After coming in through the back door, Dan set the flower back in water (though he now suspected it didn't need to be) and then made tea, walking back into his bedroom and fishing out his textbooks.

He pulled a CD from his bookshelf and put it into the player. Music always helped him focus when he couldn't. And he couldn't go out looking in that forest until he finished his homework. Because knowing himself, he'd forget he hadn't done it and just not do it.

By the time he closed his biology textbook with a satisfying thump, there was a heavenly smell wafting through his open door.

He slid out into the hallway on the slick wood and saw Sarah taking a tray out of the oven. When he came up close enough, he saw it was scones.

"Those smell really good," he said, sidling up against her and slipping up onto the counter.

Sarah sighed. "They're for after dinner, not right now, Dan."

"I wasn't going to ask about that!" Dan protested. The brunette just raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms skeptically. "Well," he let up, "I might have, but that wasn't what I was planning on asking."

"Wanna go on another bike ride?" his sister asked. Dan grinned. She knew him so well. "Be home before dinner." And Dan knew that Sarah knew that she didn't have to say this, but Sarah liked routines and would be worried about things happening if she didn't.

"Now can I have a scone?" Dan tried. Sarah smiled and rolled her eyes, then picked one off the tray and split it in half, stuffing one in her mouth and the other in her brother's hand. "Thanks." He stood on his tiptoes and kissed her on the cheek, then headed out.

Dan twirled the stem of the daffodil between his fingers.

Was the person even here?

Did the person even exist, or was it just Dan's imagination?

Was this all some crazy dream?

Dan lost track of how long it had been, how many questions he'd asked himself.

He checked his watch. 6:16. It had only been twenty minutes.

Was this a waste of time? Probably. But that didn't stop Dan from hoping.

He was cold. His vest didn't cover his arms, and his fingertips were starting to go numb.

What are you even waiting for?

That question was answered -- at last -- when there was a rustle behind Dan.

He turned around slowly, making his best effort not to startle whomever it was.

It was hard to see in the dark. Dan fumbled in his backpack for the flashlight he was now glad he'd thought to bring, and switched it on hurriedly.

He was met with the sight of a very frightened-looking squirrel.

Dan sighed, drawing it out to slow his heart rate.

6:29. It had started to rain. Dan was wondering whether he had scared off the person. Or it was the rain...

Either way, he was getting colder by the minute.

Maybe the person was deeper in? Or maybe Dan's judgement was muffled by the chill creeping up to his elbows and knees.

He started walking. The trees got closer and closer together, until he could no longer see the stars.

The space his light covered seemed to be shrinking as the darkness closed in on him.

Dan stopped walking. Maybe this had gone too far.

He shined his light around, and started to panic as he realized he didn't know from which way he came. There was nothing familiar about any of the 'paths' and Dan couldn't see anything.

This wasn't happening, right? He'd wake up, and it would be all a dream.

6:47. The rain had gotten heavier. He wandered into a clearing-like place, where he could see the sky. Okay. It wasn't so dark.

There was another rustle to Dan's left. Or was it right?

And then there was breathing. Heavy, labored breathing, as if the person had just run a marathon.

Dan spun around slowly, making sure he didn't miss anything.

His flashlight landed on someone.

And then flickered out and died.

His eyes adjusted quickly to the loss, as if obeying his rapid thoughts of needing to see.

There was a boy standing in front of Dan. With skin so pale and unblemished it seemed to glow in the mediocre starlight.

Dan couldn't make out many of his other features. Dark hair, and piercing eyes.

You look like a ghost.

Dan, unsure of what to do or what question to ask, just held out the daffodil with a trembling hand.

The boy slowly reached out and touched a petal delicately.

The golden color immediately flushed throughout the plant.

And the boy collapsed.

7:19. Dan was knocking frantically on his back door with his foot.

Sarah opened it moments later, looking confused. Dan had a key.

The confusion turned to utter shock when she saw her little brother, soaking wet and carrying an equally drenched, unconscious, unfamiliar boy wearing Dan's jacket in his arms.

She wanted to ask questions, a lot of them, but she took one glance at Dan and the worried look in his chocolate eyes put her into what he liked to call 'mother mode.'

Out of their wet clothes, the both of them (I don't care if he's unconscious, Dan, he's gonna get hypothermia) and the boy in front of the fire with dry clothes and all the blankets in the house piled around him. (Dan, take a shower. You're so muddy. He's not going anywhere, I promise.)

Sarah put a kettle on the stove, and then waited. There was nothing for her to do but wait, and hope that her mother wouldn't pick today to come home early.

When Dan got out of the shower, his hair still damp, Sarah planned on asking him who this was, why he was unconscious, if Dan even knew him.

Y'know, the normal 'meet the friends' protocol.

But Dan had taken to worriedly hovering over the black-haired boy, and Sarah decided it could wait.

Dan had taken a seat on the couch opposite the one the boy was lying on.

He replayed the evening's events in his mind, trying to figure out something, anything, about this boy.

Dan didn't even know what color eyes he had.

He only looked up when Sarah tapped him on the shoulder.

"Dan, it's eleven o'clock. I've gotta be up early tomorrow, so I have to go to bed. Mom's got her night classes again, so she won't be back for a long while. You don't have to go to bed, and if you need to, you can skip school tomorrow." Dan nodded. "And, if you are back when Mom gets home and the boy's still not up, just bring him into your room. This might ... stress her out a bit."

"Okay. Good night, Sarah," Dan said, standing up to hug Sarah tightly, burying his face into her stomach.

She leaned down to kiss him on the top of his head. "Good night, Dan. I love you. I hope he wakes up."

"Me too," Dan replied, turning his gaze back onto the black-haired boy.

He distantly heard Sarah's door shut (she couldn't sleep with the door open). And after just watching the boy, he decided to make some tea and some food, in case the boy woke up hungry.

Because Dan didn't know how to cook, he poured a bowl of dry cereal (so it didn't get soggy), then started the kettle again.

And then kind of stood next to the boy, trying to be ready if he woke up.

When he woke up.

The clock was racking up numbers, and Dan was just listening for the sound of his mother's car in the driveway and watching for any sign of life from this boy.

The sound came first. The unmistakeable crunching of tires on gravel caused Dan to snap into action, putting his arms under the knees and behind the back of the daffodil boy and carry him into his bedroom.

Then he came back into the lounge and got the mug of tea, now lukewarm in its ceramic mug, and the bowl of cereal.

The boy didn't look as if he'd moved, not even in his sleep. Dan was beginning to worry that this wasn't just exhaustion.

But if it wasn't, what was it? Dan didn't have any experience with anything medical. His mum was training to be a doctor, but she had enough on her plate without worrying about a possibly sick kid she'd never met.

The door slammed, and Dan heard footsteps. That would be his mum. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table, whose red numbers read 1:41.

1:42. 1:43. 1:53. 1:55.

Dan wondered if the flower had something to do with the boy's state. After all, he had crumpled just after touching the flower. Which, now that Dan craned his neck to look at it, was still completely gold. It moved and felt like a normal flower, and Dan really didn't want to think about it too hard. He knew he didn't understand, and that it would just give him a headache.

And if the boy woke up while Dan was fooling around with a flower, he might be more than a little confused.

The 5 on the clock filled out into a 6 and the boy's chest started moving.