It’s midnight, stores with 24/7 signs are still open but all streets are clear, no flashy hologram adverts, only quad-fanned drones with bright blue-red lights and a stun gun under its belly, the buildings are not that colorful but they are lit up with bright cyan and have pointy tops, no flying cars can be seen only levitating trains with few passengers of tired faces from dayshift, it’s too damn cold but at least that old and rusty coffee vending machine still works. It is not that ‘cyber-punky’, but it is the 31st century that they have in Manhattan.

A girl was coming out from a convenience store, holding a plastic bag filled with packed breads, noodles, a lot of canned beef and pork, some young shoots of sweet potato and cabbages, and a newspaper with leading headline “Tons of Children missing: COINCIDENCE, CULTIST WORK OR BECAUSE OF THAT ALIEN HADRON COLLIDER NEAR JUPITER?!”. She went to a nearby telephone post, placed her bag down and made a phone call. She mentioned to the one she’s talking to that she doesn’t want to track down the article columnist and terminate him because that’s not her job, after 20 minutes of refusing and excuses, she hang up with a disappointing sigh. She’s going to do it after all, even though she’s just a detective, of some sorts.

She has seen and done worse things, like seeing some men fusing to the wall due to an accident in a weapons test, killing people who turned into ‘demons’ in an abandoned building because some kid dug up a ‘weird book’ and decided to show it to his friends, rescuing kids from an aggressive guy with an empty head (literally), and investigating and responding (plus keeping it a secret to the public) to anomalous events that many consider to be only a legend, myth, or whatsoever. It’s ok for her, she said to herself, but killing some crazy article writer (plus the writer works for a tabloid, no one believes nor even read a tabloid those days) is just a waste of the Agency’s time. “I’m not an assassin!” she told herself, “And on my day-off?! Like, really?! Are they nuts?!” she added while venting her anger at the door of the telephone post upon leaving.

She walked down the alleyway, while eating some packed bread she bought from the store and thinking what she will do for the task she was given to. As the detective walks the street, she heard some coughing and whimpering and saw some blood stains on the floor, she swallowed the bread whole and pulls out her 0.45 magnum. She crouched on the dark side of the alleyway only to see a naked shivering little girl. The little girl has a lot of scrapes on her body, and a piece of glass was puncturing her left eye making the blood from it freely flow like a waterfall. “She must be a run-away kid” she said while placing back her pistol in her belt, she thought that the kid’s going to die anyway and so the detective began walking away from the injured girl. But every step away from the little girl made her feel guilty as if her feet are both getting heavier and heavier.

“Fuck it!” she uttered helplessly while rushing back to the little girl and carried her carefully on her back.

“Talk to me kid,” said the detective to the nearly dying girl but she only responded with a faint groan. They reached the detective’s home, not actually a home of some sort, but a one-bedroom condo unit that can be bought with tens of thousand dollars and she calls it ‘home’. She looked in her pocket for the keys while carrying the girl, they entered the room, and cautiously placed the little girl on the newly bought sofa. Good thing the Agency taught them how to do first-aid and on the spot surgery, so she scurried looking for the med-kit that the Agency provided, complete with anesthesia shots, IV fluids, and the special steroids that makes fresh wounds instantly dry no matter how deep it is (yep, convenient, but hey it’s the future), then she did an eye surgery to the girl on her sofa. The girl was unconscious while the detective carefully removes the shard of glass on her left eye, “Man, I’m gonna tell Mike I need another med-kit…” she told herself while finishing the stitches on the girl’s left eye. The detective finished off by cleaning the scrapes on the little girl’s body and dressing her with her own clothes, which is way much larger than the little girl.

“Yeah, that will do…” she muttered.

She grabbed her phone and called, “Ey, boss. If you’re hearing this, I’m not going to do the assassination-thing. I’ve got other things to do, and it’s my day-off so you know the rules” and the detective closed her phone. She stared at the unconscious girl, stood up, took a paper, and wrote something on it and went to her bedroom.

