Idris walked ahead of them, deep in his thought. His attitude had changed ever since they had left the slums. Strangely, it was Kez who kept Foxy company as he limped beside her.

This was the first time in her life that Foxy had left the slums. She had never seen the world without the corpses, the filth, and the dwellers. She was scared.

So far, there was nothing that comforted her. Large, ugly building penetrated the ugly Omnian sky. The moon, against the evening sky had just managed to appear. The shabbiness did not simply stay in the slum. Entire Inchaa - capital city of Omnia - was big ugly chunk of nothing.

Or at least that's what Kez thought.

"You're not missin' on a lot, kid. This piece of crap will remain piece of crap until we do somethin' about it."

"You plan to change the world?" Foxy repeated what Idris had told her. She carried her polythene bag against her chest. She didn't have many possessions. She had her old clothes, her thumb, and her make-shift bed. But she felt odd leaving it behind.

"Is that what he told you?" Kez motioned to Idris. Then chuckled. "Right, right, kid. I'm plannin' to make money. No one knows what goes inside his head."

Foxy nodded. She kept quiet as both of them followed Idris block after block crossing path with other similarly dressed people. No one cared to stop or meet people's gaze. No one acknowledged each other. It was a strange world outside the slum. She was glad for the two men. At the moment, she was glad for Kez.

She stared at the back of the green-coat man. He hadn't said a word since he announced that he was adopting Foxy. She had so many questions. She wanted to know and understand the technicalities of her situation in case she made any mistakes. She glanced at the big man that limped beside her. She inhaled, remembering that he was not too fond of questions, then asked.

"Where are we going?"

"We've booked a room in a hotel for the night, eh? For you to get some rest."

Foxy nodded. She knew what a hotel was. She was not an idiot. But she had never been inside one. In fact, she had never been inside any of these ugly buildings. She looked around taking it all in. It was not beautiful yet she wanted to memorize it.

"If I want, can I go back and visit Emma?"

She had thought about this, a lot. She didn't want to completely cut off her cord with the dwellers. They had raised her. She just didn't want them to be the only family she could manage to have.

"Ay, kid. If we visit Omnia."

Foxy stopped short. Kez continued walking until he realised that the kid was not beside him. Foxy met his gaze in horror.

"What does that mean?"

He looked at her, blinking. Behind him, Idris continued walking. "We ain't livin' here is what I mean. How much has that man told you?"

He turned to look at the moving figure of Idris. Then, back at Foxy, he shook his head. She didn't know what that look or gesture meant. She didn't know what the words meant.

"We don't live in Omnia, kid. In fact, we don't really have a home. The nearest thing to a home is our place in Raye."

"Raye?" She gasped.

The fact that she had left the slum was such a crazy thing! Now they expected her to leave an entire planet that she didn't even know.

This was too much.

"Raye." The word was stuck in her throat. He moved towards her, placed his thick hand on her petite shoulder.

"Let's keep walkin', kid. Don't want to make a scene, eh?"

Raye, her thoughts were loud. She would be travelling. Beyond the sky. She had never dared to look at the Moon, considering it too far fetched. She walked slowly. His hand guiding her as her thoughts overwhelmed her. Fear, the size of a fat rat, scurried in her stomach. She fought the urge to vomit.

They took a sharp left and they were in front of building that was filled with lights. Foxy had to shade her eye to actually look. Women in red clothes danced in big screen attached to the building. There was an entrance and on top of that, something was written, probably the name of the hotel. If Foxy knew how to read, she would know.

"Welcome," a voice boomed as they entered. Foxy instinctively drew close to Kez. He kept his hand on her.

Idris finally turned to look at her, as if realising she was with them for the first time. "We have a booked a room for you. The receptionist will let you know. You will stay the night there. We have some thing to do, okay?"

Foxy nodded. She had no idea what a receptionist was. But she did not want to cause troubles. She just pulled her polythene bag close to her. It comforted her.

She felt Kez inhale beside her. He was a loud man in everything that he did. "Continue walkin' straight, eh. You will see a nice, pretty woman, yeah? You will tell her your name and tell her that you have a room booked. She will tell you which one. Ask her to take you there. Understood?"

