《Good Morning, Mr. Kay》


 one.

    Eve''s large, luxurious ears flicked slightly in the midst of White Space, an incredible dimensional bridge between countless worlds. Mr. Kay gazed uneasily up at his comforter and guardian in the slightly gelid air, and he pulled his droopy pajama sleeves further over his bluish hands, trying to ward off the cold.


    "Good morning, Mr. Kay."


    The familiar greeting crept through Mr. Kay''s ears, almost haunting and painful. It was something he had heard every calendar day for the past three months, one week, and two days, and he gazed up at the doyen of mental treatment. That was at least what she considered herself to be.


    "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your Zen?" she muttered, her voice halting like they were encapsulated in a soundproof chamber, imprisoning them from the treacherous and cruel reality that awaited outside of this strange, vacant world.


    "A seven," Mr. Kay replied, his sunken eyes surrounded by puffy gray skin. Sleep had been slaughtered by the curse of insomnia for the past 34 and a half hours, but the deprivation had actually served as some sort of strange rush. He felt illuminated by it.


    Eve brought up her hooved paws to her chest, showing she was proud of the numeric. "An improvement from last week! You averaged a rating of 4.7 from March second to March eighth."


    Mr. Kay lowered his foggy eyes to his bare toes. White Space was very confusing to the simple human brain; where there was no ground there was a floor. Ceilings were walls but also everything was infinite and nothing. He was standing on something, but he could be sideways right now or diagonal or inverted. Eve understood it. She lived there.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    "Do you know what is making you feel better?" she politely inquired, her voice kind like warm summer swimming pools and reddish fall trees.


    "No."


    "That is alright, but I would recommend you think about it today."


    "Okay."


    "Have you made any art lately?"


    Mr. Kay hesitated before he shook his head, and his thick black hair swished across his wrinkled forehead. His medical profession had horribly aged him; the stress made him appear to be in his late forties. He was a mere age of thirty four.


    "Your assignments today are to figure out what is making today better and to plan an art piece. Anything you like."


    "Okay."


    Mr. Kay removed a simplistic dry erase marker from his deep pocket. It is nothing special, just something you can purchase from the store for half a dollar, but White Space was empty but also saturated with anything you could desire.


    "I have something for you before I leave," Mr. Kay said as he popped the ebony cap off, and the dark ink began to stain the air as he created a three dimensional sketch. The beveled illustration started to take form, and Eve pulled her hands up to her face.


    "You''re making me a new mask," she breathed underneath her current facial covering, and thick black straps secured it to her fluffy head.


    Mr. Kay smiled as his drawing became completed, and he jerked his hands above his head. The line art soared into the vast whiteness, and a ripple of power and explosive energy burst from it as the dimension made the idea into matter. The now physical mask dropped back into Mr. Kay''s outstretched hands, and he gave it to Eve. She was taken aback at the sudden gift, and she soon brought it into her own arms, admiring the details.


    "Thank you, Mr. Kay. I love everything you create. How is your book coming along?"


    Mr. Kay rubbed his heel on the floor. "I trashed it."


    "How come?"


    "It is better as a comic book." He smirked to himself, excited at the prospect of his story becoming visual. "That is my next art piece."


    "An ambitious project, but I know you will succeed."


    Mr. Kay nodded hopefully to Eve and bowed to her, and she returned the elegant gesture.


    "I will return after work," Mr. Kay said.


    "Remember to breathe, Mr. Kay. Enjoy your day."


    Mr. Kay left Eve, and he found the door back to the world we are familiar with. He slid the white panel aside, and back in his home, the back wall to his fireplace scooted aside. He crawled over the blackened ashes and slipped the door closed. Mr. Kay sat upon the brick hearth and buried his head in his knees.


    He was not a seven.

 two.

    Mr. Kay talked with a patient who was swaddled in the blankets of her bed, and she stared up at him with brilliant, hopeful eyes.  The surgery on her liver from the previous day had proven successful, and now she was entering the recovery stage of her visit in the hospital.  A nurse rushed into the room, his pale cheeks flushed and rosy, and his brow quivered with fear.


    "Dr. Kay!  We need you in room three!"


    Mr. Kay apologized to the healing woman for the sudden halt in their conversation before he rushed out the door.  He was thankful for his work, and he was exhilarated that he could aid people every single day that he stepped into the grand hospital.  The manmade world did feel startlingly sterile, though, and it contrasted differently with the comfort of White Space.  It was chilly there, of course, but Eve provided an unusual warmth that set the soul ablaze.