The next morning, the little girl woke up, feeling numb because of the amount of anesthesia the detective gave and barely could stand. She noticed a paper with scrappy handwriting in it near the table. She scooped herself up to see what it is since she can’t find anybody else around. “If you’re awake, wake me up. I’ll cook our breakfast” was written in the note. The girl stood there for a moment trying to remember what happened last night, but her head ached. She scanned the room and noticed a door that obviously looks like the room’s door, the other door must be for the bathroom. Hunger drove her to knock on the door. Nothing. She silently opened the door only to find the detective snoring deeply while laying on her back.

The detective looks like even a fire alarm can’t wake her up and hesitated to wake her up but filling her grumbling stomach is more urgent for her right now.

She doesn’t really know what or how to wake her up, so she just softly said, “Uhm, hey…” without any success.

She stepped closer to her and her stomach grumbled even more as if there was a thunderstorm in there and said “Uhm, hey… Sorry, but I am starving.”

Of course, the detective was always still asleep even past noon during her day-off so she responded “IT’S MY DAY-OFF! I NEED SLEEP!”

But the little girl spoke in a scratchy voice “Did you saved me only to get killed by hunger?”

The detective instantly snapped to her senses and scratched her head remembering the night before.

Of course, she picked that dying girl and now, she is her responsibility. Dragging herself to the kitchen, the detective sautéed the canned beef she bought with the cabbages and the sweet potato shoots to make a beef stew. They ate together on the table, both in silence. The detective stares at the little kid while the little kid focuses on eating the beef stew aggressively like she had never tasted any food for a century.

“So, the name’s Akino, Akino Kylei, you can call me Aki,” the detective said to the kid.

“Alexa, just Alexa” the kid replied while chewing the cabbage leaves.

“You came from, where?” Akino asked.

“Nowhere…,” Alexa responded with a gloomy face.

“Oh, okay” Akino answered with a smile.

Silence.

“You won’t ask why I left that place?” Alexa asked with confusion.

“By the look of your gruesome wounds, it’s probably hell of a place, and I don’t want you to remember such place, think like you got a new life starting today,” Akino replied happily.

“Yeah… they killed a lot of orphans, not that I hate the other kids it’s just that I don’t feel any remorse seeing them butchered… it really is a HELL of a place…,” Alexa said, still with gloomy face while slowly placing her spoon down the table.

Akino was shocked to hear such words from a child, she was about to ask what really happened, but Alexa began weeping loudly as if she was battered,

“Please! Just let me go! I don’t want to cause you any trouble! PLEASE!” Alexa begs to Akino.

In return, Akino hugged the crying child, comforting her, “It will be fine, kid,” and she showed her magnum pistol on her belt,

“See? I can protect you,” Akino jokingly said to the whimpering Alexa.

“You’re a criminal? Not even criminals can stop them” Alexa said while Akino wipes her tears.

“You’ll see later on; come I’ll clean your wounds again and let’s go out for a date” Akino said.

“But… you said… it’s… your day-off, right?” Alexa asked.

“Nah, it’s fine. Finish your food and I’ll prepare you a bath, got it?” Akino responded while taking her bowl to the sink.

“You’re not going to sell me out, are you?” Alexa asked seriously.

“Actually, you’re going to help me out, you’ll see,” Akino answered.

“Oh, I wanna ask, did they… ummm, your eye? And why were you naked?” Akino asked.

“Oh, this? I got hit by a truck… and they were washing us in batches when I was able to escape” Alexa said.

Akino then took Alexa to the Agency, and she showed the kid her workplace. Alexa was amused, as usual of a child, especially seeing things other-worldly stuff you’ll just go “wooooaaaahhhh!” when you see those.

“Is it safe to bring her in?” asked by Akino’s co-detective,

“And you sure boss won’t be mad at you for declining the termination task?” he added.

“She got intel, possibly,” Akino said with a nervous smile.

Akino started asking things to Alexa, like in what direction she came from and what was the name of the orphanage she mentioned. Apparently, the place was owned by a cult, and seeing this as an opportunity, Akino reported it to the Agency’s high officials just to cancel that termination task.

“You’re using me?!” Alexa asked with a grumpy face.

“Hey, at least we got’em, nobody will experience hell like you did, right?” Akino said.

