The sun was scorching down on Willow and Jacomus as they fabricated through the busy streets of downtown Vancouver Island. Vehicles blasted by with people rushing to make their 9-5 after a night of knocking back shots. "Did you end up watching the game last night?", Jacomus said, with a short grin.

"No, I was too busy doing other things. I had to catch up on some school work so I quickly finalized what I needed to get done. It was pretty simple stuff too.", replied Willow. Cars still flying past as they spoke. Willow and Jacomus have been friends for nearly 20 years at present. They first met one another when Jacomus' parents brought Willow home after they found Willow sitting alone in her bassinet, underneath a Willow tree on Quadra Island. Uncertain about where she came from and concerned about the outcome of leaving her, they took her in without any hesitation. Jacomus was 3 years older than Willow, while Willow was assumed to only be 6 months old. They gave Willow a birthday and decided her birthday would be the day they had found her.

"Well, you most certainly missed out on an interesting and great game. VI Raiders beat the other team 26-18.", Jacomus explained, getting excited thinking about it from the night before.

"Well thank you for worrying about me watching the game, but you do remember that I only ever watched the game because I wanted you to take me out to the park or something.", she presumed. Growing up together, Jacomus always seemed to be very keen on where Willow could go as well as what she was doing and who she was with. Initially, he never left her side, almost acting like her bodyguard. Of course, this had upset Willow from time to time, but she never contradicted his actions. As they got older, their peers would make fun of them and tease Jacomus for having a sort of crush on Willow, however, that was never the case, not until today it seemed. Willow and Jacomus were left alone at a young age of 15 and 13, whenever his parents had to leave on a business trip and never came back. Shockingly, Willow was more upset while Jacomus just kept his worries on Willow. Although Willow is aware that she and Jacomus are not related, she deeply cherished her relationship between herself and his parents. They did save her after all.

"Ah yes, I do remember, but you did appear to be somewhat intrigued by what was going on in the games. Were you not?", he let out a teasing laugh.

"Well, maybe just a slight bit but it definitely was not my go-to or even near close to being something I enjoyed. I always just thought that people tackling each other for a ball was pretty funny.", she elucidated. They continued their walk down the street before turning right off onto a trail that led into the big mixture of Red Creek Firs, Western Hemlocks, and Sitka Spruce trees that created a beautifully stunning forest. They continued the conversation about the game that Jacomus was so hooked up on, Willow rolling her eyes at his fangirling. They made their way through the misshapen, warped trail and tall trees before reaching a T in the trail with it splitting off into a left direction and a right direction, going straight only led into bushes. "After you.", Willow said to Jacomus, gently moving her hand toward the bushes and trees that sat untouched in front of the split-off trail. He grinned and proceeded forward. Willow follows behind.

After about a 15-minute walk through the untrailed forest, Willow and Jacomus arrived at the falls. Hidden away by society and only known to a few of the hikers, was this beautiful scene of a natural waterfall that rippled out of the mountains shoulder. Unaffected stone pierced out the extremity of the mountain and continued down on each side of the waterfall, almost looking man-made, however was untouched and made it look as though the waterfall was sitting on a throne. Where the waterfall ended, the water splashed out into a small, circular pool of fresh water. Completely clean of any fish or bugs, perfect for a day's swim.

"Did you bring a bathing suit with you?", Jacomus asked.

"No, I didn't think about it. I did grab a bunch of snacks, however. Didn't want you eating all of them on me.", Willow explained and laughed.

"Ha ha, so funny.", he rolled his eyes and continued, "Well, I brought mine so I might take a dip. It is decently hot outside today. I think we were looking at a high of 34 degrees and it is currently 24 degrees. It is only 10 in the morning on top of that."

"Go ahead. I will just sit over here and pretend I am your stalker. Definitely going to munch down on the food as well. Would you like some strawberries before you hop in?", she handed the strawberries over to him, nudging them into his face.

"Yeah, sure. I wouldn't mind a couple.", he reached over and took a few out of the container, "Thank you."

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"You're welcome."

