Snatch 1.5

The rain poured down outside, every pitter patter a reminder of the fact that eventually this nice little meal, this gesture of human warmth and kindness would eventually end. Each splash bringing back to mind the question of what she would be left to do after all was said and done. Shelter, warmth... it all seemed exceptionally cruel to have to face after this brief reprieve. The phantom menace of uncertainty hounded Sasha, even as she slowly sipped what was left of this second helping of hot chocolate in the disposable mug. The thoughts churned viciously within her mind, so much so that it had to have been showing deeply across on her face.

“You look worried.” The generous young lady spoke up, lips pursed lightly as she frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing...” Sasha couldn’t help but attempt to deflect, even as she looked down at her cup before taking another long sip. “Nothing at all…”

“This sounds like the kind of nothing that’s definitely something. Something pretty terrible too.” Sabah tilted her head slightly as she herself continued to nurse a cup full of chocolate, fingers busily stirring the cup as she spoke. “I know it’s probably none of my business.”

“No... It’s nothing like that. I just was thinking. Just... I don’t exactly have anywhere to head back to for the night.” Sasha muttered, her head lowered as she sighed, licking her lips lightly as she chose her words. “It was just... I don’t want to insult you after you’ve been so nice to me, I mean I’ve had plenty of nice moments, come and go. But those were all… I don’t know... concentrated? Yeah I guess concentrated is a good word for it. One person doing something nice, and then that’s it. Then the rest of the time I’ve got to head right back out into shit city. No home, no fucking job, nobody who actually cares about where I am... only one or two people who might even notice at all if I fell off the face of the earth, and just too much on their plate to even care. It’s almost as if nice people only fall in to my life to give me a taste of what I’m missing… and then let me slide right back out to hell. I suppose it sounds a bit ungrateful now that I’ve said it out loud.”

Sasha looked back down at the steaming chocolate treat, blowing lightly on its froth, eyes avoiding looking up and maybe accidentally meeting those of this girl who’d found her in a bad spot and tried to help.

“And when we finish off you go… back out into the rain and cold. Till another night’s done and it happens again.” Sabah muttered guiltily over her drink, biting her lip and withdrawn.

“Hey, hey now! I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty or anything…” Sasha lied, a bit guilty herself at the success of her ploy. “Look its nice, I mean I haven’t had anything like this in months, and I don’t really know anyone else who’s cared enough to stop off the street and just offer something like this. I mean it’s always at the shelter... but going there, there’s never enough space. Maybe once a month you can get in and maybe get a night of rest off the street. I mean, it sucks yeah… but it’s just life, you know?”

“Yeah… its life. And life sucks. And here I am… Sabah the superhero swooping in to make things all better, out to change the shitty world. Except I don’t really do I?” The girl who’d treated her spoke looking despondent. “You don’t even have a place for the night, and after I move on you get to go back into the rain.”

Gah... Sasha balked, this was not what she’d been going for. Not looking to make the girl feel as shitty as she did. Not looking to bring her down when all she’d been doing was trying to help.

“Back into the rain with a full belly and some time out of it without worrying someone’s going kick me to the curb.” Sasha held up her hands almost franticly as she tried to reassure. “Look I’ve got my pride and making someone who helped me out does nothing but prick it ok... I don’t really want you feeling like you didn’t help me out here, because that would be shitty of me. I don’t think I’ve been out on the streets long enough for the shittiness to completely leak in ya know? I just…”

“Wouldn’t mind a place to stay and feel like a person for a while?” Sasha made the mistake of looking up into those deep brown eyes as Sabah spoke, wincing at the assessment which she hadn’t wanted to voice.

Sasha found her voice small as her lips moved unbidden, eyes casting down from the brown eyed gaze. “Yes.”

She glanced up again only to see emotions warring hard against the backdrop of Sabah’s face, her delicate features contorting in what could only be described as nothing short of an agonizing process. Everything seemed to dim save the tumult of expression