The Millenial Loser: From hell to Paradis

The real priority

"Foofy." a muffled voice from an infant was captured faintly by Ingrid's attentive ears. Little footsteps were walking apparently confused as the child repeated the name, which caused the dog resting on the woman's lap to raise its head and look around. Millions of thoughts crossed Ingrid's mind at that moment, all of them put on halt when the voice started sounding more distant than closer, but also more into the dense side of the forest. No, no, no. You sound too young to do that to yourself, young child, whoever you are. Ingrid shoved the dog, apparently named Foofy, aside and stood up, her protective insticts screaming louder than her survival ones. Aunt to five kids and teacher of countless others in the past, there was nothing more important to her than making sure a child was safe, cared for and loved when she was near. "Come, Foofy. Let's find and take her home. I can take care of myself later." she raised her chin firmly giving the dog one last stern look before following the little girl's voice. Fortunately children were loud and their feet small so that even an overweight adult like this Millenial could reach one almost effortlessly, which soon happened. Trying to gain the child's trust, she crouched to an almost sitting position and smiled, supporting her body weight on her palms. "Hey, Foofy isn't that way. She's with me. Look." Ingrid pointed to the companion with her chin, being followed by the little blond girl's eyes.

"Foofy" small arms opened wide so that the impatient girl could hug her beloved pet running hastily towards it, being received happily with a swinging tail. Ingrid melted right away watching the cute scene, getting worried soon after. What is happening here? What is such a little girl doing in a forest that late at night? Was she lost from her family or was she abandoned? Sitting down to give her knees some rest, Ingrid tried to catch the infant's attention. "Did you know Foofy is my friend too and we were playing together?" the girl's head snapped at the woman with big brown eyes wanting to hear more. She didn't appear to be older than 4 years old. Her hair was straight and brown, but her clothes looked like those European style from... the 19th century? Living in Germany and being a fan of paintings the lost woman was not foreign to this kind of clothing, but it made no sense for someone who lived in 2024 to dress a child like this, unless it was a recluse population like the Amish. "What were you playing?" the girl decided to ask when she got bored and annoyed from waiting. "We played hide and seek, and then cuddle-cuddle." the girl's mouth forming an 'Oh' indicated she fell for Ingrid's improvisation, and she asked what the 'cuddle-cuddle' game was like, to which Ingrid grinned and pretending to be non-chalant, answered that everytime one felt cold, they would cuddle each other. "Do you want to play with me and Foofy?" with open arms Ingrid hoped to have gained the girl's trust, which was often easy when the word "play" was involved, unless the child had a strong personality like her 6-year-old niece. As usual, she was right and the child left Foofy running to Ingrid's aunty-like arms giggling when they squeezed the little body and lifted it from the ground (with some difficulty since she needed to shift her position first using only the strength of her legs and feet, but the experienced aunt knew she should act fast before the child changed her mind). "The game is" she tried to sound convincing and enthusiastic "bring Foofy home. The rules are: 1- Only use your fingers to point and your voice to whisper, 2- We can only move if you are in my arms or if you hold my hand, 3- If I say 'shh' you close your eyes and make no sound. The first of us to find Foofy's home wins. Can we start?" Please, say yes, please, say yes. The girl nodded in response with a big smile, covered by a pacifier, eager to play but also to go home. 

"My house is that way" she pointed with her little index finger and whispered right on Ingrid's ear, being immediately praised for being brave, smart and witty. Foofy seemed to know the way easily, as she was kind of guiding them, but always turning her head to assure the two humans were following. Although carrying a child was one of Ingrid's most beloved sensations in the world, her arms had their physical limits, hence she unwillingly put the little girl down, holding her hand instead until she had enough strength to hold her again. I really, really hope we arrive at her house before anything happens. But nothing will happen. We are safe, there is nothing to worry about. I chanted daimoku, there is nothing to fear. I'm like Captain Levi, fearless and strong. Having an innocent infant in her arms forced Ingrid to stay positive and focused on making it through this bad situation no matter what. She controlled her bladder, her growing thirst, her hunger, her emotions, cold, anything that could distract her from her goal to bring the child to safety staying tremendously alert to any sign of oddity.

Maybe because of the cold, the night, age or simply the girl's personality, her little head laid itself comfortably in the shoulder of this unknown adult who was carrying her with caring arms. Fortunately, after 15 minutes of walk the ground felt stamped like a trail of humans and horses, proving multiple people passed by this way. Foofy continued to lead like she understood her role which was helping Ingrid to take home the sweet and almost sleeping brunette who needed some classes on not leaving the house late at night and also not trusting adults so easily. Still not knowing where she was geographically, being able to recognize houses (and... torches?) for the first time yielded sentiments of relief and hope, even when, just like the little girl's clothes, the design of those houses and the cobblestones she saw in the streets hinted 19th century again, something Ingrid saw in the city of Amparo, which was near the city of São Paulo, but not near at all to her own town. To be honest, the sight reminisced Imperial Brazil, some towns in Germany, like Nördlingen, that inspired Attack on Titan's Paradis, and the Spanish village Pueblo from Resident Evil 4. Ok, this thought is affrighting me. Where the hell am I?