Alexa, still with a grumpy face was disappointed to Akino.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to treat you like that” Akino trying to appease Alexa, but she’s still throwing off the detective.

“Okay, I’ll treat you anything. Or better, I’ll do anything you want, just… forgive me, kid…,” Akino begs.

Alexa slowly turned her face towards to Akino, “Can I ask you a favor instead?”

“Sure, what is it?” Akino replied immediately.

“There’s someone in that place, a nun. Her name is… I don’t know but she has a long white hair! She’s done good things to me, so please if you find her don’t arrest her, she’s a good person,” Alexa pleaded to Akino.

“O-Okay, I’ll do it, I promise,” reassured Akino.

“Thank you, and by the way I want a tub of ice cream, cookies and cream, then I’ll forgive you!” Alexa said,

“One order of ice cream tub, coming up!” Akino hollered as she carries Alexa on her back.

Weeks passed, and the relationship of the two became stronger. Akino filed some papers to legally adopt Alexa, and now Alexa carries the Kylei surname, making her Akino’s adopted daughter. The two sometimes argue on what should be the dinner, sometimes Alexa will throw tantrums because Akino forgot to brought her out on her day-off, sometimes Akino will scold Alexa if she broke something, but most of the time the two get tired of playing games on the PCs, they even sleep in the same bed, and that time Akino brought Alexa in the autopsy room of the Agency just to teach human anatomy, and surprisingly Alexa was not disgusted but entertained (and educated). Akino knew that Alexa was a smart kid, and so she bought her a lot of books, which they read all night until they fell asleep. It was a good time, indeed.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” shouted by Akino while standing on the bed with Alexa still sleeping.

“Aki, come on, it’s fricking 6:00 AM, let’s sleep more!” Alexa said while covering herself with bed blankets.

“Plus, it’s hecking cold outside, so NO!”

“I bought you a new sweater, yieee she’s gonna go up!” Akino teasing Alexa while poking her cheeks.

“It’s pink?” Alexa asks as she sits on the bed side.

“Yeah, and it’s got a hood” Akino flexes.

“I’m in!” Alexa answered immediately.

The two went to the new park down the Manhattan, not much of the attraction but the eye, and mouth magnets in the area was the food bazaar that serves fresh foods, from east to west, and it was Alexa’s favorite.

“Happy Birthday, kid!” Akino greeted Alexa while handing her a bundle of money.

“Wow, thanks Aki!” Alexa then counted the money and pulled Akino’s arm.

“Come on! We got a lot of food to eat! Let’s go!” as Alexa pulls Akino towards the food stalls.

Akino smiles with a blush on her cheeks, satisfied with everything she feels that moment, even it lasts for only a day. It will happen again next year, she thinks, or every day-off while she walks with Alexa eating burritos and drinking milkshakes.

“Look, there’s a lot of jet trails in the sky! Is it your surprise for my birthday?” Alexa jokingly said to Aki while looking up the sky very amazed.

Suddenly, a loud explosion, louder than a sonic boom, was heard across the park. Their hearing has turned numbed with ringing sounds while they look on other people running panicky at random. Akino crouched and covered Alexa with her body while the shattered glass from skyscrapers fell.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?! AKI, PLEASE HELP ME!” Alexa cried while hugging Akino.

Looking at the situation, they need to escape and find a safer place, if that still exists.

“We’re going for a run, kid. You ready?” Akino said while readying herself to sprint.

Alexa just nodded in fear, and Akino ran as fast as she can to escape the place while carrying the crying kid. She looked up and saw the jet trails again leading to the north, and it appears that there’s a huge cube-thing floating at the northern side, with undetermined size the cube-thing was being bombarded by the jets until a white light glowed underneath it. It expanded until it reached the Manhattan area in just a matter of 3 seconds.

Akino stopped by under the tree and brought down Alexa, “Kid, no what happens, I’ll stay with you, alright?” Akino reassured Alexa holding her tears.

Alexa just cried and hugged Akino tightly. “It will be alright. It will be over soon, I promise, just hug me, okay? I love you.”

The whole grandiose lively Manhattan area was engulfed with the enigmatic light, and nothing was left, only dust and boulders from the ruined buildings.