Family

We arrive at a police station, it's quiet, I tell Deilu to sit on one of the chairs in the corner. I head to the reception desk, "Hey, I found this child alone in the playground, her parents never came and I don't know what to do from here." I say, whilst I glance over at Deilu several times.

"Mhm, I see. Thank you, what's the Childs' name?" the officer says whilst looking through some papers.

"Her name is Deilu." I say, I start getting a bit panicked when questions pop into my head, "What if she doesn't actually have parents?", "Where will she go?", "What will I do?", "Should I take her in?". With all these thoughts clouding my head, I didn't notice that Deilu was tugging my shirt, she then says, "Kia, Deilu Kia!"

"Is that your full name?" I ask, surprised.

She nods her head and stays beside me, I pat her head gently as I can hear the clicking of the computers' keyboard.

The sound of the officer clearing their throat brought my attention to them once more, "Uhm Sir… Are you sure that's the child's name?" The officer asks, worried and panicked, his voice sounding scorched, he clears his throat and adds, "There was no one found with that name…"

I look at Deilu with my eyes widened, wondering where she came from, who she is and what she's doing here all alone. My stomach starts twisting and my body starts feeling heavy. I try to pull myself together and say with a forced tone and smile, "I see, thank you. Uhm, wo- never mind. Have a good day."

I walk out of police station, Deilu grabs my hand and holds it tight, she looks worried, her expression is sad, guilty yet innocent, "It's okay.." I say whilst I pat her once more.

She signals with her hand that I should follow her, and out of a gut feeling, I do.

Around 30 minutes later

We arrive in the slums, the place where the poor and homeless live. We go to an old broken-down house made out of wood, to call it a house is an overstatement, It looks like a 10 by 10 meter space. Before I step in, I see 2 people. A middle-aged man laying down, who looks like he's almost holding on to dear life. And a woman, who looks around the age of 25, who's taking care of him. They look hungered, very thin, weak and pale.

Deilu runs over to the old man and kisses his head and says with a happy, joyful and excited voice, "Papa! I mafe a fend! (I made a friend)"

The woman suddenly turns around and looks at me, "Deilu, who's that?" the woman asks, suspiciously.

"My fend!"

"Now now, we should at least greet our guests." Deilu's father says, coughing in between words. He tries to sit up, the woman carefully helps him sit up, he clears his throat and says, "My name is Ron, I'm Deilu's father, how did you two meet?"