Brian felt a sense of frigidness surrounding him before he abruptly woke up, consciousness returning to him and his dream quickly dissolving into reality. The air felt motionlessly cold as he sat down on his bed.

Breathing slowly, he relaxed himself and stood up, quickly noticing the unusually low temperatures that were upon the tree house. He entered the bathroom and proceeded to brush his teeth. After doing so, he scanned his surroundings. Terrence was still in deep sleep, and William was not present.

Everything was as neat as it could be, except the small wooden table that had books all over it. Some of Terrence's school notebooks were there, as well as some doodles and drawings on ripped off pieces of paper.

Brian walked towards the messy table, and carefully pushed away the masses of notebooks and doodles, leaving a few empty papers on the table. Taking out his pencil, he started to write on one of the blank papers.

He wrote, thoughtfully choosing his words and doing his best to resist the surprising cold inside the room. Brian felt his hand glued to the pencil abruptly, limiting his movements.

He looked at the pencil that, to his surprise, was encased in a thick layer of ice, with his hand inside of it.

Quickly growing worried, he tried hitting his hand with the table as strong as he could, but then recalled that Terrence was still sleeping.

As the ice slowly became thicker, he dismissed his worry and hit the layer of ice with the wooden table, causing it to slightly crack. Repeating the action his hand broke free of its frigid encasement and he worriedly stood up.

Then noticing another issue, his foot was frozen stuck to the wooden floor.

This increased his panic, but he quickly put his hands on the wall to lift his foot. He lifted with as much strength as he could muster, but to no avail, his foot remained stuck.

His worry increasing, he attempted a second time to lift his foot, this time by pushing himself upwards as he lifted as strongly as possible.

He could feel the ice encasement starting to crack slowly, but he was quickly running out of energy to lift himself.

Utilizing every bit of strength, he broke the ice encasement only to quickly realize his hands were frozen stuck to the wooden wall.

Added onto that, he had broken some wooden planks when he lifted his feet.

Sighing in defeat, he rested as well as he could to regain strength.

Meanwhile the ice was slowly thawing, as he calmed himself and relaxed as best as he could in the situation, not able to completely dismiss his worries.

The ice's thawing accelerated until there was only a small encasement of ice gluing his hands to the wooden wall. Almost effortlessly, he broke free of the hold of the ice encasement.

Realizing he was free to move, he quickly climbed down the stairs and walked into the heat of the sun; sitting on the grass as the gentle breeze became louder.

Warmed up, Brian took some moments to think about the absurdly low temperatures that were in the tree house.

Oddly enough, Terrence was still in somewhat deep sleep, and he didn't appear to be affected by the temperature.

However, most objects nearby Brian seemed to freeze rather quickly, as if the frigidness was following him.

He stood up slowly, and after stretching, climbed the ladder and went into the tree house.

Walking in somewhat silence, he headed towards the closet. Opening the wooden door, he got out a coat and wore it before closing the wooden door of the closet.

Looking at the whole in the floor, he quickly looked for a hammer and some wooden boards, and with some nails he had bought a few weeks ago, he started fixing the hole he had ripped open.

Minutes later, Terrence threw a deep, long tired moan before getting out of bed.

The repetitive banging of the hammer was driving him insane, he hated being woken up earlier than he was used to. Sitting on his bouncy bed, he tried to cancel the echoing banging of the hammer but to no avail, he stood up and walked towards the table, where Brian was trying to hammer down a wooden tile but kept failing miserably.

Brian turned around and noticed Terrence's, deeply tired face, and his now wrinkled clothes. Before Brian could resume his hammering, Terrence spoke up.

"What-appened?" he quickly slurred.

"The tile broke, I'm trying to fix it." Brian responded, waving his hammer.

"Let me handle it" Terrence said, wiping off the tired look on his face, reverting it to his 'do-work' attitude which he sported often.

Brian happily gave Terrence the hammer, which he caught in the air. He put the hammer in the table and went to brush his teeth.

After finishing, Brian gained recollection, he walked towards Terrence who was now properly hammering to wooden board.

