Elena gulped loudly and, after another sip from the coffee, put the cup away onto the side table next to her. She crossed her legs and folded her hands on her lap, though she quickly began to wring them nervously. There was obviously no way around the talk, otherwise she could have just stayed away after all, and she was aware of that fact. So she didn’t let herself get conquered by the deep revulsion she felt inside herself, and instead brought herself to take a deep breath and just start. She made her voice sound as calm as she could, but she didn’t manage to hold back the slight quavers speaking of her tense state of mind. Although the sofa was nothing least of heavenly comfortable and she was sunken deep into it, she was not able to relax with the best will of the world. The kindness she was met with she barely even noticed. Instead, she was much more focused on keeping a clear mind and showing as few emotions as possible. That she failed hard at that slowly dawned on her.
It took some seconds until she piped up, during which only the faint, yet harmonic spitting of the fireplace could be heard. Her voice, taking a scratchy note, slit through the homely ambience like a knife. “No, it’s alright,” she began and licked her lips. Her gaze fixated on the fireplace. Another loud gulp. “I’m from Rheinland, as you might have heard by my accent already. From Planet Stuttgart, to be exact. A lovely place, truly. Especially the summer times are really nice, especially in the bigger cities. Better than New Berlin or Hamburg, definitely.” The hint of a smile flickered across her face momentarily, yet her mien stiffened again quickly afterwards. She shook her head. “Eh, anyways. What I do for a living, you ask? You could say I’m taking care of people for a living, people who are outlaws and oppose local laws. I’m a mercenary, sort of.” She lapsed into silence for a moment. “Although I guess I didn’t exactly make that impression to you. I’ve done that for a living for quite a while now. For a bit more than a year, if my memories don’t fool me.”
Elena briefly stole a glance at him, and afterwards lowered her head to look at her wringing hands. So far, so easy. Now came the more difficult part, the one she would have more than loved to avoid. But it would be nonsense to not answer it. She remembered how she had realized she needed help a couple of days ago, and how winged she had been to get over it and meet it head-on. Most of it seemed to be gone again now. But she realized she had to force herself. Shifting her body on one side, she took another deep breath and continued, eyes closed. It was best to just imagine she was alone and talking to herself. She would do everything to stay calm, she told herself. “And, for your last question,” said she unassertively. “I, to say it bluntly, I’ve gone through a lot lately. And I feel like it is past due to talk about it with somebody who knows more about this whole psycho business than I do.” She compressed her lips and mumbled. “I realized I’m in serious need of help.”
