I stride with positivity down the street, the mysterious boy at my side.

"Whatever your name is, do you know people are staring at you?" He whispers, nudging my arm. I raise an eyebrow, glancing at the people near me. Indeed, people are looking at me.

"Why, I'm just like them?" I ask, puzzled.

"Maybe because your wearing a think silk dress with no shoes on. They probably think you're freezing to death." Suddenly, the bitter cold blasts me. My teeth start to chatter and my feet feel like they've been dipped in a bucket of ice. I'd been too happy to notice how cold I was. I sold be paying more attention.

"Oh, w-w-well do y-you know where I-I c-can find s-some comfy clothes?" I ask, my chattering causing me to stutter.

"There're plenty of thrift shops around here."

"O-Oh yeah! I s-saw o-one through my wi-window." I exclaim, sounding more sick than happy. As we walk into the store, I decide to ask him some questions.

"S-so, what's your name? Mine i-is Hope." I ask, trying on a old pink hoodie. He looks up from his shoes.

"Nathan."

"Uhm, how old are you?" I ask again, hoping he'll want to talk.

"16." He gives me another one-worded answer in response.

"Well I just turned 15 about five minutes ago." I say, grabbing some cozy looking boots. He doesn't reply this time, walking into another isle. I look around feeling awkward. To fill in the empty silence, I take a picture of the thrift shop isle. For a memory of the 1st actual outfit I've ever gotten.

Walking around, I find Nathan looking at some nice tennis shoes. "Uh, I have what I want." I say, trying my best to not scare him. But of course it doesn't work. He jolts backwards, I lean forward snatching his arm and pulling him upwards. Instead of him falling into me, my face collides with his muscular chest. That's when I realized how much taller he is than me. That, or I'm very short.

"Sorry." I continuously repeat, patting his chest. He just looks at me strangely.

"Uh, let's just go." I say, walking towards the exit.

"Aren't you going to pay? Or, your gonna steal it?" Nathan whispers the last part, sending shivers up my spine. It isn't hot, it's kinda creepy to me.

"Stealing? What's that? And what's paying?" I say, feeling very confused. Nathan literally facepalms himself, hard.

"I'll explain later." He grumbles, taking my out for up to the register. I had chosen a hot pink hoodie, white tank top, ripped skinny jeans, and fuzzy pink boots. Nathan hands the man something green with a face on it, I swear I've seen it before!

"Change into these clothes, than meet me in front of the door. If you know how to change into them." He adds sarcastically.

"Hey," I snap. "Just because I grew up in an attic doesn't mean I'm stupid!" He throws his hand up in the air in surrender. I huff, walking to the changing rooms. Once I'm done, I take a good look at myself in the mirror.

My light brown curly hair made its way below my waist. My tanned skin looking pale from all the cold. Dark chocolate eyes gleaming with curiosity and excitement. The outfit hugged my curves almost perfectly. Making me look like everyone else. Normal.

There's a light knock on the door. "You done in there? We really need to hurry." Nathan's voice enters my hearing, and he sounds a little worried.

"Yeah I'm done." I say, opening the door. Nathan looks me up and down for a moment, like he's processing information. "Uh, hello?" I say, snapping my fingers in his way. He snaps out of whatever trance he was in.

"Oh yeah, we need to get to a Motel or something. A lot of bad people are starting to come out at this time and I can't fight them all."

"Yeah, I don't think I will have enough vases either." I joke, nudging Nathan's arm. He just looks at me blankly. But when he turns the other way, I can tell he's smiling. I follow him out of the shop, waving goodbye to the nice cashier. The cold hits me once again, but not as bad as before. Even though the hoodie helps, it doesn't make me completely warm.

"So, what Hotel are we going to? Or Motel as you said." I question, kicking a Pepsi bottle into the street.

"First of all, don't talk too much. Try to fit in and be neutral. Second, that one over there." He informs me quietly, then pointing at a small ugly looking building with a broken window. I shrivel up my nose in disgust, toss looks like the attic. I hear a small laugh, then I hear it again.

"Is that you?" I ask Nathan.

"Yeah, you just look funny when you scrunch up your nose like that." He replies, running across the street. I follow after him, muttering an 'Oh'.

We arrive at the Motel, and it looks even uglier than before. The ugliest fake plants, mold growing on the windows and roof. I shudder and cling onto Nathan's arm, feeling like someone is watching me. He seems surprised at first, but lets me. He opens the door, and we are greeted by an ugly green and blue carpeting. I mentally barf at the decoration choice, the desk literally was one a teacher would have in school. The oldest telephone I've ever seen, and chipping yellow walls.

We walk up to a woman who's about 20 years old. Sewer blonde hair up in a messy bun, cold blue eyes that could make any girl run away, and caked on mismatching make up like she would be going to a party.