"Hey, remember last night?" Terrence asked, Brian's expression slightly shifted in response.

"Yeah, how could I forget when we were hunted down by murderers."

"Not murderers, gang members"

"How can you be sure? And does it really matter, I don't care who is hunting me down or what they are as long as they don't succeed."

"Murderers don't get 15 to twenty of themselves just to kill two teens."

Brian's expression shifted again, now to one of deep thought, his face scrunched up with effort.

"Speaking of which. You said you'd explain what you know about these guys; thoroughly." Brian stated, inciting that he do it now.

"I never said that" Terrence quickly replied.

Brian gave him a cold look, one of unacceptance.

"The thoroughly, I mean" Terrence corrected his sentence.

Terrence grabbed the hammer and hit the last nail. Standing up tall, he continued;

"Ill explain tonight, but friendly warning that I don't have much to explain."

Terrence put down the hammer. He let out a deep sigh.

That was a lie he thought. Boy do I have a lot to explain.

AbsoluteSonic7203/03/2021

In the city's biggest library, William sat down on a chair, opening a book and beginning to read. His thoughts delved into the book's statements, rapidly accounting them as a hopeful truth, not recognizing his wishful thinking.

Maybe it is true he thought.

He let out a yawn, and abruptly closed the book. William stood up and returned the book to its shelf.

The sun hit his eyes as he walked outside of the library, and he walked through the streets towards the police station in which Roman worked in. The building towered over him, casting a welcomed shade onto the sidewalk.

He sat down on a bench and looked at his clock, which displayed 2:57 pm.

A minute passed, and the police station door was opened due to a pair of policemen who ate their late lunch. William turned his head, but nonetheless, Roman was nowhere to be seen.

He felt thirst invading his body as minutes passed, quickly turning his head to even the smallest indication of something or someone that would be Roman.

But nothing.

He glanced at his clock once more; the neon lights displayed the numbers 3:12 pm.

Anxiety was chewing the rest of his mind, Doubt creeping into his thoughts as the seconds mechanically passed.

William hated the feeling that had shown itself at his worst moments.

The feeling that was lack of progress, the inability to escape. Time passing slower and slower as he grew more desperate by the minute.

It was a feeling of a higher self-consciousness.

And he despised it.

His eyes fluttered as the sun seemed to die out; everything slowly vanished out of sight as he fell into sleep.

Far away from the police station, into the forests of the city; Matthew carried his backpack down the steep mountain.

The sun was starting to fall, as he preferred to describe it.

It must have been the afternoon; the sun's brightness was decaying. That was good, it made his trip downwards smoother.

He reached the bottom of the steep triangle, at level with the rest of the town. Matthew trekked on through the sidewalks, passing fast food restaurants and crossing avenues until he reached the heart of the town.

The park's entrance, also known as "The Heart of the Town" by the locals was the area on which traffic was at its most dense.

Matthew stood by the park's entrance, debating his proceeding action.

If he crossed the avenue and returned home, he would have to organize his backpack and room immediately after, which would impede him from resting for at least a half hour.

However, by going to the park and resting he could regain his energy and prepare for the work he needed to do.

He concluded his debate by walking through the park's gate, turning his head at the lack of activity in the park.

He walked towards a pair of grass patches and sat down.

Letting a deep sigh escape; he took his backpack off and laid it on the soft patches.

A short nap wouldn't inflict much change in his schedule.

His imaginary schedule.

Two beeps awoke William at the police station. He quickly looked around and looked at his clock, which now displayed 4 pm.

Shortly after, the door to the station opened and Roman walked out with an empty container on his hands.

"What's up?" Roman said whilst sitting down on the bench. William cleared his eyes before responding.

"More like what's down" he responded.

"Then what's down?"

"My head, because you're one hour late"

"My break's at 4; how long have ya been here?"

"One hour"

"What did you want to tell me?"

"How's that case going?"

"Which case?"

"The teen's case"

"That's out of my hands right now"

"How so?"

"It may involve some other unaccounted factors that veer it away from my jurisdiction"

"What factors?"

