Lucius washed my empty plastic box, thanked me and I left his house thinking about that cloth. Maybe there weren't any stains. Maybe it was just the design on it. Maybe I just saw something else. Maybe my eyes deceived me. Maybe.

-

The rest of the month was pretty mundane. My daily routine consisted of work, walking around town, cooking dinner and sleeping.

Once again, I craved human interaction. So I went to a nearby park after work. I sat on a bench next to a man who was smoking.

"It's a bad habit." He said to me.

"I need to quit soon."

"It takes guts to quit. But I'm sure you can do it if you try hard enough, it's not impossible." I replied.

"Grace!" He yelled with his eyes in the direction of some kids who were playing. A little girl ran upto the man and he made her wear a blue scarf.

"Is she your daughter?" I asked him.

"Yes, she is." He said.

"She seems lovely." I said.

"She is, she certainly is. She deserves the best." He said as he took a puff out of his cigarette.

"That's why I'm moving tomorrow." He added.

I was quite taken aback at his statement. He implied that that being here in Portland wasn't a good choice for his daughter, which confused me. I had the idea that Portland was a safe place, and actually a boring city to live in. But it seemed like a weird place for me.

"Why are you moving?" I asked him.

"Somethings are left unsaid, but aren't left unnoticed." He replied.