Maddy wasn't sure if the cop was joking or if he could see something Maddy couldn't. Regardless, he snapped his jaw shut and picked up the towel off the ground. When he stood back up, the officer was holding a small note with a number scribbled on it.

“Call me if you run into any more trouble.” He said handing it to Maddy.

“Or, I could just call nine-one-one again,” Maddy narrowed his gaze. He definitely didn't trust this-

Witch.

"Witch." The word shot out of Maddy's mouth as if it were a hard, sour candy and right into the face of the officer.

The officer gave the slightest head jerk, his eyes flickered in shock and awe, an indication Maddy made a social faux pas in the company of humans. Maddy's cheeks became so hot he could have roasted marshmallows on them. Not saying another word, he grabbed the note in the officer's hand and walked out of the diner, without saying goodbye to Doug and taking his coat.

Maddy shivered as the autumn wind bit at his nose, lips, and cheeks. His burned hand was the only part of him that appreciated the late-night weather. He let out a huff and watched his breath turn to frost in the dimly lit street. Maybe he should have grabbed his jacket. Maybe he shouldn't have called that officer a witch.

He didn't even know why he said it, but it felt good to say the word out loud as if he finally swallowed that big lump of crackers and honey. He looked down at his injured hand. There was definitely a connection between what the strange folk had done to him and his

Maddy dug into his pant pocket with his good hand and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, he wasn’t planning on calling that cop. Ever. He may not have been brave enough to stick it to the man, but he had no problem with pretending the nearest trash can was a basketball hoop.

“He shoots,” Maddy cheered, “He scores! Rah-ah!”

Maddy raised his hands in mock pride and kept them raised as another gust of wind made his nose twitch and caused him to stop momentarily. In every practical sense, it seemed that Maddy was walking down the street alone. It was nearly two a.m. and most people in his sleepy little town were doing just that, sleeping. But he knew- he could feel- the buzz and hum of someone strange lurking around.

Magic the voice in his head repeated, breaking the silence of the night. Maddy scrunched up his nose. If it wasn't for that voice in his head we wouldn't be so damn cold. It didn't even sound like him, it was too gruff and arrogant to belong to Maddy.

"Fuck off," He grumbled to the voice and to whatever tried to remain hidden in the shadows of the street lamps. Too tired and in pain, he was not in the mood to do anything, but flop into bed. His nose twitched all the way home and only got worse when he reached the front door of his apartment.

He sighed, dropping his shoulders as he reached for his apartment key clipped to his belt loop beside the spare diner keys. Dee joked he was slowly becoming a janitor, but Maddy was just happy he didn't have to walk all the back to the diner.

His numb fingers struggled with the clip, he swiped a hand under his nose and gritted his teeth. Another second, and he would have stripped in the hallway and unlocked his door with the keys still attached to his pants.

Free at last, he unlocked his front door and went straight toward his kitchen. Maddy wasn't hungry, the idea of food made his stomach churn. Dull grey eyes flashed through his thoughts. He took the heel of his palm and rubbed his nose as he grabbed a pan from the sink and wet a towel to wrap his injured hand.

Maddy glanced at his bed. It wasn't much to look at- a twin-sized mattress with emerald green sheets and a comforter without a duvet cover- but after tonight, it was warm toast and alphabet soup on a cold winter day.

He sat on the floor. The weight of the skillet was heavy in his hand. He wiped his nose and pulled his phone out of his pocket, switching his attention between the front door and Dee's message screen. He yawned, blinked hard a few times, and waited.

…And waited.

……And waited.

Every time he closed his eyes, piercing screams would fill his eardrums. Sometimes they came from the strange folk who died in the dinner, sometimes they would come from a woman Maddy used to know, and sometimes they would even sound like Dee.

Against his own volition, Maddy slumped forward, the pan slipped from his grasp. The weight of the night, the pain in his hand, the chilling memories threatening to surface- it was all too much. The terror that had danced on the periphery of his consciousness now surged forward, painting his dreams with crimson hues. In his slumber, the shadows took on monstrous forms, the whispers morphed into taunts, and Maddy found himself trapped in a waking nightmare, unable to escape the clutches of sleep.