"Can't specificate that, you know how it is"

"Then what can you do?"

"Right now, not much; we'll have to see if the case falls back into my jurisdiction before I can fill you in on some details"

"Aight"

"Break's up, see you"

"Already?"

"It only lasts 15 minutes, I have many stuff on queue"

"See you then"

William and Roman parted ways. They'd see each other again soon.

William walked into the park.

The trees waved with the wind as he walked into the deeper parts of the park's forest. The tree house came into view as soon as William stepped out onto the empty field.

He sighed deeply. William quickly walked towards the ladder and climbed it rather slowly.

"Not used to living up here huh" greeted Terrence from inside.

William carefully finished climbing the ladder with much effort.

He gasped for air as Terrence opened the front door and waved for him to get inside.

"What took you so long?" Brian asked him as he spun round in a chair with wheels.

"I like taking my time" he replied.

Brian stopped spinning and wore off his dizziness as he stood up.

"So uh, what are you doing?" William questioned as he sat down on a nearby chair.

"Nothing; just chillin'" Terrence replied.

"What will we do today then?"

"What do you mean?" Brian questioned.

"You have any plans?"

Terrence and Brian remained silent, a few seconds later Terrence stood up and whilst gesturing his hands forward replied;

"We don't do that here"

Terrence wickedly laughed as Brian just sat down on his chair.

After the event passed they picked up the conversation once more.

"I have an idea" William said enthusiastically.

"Sure, take a shot" Brian replied.

"How about we camp outside today?"

Brian and Terrence looked at each other.

They seemed to know by experience that such idea wouldn't end up going as planned.

"No good?" William responded once noticing their wordless reply.

"Nope. We've done that before and trust me, better to stay inside."

Terrence replied to William's suggestion.

Brian elaborated on Terrence's statement;

"Critters'll eat you up bit by bit, the temperature will drop and so might rain. You might wake up with bugs on you or with your food rotten, racoons might raid the house or even worse, cockroaches may lay eggs around the house. All I said is by experience. The last one was the worst and was fairly recent."

William remained silent as he evaluated both their claims. But, as good an answer those claims were, William wanted to camp out more than anything.

. . .

Well not anything but fairly a lot.

"How about you go prepare the security measures and I'll handle the food department, I can make smores." He suggested.

Reluctantly, both Terrence and Brian agreed, seeing as Will wouldn't have it any other way.

They both prepared to go buy some supplies for the night and left a few minutes later.

William went inside and opened his backpacks. Seconds after, he pulled out some ingredients to make some s'mores. He made his first pair when some leaves crinkled in the distance.

Startled, he locked the doors and closed all the windows, with the exception of one through which he could see who or what was approaching.

He acted as if he were still making s'mores as he kept an eye out the window.

The bushes on the outer ring moved and a figure came out, walking slowly and sleepily.

"Who are you?" William asked, masking his voice.

"Is Terrence home?" the figure replied.

William wondered how the enigma knew Terrence's name. It could be a trap so he took it the safe side.

"Never heard of it" he replied.

"He lives here; who are you?" the figure questioned.

"Leave" William commanded.

The figure seemed to be indifferent.

"Tell Terrence to meet me; he knows where" the figure replied.

But before William could deny knowing Terrence, the figure once more hid under the bushes and went out of sight.

William was now very puzzled; but he seemed to have decided to ignore the issue as he continued making s'mores.

Pretty soon leaves truffled once more, this time two familiar figures walking through the vegetation.

Brian and Terrence had returned and he was barely halfway done with the snacks.

William felt a strong pressure all of the sudden, as if he was being evaluated on a cooking show, and he was a guest.

For reasons unknown to him at the moment, the sudden pangs of metal scratching soil was all but painless.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, breathe in; breath out.

He let in a long gasp of breath before exhaling softly.

Whilst William was panick- preparing the snacks, Brian and Terrence were setting up the tents that they had bought.

"Steady, steady, keep it steady" Brian said whilst Terrence lowered the poles of the tent.

"For how long do I need to keep this steady?" Terrence groaned.

