Daphne
"Huh... Who are you?" A girl with a reddish hair asks Daphne. She Held a bread mix with peanut butter over her mouth in an attempt to take a bite when the door to her apartment opened. She should have felt alerted to the stranger who had opened the door, but she was so hungry that she didn't care, and Daphne didn't look like a dangerous man.
"I'm Daphne. Some of my things are already in the room upstairs. I went to get more of my luggage." Daphne came into the apartment, with two little bags. She suspected the girl in front of her to be her roommate, the one that she was going to be sharing her new apartment with. It was lucky for her to have found someone that looking for a roommate, this means that the rent would be shared between them. Daphne have only spoken to her roommate online, but this was the first time, she was seeing her in person. "You must be?" Daphne asked even though she already knew her name. She wanted to confirm.
"Ohh sorry, I'm Esther."
Esther help Daphne with one of her bags while she use her other hand to continue eating her bread. "I'm surprised you came so early, I thought you said that you weren't moving in until tomorrow."
Daphne gave out a nervous smile. That was what she had planned on doing. But she was always anxious about being caught by Noah in Oaks City. In most of the places she went to in the city, Noah's men were there, as though he was slowly taking over the whole city. Daphne was happy to find out about Rays city. A distant city that was far from where she came from. The perfect place for her to hide and start a new life. If she hadn't seen the advert for a roommate, she would have never known that a place such as this existed. It was strange how the city was almost invisible as though it didn't exist and yet people lived there. The city was neither big nor small, and it looked peaceful.
"Thank you," Daphne said to Esther who helped her carry her bags upstairs. With a cheap house like this, she should be able to save money.
"Do you want a few days to adjust to your new environment, or do you want me to give you a tour around the city for a bit? You know, show you some of the places I have been." Esther ask. She was upstairs in Daphne's room, resting on her unmade bed, she didn't like climbing the staircase. So she let Daphne take the bedroom upstairs. Esther was impressed to see that Daphne had already cleaned up some part of the room, before bringing in her other things.
"Please just give me a few minutes to arrange this." Daphne was putting some of her clothes inside her wardrobe, she was happy Esther wasn't paying much attention to her, it allowed Daphne to hide the gun that was with her. After an extra two months of waiting for nanny Elina at the expense of her life, Daphne in the end accepted that she was an orphan. When she thought of how alone she was in the world, and she remembered her father's words on guns and the story he had told her, about letting her weapon be her only friend. Guns were more than just a killing tool, it was her partner. She should never be afraid of it, much less be afraid to use it.
It was one of the first lessons Daphne got from her father when he taught her how to shoot her first gun. She was young back then, but every memory of her father was precious to her. Daphne's hands no longer shake whenever she held a gun, but she still wasn't confident that she could use it against a person.
Daphne was surprised to see that most of the city people knew each other. Esther had told her that it hadn't been up to 3 months since she moved in and yet a lot of people around the city knew her, they were all friendly as Esther showed Daphne around. Daphne thought that it was either her new roommate had great social skills or the people who lived in rays city took notes of every new person who came to the city.
Rays city was lively, even though it was that time of the day when everyone got tired from work and wanted nothing more than to be in their bed. Daphne took mental note of the places Esther told her. She needed to find a place to work as soon as possible before her money ran out.
"What's with the looks on your face? Do you want to go in?" Esther asked, wondering if Daphne was hungry. They were both standing in front of a restaurant, it was one of the biggest restaurants in Rays City.
"I'm thinking about whether I should apply for work here or not." Daphne read the job application that was posted on a little board outside, the restaurant owners were looking for a cook and a waitress. Daphne wasn't confident in her cooking skills, she only started cooking for herself a few months ago. But within those few months, she had learned how to be a waitress without breaking any plates. Daphne needed a job, but she still didn't want to work in a place that looked too fancy. The restaurant in front of her looks too fancy. She may be in a distant city but she still didn't want to associate herself with any place or people that stand out too much.
"Woah. You just move in but you are already looking for a job." Esther was amazed once again. It took her half a month to start looking for a job after she moved in and that was only because she needed extra cash. "If you work here, I don't know, it looks like the sort of place that makes you work late. And in this city, you don't want to be moving around late at night."
"Why?" Daphne asked she didn't want to think about it, but from the way Esther sounded, she was starting to feel worried about a gang ruling over the city at night.
"Working at night isn't safe. There is a big man-eating wolf that comes out late at night to eat those who refuse to go home. Mostly strangers who just move in."
Daphne gave Esther a blank look, she wasn't a child, there was no way she was going to get scared from a story like that.
"But if you work at the cafe I work at, you get to go home on time, and together with me. Isn't that awesome?" Esther gave Daphne a goofy smile.
Esther took Daphne to her workplace. The cafe owner laughs at Esther's late-night tales about werewolves, the tale was mostly popular among the people who live in the heart of Ray City, it was mostly told to strangers as a prank to scare them.
Daphne wonders if the tale existed because of the forest close to the city.