Maddy shivered as the autumn wind bit at his face and ruffled his hair, his burned hand was the only part of him that appreciated the late-night weather. He let out a huff and watched his breath turn to frost in the dimly lit street. Maybe he should have grabbed his jacket. Maybe he shouldn't have called that officer a witch…

And where the hell was Dee tonight?! Even as he tried calling her again now it still went straight to voice mail. A sinking feeling sloshed around in his stomach, what if something happened to her? Maddy’s body shook all over and he wasn’t quite sure if it was just from the cold.

No. He refused to think something happened to her. Dee was resourceful and something like dying wasn’t something she would let happen so easily.

Maddy dug into his pant pocket with his good hand to shelter it from the cold and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper. He read the name, Xavier Hess, and frowned even his handwriting was obnoxious with a giant “X” nearly taking up half the paper. He wasn’t planning on calling that cop. Ever. He crushed the note in his hand and pretended the nearest trash can was a basketball hoop.

“He shoots,” Maddy cheered, “He scores! Rah-ah!”

Maddy raised his hands in mock pride and kept them raised as another gust of wind made his nose twitch and caused him to stop momentarily. In every practical sense, it seemed that Maddy was walking down the street alone. It was nearly two am and most people in his sleepy little town were doing just that, sleeping. But gazing up at the trees in the distance shaking oddly against the breeze, whispering to him that someone Strange lurking around.

"Fuck off," He grumbled to whatever tried to remain hidden in the shadows of the street lamps. Too tired and in pain, he was not in the mood to do anything, but shower and flop into bed. His nose twitched all the way home and only got worse when he reached the front door of his apartment.

He sighed, dropping his shoulders as he reached for his apartment key clipped to his belt loop beside the spare diner keys. Dee joked he was slowly becoming a janitor, but Maddy was just happy he didn't have to walk all the back to the diner. His numb fingers struggled with the clip, he swiped a hand under his nose and gritted his teeth. Another second, and he would have stripped in the hallway and unlocked his door with the keys still attached to his pants.

Free at last, he unlocked his front door and went straight toward his shower. He didn’t wait for the water to heat up and jumped in while it was still cold. Blood slid off his skin and turned pink as it mixed with the water before swirling down the drain. He let the water hit his face, tears rolling down his cheeks in the same instance making it hard to discern the difference. It wasn’t the first time he had washed blood off his body and despite what he wished, he knew it wouldn’t be his last.

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A memory flashed in his thoughts, like a spark from an outlet. He was eight and watching TV on the carpet. Darren’s beetle-like eyes, red and glossy from a third can of beer bore into him. His teeth stained yellow appeared as his lips twisted into a smile as they watched a man who murdered his wife appear on the TV. “You see guys like him, they’re monsters. They don’t deserve love…Look at his wife. Look at how pretty she was.”

Maddy stared at the screen on the top right corner was a picture of a petite brunette. Darren took another can of beer and pulled the tab, “She’s dead now. And he killed her. He’s sick… A fuckin’ monster. He deserves every awful thing that comes his way.”

And Maddy believed his foster father. After all the man was a cop and it was bad guys that forced him to retire early.

Water dripped down his face and splashed into the puddle of water by his feet. He squeezed his fists, and gritted his teeth when his injured hand ached. Where was Dee tonight? She was supposed to be there. She was supposed to tell him it was going to be okay.

Maddy hopped out of the shower and barely dried off before slipping into a pair of boxers and a sweater. It was just as bitingly cold inside as it was outside, but Maddy wouldn’t change the temp unless Dee was visiting and yelling in his ear to do so. He turned toward his bed, it wasn't much to look at, a twin-sized mattress with emerald green sheets and a comforter without a duvet cover, but after tonight, it was warm toast and alphabet soup on a cold winter day. Mr. Nanabo’s dull gray eyes flashed through his thoughts and instead, he took the four steps to his kitchen.

Maddy wasn't hungry, the idea of food made his stomach churn. He turned on the tap and placed his still-burning hand under the water. Once again, Mr. Nanabo’s hollow face reflected in the sink and immediately made Maddy squeeze his eyes shut. He huffed out a breath as he grabbed a pan from the sink and soaked a towel to wrap his injured hand.

He sat on the floor. The weight of the skillet was heavy in his hand. He wiped his nose and pulled his phone out of his pocket, switching his attention between the front door and Dee's message screen. He yawned, blinked hard a few times, and waited.

…And waited.

……And waited.

Every time he closed his eyes, piercing screams would fill his eardrums. Sometimes they came from the Strange Folk who died in the diner, sometimes they would come from a woman Maddy used to know, and sometimes they would even sound like Dee.

Against his own volition, Maddy slumped forward, the pan slipped from his grasp. The weight of the night, the pain in his hand, the chilling memories threatening to surface- it was all too much. He found himself trapped in a waking nightmare, unable to escape the clutches of sleep.