This made better sense than what Idris had said. She nodded. Idris wasn't even listening anymore as he tapped on a device that had suddenly appeared in his hands. Well, she had never seen him pull it from his coat.

There was one another thing that Foxy realised. Kez didn't smell like Idris. While Idris smelled clean -- so clean. Kez smelled normal. He did not reek. She was sure that she was stinking. But he did not smell clean either. His smell did not attack her senses the way Idris' did. But she could not help but like it.

"Go on." Kez gave her a gentle shove.

"You will come back?" Foxy asked.

Idris looked at her but it was Kez who answered. "Yes, kid, we will. No need to worry about all that, eh?" Then he smiled, came closer, rummaging through his dark coat, he handed her a device similar to one Idris was holding.

"Look at that." He said. "That's me, eh?" He pointed at his face on the screen of the device. "Tap on it, if you think you want something and I will talk to you. But no unnecessary calls, eh? But no completely necessary ones either. Somewhere in the middle." He smiled as he said the last sentence.

She nodded and then looked around fearfully. This was the most expensive thing she had held in her hand. If she was in the slum -- well, she had never seen something as expensive in the slum so she could not even imagine the consequences.

"Kez." Idris called out impatient.

Kez ignored him. "Right, kiddo. The sweet lady will help you. She knows us. But call me, eh?"

This was the first time when Foxy looked at big man that she noticed kindness in his blue, beautiful, eyes. He had a slight twinkle, a gentle smile, and a kind look. He ruffled her hair and the men left.

Foxy inhaled. She had to meet the receptionist.

▪

The room was massive.

When the lady unlocked the door to her room. Foxy froze. She had never been in a room before. She had never been in a building before. She had been an idiot not to observe properly -- she had been distracted by two confusing men.

There was a bed and it looked, so, so clean with its white sheets. They had pillows too! The pillows looked like clouds. Foxy had trouble breathing as she took the beauty in. Then, she ran to the window and gasped loudly. She could see the entire city. Foxy was convinced she was going to die. Her heart beating too fast. She was shaking. The excitement, the fear, the nervous had taken over her body. She would probably faint any minute.

She turned from the window and that's when her reflection caught her eye and she wanted to vomit. The girl she saw was not how she imagined herself to look like.

The girl was dirty. She had grey, matted hair. Grey layer of dirt coated her skin. When she opened her mouth, her teeth were yellow, and she didn't even want to know how much her breath stinked! Kez had touched her as she looked like this! Her fresh clothes looked horrible on her! Her new slippers against her bruised, ugly feet. The polythene bag that she held had grime over it. She threw it away. She hated it. She hated herself. She was so ugly. Dirty.

Foxy found herself collapsing on the sparkling clean floor. It was cold. It felt like heaven as she sobbed.

Dirty, dirty, dirty, her mind kept repeating herself. What if, Idris had suddenly realised that she did not belong in his world? He was so clean. He smelled clean!

Foxy shook her head as she sobbed. She knew she did not want to go back to the slums. So she had to convince Idris and Kez to keep her along. She had to.

Foxy got up shakily on her feet. She looked around. There was another door. She walked towards it and pushed it open. There was another room -- smaller and clean -- and it had things that she had never seen before. She had seen a tap before. So she went to it and watched as the water poured down when she waved at it. So much water!

She let go of the tap and looked around. She knew this was where people came to shower. She was not an idiot. She just didn't know where . . .

And then she spotted it, a glass wall, and behind it, a tap on the ceiling. She started undressing quickly leaving her fresh clothes on the floor as she ran to stand under the tap on the ceiling. She waved at it, nothing happened. Foxy frowned. Should she call Kez for this? That would be embarrassing.

She would figure it out.

Foxy took a deep breath in; her naked body needed to be clean if she even stood a chance to survive in their world. She waved at it again. Maybe she was short. Maybe this shower was meant for adults only.

She imagined the warm water that could possibly flow from it. Her skin touching it. A sigh escaped her mouth.

"Warm," she breathed.

The tap responded to her, as it started pouring warm water. Foxy grinned as she scrubbed herself. If she could peel off her skin, she would.

When Kez and Idris returned -- they would meet a new Foxy.

A clean one.

▪