Santi: The Devil's Pioneer

Chapter 12 - Fro-Yo Type of Day

    Santi leaves the cell with Emily and a few others after processing their papers.

"Santi, hey, listen," Emily calls her out as they left the cell. "That was some rough s**t in there. Thanks for having my back. That guy just couldn't get it, you know."

Her eyes drift to the pavement below them. Santi couldn't figure out why she couldn't meet her gaze. Was she embarrassed by what happened?

"Why the hell are you embarrassed?" Her eyebrows meet as she questions Emily.

"What?" Once again, her eyes drift down, cheeks red. "I don't know. It's just I don't think I handled it well. Not very cool of me, you know?"

Confused, and taller by Emily by around 4 inches, she grabs her shoulders and looks her in the eyes. "You have nothing to be embarrassed about. In any assault situation, it's never the victim's fault. Sucks to live in the world that thinks of such." She says, exasperated.

She had seen victims of assault blame themselves to their deathbed. Some reach suicide, others live years with their guilt eating them up.

"I know. Thanks, anyway. And sorry for what I said earlier. I'm dealing with a lot right now." Emily sobers up with a smile. "Do you wanna get fro-yo?"

Fro-yo? What the hell was fro-yo?

Her confused look must've given it away as Emily answers without being asked.

"It's frozen yogurt. Don't tell me you've never had one before?" Emily was bewildered. Never had she met someone her age that has never tasted frozen yogurt. "Come on, there's a store down the street that sells them. They're not the best, but they're still pretty good."

Emily grabs Santi's hand and rushes across the street. A gush of wind blew through Santi as she realizes this was another first moment for her. On Earth, with a friend, getting fro-yo. She was blending along well. It was as if she was born here.

They reach the fro-yo place which was a food truck parked in a peaceful neighborhood. It was around 9 am that time. There were only a few people on the street. Emily said it was the first day of school. Most kids must've gone. In front of the truck were two sets of tables positioned right under the glaring sun. It was a pale peach color and it nearly burned Emily's butt off as she tries to sit down.

"Damn, Miggy, why are the chairs real hot?" She asks the fro-yo vendor. He smiles at them both and returns to preparing the orders of the customers before them. After handing them the fro-yo, Miggy walks out of his truck and comes to hug Emily.

"Where have you been, shortcake? Your dad passed through early this morning. He was looking for you and he was angry." He says as he lets her go.

Miggy was a Spanish descent man, older than Emily. He was like an older brother figure to Emily. He was bald, and he had a beard around his mouth. His eyes were brown and warm. He sets up the seats behind his truck to shield it from the sunlight, pulling up three chairs for them.

As Santi watches the exchange, she was fascinated. She stood by the truck as the two sat down and had a chat. Noticing that Santi felt left out, Emily motions for her to sit beside her.

"This is my friend, by the way. Santi," She smiles as she introduces her to Miggy. Miggy offers a hand that Santi cautiously shakes. "I met her inside the cell, she was a detainee like me. Not too much trouble. Just teen stuff."

"Nice to meet you, Santi. So you're the one who got Emily to come here, huh? You know she's been avoiding me for weeks after knowing I narced on her to her father?"

"I guess. But she's the one who took me down here, really." Santi speaks in a low voice. She wasn't used to interacting with humans. Small talk bore her. But Miggy was such a warm creature. It was opposite the cold and distant feeling that the creatures on Earth radiated all the time. It was attractive. Like a moth to a flame.

"Shut up, Miggy. You know that hurt like butt when dad took all my gadgets. I couldn't even get an uber or pay my bills digitally. It was like he reverted me to old times. It sucked." Emily rolls her eyes at him, playfully throwing an empty can of soda at him. Miggy laughs at her, and Santi managed to chuckle along.

"So Santi, what's your story?" He turns and asks her.

"Not much really. Just here to get some 'not-so-good-but-okay' fro-yo that Emily's been bragging about." She chuckles. Miggy's warmth was infectious. Humor radiated off Santi, almost naturally. Her skin started to look less pale than it had been on Hell.

Miggy shoots a funnily disappointed look at Emily to which Emily responds with an instant drifting of eyes to the ground.

"You told your new friend from jail my yogurt is okay? My yogurt?" He looked overly appalled, expressing his exaggeration perfectly. "Girl, I milk my own cows daily for this!" He shouts as he jokingly throws a kitchen towel on the table and walks away.

"I'm sorry! I was joking, I was still mad at you for narcing on me." Emily follows him inside the truck, screeching. But before climbing up, she looks back at Santi and says, "And you, you narc. I'll get back to you."

Santi laughs at his human interaction. Her laugh was warm and real, unlike the sarcastic ones she was used to letting out in Hell. It was a brief moment for human connection, but it was real and strong. She was starting to appreciate, there and then, the preciousness of humans on Earth.