The moon was hiding behind a thick layer of clouds. For the past couple of weeks that was a sure fire way of knowing that something odd was about to happen. Every thunderstorm people and things seemed to pop into existence in and around the city. It was mostly burnt corpses, but from time to time a phone or some small device I didn’t recognize made its way here, without any rhyme or reason.

In this darkness, with the help of a small flame and a couple of fireflies, I could see Caius’s face. He was deep in thought ever since Nerva left with his father. We didn’t know why, but he told us to wait for him and that he would be back in thirty minutes. Around ten minutes had passed since, but the air was pleasant and even though our talk wasn’t really going well, with me and him taking long breaks between comments, I didn’t mind.

There are people who I was okay with sitting in complete silence and he was apparently one of them. But this time was a bit different, there was some kind of tension in the air I couldn’t explain away. He wasn’t even looking at me, having his eyes fixated on some point in the air, as if he was trying to look at a ghost. As more time passed I more and more hoped for Nerva to go back soon.

When I closed my eyes (to stop my obvious staring at him), he finally opened his mouth.

“Nero?” He sounded worried and maybe a bit stressed. “How do you know if you like someone?”

The question took me by surprise, I quickly asked him to clarify what he meant.

“I mean… love.”

He was obviously struggling with saying that and his tone got a bit quieter. I opened my eyes a bit and looked at him, he was staring at me, waiting for my answer.

“Well… It’s not something that everyone feels the same.” I answered, feeling my blood rushing faster. Was he trying to tell me something? “Some experience it as a faster heartbeat… Or feeling shy when near that person.”

“I… Know, but… How do you know it’s serious?”

Exactly, how do you know if it’s serious? I didn’t know. I had this kind of feeling before, but usually it was something temporary, fleeting, something people call a “crush”. But there was one person before…

“It’s when you feel the need to protect that special someone.” I answered softly, matching my tone to his. “When you feel good and valued with them.”

He nodded, returning to his thinking pose. It took him a minute to speak up again.

“Nero?” He started playing with his hair. “We’ve known each other for just over a month…” Oh god could that be it? Was he about to tell me that he liked me? I felt my face turning bright red and was glad for the weak flame of an oil lamp not reaching me with its light. My heartbeat skyrocketed, even though a big part of me was telling me that this can’t be true.

“I… Like someone. A man.” He finally continued. And I started playing with my hands, stressed, worried about what he was about to say. “How… Do you think I should tell him that?”

He was smooth. Acting like someone out of a movie even before movies were a thing, making me feel butterflies in my stomach. I almost couldn’t believe in what was happening. I also couldn’t decide what to tell him. Maybe I should just straight up say ‘me too?’. Is that how this works? I had no idea.

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“Well… If he likes you back… I feel like there is no special way to say it.” I tried controlling my breathing, to no success. “As long as you do say it, that’s what matters.”

He once again dozed off into his thoughts. This time I didn’t wait for him to pick up the conversation however.

“And… If you don’t mind me asking.” He looked up at me, forcing me to turn my head away, embarrassed. “Who’s that man?”

I could hear Caius take a deep breath and shift on the pillows.

“Ne-” That’s when we heard loud voices coming from the house. Caius used this opportunity to get away from answering the question, but even before he could stand up - Nerva, Octavia and Marius entered the garden. They had fear in their eyes, making me push what he was about to say out of focus.

Before either me and Caius could do anything to help our friends - they started talking.

“We saw it! The shadow figure!” Nerva sounded almost excited.

“It was on the balcony.” Octavia was shaking, holding on to Marius’s arm.

“Of my house.” Finished Nerva.

Me and Caius looked at each other. Could the thing have been here with us all this time and we just didn’t notice? Was it still in the house? Before I could ask anything, Marius continued the story.

“We saw it walking around. At first we tried to stay quiet and approach, thinking it could be a burglar. But then…” His voice cracked.

“It noticed us and jumped from the balcony.” Continued the girl. “But not down… it… it…”

“It just jumped on the roof and disappeared.” Nerva no longer sounded excited, but rather concerned.

“Wait… What do you mean he jumped onto the roof?” I asked, not understanding how exactly that could be possible. I noticed a weird shift in Marius’s pose. He looked straight at me as if he was calculating something.

“It just… Jumped. Grabbed the edge of the roof and…”

“Climbed in.” Finished Nerva for Octavia.

“So it could still be here with us?” I looked up at the sky and the roof tiles. It was too dark to see anything. I felt a shiver run through my spine, something was out there stalking us, and I had no idea what they wanted.

“Oh god I didn’t…” Nerva looked at us with huge eyes.

We instantly rushed inside, turning all the oil lamps on and taking the two hidden gladiuses as weapons. Caius got one, the homeowner took the second one. We barricaded inside, keeping an eye on every entrance in a complete silence. After a couple of minutes of this stress Marius finally spoke up.

“Um… Guys… I don’t want to wreck the mood again.” He sounded tired and bitter.

“What do you mean? You never did!” Octavia reassured him with Nerva backing her up.

“Thanks but… Either way… I want to ask Nero something… I think we all were thinking.”

Everyone got tense. I looked at their faces and every single one of them turned away slightly, even Caius. I took a big breath and met Marius’s gaze.

“What is it?”

“I…” He was visibly uncomfortable. “I know that you know more than you say.”

I remained silent.

“I understand why you might not want to tell us anything but…” He looked at his friends. Finally Nerva spoke up.

“I think Marius just wants to know what’s that thing and…”

“We noticed you called it a ‘he’ before. Do you know what or who he is?” Finished Octavia, still shaken.

I felt stress bubbling up inside me. I had no idea who exactly the person was, but I had a theory. But explaining it meant giving away who I really was and where I come from. I looked at Caius for support. He nodded his head quietly, as if telling me to speak up, to convince his friends I wasn’t a threat.

Oh Caius. I felt something for him and never before did I want to hug someone more than in that moment of silence. I could feel the tears coming up to my eyes and was afraid that emotions would choke me, not letting me speak at all. But finally…

“Okay… So… Here’s the truth.”