A silent ambiance imbued the still air. Everything felt oddly dry and stagnant. Headlights pierced into a dimly lit entrance, falling upon two silhouettes that could only be described as seemingly lifeless. A man in uniform stood before a young man facing out of the house. The man’s back creating a shadow that enveloped the other’s figure, obstructing his face. One could tell, even without seeing, that the young man was distraught.

“Mr. Knight, I presume?” The officer asked. With an unsteady breath, the young man uttered out a response of acknowledgment.

“There was an accident,” the man continued, pausing for a moment. “I think it’s best if you sit down.”

The young man stood motionless. The officer’s words only confirmed what he dreaded when he first looked out his door. Slowly, he guided the man inside to the living room where they both sat. Words were spoken but nothing came to process. The young man’s eyes lacked life as they tried to regain focus, only bringing clarity to the man’s shoes as he looked down before him.

A creak was heard, the lifeless man dragged his eyes upward. A little girl of no more than seven years old stood peeking out from a door frame across the room. Seeing this, pressure built up as the young man clenched his teeth. Nails dug into his skin as he attempted to regain himself.

“Mia…” he said meekly, straightening his posture. “Go back to bed, I’ll be there to tuck you in soon.”

The girl stood unrelenting for a moment but gave in eventually, feeling the seriousness in her older brother’s eyes. Noticing the sounds of steps stopping, the young man deflated once more and looked to the officer.

“Leon!”

Words were heard but the officer’s mouth hadn’t moved.

“LEON!”

The world warped as the environment suddenly switched to that of a restaurant with a rather annoyed older gentleman in cooking garbs standing before the young man.

“Ah. I’m sorry, Mr. Patel!” Leon exclaimed sincerely.

The older man simply eyed him for a moment, “if you were really sorry then you’d stop spacing out every damn day at work! What do I even pay you for? Hurry up and bring these trays to table five!”

Leon scrambled to grab the trays and swiftly brought them to the table where a group of four sat. Going through the standard formalities and handing them their food, Leon continued with his work until the day closed. The day was rather slow in terms of business but that’s how he preferred it. Later, the last customers made their way out, Leon had already started cleaning the tables.

“Well, don’t you look just fantastic?” A feminine voice spoke from behind him. Looking at the light reflection from the freshly cleaned table, Leon saw his own face. His black hair was a mess, hiding away his brown eyes and glasses, kindly accompanied by his plain light-skinned face with some acne. ‘Quite the looker, aren’t I?’ he thought as he internally snickered. Leon knew she wasn’t talking about his face, but it still managed to make him point out his distaste.

“What can I say… I try my best,” Leon attempted to say in a joking manner as he finished cleaning the table, thereafter, turning to face his coworker. A kind-looking blonde-haired girl who didn’t seem much younger than him stood, analyzing him with her almost sapphire-shaded eyes.

Leon always felt weirdly intimidated whenever she did this. He didn’t consider himself very tall, only standing at 168 cm but he still stood a few centimeters above the girl. She had to look up to him, but it felt the other way around most of the time. Finally caving, the girl huffed.

“Just as humorous and depressing as usual, Leon.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, Julia.” Easing back into the casual atmosphere. They both just smiled at each other as they kept cleaning as she handed him a new rag.

The night quickly ended as the tables and floors were finished up. Setting all the cleaning appliances back, Leon got ready to head out. Saying goodbye to his other coworkers as he made his way to the door, Julia appeared once more.

With a small take-out box in hand, she gave it to Leon. “Drake just so happened to notice that there was some leftover cornbread.” Nudging her head behind her to a tall man with short brown hair standing in the kitchen. He simply smiled and waved, which Leon naturally reciprocated.

“Thank you,” he spoke as he cracked a small smile. “See you all tomorrow.”

In the parking lot, Leon walked to his car. ‘Not the most beautiful car but it does get me from point A to point B.’ It was a simple sedan-type car, the paint was worn but he loved it all the same. ‘Definitely not the place you thought you’d be taking me every day when dad and I got you, huh…’ he thought as he sat inside and started it up. From there, he drove for twenty minutes until he arrived at an apartment.

