[b]I think we all know that feel.[/b] For three days I continued to do my regular duties and tasks. I would go out to gather berries, catch fish, and, occasionally, search through the woods for other people. As always, my searches were in vain. Sometimes I would find what I thought were tracks -- footprints -- but always I would be lead to a dead end. The footprints would suddenly vanish into thin air. I thought I was just seeing things and decided to no longer follow any more footprints I might have seen on my walks. No matter how real they looked. Or how fresh they may seem. I missed the days when the city stood. I missed the people, mostly. Which I didn’t quite understand, seeing that I rarely even talked to anyone. Whenever I was out in the city I would usually just keep to myself and write. I guess it was the option I truly missed, rather than the people themselves. Here I had no options. In fact, I missed talking so much that a couple of times late at night, I would find myself silently wishing to see that Fallen, Vanera, again. Even if it was just answering questions all night long, I missed interacting with others. I missed having a friend. One day, to my unexpected surprise, my wishes were granted. Early in the morning when I woke up I was greeted with four curious blue eyes staring down at me for the second time in a week. It still startled me all the same though. I jumped up in shock and stumbled onto the ground. “WHAT THE- what is with you and sneaking up on me while I sleep!?” I asked while breathing heavily. “And how long have you been here?!” Vanaera laughed -- or I believed she did -- at my surprised reaction and began to write a response in her journal that she already had open in her lower hands. She finished and handed me the torn out page. [i]I have been here for many hours. I have learned a lot about your sleeping habits: one of them being that you sleep too much in general. Would you say that that is an accurate representation of your entire species’ sleeping habits? Also, why is it that you sleep with very little armor on? Your entire upper body is exposed to any attacks that could happen in the night. You are completely unprepared for any surprise attacks that may happen during the midst of night. I could have killed you if I wanted to, so you know. [/i] After reading the page, I realized that I was still shirtless and promptly reached and grabbed my dark blue shirt that was folded next to my bed. “Bloody stalker…” I mumbled under my breath as I put on my shirt. Vanera looked at me confusedly with a slightly tilted head. “Ss...talker? Stock… her? Stalker? What is that?” she asked in hard to understand, raspy English. I stared at Vanera with stunned eyes and I felt that my jaw would drop. Once I had found my words, I spoke. “YOU… YOU SPOKE ENGLISH!” I shouted much louder than I expected to. “HOW? HOW DID YOU-” As I was about to ask the question, my eyes fell upon the shadow of something behind Vanera’s back. It looked like a book. “What,” I pointed at the book tucked onto a belt behind Vanera, “What is that?” Vanera reached behind her back and pulled out a small green book with the title [i][u]Comprehensive Grammar and Vocabulary Skills[/u][/i] written on the cover in yellow. I stared at the book for a solid minute, looking for something to say. Ultimately I could not find any comment for this situation so I decided to stay quite. “Good, yes?” Vanera asked in the same broken English from before. I scoffed, “Yes, very good Vanera. How did-” I paused and just took a second to recollect my thoughts, “How did you even get that book?” Vanera shrugged and tucked the book back under her belt. “...Discovered it.” “You mean found?” “Chess.” “Do you mean yes?” Vanera looked up for a second and thought about it. “Yes.” I opened myself to ask where and how she “found it”, but I closed my mouth and decided I’d ask later. “So, how much English do you know already?” “Small.” “Alright then,” I rubbed my chin and fiddled with the tiny black hairs covering it. “Well then I believe I know what we’ll be doing for a while.” I said while staring at the book buckled to Vanera. There was an instant look of regret in her eyes.