For the first time since she had arrived at the place-with-no-name, Jackie felt normal. They had parked by a hillside and built a campfire by the road. There were no tall, disintegrating buildings, or the howl of strange creatures, just the crackle of the warm fire. It reminded her of camping trips with her father, the only thing missing were a few packs of hotdogs and marshmallows.

The normalcy of the bonfire was cherished by everyone.

Edgar watched as the flame hungrily ate away at the kinder. "I've lived here for five years..." he sighed. "...and as much as it can be brutal and gruesome, it can be quite beautiful at times." He peered up into the sky, filled with colors a sky shouldn't have. "Phillip and I used to have bonfires like this."

Jackie and Oren perked up slightly, trying to hide their growing curiosity.

"Do you want to know more about Phillip?" Edgar asked, smiling at their pitiful attempt to hide their interest. "It's been unfair that I've kept it from you two."

"I have been curious..." Oren admitted, rolling his thumbs.

"You don't have to tell us if you're not ready," Jackie added.

Edgar smiled, leaning back so his head was tilted up toward the star-filled sky.

"We had been friends since we were very little." he began, his words delivered slowly, thoughtfully. "I was in a foster home at the time. They wouldn't trouble me as long as I wouldn't trouble them; that was our relationship, nothing more. It had always been like that wherever I ended up. But Phillip lived a block away, and no matter how stand-off-ish I was, he wouldn't leave me alone, always following me around like a puppy. Eventually, I gave in, and we became friends almost instantly. He would get picked on a lot at school, and I would always be there to protect him. He was never much of a fighter." Edgar chuckled softly.

"I wasn't very book-smart, but Phillip excelled academically. He would help me study and get me through my classes. And any spare moment he would read to me about the world, the stars, the-" Edgar realized he was rambling, blushed, and coughed to continue. "Our Senior year of high school he confessed to me. I think we had been in love for a long time, but that was the first time either of us had the guts to say it. But then...his father found out. He-" Edgar peered down at Jackie and Oren, thinking tentatively about his wording. "He didn't 'approve' of us. Didn't think what we were was natural. So...he kicked Phillip out."

"What an ass." Jackie snarled, the words simple, but summarizing the situation to perfection.

"It was my idea." Edgar continued, dropping his head to his chest. "I thought we could just run away and start a new life together. The first few days were alright, I had stolen my foster family's truck and we had made it several miles out of town. But Phillip was never the same after that night. He was always staring off into the distance-distracted-scared." Edgar's shoulders rose and fell as he began to take in deeper breaths. "Then we ended up in this place. It wasn't so bad at first, a few unusual things here and there. We ended up in a small, decaying town out in the fields. There was a darkness lurking behind the buildings, following us up every stairway, around every corner. I was trying to ignore it, to pretend everything was fine, but Phillip knew something was wrong."

"He..." Edgar pushed the words out his mouth like heavy boxes. "...I think at that point he had...given up. I was too far away to have done anything...and I hadn't noticed he had stopped. When I turned around he was staring into an alley, and then the shadow shot out from the darkness, and it-" Edgar took in a slow, deep breath, realizing he had been hyperventilating. "He wanted it to happen...I could tell. He surrendered himself to that monster. If I had just-"

Edgar hadn't noticed Jackie had gotten up and wrapped herself around him.

"I'm sorry," she said, muffled in his shoulder. "I lost someone I really loved too," she sniffed. Edgar hesitated before hugging her back.

Oren glared at the world around them, at the shifting sky and the steep mountains. Suddenly, the scenery didn't look as appealing.

. . .

Eventually, Oren and Jackie retreated inside the van to sleep. Edgar had stayed outside, keeping the fire burning. A cool breeze blew in from the fields, and he drew his jacket closer for warmth.

"We grew up together," he whispered into the breeze. "We used to always be together, changing together, but now you're not here, and I keep growing up without you." His hair, his limbs, even the rings beneath his eyes, had grown long in the years after Phillip's death. But even as his body changed, his mind was stuck in one place, one moment in time. Even after five years, it still was.