I rubbed my fingertips with Drakon's, smiling at how small his fingers were compared to mine. They weren't going to stay that small forever. Pretty soon, his hands would be much bigger than mine and he'll smile at my small hands.

I sighed through my nose and kissed his palm. I climbed out of his bed and gently tucked his favorite teddy bear under his arm. He snored lightly and smacked his lips as he hugged his teddy bear closer to his chest.

I gave him one last kiss on the forehead and snuck out of his room, leaving the door ajar. I turned off the hallway light and switched on the nightlight I kept plugged in the middle of the hallway. Looking around, I noticed how dark the stairway and the end of the hall looked, so I changed my mind and turned off the nightlight and left the hallway light on.

I sighed again and went towards my bedroom. I took out a pair of sweatpants and an old long sleeve shirt. I quickly changed and tied my hair up in a ponytail as I walked into the bathroom.

I stared at my reflection and titled my head. I grabbed the end of my ponytail and combed my fingers through my hair.

"I need a haircut." I said to myself as I examined my split ends.

I threw my hair over my shoulder and started brushing my teeth. I kept my eyes glued to the sink and didn't hear the door creaking open.

I glanced up for a second and rinsed out my mouth. I splashed water on my face and shook my wet hands. I grabbed the hand towel from the hook and dried my face. I looked in the mirror once more and noticed the door was wide open.

I frowned and turned to look at the door. Did I leave that open? Didn't I close it more than halfway?

"Drakon?" I called, taking small steps forward.

There was no reply and my hand gripped the hand towel. I felt a cold shiver run down my spine. It wasn't midnight yet. Tristian wouldn't appear beforehand knowing Drakon could see him.

I swallowed hard and stood by the door. I looked at the hallway both ways and almost sighed in relief when I heard the curtain shift. I didn't waste any time to investigate and turned off the lights and closed the door. I ran to Drakon's room and locked the door.

I crawled behind Drakon and hugged him close to my chest. He mumbled something under his breath and threw his arm over his head, dropping the teddy bear to the floor.

I stared at the door for a few minutes when suddenly a shadow zoomed past on the other side of the door. I gasped and my heart leaped out of my chest.

"Tristian, is that you?" I called out, sitting up for a bit to stare under the door.

The light from the hallway outlined the door and I quickly turned on the lamp from Drakon's nightstand. The right side of the room lit up and I reached over to turn on the other lamp. The lamps didn't shed light to every dark corner and I held Drakon closer to me.

I looked at the door and noticed the hallway light has been turned off. My eyes darted to the wall clock and it had already been midnight for twenty minutes. I looked at the door and the light had been on.

I nibbled on my lower lip and slowly climbed off the bed. I slowly unlocked the door and pulled it open. A slit of light came through and I looked through. There was nothing on that side of the hallway. I took a deep breath and pulled the door open wide enough to poke my head through. I glanced at the other end of the hallway and tripled check to see if the coast was clear.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding in. I run my hands down my face and chuckled. I was seeing things again. I groaned and shook my head. I walked towards my old bedroom and spotted Tristian by the window.

He was closing the window and looked over his shoulder at me.

"I'm sorry I came in late." He greeted, dusting off his hands on his pants.

I forced a smile and nudged towards my son's room. "It's fine. I didn't notice. Drakon was being stubborn and didn't want to go to sleep." I lied and noticed he wasn't carrying anything. "You didn't bring any pajamas?"

"I thought you wanted me to stay here for a couple of hours, not..." He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

I felt my face heat up for not being direct. "Oh. I'm so sorry. I—"

"That's okay. I can stay for the night. I'll just go fetch some clothes." He said, appearing a bit amused and pointed towards the window over his shoulder.

"I-I have some clothes you can borrow." I quickly said when Tristian opened the window. I didn't want to be alone. Not I'm suddenly imagining things.

I headed towards the closet and pulled out an old wooden box. It was pretty worn out given how long it was buried under piles of junk in the basement. I pulled the lid open and grabbed out a pair of red sweatpants and a faded navy blue long shelve shirt. I handed them to Tristian.

"You can use the bathroom down the hall. It's the second on the right." I said.

Tristian nodded his thanks and left. I sighed and looked down at the box. God, this was so old. The first I saw it was when I was cleaning out the basement. It was empty and almost wanted to throw it out when I remembered I found a couple of my step papa's clothes. I didn't have the heart to throw it out, so I put all the clothes here and just left it my old bedroom. It would come to use one day.

I looked around and rubbed my upper arms. It sure looked darker than I remembered. I shuddered and turned on the light. I went down on my knees and fished through the clothes until I found a smaller wooden box. I carefully opened as it was overflowed by pictures. The first picture on top of the pile was the picture of my mama and papa.

A smile forced its way to my lips. My mama was sitting back on the front steps of this house and my papa was pointing at her belly, a big dorky grin on his face. She was pregnant with me and it was the only picture I had of my biological papa.

After he died, my mama couldn't handle seeing him and got rid of the pictures of him or so that was what she told me. One night during her drunken episodes when my step-papa had died, she was throwing her stuff around, looking for money.

"Mama! Mama, stop!" I yelled, ducking a bottle she threw over her shoulder that I barely missed.

She panted and ripped open her underwear drawer. When she didn't find a single penny, she ripped out every drawer of her dresser.

I held back my tears and just shouted for my mama to stop by the doorway. She finally screamed and stared at me with her red eyes.