"Long enough that I can make sure it wont fall down once its placed in the hole" Brian replied.

"Aren't you supposed to hammer it down?" Terrence said while doing a high amount of effort.

"But that takes a lot of effort and. . ." Brian trailed off and sighed before waving the thumbs up to Terrence.

The air splintered as the booming sound of metal scraping soil hit again.

Terrence grabbed the tent by its poles and pulled it to test its sturdiness.

After realizing it was very sturdy, he opened the zipper and laid flat on the floor for a few seconds, before pushing himself upwards with his hands and organizing the pillows and blankets.

Brian came inside the tent, leaving it unzipped. It was fairly big on the inside, more so than they were accustomed to.

Brian had bought two tents because he thought one wouldn't be enough, despite Terrence's claims that they were 'Extra X-cess X Large'.

Brian laid his head on the soft, comfy pillow.

Terrence however felt uncomfortable sleeping with pillows.

It was part of the enigma that he was.

The kid claimed that pillows were uncomfortable, that he felt that they would swallow his head due to the 'unnerving' sinking of his head.

He was quite the puzzle to solve.

Awkwardness increasing quickly, Terrence was the one to speak up after the empty minutes of silence.

"So, you want to know about me." He said, unsure how he should react.

"Call me skeptical, but you have a lot of loose threads"

Terrence sighed.

"I used to live with my family. It was quite peaceful. Eventually stuff happened and I had to leave."

Brian gave Terrence a stern look.

"You cant be vague. You need to open up more."

Terrence couldn't believe this was happening.

"Ok. Re-do. I used to live with my family for a long time. We lived in a small hotel and my dad owned it. After a while I was faced with. . .

a choice. So I-"

Brian slapped his forehead. But before he could speak up, Terrence interrupted.

"So I left my family and went far away. Eventually I got here." Terrence sighed.

"What about your book?" Brian asked.

"My sister gave it to me. Hope ya'r satisfied." The last bit seemed like more of a menace than a complaint, but Brian ignored it.

Brian, acting like a detective more than anything at the moment, tried to sink everything in.

He remembered his incident at the morning. Perhaps Terrence should also know about that.

"So uh you remember this morning? Well I had an incident." Brian said.

He continued;

"There was some sort of aura or something because temperatures were, like; low low. And I'm still very puzzled about what happened. I wasn't sure if I should tell you because; well in all honesty I didn't know how you'd react."

He let out a deep sigh, the deepest in a long time.

Their silence was interrupted by the calling of William from inside.

They got out of the humongous tent and entered the tree house. William had made two dozens of three types of s'mores.

One dozen had a few raisins and another dozen had two layers of marshmallows.

Before Brian could say thanks, Terrence snagged and quickly gobbled a pair of s'mores.

William grabbed the trays and brought them downstairs while Terrence started a little campfire, a safe 12 feet away from any flammable objects.

A few minutes later, they were eating s'mores and chatting around the warmth of the fire.

Terrence, snatching s'mores from the trays, asked William;

"So uh, William; what brings you here?" he asked, focused on the food.

"Am a traveler 'round here y' know. I heard Brian say something about an aura of coldness?"

"Yeah it was an aura in the morning. Or at least I think so. Can't be sure." Brian responded the question.

"Can I trust you with something?" William asked, waiting for an answer.

Terrence nodded quickly, not really noticing what William was saying.

"I came here to this city in hopes of finding that aura you have. There's probably more, but I'm not sure you'd understand in all honesty. Eventually you reach a point where your trust is so abused, it is nonexistent."

"Let's drop the auras for now" Terrence said absently minded.

He snatched another pair of s'mores before Brian pushed the tray away from him.

The night sky darkened more, and soon they were all but talking.

The rest of the night was small talk and stargazing. Terrence nor Brian had done any of this in a while. It was refreshing.

. . .

Matthew trots down the streets, gasping continuously for breath as he slows his pace.

He looked at the night sky, calmly observing the vast void that is space as a flash of light on the horizon snatches his attention.

Matthew, now directing his view towards theflash, realizes that lightning struck where there were no cl