a ribcage.
"Zaila." Trask would repeat, most likely to commit the name into memory. "And where are your parent's Zaila?"
That question almost made the girl drop her sandwich, her eyes nearly glazed over as that day replayed before her. Bleary eyed, slowly shuffling to her parents room, preparing to tell them about a nightmare she had just woken from. When Zaila opened the door an odd scent filled her nose, it even caused her to sneeze. As the little girl continued into the room she squinted through the darkness, a small wisp of smoke drifted towards the ceiling from the other side of her parent's bed.
"Mom... Dad?" her soft voice came out from the side of the bed as she reached a hand up to pull the attention of her father from whatever was keeping them from hearing her. As she pulled on his arm she noticed something stuck into his arm, a cylindrical object, and further up closer to his shoulder she noticed one of his belts wrapped tightly around the skin.
Even from her moving his arm her father refused to move. Zaila then climbed up onto the bed and crawled up to his chest and started shaking him from his collarbone. Worry and panic began to take root as tears welled in the corner of her eyes, surely her mother would respond right? Zaila shifted her attention to her mother and finally noticed their eyes, glazed over and lifeless.
As she screamed Zaila heard someone calling her name and was pulled back to the present, Trask looking mildly worried. "I'm no expert, but I know enough about people to tell that it's a touchy topic for you." The besalisk put his hands up in a 'i'll back off' gesture, earning a thankful nod from Zaila.
"Now I don't want to presume, but the fact that it seems like you were about to dig through the scraps of the week leads me to a certain conclusion." he'd say, continuing "If you need a secluded place to sleep or lie low for a little bit, the Zani Apothecary shop down the road has an alley behind it, not a bad part of town either so you're unlikely to be shiv'd in your sleep."
As Zaila finished the ends of her sandwich she nodded in thanks, sliding the empty plate towards Trask slightly. "Thanks… For everything I mean. The tip, the food, the company, I don't know if I can repay you for this-" She was swiftly interrupted by Trask putting a finger up.
"The only thing you gotta do kid, don't die out there okay? The Force brought you to my shop for a reason okay? Take this second chance and live your life. All you gotta do to repay me is don't die out there." Once he finished speaking he lowered his finger, giving a stern look to Zaila to emphasize his point.
Said teen blinked a few times, a little confused as to what 'The Force' was, but she didn't dwell on that too long. " Alright Trask… I won't die out there, I promise."
The besalisk gave an exaggerated nod, then waved her towards the door speaking in a light hearted tone. "Now git! I got a shop to close up." Prompting Zaila to drop from the stool she sat on and jog towards the door. Outside the rain had stopped and the clouds were starting to let some of the stars though.
Looking down the road she saw the shop Trask had mentioned, now that she was in no rush she slid her hands into the pockets of her jacket and began her leisurely stroll to the alley. As she looked around memories flashed before her. One was her and her parents running around outside the walls, in the grass. Another was the three of them playing pazaak, Zaila never once managed to win but it never mattered. The final memory was one of her parents telling her they had to go get ready for the park that day, them closing and locking the door, then coming out a few minutes later rubbing her elbows. At the time she thought nothing of it but… but now she knew what was going on.
Zaila blinked through tears as she realized she almost walked past the alley entrance. She ducked into it and took the T into the area between the Zani shop and the store behind it. There wasn't much, a few pipes that looked to be unused by now, a sheet of metal resting against a wall, and that was it. First thing she did was lay the sheet flat on the wet sands, sleeping on a flat piece of metal was better than being wet all through the night. As she laid down on the sheet her eyes wandered up to a window with a light turned on inside. She wondered who was up there, whether they saw or heard her move the sheet. As she stared Zaila heard a voice from within the building calling out to someone. "Alta! Time to sleep!"
The occupant of the window seemed to be this 'Alta' as the light swiftly shut off and Zaila heard someone jumping into a bed through the wall. "Heh, Good night Alta…" she muttered as her eyes shifted to the moons peeking out from behind the clouds, with sleep soon taking her in it's wonderful embrace.