The Night's Reflections

What followed was a short round of questions towards Andreas and Sally, as well as over an hour long one aimed at Illy. The short elf was unwilling to cooperate with the police to the point that she was threatened to get handcuffed and taken for obstruction of justice. Andreas stepped in and explained that if this happened, all three of them would lawyer up and refuse to cooperate any further. What they did get out of Illy was the fact that she woke up when she heard someone walking inside of the house. She ambushed the first would-be burglar and then proceeded to use her unnatural - or rather inhuman - abilities to disarm and disable all of them. In the end it was all counted towards self defense, and no charges were pressed.

Voigt expressed his concern about the paint and other things he noticed, and it was all duly noted by a few officers. It was a late afternoon before everyone left. Andreas went ahead and started cleaning the front yard as well as he took upon himself the heavy duty of showing the middle finger to passing journalists and other 'interested parties'. He didn't want any of those, like he called them hyenas, to harass any of the girls.

Sally and Illy cleaned inside the house and then prepared dinner. Their duo were quite magical in the kitchen, and treated themselves and Andreas to a very good chicken soup. In the late evening, he was alone, in his room. He knew Sally was down stairs, on the couch, with Illy. He put an extra electric heater in the living room just for the Lamia. Voigt tried several times of the course of next two hours to fall asleep, but without success. He was, of course, tired after such a long and eventful day, but something kept him up. He knew what it was. For the first time since the accident he was worried. Not about himself, no, that worry disappeared a long time ago. Andreas was worried about his roommates.

Voigt decided to put on a shirt and some random pants from his drawer, and then went down stairs. He heard the sound of television and two voices talking over it from the living room, but he didn't go in there. Instead, he went for the front doors. The cane was nearby, but he didn't feel he needed it. Earlier in the evening Sally gave him a pill which stopped all the pain. Instead, he opened a nearby closet and picked up a blanket from it. He was determined to do something with it that he hasn't done in a long time. Something relaxing, his own type of meditation.

Andreas went out through the front doors, and then circled around to other side of his house, to the grass at his impovised pitch. He spread the blanket on the grass, and then proceeded to lie down on it, face up, looking at the stars. His mind traveled far and wide into the past, to the glory days.

It almost felt like he was looking at someone completely alien to him. A young, skinny boy getting his medical exams done before joining the big club. Then work, juggling the school and constant training, falling every night on the bed almost lifeless to repeat the process. Three months of all that before getting selected to be on the substitute bench. Then, the first appearances, giving it all every time, just to impress, to go further, to live the dream...

The hand touching his shoulder pulled Andreas out of the dreamy memories. He looked at her smile visible in the dim light of the moon.

"Hey." Sally said, and lied down next to him, most of her body not fitting on the blanket.

"Hi." He responded, and tried coming back to his memories. He couldn't. The warmth of her body, the pleasant smell, the feeling of being close to someone, all that made him concentrate only on her.

"Your stars look so weird. I can't recognize any of them." She whispered, her voice being barely more audible than the night breeze.

"If it makes you feel any better, I can't recognize them either. I was bad at physics and astronomy in school." He laughed, and she responded with a chuckle.

"So you were a jock type?"

"Not exactly." Andreas considered for a second how to explain it to her. "Ever since I was nine, I played football. For my parents, for school, for scouts, for academy... I tried to keep up with school, but I never truly had any time to get into anything properly. Kicking that ball was all my life." He pointed at the ball nearby.

More moments of understanding silence followed.

"I... I fucked it all up. Big time, Sally." He was saying, with tears in his eyes. "I was at the top. At the point where everyone was talking about me. I had a six figures salary, and was at the top of my game for a few years. But then..." He stopped, feeling a foreign hand reached and grabbing his. "I was blind. Reckless. Stupid. I didn't see my enemies coming for me, I was too self absorbed to even recognize I had enemies. All it took was a one specific strike to destroy my career. To blame me for something I didn't see coming, but ultimately was my fault. To send me down into this hell hole of a country. I was a moron to just accept all that without a fight, I was just a fu..."

His voice was rising with anger, but then Andreas felt a sudden mass getting on top of him. He felt wrapped in the loving, but friendly hug. Sally's tears were dropping down on his neck. Voigt tried to move one, but she kept him tight, even her tail went around his legs to keep him like that.

"Don't... Please, don't ever speak like that about yourself." She whispered straight into his ear. "I think you are wonderful. I know you only for a week and you proved to be the best human being I've ever met. Every day you are showing me that you are a good person trying to live the life that is given to him."

She lifted herself up on her arms, so Andreas could see her face. Sally was smiling through tears. Andreas knew what was going to happen next. The Lamia would plummet down on him, face to face, their lips touching, their tears mixing, their lifes blending together. Just how they both wanted it.

The Lamia hesitated just for a second and then began to lower her head towards him, towards the person she just confessed how she felt about. They were getting closer, like planets spiraling towards each others orbital course, bracing for the inevitable collision...

"Mistress Ashelis, this thing is ringing and just won't shut up!"