Chapter 0: A Cold Winter's Rain

It was cold.

Rain poured from the sky, as if god was throwing buckets of water over the world.

She was tired.

She closed her eyes and let the world fade out, into darkness.

She woke up in a bed, feeling warm.

She sat up with a start, looking around.

“Where am I? It’s warm. And comfortable. Is… this the afterlife? Am I in heaven?” She thought.

A knock came from the door.

“Hello? I’m coming in, okay?” A woman’s voice asked, softly enough not to wake a person who was asleep, but loud enough to hear clearly if they were.

The woman walked into the room.

“Huh? So you were awake? Why didn’t you respond?” The woman asked.

She just stared at her, silent.

“Um. Uh. Oh! Right, my name is Charm, it’s nice to meet you.” Charm said, smiling.

She still just continued to stare.

“Are you okay? Is there anything wrong? Are you injured?!” Charm asked, her last words making her start to panic.

She smiled, nodding yes. She pointed to her mouth and opened it.

“Oh. That is a problem. Are you all right?” Charm asked .

She thought for a moment.

She shook her head.

She made a few gestures with her hands.

“You aren’t?! Is there anything else? Do you need me to help?!” Charm asked.

She shook her head again, looking a little sad. She mimed writing on something.

“Oh! I’ll be right back! I have a pen and paper right over there.” Charm said, rushing around what looked like a small apartment, coming back inside the room and handing her a piece of paper.

She drew an arrow pointing upwards, and wrote her name below that. She held it under her chin, the arrow pointing to her.

“So your name is leaf, then?” Charm asked.

Leaf nodded

“It’s nice to meet you, leaf. Do you know what happened? I found you in the alley over there, collapsed.” Charm asked, pointing at a closed window.

Leaf scribbled something, and held it up when she was done.

It was a drawing that Charm couldn’t understand.

“A drawing? That doesn’t exactly explain much. Can you describe it in words?” Charm asked.

Leaf scribbled down the letter A and drew a large X over it

“Then…. you’re illiterate?” Charm asked.

Leaf thought for a moment, and wrote a symbol on the paper. It was a question mark.

“You don’t know what that word means?” Charm asked.

Leaf nodded

“Oh. Well, it means that you cannot read or write.” Charm explained.

Leaf nodded her head, writing something on the paper

“Part. A small english.” It said.

“So, you’re able to do it a little bit?” Charm asked.

Leaf nodded, flipping to the next page in the notebook

She wrote down the alphabet and a word

“Understand” It said, with an arrow pointing to the alphabet.

“Are you asking if I understand something, or are you saying you understand the alphabet?” Charm asked.

Leaf pointed to herself

“I see. Then, do you know how each letter sounds?” Charm asked.

Leaf made a somewhat troubled expression

“Learn.” She wrote.

“That… I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean. Are you saying you learned it?” Charm asked.

Leaf shook her head

“You didn’t learn it?” Charm asked.

Leaf shook her head again

“Then...what?” Charm asked, confused.

Leaf drew the word again, but slightly differently

“Le-arn” it said.

She drew an arrow to the dash in the middle

“Huh?......OH! Oh, I get it now. You were in the middle of learning it, then.” Charm said.

Leaf nodded

“Still, that’s quite a problem. It’s a bit hard for me to understand. While I hate to admit it, I’m not exactly the smartest person when it comes to what people are trying to say. I’m going to call my friend over, give me a second.” Charm said.

Leaf scribbled “ok” on the paper

Charm went out of the room, calling someone on the phone.

She walked back into the room a minute later.

“She said she would be here in about half an hour. I’m going to go get dinner ready.” Charm said, going into the kitchen.

Leaf saw that the window had blinds closing it.

She opened them, and watched the rain outside blanket the earth

Leaf sighed.