I woke up and groaned, sitting up and pinching the bridge of my nose. I looked over at Erro. Her sleeping face looked like a kitten, solemn yet adorable. I resisted the urge to scare her out of her wits and stood up, wandering to the bathroom.

I stared into the mirror, splashing water on my face to wake myself up. My own tangled brown hair and bright brown eyes stared back at me. I stared back at it. It stared at me.

"Good GOD I'm ugly!" I giggled,  running a finger through my hair, as always making the most of whatever weird situation I got put into. I put my hand down on the counter to steady myself, but instead it landed on a small red bristle hairbrush. I proceeded to squawk awkwardly as I half-fell half-jumped onto the floor. The red hairbrush tumbled down beside me.

And suddenly, it happened.

I leapt up and grabbed the hairbrush. I began to belt out the first words that came to my head-

"Pon, Pon, Pon-pon-pon. Pon pon pon pon pon pon-pon!"

I spun around, swinging the hairbrush around and singing. It sounded like a pretty good rhythm. Maybe it would become a song in the future?

Nah.

The door squeaked.

I turned around to see a rather surprised old woman staring at me.

"Uhh, hey...." I awkwardly mumbled, still brandishing my hairbrush.

She screamed and hobbled downstairs as fast as an old hobbler can hobble whilst hobbling.

I stared, laughing, and followed her downstairs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I came down, Erro, the man, and the woman were all sitting at a table. It was a grand table, made of mahogany wood with delicately carved legs. In front of them were white marble bowls with a wet grain mixture in them. Erro delicately snarfed it up, trying to be polite but hungrily gorging all the same. The woman ate more delicately, looking wary of Erro and leaning away from her. She looked up and saw me and her face went white.

"Honey, uh, she's back..." She elbowed the man and gestured towards me with her chin.

"Relax, she's with the street rat." The man smiled.

"Excuse me-"

"Relax, young one. Come eat. It's fresh porridge."

I sat down and warily brought the spoon to my mouth. It was sloppy and slimy, falling off my spoon and back into the bowl.

I took a bite.

After about three seconds, I swallowed awkwardly. It tasted the way dead frogs look.

"It's.... good!" I smiled, lying through my grain covered teeth and cringing slightly.

"I'll take it!" Erro piped up, smiling.

I slid the bowl across the table and she began to snarf that as well.

The woman whispered something into the man's ear, and she stood up and proceeded to leave the kitchen.

"Well then." I laughed. "Maybe it was something I said?"

The man cracked a wry smile, and Erro looked up briefly, the porridge falling off her spoon and back into the bowl. I smiled, still kind of grossed out at the sludge that these people called food.

All went silent, except for the tinkling of spoons against the bowl and the rapid breathing of Erro. I had to give her credit, for a small, underfed girl, she was being quite polite. If I was that malnourished and I saw food, I would probably eat through the plate. Heck, I would eat the table. I smiled at this, and then laughed while Erro looked up at me with a small piece of grain on her bottom lip. Real classy.

Suddenly, a fist started pounding on the door.

"OPEN UP! WE KNOW YOU ARE HOUSING THE STRAY!"

Erro dropped her spoon. We both stared at each other. As we stood up to run, the old man grabbed our wrists.

"You're not going anywhere."

Quick as a flash, Erro grabbed his wrist with two fingers and squeezed. A pressure point. The man flinched away, shaking his hand. We both ran.

I burst through the back door, and Erro almost ran over me in the rush to get out. No time to catch my breath, I sprinted after her, down the streets of cobblestone. We seemed to run forever before Erro checked behind her and stopped. I slowed to a halt, breathing heavily and crouching down

"Erro! Wow! I thought you weren't strong enough to do that!" I stared up at her from where I was crouched.

She stared off into the distance. "I'm not. He let go willingly."

"Wait, what?!?"