    The filtered, processed water of the wash basin hit his veiny hands as he scrubbed himself down, removing any contagions before he entered the surgery room, where a young boy awaited.  The poor child had swallowed a kitchen magnet, and in combination with his pacemaker, disaster awaited.  Mr. Kay was brilliant in his field, and after the operation was quickly and elegantly completed, he met up with the drowsy child and his parents in the boy''s room.  They were eternally grateful, and it did fill Mr. Kay with pride.


    But he had simply become a world class surgeon for two reasons: to help people and make money.


    He had always feared poverty.  Each waking moment was spent pondering about how much he would struggle on the streets.  He was raised in a caring, middle-class family, so he had never had to worry about money too much.  But as he reached adulthood and independence became eminent, he worried greatly about money, and healthcare was a strong option to keep his greatest dread at bay.  He hadn''t worried about debt since he paid off his college loans, and he found that saving countless people''s lives was an important thing to do.  Mr. Kay wanted to give back to society.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Back in his late teenage years, the blossoming surgeon wanted to be a renowned comic book artist, showing the world his talent and boundless stories.  But his fear returned.  He could end up poor, and comics don''t save lives.  His choices eventually stalked him and trapped him in his own agony.  When he returned home after a laborious day, he would draw for hours but construct nothing.  It all seemed pointless.  Comics don''t give.  They just sit there.  Yes, they provide entertainment, but what good is that?


    And oh, how he had been wrong!  Surgery gave him staggering paychecks, yes indeed, but how was his heart doing?  There was nothing there.  He felt lost and betrayed by himself.  The stories he wanted to tell were billowing through his mind, but they were to be trapped there forever.  Mr. Kay didn''t have enough time to follow his profession and make grand series about superheroes or the lives of comical old ladies or a homeless mutt.


    His fright kept him here.  And there was no leaving.


    Mr. Kay was bewildered about where his eternal sadness was spurring from, and he visited two therapists.  The first was a cheeky young woman who constantly forgot everything he told her.  Each session was the same.  She would ask about his work and what he thought about it; she forgot he was a surgeon each time he came into her homely office.  He promptly dismissed himself from her care after the third meeting.  The next therapist was a jolly middle aged man with an exciting personality.  He did remember everything, and Mr. Kay adored him because of it.  After a year of weekly dialogue, Mr. Kay was diagnosed with depression and granted a prescription to alleviate the mental strain.


    The little pale pills worked wonders, but after about six months, the darkness of his brain returned.  But Mr. Kay did not return to the therapist.  He decided he was hopeless.  If medicine couldn''t help him, then what could?  It wasn''t until recently he discovered it was his life choices and abandoned dreams that were upsetting him.


    And Eve, the unhuman therapist, figured that out.

 three.

    It was a boring, normal Saturday, and Hua sat across the breakfast table, her piece of heavily buttered toast untouched on her ceramic plate. The pale summer sunlight shone through the kitchen window, making the small sequins on her blouse shimmer. Mr. Kay gingerly drank some of his black dark roast as he stared at the newspaper gripped in his hand. It was slightly damp from the morning dew.


    "Oh look, Hua, there''s an art show in Brooklyn this weekend." He flipped the large paper around to show his daughter.


    "That''s nice dad," she responded quietly. "Look, I think I am going to move in with you."


    "Oh, of course. You are always welcome here."


    "No, not for me. For you."


    Mr. Kay placed the collection of articles onto the linoleum table and stared at Hua with bleary eyes. "Me?"


    Hua pushed her meal towards her frail father. "I know you haven''t been eating. You clothes fit looser. When I came at Christmas, you looked much heavier. Not unhealthy heavy, but just not like this."


    "I''ve just been exercising more and eating healthier."


    "Dad, I know you haven''t been eating regularly. Your voice has become weaker on the phone; I know something is wrong. You sound like you did before you saw Doctor Jaime."


    "Hua, I''m perfectly fine."


    "Then eat my toast."


    "I will." Mr. Kay bit into the oily bread, and it felt like sandpaper and grit was rubbing across his dry tongue. It tasted of nothing, and it plopped into his vacant stomach like a river stone. He threw the remainder back onto the glassy plate and stared at Hua with flaming eyes, ready to defend himself.