It was late, perhaps around 9 or 10 o’clock. He quietly got his keys out and opened the door to the apartment. Placing his keys upon a table beside the door, Leon took note of the ever-growing pile of unopened letters atop it. Large crimson letters laid stamped across some, shouting “PAST DUE” or “OVERDUE” right into his face. Clearly accustomed to the sight, he carried on, leaving behind only a small sigh of dissatisfaction.

Further inside he saw a woman sitting on the sofa with blankets covering her lap. The tv subtly hummed with the sounds of a cartoon.

“Hey Nora, sorry for getting back so late.” Leon approached the sofa. With all those blankets, oddly enough, he couldn’t help but think something was missing.

“Where’s M-” quickly being interrupted by the feeling of a small object crashing into his side, making him stumble.

“Gotcha!” a small girl yelled gleefully as she looked up to her brother’s face as she hugged his side. He smiled back at her as he then went to look back to the woman on the sofa who was now watching.

“Don’t worry so much. Just happy to see you’re home safely. Actually, Mia has something to show you.” She spoke, glancing to the little person attached to his side.

“Oh oh oh! Yeah!” Mia shouted as she ran to her room.

“Thanks for helping out again,” Leon said to Nora.

Nora simply waved it off. “You both are like family to me and it’s not like I have much to do right now after losing my last job.”

Nora was an older woman with some gray hair mixed in with the natural brown tinge. Wrinkles covered her face slightly, suggesting that she was likely in her fifties if Leon were to assume but he never asked. ‘I mean, mom always said to never ask a lady her age so…’ he glanced at her again, her hazel eyes meeting his. ‘Yeah, no. I think I’ll stray away from that landmine… but I am surprised she’s still working at her… presumably old age,’ mentally coughing.

Soon after, Mia came running back into the room with a paper in her hand. Handing it to Leon, he read it. Much less reading and more noticing a very big letter “A” in red at the top of the paper.

“Awesome job! I knew those math problems would be a piece of cake for you.” Kneeling down and giving her a high five.

“It’s all thanks to Mrs. Nora. She’s SUPER smart.” Mia confessed happily as she took back the paper.

“Alright, well since you did so good. I have a surprise.”

Leon grabbed the take-out box that he had left beside the door on a table. “It’s your favorite.” This statement was met with a large outcry as she hopped a bit in anticipation.

As he went to give her the box, he pulled it back a bit. Mia’s grin wavered. “But… I don’t know. I might have to make sure it isn’t poisoned or anything. I’ll just take a small bite.” With this, Leon opened his mouth wide as he imitated eating the entire box.

“NOOOOO!!!” Mia screeched and she went to grab it. Easily grabbing the box from Leon, perhaps too easily… she eyed him momentarily then took the cornbread and went to the dining table.

Nora and Leon both laughed as Nora got up and walked to the door. Putting her shoes and coat on, she went to open the door with Leon right behind her. Soon finding themselves outside.

They both just stared out towards the street for a moment, with a single streetlight in view and a nice cold breeze to go alongside it. It was a nice evening.

“You did well,” Nora said, breaking the silence.

Leon glanced towards her, “I haven’t done anything. Mia did everything herself.” Nora looked slightly annoyed at the statement, clearly being a topic that they’ve gone over before. Eventually shrugging, she continued.

“It’ll be three years soon enough.”

“Yeah…”

“Your parents would be proud,” she added softly.

Leon didn’t respond, simply looking out at the street once more. Nora knew that Leon didn’t want to hear or talk about it, but she wanted him to know. Unproductive as usual in this department, she changed the subject.

“You’re picking up the extra shift tomorrow, no? I’ll be sure to pick up Mia for school and bring her back here.”

“Thank you.” Turning to her, Leon hugged her and waved her off as she walked away soon after.

Returning inside, his sight was met with an interesting gremlin-like creature eating cornbread. Coughing to get the wild beast’s attention, Mia turned to him. With cheeks full like a chipmunk and a few crumbs on her face, Leon just smiled.