The police arrived within minutes, their sirens wailing through the silent night. Maddy watched from the back of the diner as they swarmed the scene, their flashlights cutting through the darkness. He felt detached as if he were watching a scene from a movie, not his own life.

When the cops finally approached him for questioning, he had already chewed off most of the nails on his left hand, and he would have done the same thing to his right hand, if it hadn’t been wrapped in a cool, wet cloth, to soothe the burning he still felt. He did his best to dance around the truth. He avoided telling them anything strange related, especially the connection they shared, and caused his whole body to buzz and burst from the inside.

Magic. A single alluring word slipped into his thoughts, reminding Maddy of the smell of cheese and the sudden desperate need to have it. He shook his head and refocused on the officers.

One cop asked most of the questions and took down Maddy's remarks. She grimaced when Maddy mentioned he touched the body. Maddy pursed his lips at her admonishments. If he had the nerve, he would have told her off. Instead, he just clenched his fist and tried to suppress a seethe, forgetting for a moment that his right hand was still hurting. Another cop, who hadn’t said much to Maddy since the squad arrived, tilted his head in curiosity.

"Hey there," the cop greeted Maddy, his tone laced with an undercurrent of doubt.

Maddy snapped his head toward the new voice and swallowed a lump in his throat as the officer gazed down at his cloth-wrapped hand and then back at him. Maddy quickly turned his head toward the first officer he was speaking to.

“What happened to your hand?” The cop asked when he captured Maddy’s attention.

“I burned it,” Maddy tried to sound bored and tired, hoping it would be enough to avoid playing another round of twenty questions.

“Mind if I have a look?” The cop asked, his lips breaking into a smile that didn't quite reach the corners of his eyes.

Maddy took a good look at the man in front of him. He had a sun-kissed complexion and earthy brown eyes that matched his curly hair. Maddy could see that the cop was just about the same height as him, if not, a half-inch shorter.

The cop reached out his hand for Maddy to place his burned hand in.

Maddy was hesitant for two reasons. One, if he showed his hand, the cop would see nothing, and two for the simple reason that Maddy didn’t trust the man in front of him. There was something strange about him.

When Maddy was younger, his foster parents always referred to him as strange. If something bad happened and he was around, it was because of him and his strangeness, even if he didn’t do anything. School was no better, he was strange there too, especially for his bright green that seemed to glow whenever he got excited. It didn't take long for him to learn to hate the word.

That is until he found out Dee was strange too and then his world didn't feel so lonely. Maddy couldn't remember when he started using the word strange to replace other words. Words that seemed so simple to say, but always got stuck on his tongue, as if he ate too many crackers with honey at once.

Even though he couldn't always think and say what he wanted about the strange, his nose was very good at sniffing it out. It twitched and itched, the same way it does when he's in the soap aisle at a supermarket. And right now, his nose was acting as if he just sniffed a whole jar of black pepper, that the officer in front of him was Strange Folk.

Witch. The voice in his head was back, Maddy tried to focus on it, but the word had disappeared.

Maddy shook off the voice in his head once more and squeezed the rag in his hand. Whoever this cop was, Maddy didn't trust him and he was happy there were too many humans around, otherwise they'd be having a very different conversation. In fact, Maddy didn't want to have any sort of conversation with this man.

Thinking quickly, Maddy looked over his shoulder to Doug for help. He texted his boss while on the phone with the cops and luckily for Maddy, Doug lived close enough to come back right away. He locked his gaze with his boss, who was being bombarded by the same cop that initially interrogated him. Something flashed in Doug’s eyes and without saying another word, he left the cop he was talking to and walked over to Maddy.

“You alright, son?” Doug asked, clamping a large hand on Maddy’s shoulder. Doug wasn't strange, but Maddy always thought there wasn't something quite human about him either. He never brought it up, of course, he didn't want to accidentally insult his boss.

“I just want to go home,” Maddy replied, sounding defeated from this evening’s events. He looked up at Doug for guidance and the simple gesture was enough to turn the gentle old man gritty and protective. The shift in mood was enough to make the cop in front of them drop his hand and his smile.

“Is there a problem here, officer?” Doug said, puffing out his already expanded chest and narrowing his gaze.

“No,” The officer replied with another smile that he didn’t quite commit to.

“And has my employee answered all of your questions this evening?” Doug continued.

“Most, but-” The cop began.

“Most is good enough for you,” Doug said, cutting off the cop and smirking when he saw the officer's jaw clench. “It’s nearly two in the morning, Maddy, here,” Doug squeezed Maddy’s shoulder, “Worked a double shift on a day he didn’t have to come in, was nearly attacked by some drug addict… or what have you, and I’m sure on top of all of this, he has class tomorrow. Don’t you, son?”

Maddy nodded at Doug and turned to the cop once more. His expression slipped back to one of boredom and fatigue.

"So, if it’s alright with you,” Doug cleared his throat, his gaze stern toward the cop. “I think it would be alright if we let him go home.”

The cop let out a heavy sigh, his defeat evident in his tone as he spoke, "Yeah, for now, I guess."

"Good," Doug said succinctly with a nod. He turned to leave, "Oh, and Maddy come and see me before you leave."

Not wanting to spend another minute with the cop, Maddy headed for the back office to grab his coat and go home, but pain seized him as the cop grabbed his injured hand and the towel "fell to the ground." Looking over his shoulder, Maddy dropped his jaw, a small gasp getting caught in his throat.

The cop cocked a brow at Maddy and smirked as he said, "Looks like a nasty burn."