Tris was in charge of taking care of Divi, while Vince was spending most of the day out as a street performer or as a temporary part of passing circus acts.

With him not showing any interest in the kid and Tris already under the task of watching over the kid and documenting everything he did, there wasn't even much of a debate regarding these roles – other than Vince's protest to having Divi around the house at all.

Since he was not allowed to talk about the real reason for keeping the kid around, Tris managed to work out some excuses for the time being, mostly promising to keep him out of Vince's way.

“You'll soon forget he's even here.” Was Tris' promise at the final debate about the matter at hand.

Frankly, he wasn't too keen on leaving the two together by themselves, considering Vince's previously voiced intentions – whether they were a joke or not.

There was an undeniable hostility coming off Vince towards Divi, more than his mere dislike of children, but Tris failed to figure its source. Keeping them as far apart as possible was apparently the best course of action for the time being.

As the day passed, Tris remained loyal to his task to fill out the mysterious journal bestowed upon him...

“The kid woke up again almost twenty four hours after losing consciousness. He shows signs of hunger and a will to eat, a positive development.”

“Nose bleeding has completely ceased.”

“It appears that the kid favors plant-based food over meats. Some instances of weakness and dizziness still occur at times.”

“The kid eats regularly during set times. Weakness is gradually disappearing.”

Tris took pride in having the kid eat during set hours and nursing him back to better health. Most of the rest of his day consisted of exploring the house and sleeping, which he wrote down an a normal state, having no other points of reference to a child's behavior.

Vince's work hours had him going out around noon and back when Divi was already asleep, so the two hardly even crossed paths after their first introduction, when Vince hurried past him on his way out of the house.

With little opportunities to talk, Divi never got to ask about any fire-breathing tricks, and Tris never mentioned it again, not wanting to infuriate Vince even more.

Following Tris' repeating requests, Vince put some of his show-money aside to purchase the kid some reading books to pass the time with.

Divi proved to be fully literate and quickly picked up the books he was given, reading most of them cover-to-cover within days.

“It looks as though the kid doesn't fare well with the horror genre.” Tris made a note in his journal when he noticed these were some of the very few books Divi did not finish reading.

All of this went for a while, becoming a new norm – Divi would find ways to preoccupy himself during the day, mostly with reading, and avoiding Vince whenever he was around.

It was just a little over a month later that Tris noticed a note-worthy deviation in Divi's routine:

“The kid is having a hard time getting up in the morning for the past few days. It takes him longer than usual to fully wake up after breakfast and shows signs of fatigue during the rest of the day.”

Tris' first assumption was that Divi was staying up late to finish reading a particularly interesting book. He had done that before, resulting in a tired morning every once in a while. When that was the reason, there wasn't really a pattern and it solely depended on the book he was reading.

This time it happened day after day, resulting in building fatigue leading up to a state of exhaustion, to the point it was hard for the boy to keep awake at breakfast.

Over the course of a few days Tris also noticed Divi was actually reading less, which completely ruled out the possibility of him staying up late to read a book.

But if that wasn't it, what could be the cause?

To try and find the cause of Divi's ever-growing tiredness, Tris waited one night until the boy went to sleep and entered the room a short time after.

It was a different sight than the last time he had observed Divi in his sleep.

He remembered him breathing steadily, calm and relaxed.

This time he was coiled under the sheets, eyes shut and closed tight` his breathes were short and quick and he frequently tossed and turned.

Tris could easily tell that was not normal, but he couldn't understand what was happening to the kid.

So he stayed by his bed for the whole night, trying to fathom what could have possibly cause the sudden change in his sleep, summarizing whatever he could.

“The child's sleep is not sound, and is probably the cause of his fatigue throughout the passing week. The reasons for this disruption has yet to be determined.”

Divi kept frantically turning under the sheets, and all the while Tris silently watched the kid's reactions to the unseen thing that's torturing him, fascinated.

The pattern repeated itself until the morning came, when Tris wrote down another notable change.

“It appears that the child's sleep pattern has been restores to normal as it got brighter outside. Further observation is in order to determine if this was a coincidence or an influential factor.”

