The Quiet Strength of Innocenty

"Do you know who took my mother?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Men. Bad men. I don't know their names. I didn't know their faces, but they took her from me. And now she's gone and I can't find her."

"But you did find me."

"I did. But that was an accident. We shouldn't have met like this."

"What do you mean? I'm glad we met! You're nice!"

"You don't understand. This is dangerous for you. I wasn't supposed to meet you like this."

"Why not? I like it here with you!"

"That's why it's dangerous for you."

Innocenty ran back to the cave entrance and waved at the man again. He was still sitting on his log, staring off into the distance or at something else that Innocenty couldn't see, his eyes hidden by his hat. The man was very tall and dressed in dull black clothes covered in dust or dirt or something that made them look dull and blackish. He had a long narrow face with harsh features and a thin mustache that drooped at the ends, making him look angry even when he wasn't. A thin scar cut through one eyebrow into the mustache on the right side of his face, and he always looked tired as if he hadn't slept in a very long time. But despite his scary looks and intense mannerisms, Innocenty liked him anyway because he always smiled at her when he saw her running over to have lunch with him at noon every day, and because he always gave her some honey cakes after lunch even though she could never understand why he only ever ate bread instead of anything else that her mother used to make for her before she went away forever. Sometimes Innocenty would sit next to him on the log during lunch and try to talk to him about what kinds of bugs lived in the leaves above them (the black ant colony) or how many times did she run around the cave entrance (three times), but he would just smile sadly at her and pat her head before turning back towards whatever it was that had captured his attention so intently before. This bothered Innocenty because it seemed rude, since she knew that he heard her perfectly well whenever she spoke to him, but yesterday she had decided not to be sad about it anymore since all grown-ups were sometimes rude and it didn't matter because they always loved little children no matter what they did, which had been proven by how much her own father loved her even though he had never talked to her because he was always busy working so hard that he never had any time left over for talking during the day or playing games with Innocenty at night before bedtime except for once where they played hide-and-seek until dark fell when Innocenty finally found him sitting down behind a big rock eating some berries off a tree: "I found you!" she cried happily as she ran out from behind a bush further into the shadows of the nightfalling forest, but then she stopped in fear when she realized that it wasn't really her father but just a strange man dressed in clothes covered with dust and dirt like hers father wore but stranger than those clothes because they were even darker than the blackest night sky and almost made Innocenty scared to look any closer at him except that suddenly she felt herself being lifted up by two warm arms while soft lips kissed hers twice before putting her down gently again: "I love you." said the voice of the man while holding onto both of Innocenty's shoulders gently so as not to scare her away, "I've missed you so much." And then Innocenty realized that it was indeed her father instead of some strange man after all: "Daddy! You're back! Where were you? Did Mommy tell you where I am?" And then suddenly everything became clearer again even though there was no daylight left anymore because now Daddy laughed too: "No," said Daddy softly while starting to walk ahead along with Innocenty whose hand he held tightly within his grasp so as not to lose each other again this time around," but don't worry...We'll find each other soon. Now follow me." His voice sounded different somehow but also how it used to be whenever Daddy wasn't tired anymore: strong yet soft, warm yet cold, threatening yet comforting...Innocenty didn't understand why everyone called Daddy a monster when all he wanted was to go home with them again. Before leaving together however, Daddy looked around carefully as if making sure that nobody could see them before making a quick gesture towards someone standing behind one of the trees just outside of their hiding place which caused everything around them suddenly turn pitch black except for a small light which appeared in front of them illuminating their path towards a beautiful golden bird: "Look!" exclaimed Innocenty happily as she ran up closer towards the beautiful bird sitting upon a golden branch in front of them looking back at them expectantly: "It's beautiful!" But then without warning something happened that startled both Daddy and Innocenty greatly for neither of them expected such sudden danger: Suddenly another person jumped out from behind another tree right next to where Daddy stood earlier drawing out something sharp from its belt while screaming loudly towards them while rushing towards daddy at lightning speed until...there was nothing there anymore except for dust falling down slowly from where daddy used to stand only moments earlier while holding onto a small light growing stronger by the second until it grew stronger than everything else including even darkness itself leaving nothing behind except for emptiness...except for happiness...except...for...