inFAMOUS: Winter Solstice

Chapter 2

The next morning, the day before Christmas, Cole went back to the church to check on the girl he had saved. He was relieved when he found that someone had stayed behind to watch after her. She had been fed very graciously and given new clothes to wear.

He found her sitting in the front row of pews, staring at the rays of morning sunlight pouring in from the stain-glass windows. Sitting down beside her, he could see she was in deep thought, her eyes lonely and sad.

"Hey," Cole put his hand on her small shoulder, "you doing okay?"

Of course, the question was more out of courtesy than real curiosity. No one would be okay after witnessing their brother shot in cold blood the day before.

She looked at him and tried to smile. "They're nice to me here. Thank you, mister Cole, for bringing me here."

"I couldn't just leave you there alone. And you can just call me 'Cole'."

He looked over her face. They had cleaned her up since he last saw her, washed the dirt and blood off of her.

"Since you know me so well, what's your name?"

"..Lilly Williams."

"Nice to meet you, Lilly," he smiled at her. "Is it okay if you tell me why you don't have a house to live in?"

She didn't answer him. She found the colorful lights on the floor to focus on, as it seemed that her voice had been lost.

"It's fine if you don't want to."

"Those mean men in the masks took Daddy away. They came to our house looking for policemen and they found Daddy. They pointed their guns at me and Jesse and said that they would hurt us if he didn't go with them."

'So, he was one of the cops that were abducted when Bertrand's militia took over.'

"What about your mom, Lilly?"

She was clearly struggling to continue, her eyes starting to tear up and her mouth forming that frown you can't help but make when you cry.

"She tried to stop them. But then there were a lot of loud noises and she fell down. Jesse tried to wake her up, but she wouldn't." Her voice raised an octave as she continued. "We stayed in the house, too scared to leave. More of them came saying we couldn't stay anymore and told us to leave."

Cole sat quietly and watched her cry for a moment, trying to imagine the fear Lilly and her younger brother must have felt as the militia took both of their parents from them. He moved to the podium in the front and felt inside and found a box of tissues, in case of those emotional teary moments they would have during mass. He sat back down and handed her a few.

"I'm sorry, Lilly. That must have been terrifying. I'm proud that you were brave enough to tell me."

She wiped her eyes some and sniffled as she looked up at him. When her innocent eyes found him, he took her small hand to calm her.

"Losing your parents to the militia, then your brother to some low-life thug... I'll make it up to you, I promise." Then he brightened his tone. "It's almost Christmas. I'll tell Santa to give you something special."

She frowned. "Santa doesn't exist."

He mirrored her. "Sure he does. Why would you say that?"

"Because everyone tells me he doesn't. If he did, it would snow too, wouldn't it?"

Cole paused a moment and watched as she blinked waiting for his answer.

He laughed and said, "So, you're telling me that if it snows in New Marais, then Santa Clause exists, right?"