    Hua bit her small lip and shook her head. "I''m still moving in, or you are just going to come to my apartment."


    "No, you have to go to college."


    "College can wait."


    "I''m not letting you sacrifice your education for me."


    "Well, if you did care for me, you would go back to Jaime or another therapist."This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "I''m already seeing a new therapist."


    "Oh really? What''s their name?"


    "Doctor Eve."


    "What''s their suite number? Which room do you go to to see them?"


    Mr. Kay scowled and returned to his reading, trying to ignore his daughter''s immense care for him. He took another sip of his bland coffee, and a little fiery kick of caffeine swept through his veins. This small cup of nothing had been his morning sustenance for the past few weeks.


    "Dad, answer me."


    "I don''t have to answer to anyone."


    "Who is Doctor Eve?"


    "I just starting seeing her. You''ll see improvement soon."


    "I sure hope I do." Hua got up from the table, and the rickety stool feet squealed across the dusty tile floor. "I''m going to get my things. And you are going to help me clean up this filthy house when I get back, you understand?"


    "Don''t talk to me like that."


    . . .


    The vacuum screamed as it sucked up countless layers of dirt and hair out of the grayish carpets, and Hua dragged the long machine around the living room. Mr. Kay was elbow deep in sudsy, lukewarm water as he scrubbed away on his old dishes. The grime on the bowls and cups smelt horrendous, and he gagged a couple times as the waves of stench wafted over him. Hua already had to empty the vacuum three times during her cleaning, and she was already returning to the small trash can for a fourth round.


    The home became quiet as she switched it off and dumped out a cloudy ball into the plastic trash bag. "How are the dishes coming?"


    "Slowly," Mr. Kay grumbled.


    "Good." Hua retreated back to the living room, and after putting the extension cord back into the electrical socket, she went off to the study, a duster in hand.


    After she disappeared from sight, Mr. Kay ripped off his turquoise rubber cleaning gloves and stumbled to the living room. The ashy smell of the fireplace erupted in his face as a gust of wind funneled down the chimney, and he rapidly patted his palms on the back of the brick firebox. The wall gently opened, and Mr. Kay crept into White Space and viciously closed the entrance to the real world behind him.


    Eve was playing with some strange, flowery insects in the connecting dimension, and her hooves petted their small heads. One of them opened its mouth to reveal a glittery blossom, and Eve purred in return. She noticed the sudden addition of the human, and she turned to Mr. Kay.


    "Oh, hello," she said.


    "I need to get away from my daughter."


    "Why?"


    "She is prying too much."


    "I was listening. I hear much. I don''t think she was prying; she just wants the truth. I commend anyone who seeks the truth."


    Mr. Kay stomped on the floor, his dress shoe sending a great vibration through White Space. The insectoids squawked in response to the noise and dashed away, zipping through a portal to another dimension. Eve flicked her ears.


    "It took me a long time to get them here," she grumbled. "Protegia dimension creatures are difficult to fool."


    "Eve, I don''t care! Just heal me already so my daughter doesn''t think I''m a freak!"


    Eve crouched down before the furious man, and she forced her face into his. She smelled like a freshly bathed horse, and a somewhat menthol odor came from her fur as well. "No one who is suffering is a freak, Mr. Kay. She wants to help you. We both do."


    "Then do something!"


    "Mr. Kay, we have only been talking about your depression for three days. It took you two weeks after discovering White Space to finally get used to me and understand what this all is. I am no wizard; I can''t just cast a spell."


    Mr. Kay threw his arms into the air before sitting on the floor in front of the great creature. "I don''t want her to move in."


    "I understand, but let her. She cares for you, and I think she can help you heal. We know what is causing all of this, but with her help, I think I can show you that you are safe to pursue your dream."

 four.

    Mr. Kay sat upon the filthy fireplace mantle, starting at his blackened hands resting in his lap.  White Space was locked away behind him, and he gazed up at the pinewood grandfather clock settled in the living room.  It was 8:34 in the morning, the same time he had left into the dimension next door.  Hua came out of the study, and she stared at her dirty father.


    "Cleaning the fireplace?" she asked.


    "Lots of ash built up."


    Hua pursed her lips.  "I didn''t notice it was too dirty when I made a list of what we needed to clean, but if you say so."


    "Lots more than we thought."


    "Ah, I see."  Hua mindlessly flicked her gray feather duster about, launching little bits of grime and hair into the air.  "I am going to call Doctor Jaime later to set up an appointment.  How does Monday sound?"