He put the journal back in the inside pocket of his coat and stood up, leaving the room.

In hopes that Divi will manage to wake up on his own, he went to prepare breakfast, feeling a little more at ease leaving the kid alone now that he calmed down.

The second he set foot into the kitchen the front door opened, followed by the sound of dragging feet.

“Long day.” he turned to Vince after he closed the door, too tired to slam it s he usually does.

“Shut up...” Vince let out a heavy grunt, throwing his derby fill of coins and some bills on the coffee table before walking straight to his room.

Tris could hear him plop to his bed within seconds after closing the door.

Beginning to wonder if it could be just an odd chance, he walked into the kitchen and began cutting some fresh vegetables for Divi and trying to piece together all that has happened lately.

He soon realized he doesn't even really know what's happening, but just what it's causing.

Both of his “roommates” were inexplicably tired, and while Vince was clearly affected by his schedule, that's was the first Tris has remembered him so incredibly exhausted. What's weirder is that his fatigued state has worsened just around the time Divi's sleep pattern have changes – if he was to assume that what he witnessed tonight was happening during the entire week.

Tris never really paid mind to sleeping, realizing he never felt tired enough to have sleep as a top priority. Even now, as he stayed awake next to Divi through the night, he didn't even feel the passage of time.

Perhaps he should've kept a journal of his own to keep track of that, as when it comes to sleep it was pretty clear he was the odd one out.

He didn't even need food, either, having no mouth.

Tris pondered more than once how this was possible, but kept dropping these thought every time it occurred to him that he just doesn't get hungry or thirsty for some reason.

Sure, this was odd, but at this point in time, he didn't even remember being any different.

Was he suppressing some kind of hideous memory from the time of whatever event it was that cost him his face?

If...there was ever such a thing...

A small stinging sensation on the tip of his finger shook him out of his thoughts.

Tris looked down to see a small cut on his finger after not paying attention to how close the knife was to his fingers.

A barely noticeable cut, transmitting pain back to his brain – but nothing came out of it.

He thought back to the day Divi woke up. He was injured, like he was now, in a way.

And he was bleeding – a red, metallic liquid dripping from his nose.

Looking again at the cut on his finger, Tris saw nothing. Not even another kind of liquid or any other substance.

But...Why?

A single question that raced in his mind for so long; a question he can't even pronounce.

Why was he so different?

A quiet sound of shuffling footsteps grabbed Tris' attention and he turned his head to the source.

Divi waddled out of his room, still looking half-asleep, and slowly made his way to the kitchen.

“Good morning.” Tris greeted him and turned his attention back to the cutting board.

Divi mumbled something unintelligible and sat himself next to the table, head lowered and shoulders slouched.

For a long moment he stared at the plate of food Tris put on the table in front of him with a vacant expression, before managing to find his voice.

“I'm not hungry...” his voice was just above a whisper, weak and slightly hoarse.

Tris knew this was an undeniably irregular statement, after establishing that eating regularly improved the kid's health and mood.

He sat on a chair next to Divi and looked at him carefully.

In the dim morning light his skin was sickly pale, and the area around his eyes became darker, giving them a sunken appearance.

His breath was also slower than usual – almost as slow as when he's asleep – and his body was hung rather limp in the chair; his short hair was a disheveled and his clothes were a mess.

“You feel sick.”

Divi looked up at the faceless man, befuddled. “H-how can you tell?”

“I'm asking.”

“Oh...” Divi lowered his gaze again. He was pretty used to Tris' a-tonal voice, but this time he found it hard to focus enough to decipher his words. “I-I'm not sure...”

“You're tired.”

“Yeah, mostly...” the kid rubbed his eyes, fighting to keep them open. “I've been waking up a lot...”

“Why.”

“I'm having...Nightmares...”

Tris was at a loss of words, and Divi could only assume he was confused.

He wasn't completely sure what he was saying. The word just popped to his head, and he wondered if maybe Tris never heard of it.

“Y-you know...Bad dreams...”

“What are those dreams.”

“You don't know?” Divi was surprised when Tris shook his head. “It's, um...like...” he struggled to explain. “It's stuff you see in your head, when you're asleep.”