"Hello, what do you want." Her voice is nasally. I look at the cigarettes on the desk, that's probably why.

"Are there any free rooms?" Nathan asks politely. She rolls her eyes and doesn't look up from her cell phone.

"Did you hear me?" He asks again, his voice deeper this time. She looks up, muttering something. She suddenly bats her eyelashes and sits up straight. I can tell from the way she's sitting, that she's trying to seem attractive. I feel bile coming up my throat, that's just revolting.

"Oh, we have rooms 16 and 23 free." She says, staring directly at Nathan.

"I'll have room 16." Nathan replies handing her the green stuff. She hands him the keys to the room.

"Before you leave, would you like to eat? The diner is always open. And I'm usually there." She adds, probably hoping for a date. Before Nathan replies, I speak up.

"No he'll be fine, thank you." I say, trying to not growl and tell her off for being so disgusting. I hear her gasp as I tug Nathan away from her revolting presence.

"What was that all about?" He says, a smug grin on his face.

"To get away from her. She made me want to vomit. Why would she even do that? I've never even seen anyone dothat for attention before." I reply shaking head.

We make it to our room successfully without anymore gross conversations. Nathan unlocked the door, revealing a small room. It has blue walls with a queen sized bed. A fat, clunky TV placed on a desk with cobwebs that most likely had roaches.

I don't even dare to look at the bathroom. Plopping onto the bed, I relax immediately. The cushions may not be extremely comfy to everyone else, but they are to me. Considering I've never slept on a bad before. I hug the mattress, digging my face into it.

"Your attic probably didn't have a bed, did it?" Nathan asks, sitting down next to me. I only shake my head no. "You also know there are probably little bugs in the mattress right?" I jolt my head up and wipe my face with my sleeves desperately. I hear Nathan burst out into laughter, slapping the bed.

"That's not funny!" I demand, slapping his face with my hoodie sleeve. His laughter dies down after awhile.

"Thats actually hilarious. The look on your face was just too much for me to handle." He releases another small laugh, probably thinking of the face I made.

"Ok, anyway can you hand me the remote?" He asks, getting himself into a comfortable position on the bed.

"I bet you the tv doesn't even work." I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. I get up for the remote anyway.

I try to latch my fingers on it, but I can't. It's like I can't feel me fingers. I try moving them, but nothing happens again. My mind frenzies around freaking out. What's wrong with my little fingers!?

"Nathan? Am I supposed to feel my f-fingers?" I ask shakily, holding my hands in the air.

"Yeah." He replies. Looking curious to why I had asked. His eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"W-well I can't feel them!" I say, my face starting to show a freaked out expression.

"Were your hands in your pockets when we walked here?" He asks me after getting off the bed and examining my numb fingers.

"One o-of them..." I admit, wondering where he's going with this.

"You've got frostbite, and if your fingers don't warm up then they'll fall off." He shouts, going into the bathroom. He comes and wraps a lukewarm soaked mini towel around my fingers gently. It takes me a moment to process the information.

"What!?" I scream jumping a little bit. Nathan covers his ears gingerly.

"Don't freak out Hope, we just need your fingers warm. People get it here all the time, I've gotten it couple times myself." He reassures me, trying to reduce the chances of me screaming. I just nod slowly as my fingers slowly warm up. A sudden shot of pain appears in my fingers, causing my to flinch.

"Ow." I repeat, the pain increasing as my fingers get warmer. Since my body isn't used to all this pain, I start to form a headache.

"If this goes on any longer I'm gonna have a migraine." I mutter sourly. I hear Nathan snicker at my little statement. I weakly kick his shin, and all I receive is another laugh.

"Wow Hope, you also need basic fighting lessons." He says.

"Anyway, while your fingers warm up. Let's sort out sleeping arrangements."

"Well, you could sleep on the floor." I suggest smugly.

"Considering you live in an attic I didn't take you as the mean type."

"First, I'm not mean. Second, I've slept on a floor all my life I'd like a bed for myself." I defend, plopping myself on the whole bed area. Nathan narrows his eyes back at me, I don't like that look. It makes me feel weird. The feeling of him being mad at me is just, I really don't know.

"Or we can face opposite from each other." I hold another suggestion, hoping his look goes away. As I hoped, he has his normal playful face again. Flipping next to me, he turns on the TV and flips through some News channels. I hear him mutter something until finally he stops on one channel.

"What's this?" I ask, watching a man with a furry gray moustache appear on the screen.

"Blue Bloods, I haven't watched it in forever." Nathan replies, seeming intrigued into the show. I try watching some of it, and it's actually pretty interesting. I guess there is a clan, and they are going around getting people and cops. Then there's a witness, but he's too scared to admit anything. Near the end, when the nurse is checking on him, my eyes slowly close. My head bobbing up and down, trying my best to stay awake.

Right when someone enters the hospital room, I can't take it and I fall asleep.