    "I''ll have to ask off, but I don''t know if they will give it to me."


    "Just say it''s a family emergency.  They''ll find someone to cover."


    "Okay."


    .   .   .


    A medical textbook sat upon Mr. Kay''s thin lap, and his body was sunken into the tan suede arm chair in the study.  He was refreshing on the different parts of the digestive system, and the glistening, inky images depicted the strange formations of the human body.  Mr. Kay picked at a spot on his hand as he read over a passage about bile ducts for the fourth time, trying to memorize the words.  Hua gingerly slipped into the study, a small paperback clutched in her hands.


    "Can I come read?" she muttered.


    "Oh, of course, of course." Mr. Kay gestured to the wicker rocking chair next to him.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Hua slipped a pink pillow off another chair and placed it into the seat before settling down.  She peeled open her novel and looked down at what her father was busily interesting himself in.  "Did all of this start because mom left?"


    "Hmm?  Oh, no, no, I am happy for her.  She likes the volunteer work the church gave her."  Mr. Kay smiled brightly.  "She emailed me yesterday.  Says the school she and the other ladies are building is coming along great."


    "Oh." Hua turned back to her story and read a few pages, but the serif font turned blurry as her thoughts came rushing back.  "Do you have any idea what is making you upset?"


    Mr. Kay shrugged and frowned, his eyes wide.


    "Maybe even a hunch?"


    Mr. Kay shook his head and pushed the medical book closed, and the pages thumped together with a treble sound.  "Back before you were born and mom and I met, I wanted to be a comic artist.  Make stories, make people happy.  But I was scared I would be poor, so I became a doctor.  Doctors make a lot of money, eh?  Never have to worry about being homeless."


    "But you still draw."


    "Not much time to.  I don''t have enough time to make a book."


    Hua furrowed her brow and stared ahead, thinking.  She put her novel on the floor and held her hand out to Mr. Kay.  "To the basement.  I wanna see your studio."


    Mr. Kay frowned.  "Why?"


    "Let''s see what you have been working on.  I want to see with you."


    "Oh, okay."


    Mr. Kay got up from his plush chair and took Hua''s hand before they descended down into the basement that guarded his creative hideout.  He flicked on the numerous lamps that were scattered about the room, and as he filled the chamber with illumination, Hua slowly stalked about the perimeter of the room, gazing at the sketches on the walls.  Countless characters and idea sheets were thumbtacked into the mahogany wood.  Storyboard after storyboard were cluttered together in packs, and quirky dialogue was scribbled on the pages.  The studio smelt of toxic fixative and dusty charcoal.


    Hua stopped before one of the pages, staring at its details, before she looked to her father, who was organizing some tools and sketchbooks on his drawing desk.  "Dad, who''s this?"


    "Eh?" Mr. Kay ambled up to her, squinting his eyes, and his stomach dropped.  It was one of his drawings of Eve.  He ripped it off the wall and folded it up.  "Oh, not important."


    "Dad, I wanna see."  Hua grinned, thinking this was some sort of game, and she reached out for the illustration.


    Mr. Kay shoved it into his pocket.  "It is no concern of yours.  She is villain.  Big scary!"


    "Dad, who is it?"  Hua''s smile dropped as she noticed the quivering horror in her father''s eyes, and she slipped a kind hand over his shoulder.  "Dad?  Who is that?"

 five.

    "Dad?"


    Mr. Kay had peeled open the crumpled illustration again, and the warm lamplight had stained the page a yellowish tint.  Eve''s mask grinned mischievously back at him, and her words from a couple hours prior crept into his mind again.  Eve wanted to meet Hua, hoping that their alliance would aid in his mental healing.  Mr. Kay handed the page back to his daughter, and tears started to glaze her lovely brown eyes.


    "Hua, that is Eve.  Doctor Eve," Mr. Kay muttered.


    "D-Doctor Eve?" Hua whispered, her rosy red lips trembling, but the color soon dissipated as terror began to rock through her bones.  "Dad, this isn''t a p-person."


    "Yes, I know.  She is a creature from White Space, a connecting dimension between our world and many others."


    "Oh my God..." Hua gently walked away from her hunched father, her fingers rising to press against her mouth.  "Dad, do I need to admit -"


    "No," Mr. Kay snagged Hua''s dainty wrist and dragged her up the crooked wooden stairs.  "I am going to show you Eve."


