Kas called a goodbye from downstairs as they headed to the salon. It was my day off so I stayed in bed, mindlessly scrolling through various social media. The various feeds were filled with the usual; the Seattle Sawbones, new couples, breakups, baby announcements, the latest Stone Industries acquisition and merger, and the plethora of quiz results and usual bullshit internet articles. After an hour or so, I finally forced myself out of bed. The rain had picked up again and it was stupidly cold. I trudged to the bathroom to shower.

When I got out, there was a text from Kas on my phone.

“Hey, I forgot my vape, can you bring it to the salon if you’re going out today?”

I rolled my eyes, Kas knew I was planning on staying home all day. But I shot back a ‘sure’ and hurried to get dressed.

I sulked downstairs and went to Kas’ room. They kept their room tidier than I kept mine. Some of Kas’ photographs hung on the walls, and a collection of vintage cameras sat on a shelf in the far corner. I spotted the pink vape box on Kas’ nightstand, grabbed it, and headed toward the door.

The rain was coming down hard, I mumbled complaints directed at Kas under my breath as I locked the door and opened my umbrella. The heavy drumming of the rain on the umbrella’s nylon sounded more like pebbles than water.

I crossed through the tiny park, down the empty side streets, and turned into the alley behind the salon. As I approached the stoop that led to the salon’s back door, I noticed something wedged between the stairs and the dumpster.

“Oh. Hey.” I mumbled in surprise as I approached.

The hooded man didn’t turn, he just tilted his head forward. He had literally forced himself between the old metal dumpster and the stairwell of the salon, putting him halfway under the awning.

“Why didn’t you just sit under the awning completely?” I asked as I climbed the stairs.

“It’s not mine to sit under.” His deep voice was quiet.

“Oh,” I answered, dumbly. I couldn’t think of anything else to say so I started opening the door, then my eyes caught sight of the flower pot with its new plant. “Hey, weird question, but you didn’t put that plant in there, did you?”

He didn’t answer so I shrugged and started waking inside.

“I did.” His soft voice was barely audible over the rain. “I said you should quit. I thought the flowers would help.”

“O-oh.” I stuttered. “Um, thanks.”

He stayed silent so I entered the Salon. It wasn’t as empty as it has been the last few days. Antonia has a customer in her chair, and Kas was just bringing another back to their chair from the shampoo station. Kas caught sight of me and waved, said something to their customer, and hurried over to me.

“You’re a lifesaver, honestly.” Kas sighed, “Antonia is driving me crazy today. Why is it we only have customers when you’re not here?”

“I scare them away.” I shrugged.

“So true. I’ll see you late tonight. I’ll bring you leftovers from dinner with Elena.”

“Sounds good.” I nodded. I turned to leave, the sound of the rain on the roof became heavier and then an idea lodged itself in my head. “Oh, um, you know what could you grab my shears out of my station for me?”

Kas gave me a confused look. “You finally going to cut your hair shorter? You should really let me do it.”

“Uh, no,” I fumbled in my head for an excuse, “I wanted to clean them.”

Kas stared at me blankly. “You just cleaned them yesterday after Mrs. Thomas came in?” It was somewhere between a statement and a question.

“Hey I brought you your vape, bring my damn shears—and my clippers. My shoes are wet, I don’t want to track puddles through the salon.”

Kas gave me a narrowed look, then crossed to my station and opened the drawer.

“Hello, Cole.” Antonia’s voice called from her station. “You’re off today, if I knew you liked being here so much, I would have scheduled you.”

“Oh, you know me.” I smiled, “just picking up something I left in my station.”

“I hope it wasn’t your equipment. You know you’re not supposed to leave it in your station, Cole.” She called back in a sweetly scolding voice.

“Just… my phone’s power cord!” I lied.

Kas hurried back over to me, my gear bundled close to their stomach.

“Run. Run so fast.” Kas mouthed to me with a smirk.

“Okay, bye!” I grabbed my stuff and rushed towards the back door. Antonia waved a comb at me in a goodbye, and Kas chuckled.

When I was outside, I turned toward the hooded man sitting on the ground. He was still sitting with his hood lowered, rain dripping down his side that was exposed to the sky.

“Hey, um, can I offer a favor?” I asked nervously. I already regretted it. What if he said no? I’d feel stupid the rest of the day.

The hood turned towards me slightly, “a favor?”

“Yeah, um. As a thank you for encouraging me to quit smoking?”

No response. So I continued. “Uh, yeah, so I work here at the salon, obviously. And, I mean, I noticed maybe you could use a haircut?”

This time the hood turned completely to face me, rain dripped into the recesses, but now I could just barely see a bearded face in the shadows. Narrow eyes looked me up and down. “Why?”

