July 19th, 2016

Kinsky, California, USA

Appy

Sadja exited the upstairs bathroom, wiping her wet hands on her jeans. She took a few steps before she saw a stuffed animal laying on the stairs. She smiled, turning back towards a door on the other end of the hallway with a light shining from its open crack. She grabbed the stuffed toy, then walked towards the opened door.

She knocked softly, then fully opened the door. She saw the little girl playing with a doll house. Sadja walked towards her.

“Hey, Anita,” she spoke. “I found Appy on the stairs. Figured you want to be with him.” She placed the dog on the ground. Anita didn’t say anything. Sadja crouched down, observing the girl.

“What are you playing?”

“House.”

“Who’s the family?”

Anita hesitated for a moment. “It’s all girls.”

Sadja smiled. “My family is all girls. Did you know that? Just me, my mom, and my big sister.”

The room went back to silence. Anita continued playing with her toys.

“You know, you can go and play outside in the living room if you want. People aren’t going to be bothered if you do that.”

“I don’t want to. I’m scared.”

Sadja looked around the room. “Yeah, I get that. It’s a lot of people. Well… just know they’re all my friends. You can trust them, okay?”

Anita stopped playing with her toys. She turned towards the older girl.

“Sadja, are there bad people in the world? Bad people who want to hurt us? Who hurt girls?”

The question caught Sadja off guard. She tried to keep her composure as she thought of the best thing to say.

“Well, the truth is that…” Sadja began, sitting down fully next to the girl. “The truth is that yes, there are. There aren’t many of them… but they do exist.” She turned towards the child, softly stroking her cheek. “But that’s not something you ever have to worry about. Because I’m here, Anita. And as long as I’m here, I’ll protect you. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you, okay?”

Sadja removed her hand, and Anita looked up with her olive green eyes. Sadja gave her a comforting smile back. Suddenly the door behind them opened up again. Sadja turned to face who had entered. It was Kat.