    Hua snapped her shoulder back, yanking her limb away from her father''s clutches.  Eve''s drawing was locked in her trembling, strong fist.  "Dad, get in the car.  We are going to the hospital."


    Mr. Kay shakily ambled backwards up the staircase, holding his wrinkled palms out to Hua, understanding of her incredible unease.  "Hua, just let me show you.  Please."


    Hua pointed vaguely in the direction of the small garage present next to the house.  "Get to the car, now!"The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Hua, no!"


    Mr. Kay dashed through the creaky door leading to the living room, his feet bashing against the hollow stairs.  The clomping rang around Hua''s head like wolfish howls as her father sprinted away, and she pursued after him.  The great chase ended quickly, and Hua slipped on her sleek socks as she tried to halt her run.  A burning sensation erupted from her knobby knees as she fell before the fireplace, and her father was crouched within the firebox, a dimensionless plane behind him.


    "White Space," Mr. Kay said before holding his hand out to Hua.


    Now, this is an excellent time say something about Hua.  Her parents are deeply Christian, believing in all the things that were unseen in the universe, but she fell out of the religion near her seventeenth birthday.  Yes, the disagreement of faith caused a great stir in the household, but Mr. and Ms. Kay came to accept their daughter''s bold choice.  She wanted to think for herself, and they supported her path.  But Hua didn''t pursue seeking other explanations for the world and life and what we are supposed to do.  She just stopped believing in everything entirely, which is very much okay.  Hua only had faith in what she could see and touch.  There was no such thing as ghosts or fairies or gremlins.  There was only earth, and nothing more.  Just dead space and black holes.


    But before her now was something she had never seen or understood.  It was alien and foreign, and it made her neurons squirm and squish, horrified.  This was against everything she thought was real.  It was refreshing, yes, but all unknown things are scary, aren''t they?


    So Hua started to cry.


    "Oh dear, it''s okay!" Mr. Kay pulled himself over to his daughter and wrapped his lithe arms about her shoulders, trying to comfort his kin.  "It''s weird, I know, but it is a safe, wonderful place.  There is no society, no judgement.  Just endless places you can go and infinite things you can make."


    "I don''t want to see it!  Oh God, and I really don''t want to see Eve!"


    "Oh, she isn''t as bad as you think she is.  Uh...she smells like peppermints!"


    "What?"


    "Yeah, she is like Christmas.  She smells like mint, and she likes to play.  Eve''s...very different, but she wants to save me.  She knows about you."


    "Me?"


    "Yes, of course.  She wants to meet you, become friends.  Eve thinks you and her can help me."


    Hua closed her eyes, horrified of the thought that a monster wanted to become her teammate.  She desperately wanted to rescue her father from the dark pits of his mind, and if it took a giant furry beast, then so be it.  Her father seemed smitten with whatever it was.

 six.

    Eve crouched before Hua on all fours, her ginormous ears flicking this way and that as she stared at the female human poised before her.  White Space was nowhere close to being called pedantic by any means, and its strange physics and nonexistent boundaries were still struggling to be accepted by Hua''s brain.  It was startling when foreign creatures would blast into the white realm, exiting their dimension, before barreling through another portal into a different land.  Most just appeared to be animals who didn''t think too hard about this bridge of nothing, but sometimes those that appeared sentient would cross through, mumbling to each other in their odd tongues.  They seemed to be bewildered, looking about at the unknown sky and the unclear horizon.


    Is intelligence really a curse?  Humans always wonder the incredible "why", but they can never just accept.  Animals just venture through the world, seeking adventure and following instincts, but the scientific and calculating stop to ponder.  It is a gift of evolution, a wondering brain that is, but it also strips realms like these of normality.


    Eve gently leaned towards Hua, interested in the new person before her.  Hua got a strong whiff of her spearmint scented fur, and the cold smell numbed her nostrils and stimulated her cloudy head.  When they entered White Space, Hua had immediately panicked when the ground came into sight.  It was like walking on a glass bridge that travels over a canyon or cliff.  You know you aren''t going to fall, but you see the eminent danger in your peripheral.  Your flight instincts fire up each time you think you are about to tumble to the ground below.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Mr. Kay snatched onto his daughter''s hand, convincing her it was strange but okay, before they walked further into the dimension.  The fireplace portal closed behind them, wiping the image of their dainty home into nothingness.  The meandering about felt like they were going no where, but the figure of Eve slowly started to enlarge as they neared her.  The therapeutic creature had sensed their presence and stalked to them, curious about Hua, who she had desired to meet.


