Daniel looked up from his computer screen for the first time in a while, stretching his arms over his head. The last batch of reports was finally done, and it was onto the next. He’d been doing good work lately, but he knew this was only the beginning. The end of the day approached, but overtime loomed over his head like a guillotine. Fortunately, he was used to this kind of pressure. He had his own ways of resolving it.

  The young man sighed, getting out of his chair and heading towards the company kitchen. He would at least need a refill of his coffee to get through the day, if not one of the energy drinks in his bag. As he entered the kitchen, however, he happened to come across a familiar brown-haired bespectacled secretary.

  “Oh, hello, miss Nightingale.” Daniel said politely.

  “Hello.” Miss nightingale responded curtly.

  Their conversation ended there. Miss Nightingale held a cup and was in front of the electric kettle, waiting for it to boil. It was likely she was here for the same reason he was. So, he set his mug onto the counter and waited nearby.

  They stood in awkward silence for a few quiet moments before the brown-haired secretary decided to break the ice.

  “So, Daniel, have you finished those budget reports yet?”

  “Yes, I have.”

  “Did you include the comparisons between the last fiscal quarter?”

  “Of course.”

  “I see, that’s good.”

  And then they lapsed back into silence. Thankfully, the water soon finished boiling. Miss Nightingale poured some of it into her cup, putting a teabag into it, before passing the kettle off to Daniel. He nodded in thanks and put some instant coffee powder into his mug, before pouring the water in. As he stirred the dark liquid, he felt that he should continue the conversation. Though, lacking any real interests, hobbies or concern for the weather, all he could talk about was work.

  “Say, miss Nightingale, is there any more work for me? Those reports pretty much the last thing on the docket today.”

  “No, actually.”

  Daniel was taken aback. The company always had spare work to do, especially now. Seeing his confusion, the brown-haired secretary adjusted her glasses as she explained.

  “I have assigned the appropriate amount of work to the appropriate people. I have been keeping tabs on the teams so far, and everyone is on track to finish on time.

  “But... there must be someone falling behind?”

  “There are, but I have them handled.”

  “Can’t I, you know. Can I help with anything?”

  “...I’ll send you something via email later.”

  But even those small morsels of work were gone quickly, leaving Daniel standing outside the office building, on time for once. The young man looked around, watching as his colleagues left for their nightly appointments, and wondered what he should do. After thinking for a while, he could only decide to go home.

  Daniel quietly opened his apartment door. He was home earlier than expected so the sun was yet to set, and it was bathing his living room in a golden glow. He took a moment to marvel at the brightness of his apartment, before throwing his bag onto the couch. As it landed, the creature jumped up from the couch, startled by the thrown projectile.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Oops, sorry, Tabitha.” Daniel said, loosening his tie.

  It gave him a resentful look before burrowing back into the couch cushions. It seemed to be basking in the sunlight, not that he could ever really know. As Daniel got to changing, he still didn’t know exactly what to do. His hobbies included scrolling on his phone and watching TV; the former wouldn’t tide him over for an entire night, and the latter was literally impossible right now. And he also had no friends to hang out with. After mulling over his options, he realized he did have one avenue of entertainment.

  Bothering the creature.

  “Hey Tabitha, look over here!” He said suddenly.

  The creature turned and saw Daniel with a selection of strange objects in his arms, with one of his hands holding a toy fishing rod. It crawled off the couch and approached him curiously. Having caught its attention, Daniel began dangling the fishing line, causing the plush fish on the end to begin bouncing up and down in front of the creature. It watched intently for a while before suddenly reaching out with one if its forelimbs to smack the flying fish!

  The creature batted at the fish for a while and Daniel watched on in amusement, pulling the stick to and fro. When playing around like this, it was easy to forget what the creature was, the various weapons it had, and how dangerous it truly was. As if reading his mind, the creature suddenly focused, waiting a moment for the fish to be in the perfect position, before striking. A scything limb stuck the hanging rope, severing the fish from the black line. Daniel stood in stunned silence as the creature walked triumphantly to its downed prize.

  The young man quietly lowered the de-fished rod. Now what? Checking the time, he realized that it was close to dinner. He didn’t usually eat this early, but why not? That being said, he didn’t really feel like cooking, and didn’t know what he wanted to eat. Fortunately, he had a good idea.

  “Hey, Tabitha.”

  The creature turned away from analyzing the plush fish, only to see Daniel setting down small sheets of paper on the floor, back side up.

  “Here, pick one. Any of them will do.” He explained.

  It still didn’t understand what he wanted, but he mimed his hand going down onto the floor, and it seemed to understand, putting one of its legs down onto a sheet of paper. Daniel flipped the page.

  “Alright, pizza it is.” He said, absentmindedly giving the creature a pat. “Good job, buddy.”

  The creature still wasn’t sure what it had done, but it was rather satisfied with its slice of pizza.

  After Dinner, he took a leisurely walk with the creature, taking a scenic tour of the surrounding area. The nearby park was closed due to restoration works, which was understandable, but disappointing. He felt a little bad about that, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

  Daniel glanced around at the darkened streets, lit only by streetlights and the occasional passing car. At this point he was almost wishing he would get into another fight, just for the heck of it. Although he didn’t like to admit it, being chased by that strange ice-wielding child was the last time he had felt alive. But alas, the cold night was utterly empty, and he had to return home in disappointment.

  As he prepared to go to bed, he reflected on his relaxing day. It felt good to have an easy day for the first time in a while. Though it was definitely a little boring. Once his TV came in it would be a little less so, and maybe he would think about picking up a hobby. For now, though, he turned the lights off and went to sleep.

  Daniel awoke abruptly, blinking in the morning light. It was Saturday, so he felt like sleeping in a little more, but he couldn’t shake the feeling something was off. He sat up in bed, yawning as he reached for his phone, but he stopped as he heard a knock on his bedroom door. Grumbling, he got to his feet and ambled over. It was probably Tabitha wanting some extra food again. Only this time, the knocking seemed to come from a different height than usual...

  Daniel opened the door and then froze. There in front of the doorway, he saw a child about 5 years old, staring into his eyes. Someone he had never seen before, who was familiar and unfamiliar. She had short black hair, like his, but the shape of her face and green eyes reminded him of... her.

  The ground fell out beneath him and the world spun around madly, before Daniel awoke with a start. He panted heavily, feeling nauseous as his heart thundered in his chest. He was sweating heavily under his clothes. He fumbled for his phone on the nightstand, checking the time. 1:00 am. He got out of bed and stumbled towards the bathroom.

  Daniel spat into the sink and washed his face, staring into his bloodshot brown eyes. And he had been doing so well lately. But of all the ways to be reminded...

  “What the hell was that...” Daniel whispered, rubbing his face with his hand.

  It took him a long time to go back to sleep.