"Shut the fuck up!" She yelled at me and took a step towards me. "I want my fucking beer! Go and be useless somewhere else! I've had it with you!"

A sob escaped my lips and pretty soon I was sobbing uncontrollably. My body shook and I dropped to the floor. I knew my mama didn't mean it, but after my step papa's death, she hurled insults at me from left to right as she let herself fall into insanity. My mama seemed to understand what she had said and pushed her hair away from her face. She picked something up and dropped it on my lap.

I sniffled and wiped my nose with my hand. I picked it up and recognized it was her with a man. Before I could ask if she was hiding a secret sibling from me, she spoke.

"That's your father." She stated and sighed.

She sat next to me and sloppily pushed her hair out of her face. She tiredly smiled and scratched her head. She didn't say anything else but stare at the picture. I knew she wanted me to ask about him. She was waiting for it, but I couldn't bring myself to. He was a stranger to me.

What I wanted to know was about my step-papa. How did they meet? What was their story? They never talked about how they met when he was alive. Sure he told stories of his youthful days but didn't bring up their story.

But even when my mama was sober, I knew I could never ask.

I swallowed hard and put the picture back. I didn't bother looking at the rest. I shoved the small wooden box to the bottom and closed the lid of the bigger box.

The bathroom door opened and I heard Tristian soft padded footsteps. I pushed the box away in the closet and stood up in time for Tristian to appear in the doorway.

The clothes fit him a little baggy and sleeves were way too long and past his fingertips. He still wore his mask, but I noticed his neck and hair were exposed.

My eyes raked over his body and I chuckled.

"What?" He asked, his voice less muffled.

I shook my head. "You look like my step-papa without the beer belly. This was his pajamas." I said.

Tristian looked at himself. "No wonder it smells a little funny. I thought this was your husband's."

I scoffed and waved my hand in front of my face. "I sent all his clothes to him."

Tristian put his clothes and shoes on a chair and looked around the dark room. "Do you miss your father?"

I leaned back against the closet and shrugged. "At times. He took care of me more than my mama."

"So you don't like your mother?"

"No, I do. We had some nice moments."

Tristian hummed and I yawned. I stretched my arms above my head. "So where do you want to sleep?"

He shrugged. "Wherever you want me to."

I lead us out of the room and checked to see if Drakon's door was open. I opened my bedroom door and quickly turned on the light. I checked my closet for spare pillows and blankets as Tristian stood by the doorway.

"You have no windows." Tristian stated.

I nodded and threw a couple of pillows on the bed. "Yeah, Javon wanted this room since the master bedroom used to be my mama's. 'Sides I couldn't bring myself to sleep there either." I added, closing the closet and laying some blankets on the floor. "Do you prefer floor or bed?" I asked after I laid the third blanket.

"I prefer the floor. I've never been used to a bed anyway."

I nodded and threw the pillows down. I gave Tristian the last blanket and I left the door half open for Drakon. I climbed on my bed and Tristian turned off the lights. The light from the hallway lit only my side of the room and Tristian's side appeared dark. He lay on the floor and I heard him sigh.

I pulled the blanket to my shoulders and lay on the edge to face Tristian. My eyes adjusted to the dark and I saw he lay on his back with his arm behind his head and the other across his chest.

"You sleep with your mask on?" I asked without thinking. I almost apologized for asking, but Tristian chuckled.

"You get used to it after a while." He replied.

I bit the inside of my cheek and decided it was safe to keep the ball rolling. "But don't you get nosebleeds? Because I once covered my head with my blanket for a while and I got a nosebleed."

"No, I don't get those."

I hummed and my hand had a mind of its own and reached down. My fingers lightly touched the mask's cheek. I started to trace his cheek and then to his chin and lips.

Tristian seemed to be frozen and I continued to trace his mask.

"I wish you would take it off." I whispered and pulled my hand back. "What are you hiding?"

The question seemed to wake him and he cleared his throat. I could see he was struggling to answer me when he asked a question instead. "Why did you go to the woods?"

That question took me back and I frowned. "Huh?"

"When we met, you were in the woods. Why?" He asked, almost sounding relieved that I took the bait.

I struggled to find the proper words and Tristian took my silence as an answer. "I've seen so many kids get hurt in the woods trying to find me. I don't know why. Is there a game?"

"Well... sorta." I said, pushing myself up on my elbows and Tristian sat up and leaned against my nightstand. "I was dared to go to the woods. I-I don't know why I did it. I just thought... I guess I only did it to impress my friends. I mean, it was high school."

"You were almost eaten by a wolf." He pointed out.

"Well, yeah..." I trailed off and stared at him. "Why did you save me anyway? You said you've seen kids getting hurt. Did you save them?"

Tristian seemed to think about it and he lifted his knees up. "No, I only saved you."

I felt flattered and leaned my head against my pillow so as to be closer to him. "Really, why?"

He turned to look at me and I saw his hand twitch. He shrugged and rubbed the back of his head. I smiled and lightly cupped his cheek.

I leaned forward and kissed his lips. I hovered for a second and saw that I could take off his mask if I wanted to. I didn't realize how badly I wanted to feel his lips again. There was something about his kisses that made me feel happy, safe. But at the last second, I pulled back to not upset him.

When he felt comfortable with me, he would do it. When that day would come or if it even would, I had no idea. Tristian was a very secretive person and though I knew almost nothing about him, a small part of me completely trusted him as if he was a childhood friend coming back to my life.