    Hua''s trembling hand lifted and gingerly reached out to Eve.  She pulled her fingers back a few times before she finally rested them upon Eve''s smooth mask.  An uneasy laugh erupted from her tight throat; she and her father could be the first people to meet an organism outside of Earth.  It was a significant accomplishment, but it was horrifying as well.  Hua didn''t understand Eve, but Eve had countless contacts with humans, allowing her to comprehend our psyche and desires.


    "What''s the mask for?" Hua inquired, her voice somewhat strangled by her tension.


    "To hide her face," Mr. Kay replied before he stroked the wiry fluffs of fur on Eve''s cheeks, and she emitted a deep, grumbling purr.


    "How come?"


    "Because it''s the scariest thing in the world."

 seven.

    "Dad, how could a face be scary?"  Hua stroked Eve''s ears, which felt similar to a fluffy llama''s.  Eve was now settled down on her pudgy stomach, her broad haunches shaking as she shook her stubby, deerlike tail.  Eve enjoyed the caring hands of humans, especially those that had been trained to pet.


    "It...it just is, dear," Mr. Kay dusted off a scuff of grayish dirt on Eve''s mask.  "I don''t know how to explain it; Eve shows people when they are ready to see."


    "Oh, okay."


    "Also, Eve, why aren''t you wearing the new mask I made you?"


    Eve picked up her head, her ears going straight up and curving inwards like grand devil horns.  "I appreciate the details, but it is too small for my face."  Eve adjusted a strap that was affixed around the base of her neck, and she rotated the intricate oni mask to the front, revealing its glimmering hooked fangs.  "I wear it as a necklace now."


    "I actually like it is as jewelry," Hua said, her voice hopeful and bright.


    Mr. Kay smiled to her before bringing her into a strong hug, and Hua placed her chin upon his bony shoulder.  Her hands wrapped around his waist and connected at the bottom on his spine, returning the embrace.  White Space was silent, but there was a distant hush, as if a lagoon or aquamarine ocean was slapping upon a shoreline.  Thank goodness there was some sound; absolute silence would drive humans mad.  Hua disconnected from her father and faced the great beast again.


    "Eve, how many ways can someone get into White Space?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Eve got off her knees and rose back up to her incredible twelve foot height, and she adjusted her mass upon her feet, tilting her toes this way and that to bring balance.  "Entrances open randomly, my dear Hua.  I do get quite a few children wandering into here because of it.  These openings typically form where there is instability, making them easier to come about.  It is easier to tear a rip in space-time if it is weak, is it not?"


    "I guess."


    Eve rubbed her front hooves together, something Mr. Kay had learned meant she found humor in something.  "Yes, these openings form where there are troubled people.  Children in abusive households often come here, and I help guide them to safety and give them advise.  I remember my first human.  He was a young child from Russia who was verbally harassed regularly by his father.  I guided him through White Space to another home that gladly took him in."


    "You kidnapped?"


    "I rather steal a child away from their horrible home than leave them to suffer, yes?"


    Hua furrowed her brown, morally torn.  What right did Eve have to decide if a child is better off somewhere else?  The Russian boy was obviously in a predicament, but to just take a child away and give them to another family?  Hua wasn''t too sure about it.


    "I see you are conflicted, Hua," Eve said and flicked her tail.  "And I understand.  But Andrej taught me multitudes about humans.  We were both scared of each other to begin with.  I was disturbed by humanity''s unusual gestures and appearance, but I soon came to adore your species.  There is a common good in your kind even though you all don''t believe it.  Yes, there is so many nasty things that happen, but in the end, I have noticed the stronger good with slay the weaker evil.  Your species is very confused, but that is where I come to help.  I may not be able to save everyone who is hurt, but I will do what I can.


    "I have helped six children, and you are my first adult, Mr. Kay.  Those children taught me how to be delicate with the human soul.  They taught me how your kind''s mind functions.  All of its strengths and faults were shown to me, and I want to use that power to heal the distraught of humanity.  White Space is a brilliant realm for my work.  The pained are automatically revealed to me, and they can come to this empty world.  This is a place of nothing, but nothing is not bad.  There is peace.  It is not overwhelming.  A balanced mind can be found here, and I want to balance you, Mr. Kay."