In the following day, The Fisher Family had dinner together. The baby was asleep.
Stark, Matteo, and Hafen, hoping to grow big and strong, devoured through multiple bowls of soup.
In the middle of dinner, Adelia hummed a song and refilled empty bowls with food stockpiled throughout the day.
Suddenly, a loud knock on the front door interrupted the dinner.
Hafen, Matteo, and Stark halted and glanced at each other with their mouths full.
Holding a bowl and spoon, Adelia looked at the hallway with a curious stare. "Who is it," she sought to know.
No response.
Henry sat straight and munched on a potato. He ate with a stern expression. He looked at his adopted sons and inquired, "Did any of you invite Pepe?"
Matteo swallowed his food. "I did," he replied.
Adelia furrowed her eyebrows and puffed up her cheeks. "If Pepe comes in now, we won't have any food for a couple of days," she grumbled and revealed.
Stark furrowed his eyebrows and complained, "What! No food for days?"
Hafen narrowed his eyes toward Matteo.
Matteo panicked and stammered, "I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Matteo. I'll talk with Pepe," Henry asserted and got up from the table. He walked towards the door.
The knock continued. It was a little faster than before, and it sounded a bit desperate.
Just then, the baby woke up and cried. She sobbed tremendously.
"Oh my! Ana is crying for the first time," Adelia pointed out and hurried to comfort her.
Henry affirmed.
The knock turned into a loud bang.
Hafen longingly stared in the direction of his foster father.
Stark and Matteo did the same.
Henry warily approached the front door. It was too late in the day for Pepe to visit, and it was not the kind of knock he would make. An eerie feeling emerged in his gut. Something was not right. He reached for the door, and he slowly opened it.
Instantaneously, two strangers pushed and stumbled into the house. They pressed their hands together and pleaded, "We're being chased by really bad guys! Please! Help us!"
Henry steadily backed away and raised an eyebrow. He was confounded by them.
The strangers were dressed in strange clothes and wore weird accessories. They wore a cloak with a unique design of an eye. One of them had short hair whereas the other one had long curly hair. They also had pointy ears. Bruises covered their muscular bodies, as well.
Hearing the murmurs of the plea, Hafen, Stark, and Matteo rushed to the hallway.
"Who are you, two? What happened? Were you attacked by monsters," Henry, still surprised, interrogated.
Simultaneously, both strangers kneeled and bowed. "Sorry for the intrusion, sir, but we really need your help. Let us stay here for a while," one of them begged.
Stark readied his fists. To him, they were intruders ready to tackle their father.
Henry glanced at him and assured, "Calm down, Stark. Remember what I taught you. Control your emotions."
Stark relented and lowered his stance.
The stranger with the long hair reacted to the name with a jolt. He glanced at Stark, Matteo, and Hafen. His eyes widened with some sort of realization. "We don't mean any harm to your family," he reassured with an emotionless tone, almost like he had rehearsed the line before. He looked back at Henry.
A chill ran down Matteo's spine, and he shivered.
"We've never seen you. You're suspicious," Hafen noted.
The other stranger kept his head down to hide his embarrassment. He added, "We just need a place to stay for a bit. It's already hard enough for me to ask for help."
Henry looked back at them with a serious expression. "Where are you from," he queried.
"We are from a city," the stranger with the long hair responded.
"What is a city," Hafen inquired.
Henry was in shock. "Are you really from a city, a place with vehicles and electricity? What are you doing in The Sacred Forest," he demanded to know.
The two strangers looked at each other and hesitated to answer.
"What's a vehicle," Stark wanted to know.
Matteo questioned, "What about electricity? That's a hard one to say."
At the same time, Adelia cradled Ana and peered into the hallway.
"Answer my questions," Henry urged.
The two strangers nodded.
The one with the long hair elaborated, "Bad guys have been terrorizing us for a long time. We were chased, but we lost them in the forest. Can we stay for a few days?"
"This forest is sacred," Henry warned and furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, but you, two, need to leave at once," he demanded.
The one with long hair glanced at the boys again. He looked back at Henry and reiterated, "We can't go back." He slammed his head to the floor and expressed, "We have nowhere else to go!" He cried.
Henry was taken aback.
The other stranger narrowed his eyes and stared at his friend. "What are you doing? We can find another place," he whispered.
Adelia, behind her three adopted sons, watched the scene unfold. She soothed and rocked her baby back and forth.
The Fisher Family had heard the situation the two strangers were in.
Adelia sympathized with them. She walked up to her husband and touched his shoulder. "One day will not hurt us as long as they don't eat like Pepe."
Henry turned his head. "Are you sure," he asked.
"We can relate to their pain." Adelia commented. She caressed Ana in her arms and made silly faces.
Ana laughed.
"What do you mean," Henry inquired.
Adelia looked back at him with a serious expression. "Think about their story. It sounds familiar to when we, ourselves, lost everything. Back then, we had no one but each other, and we escaped to this forest. It's not a sin to help others," she reminded and smiled.
Henry pondered for a moment. "I guess you're right. This forest serves us as a refuge of sorts." He sighed and turned to the two strangers. "You may stay with us. Just for a day," he declared.
Henry and Adelia had accepted to house them.
The two strangers, who were still kneeling on the ground, exchanged looks and sighed in relief.
Still, Hafen glared at the two strangers, now guests at their home. "They're speaking, but their mouths aren't moving. I can't understand what they're saying," he murmured and leaned forward. "What a strange language," he added and attempted to listen in.
"Thank you, sir," the two guests repeated profusely. Between each other, they had a different conversation at the same time.
Hafen frowned. He had a bad feeling.
"Oh, are you hungry? Let me prepare a bowl of soup for you, two," Adelia offered.
The two guests affirmed and smirked.
"Follow me. This way is our dining room," Adelia suggested and signaled with her hands.
The two guests got up and followed behind her. In the hallway, they passed by Stark, Matteo, and Hafen.
Stark and Matteo had cautiously moved out of the way. They narrowed their eyes.
Hafen turned to Henry and questioned, "Father, can they really be trusted?"
"Our pair of guests will be staying with us for a day. They must be victims of a monster attack. You can't be so suspicious of them," Henry insisted.
Matteo puffed up his cheeks and huffed. He obliged.
Stark and Hafen were not sure, though.
Stark clenched his fists. "Dad, we've never seen them," he remarked.
"They could be dangerous. How can you be so trusting, father," Hafen queried.
Matteo gulped, and he worried. "Dangerous," he asked.
Henry smiled and approached his adopted sons. "As long as they don't have bad intentions, we will help them out." He patted their heads and reassured with a whisper, "Don't worry. If it gets out of hand, I'll deal with it."
Hafen and Stark paused and inquisitively stared at their father. They relented.
Who were these random strangers?