A few years ago, roughly half a decade or so, Willow and Jacomus came across this waterfall scene. They both fell in love with the way the landscape had constructed the gorgeous and pure area, and Jacomus knew this would be Willow's favorite place to relax and find comfort. Especially after losing his parents. Eventually, it became a basic tradition for the two of them to come down here every weekend, either going for a freshwater swim or simply lying down and listening to the waterfall speckle against its pool and chatting away to each other about their shitty or good day. Sometimes Jacomus would bring Willow here after a long and exhausting day of school or work when he could clearly see that she was distressed over the day that she had just endured. They promised each other that this area would stay between the two of them, coming up with the nickname "The Falls".

A couple hours passed and the sun was now in the middle of the sky, blocked by tall overhanging trees that built up the forest. Jacomus had his swim, meanwhile, Willow had written in her journal and periodically checked in on Jacomus. They were now just both lying down. Jacomus waited for Willow to rip the band-aid off and tell him about the dream that she had mentioned earlier that morning. As he was thinking about this, she sat up. Quickly.

"RIGHT! Almost forgot. Sorry Jaco.", she turned to face him and shot him a sorry grin, left hand holding her upper body raised with the other hand on her right knee. Jacomus cracked a confused look, nearly twisting his head like a confused puppy.

"What's up?"

"My dream, the one I mentioned on the phone. Ugh, I am so sorry I completely forgot."

"Don't be sorry", he laughed, "You can tell me now, it won't make any difference."

"Okay well, you know how in every other dream I'm always in the same area?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, same area again. Everything was the same until I felt a random chill down my spine and suddenly I found myself running, jumping, ducking, and dodging all these different obstacles that randomly appeared on the trail that I peacefully walk down in every other dream. There was this creature, an absolutely terrifying creature that was big, black, and had these horns just sticking out of its head. I was trying to find the Willow tree that usually ends my dream and just before I was able to reach it something, I think it was the creature chasing me, grabbed my leg, and pulled me down. When I hit the ground I was spooked away and I found myself sitting in my bed with Pixie, drenched in sweat.", she finished what she was saying, obvious to Jacomus, very distressed about the dream she had. To Willow's surprise, Jacomus was also just as distressed as she was. He looked as though the situation that happened in her dream happened to her in real life. His reaction scared her more.

There were a few moments of silence, less than 10 seconds but felt like a couple of minutes between the two of them. Then he spoke. "It's just a dream, I always tell you this. I know it turned into a nightmare this time but it has always been a dream and nothing more.", he bit his lip, "I promise you're safe. Don't forget the dream world and the real world are different places and in the dream world nothing is real.", he leaned in for a hug. She accepted.

Unsure of his reaction, she pulled away from the hug and asked him a question. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be sure?"

"Well, these dreams have been happening for a very long time, Jacomus, as young as I can remember. That isn't normal. Every time I wanted to go get it checked out you were always telling me "No, you don't need to", which always concerned me more. Am I normal? I don't feel normal. Fuck man, I don't even have real parents."

"Calm down, you're overthinking it. If anything was wrong with you I would tell you. You're just as normal as me.", he winked. She smiled. "Thank you."

They carried on their conversation, not even realizing that the time had been flying by. "Oh my fuck!", Jacomus blurted, "It's already 5 o'clock, we should probably get going."

"Oh shit, yeah we probably should get going, I need to feed Pixie. She is most definitely waiting for me.", Willow laughed, gathering everything together and tossing it neatly into her baggie. Jacomus did the same as well, wrapping his wet bathing suit into his towel. After getting everything together they got up and headed back the way they came. Neither of them spoke a word until they reached the streets. "Are you going to be okay tonight?", Jacomus asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe? I have Pixie but sometimes it does get very quiet. Why do you ask?", she looked at him with curious eyes. He was silent for a moment as they continued walking towards their places.

He took a deep breath, "Would you like to come over to my place tonight? I can set you up on the couch, and if you need anything I am just across the hall."

She smiled and stared at her feet as they walked. "I can't leave Pixie alone, plus I need to go back and feed her dinner. You can come over to my place if that would make you feel any better?"

Surprised by what she said, he nearly said no in hesitation but initially agreed. "Yeah, let's do that. I haven't seen Pixie in a while too. We've been going out a lot lately, and then on top of school and work keeps us both separately busy. If you're feeling lazy we can order takeout."

"Fuck yeah, let's get Johnny's On Oak!", she shouted in excitement.

"I am so fucking down!", he shouted back.