Tris tilted his head to the side, curious. “What things.”

“Didn't you ever dream before?”

“I hardly ever sleep.”

“And when you do?”

Tris shook his head again. “What are you dreaming about.”

“About...A dark forest...and rotting trees...” Divi shuddered. “And there's something there that's chasing me.”

Tris recalled what he recorded of the kid's sleep talking. “What was chasing you.”

“I don't know...” Divi shrugged. “I was afraid to look back. But it caught me a few times.

“And what happened.”

Divi didn't answer, and Tris noticed he was visibly trembling, deciding against pressing further with these questions.

“Why don't you try and get back to sleep.” Tris suggested and offered his hand as a reassuring gesture.

“B-but the nightmares will come back...” the kid replied in a shaky voice, but took his hand, getting up from the chair and shuffling alongside him back to the room.

Tris thought about how Divi seemed more at peace when the sun came up. “I have a feeling they won't.”

Divi watched him confused, but didn't ask. Instead he climbed back to the back, pulling the covers all the way up to his shoulders.

“Will you protect me from the nightmares?” his voice turned to a whisper again.

“Yes. We will.” Tris nodded and picked the stuffed bear off the floor, cleaning it up and handing it to Divi. “No nightmares will bother you.”

Somewhat relieved, the kid pulled the covers higher and closed his eyes, falling asleep in an instant.

As he watched Divi falling asleep, Tris wondered how is he supposed to keep a promise like that, protecting him from things only he' is seeing.

He took out the journal to summarize the new information...

“The source of the kid's troubled sleep appears to be Nightmares – bad dreams – as he describes them.”

He closed the journal but didn't put it back in his coat. The kid also described what happened in the dreams. Since he never spoke of it before, Tris felt it an be considered an oddity.

Opening the journal again, he added...

“The kid mentioned that in those dreams he's in a dark forest with rotting trees, and in there something is chasing him. It seems that the fear from his pursuer is the what disrupts his sleep at night.”

The journal was kept open overnight, for Tris to easily record Divi's sleep and check if there's any difference between his sleep patterns during the day and during the night.

As he did at night before, Tris remained next to the kid's bed as he was sound asleep, staring fascinated, just barely paying any mind to Vince waking up around noon. He was out of the house in no time without once checking on them, so Tris didn't pay him any mind this time.

Divi's sleep pattern seemed to be stable and uninterrupted during daytime. He wasn't tossing around and in fact was hardly even moving, to the point Tris had to make sure he was still breathing from time to time.

He felt a sense of relief that the kid was sleeping easy, and it brought up another interesting thought to write down...

“It is possible that the nightmares do not occur during the day. This needs to be further observed.”

Tris did keep track of this phenomenon and sat by the child's bed in his slumber, comparing one involuntary and subconscious reaction to another, going by the time of occurrence, their frequency and type – starting with accelerated, frantic breaths to tossing and turning around.

When ever Divi woke up, Tris would ask what he was dreaming about, hoping to find some connection between the content of the dream to the reaction he displayed that night.

At first the kid was confused, wondering if Tris was investigating his dreams because he had none of his own.

Not wanting to alert Divi with his ongoing research, confirmed his theory, as it he thought it was logical and agreeing with it seemed to have made him slightly more cooperative.

Divi started to make more effort to remember his dreams in the next few days, and described to Tris what he saw in his sleep...

“A dark, silent forest; moldy smells; things rustling in the trees.”

“Rotting tree trunks infested with worms and maggots.”

“Fog or smoke (?).”

“Soft, marshy earth; feels like it's grabbing the legs; creatures roaming.”

The descriptions started out very general and vague, and Tris couldn't tell whether Divi was having a hard time recalling them after waking up, or if he doesn't want to remember them but doesn't wish to disappoint the faceless man, after he showed such interest in those nightly visions.

It wasn't clear what had affected him during the next few days – be it some sort of relief through talking or if he was gradually remembering more details – Divi's reports became more descriptive and in-depth.

Tris kept writing down every word, occasionally adding a couple of foot notes of his own...