I felt my face go hot, “Oh, well, your hair just looked long. I mean, if that’s your look it’s fine, you know… rock it, I guess. But I just thought I would offer.”

“You already gave me food.” The man answered, his expression coldly neutral.

“S-sure.” My mouth went dry, “Just an offer. You can take a shower, too, if you want. And I have more sandwiches.”

His shadowy eyes darted around me. “Where?”

“My place!” I answered quickly. Oh, Kas would kill me. I didn’t think this through.

He watched my face for a moment, like he could read every thought playing across it. Then he exhaled and forced himself out from between the stairs and dumpster. “Thank you.”

I blinked a few times. “Okay.” I blinked again as he stood and stared at me. “Okay! Let’s go!” My voice sounded overly bright, I gestured for the man to follow and he did, staying a good four feet behind me.

As we walked, the sense of dread and stupidity became heavier in my chest. What was I thinking? Inviting some strange homeless man into the house? The idea had come to me because I felt bad that he was sitting in the heavy rain, and it had been a nice of him to put the flowers in the old pot, but now, with some hulking hooded figure shadowing me back to my home it seemed like I had made a huge mistake.

When we reached the house, I fumbled so badly with the key I dropped it. I took a deep breath to calm myself, but before I could reach down for it, a pale hand appeared from behind me. I turned, and the man was towering over me, holding the key in his open hand.

“Thank you.” My voice cracked, and my face went red again. My hand brushed his as I took the key, and his skin was hot. Too hot for how cold it was. As soon as I had the key, he yanked his hand back from my touch and shoved it into a pocket.

It took me twice as long as usual to convince the lock to open. Once we were inside, I kicked off my shoes and set the umbrella down. “Hey, so, if you can leave your boots here. Please.” I said, turning to face him.

His head tilted to the side slightly, but he did as I asked wrenching the worn leather boots off his feet and placing them next to my own shoes. He didn’t wear socks, and his feet, like his hands, looked too big for a normal person.

“This way…” I said quietly, heading toward the stairs. I took them slowly, then led him to my bathroom. I gestured to the open door. “Wait here for me?” My confidence was already low in this entire endeavor, but it was completely gone now.

He nodded once, then entered the bathroom. I realized I wasn’t breathing and took a deep breath. I rushed to my room and dropped off my shears and clippers, then I crossed to the nearby linen closet and grabbed a towel. As I stood there, I took a few deep breaths. It’ll be fine, I promised myself. He seems… I don’t know how he seems. But it’ll be fine. Just a stranger in your house. No big deal. Oh god.

I crossed back to the bathroom; he was standing there, practically filling the entire space.

“Um, so you can shower before I cut your hair. Here’s a towel—“

“Should you be so trusting?” He rumbled at me. “A serial killer right over in Seattle. It could be anyone.”

I stared back at him, my throat suddenly—annoyingly—going dry.

“What if it’s me?” As he spoke, he took a sudden, lurching step toward me. My flight or fight response kicked in before I could catch myself and I stumbled back into the doorframe. He didn’t move or speak again. He just stood there staring at me.

“You’re not.” My voice rasped out like I was trying to clear my throat, rather than speak.

The hood twitched slightly. “And how do you know that?”

Now I found my courage again. I turned my head to the left and tucked my hair behind my ear. From my peripheral vision, I could see the hood lift slightly. I slowly, purposefully dragged a finger down the long, silvery scar that ran, unbroken, from my temple to my jaw.

“I know you’re not,” I said quietly, “because I’ve already met him.”

When I turned my head to look at him again, the hood was tilted toward the floor. I watched him for a second before saying, “Let me get you some clean clothes to wear, and I can wash the ones your wearing.” I turned and left the room.

Outside, I fell back against the wall. My heart beating wildly. This was not smart. I wasn’t known for being smart, but this was especially stupid, even for me. I tried to calm down for a minute, before crossing back to my room. Shooting the occasional glance over my shoulder. When I got to my room, I went to the closet, and yanked a cardboard box out, I ignored the name written on the side and pulled out the biggest shirt and pair of jeans I could find. I hurried back to the bathroom.

The man hadn’t moved at all. He was still just standing there, his hood tilted toward the ground.

“You can wear these. Hopefully they fit. You’re, um, a big guy, so I’m not sure.” I said as I set them on the bathroom counter.

The hood turned to look at them, “They aren’t yours.”

“No.” I shook my head. “They were my ex’s.”

“Your ex won’t mind?” The hood turned toward me.

“He’s dead. So I doubt it.” I tried to sound casual, but my voice hitched on the word ‘dead’ in a funny way.

The man seemed to consider this for a moment, then, for the first time, he pulled the hood back.