Andy took in a deep breath through his nose and opened his eyes, stretching his arms up over his head. That was the craziest dream he had ever had. But then he looked around and noticed he wasn’t in his bunk on the bus. He was lying on a navy blue couch in a very dark room. The entire room looked like it had been set on fire and scorched a deep charcoal color.

He heard footsteps coming from the other room and closed his eyes again. Maybe if whoever it was thought he was dead, they would leave him out on the street somewhere and he could go find help.

He felt a very cold hand brush against his forehead and draw back some of the hair that had fallen into his face.

“Andy…” A girl’s gentle voice cooed to him.

This was all so strange. Maybe he really was dead. The girl’s hand was cold and she had the voice of an angel. But the room he was in was dark. He couldn’t be dead, he couldn’t. Maybe the girl talking to him was dead, but he wasn’t? All these thoughts raced through his mind.

“Andy…” The girl called to him again.

He turned his pounding head in the direction of the soft voice and slowly opened his eyes. He saw a girl kneeling in front of him; her face looked so familiar. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out where he had seen her before.

She smiled at him. “You’re awake. You’re not dead.” There was a hint of relief in her voice.

“What happened?” He asked groggily.

The girl’s smile turned into a frown. “I don’t know…” She trailed off. “I found you in the cemetery and—”

“Cemetery? Am I dead?!” Andy exclaimed.

“No, no!” The girl patted his shoulder to calm him down. “No, I—Well… This is hard to explain. But, I found you lying in the cemetery behind the house and you were bleeding. If I hadn’t found you, you would have died…” She trailed off again.

“You saved me?” He asked.

“Well, yeah.” The girl admitted. “I couldn’t leave you there to die.”

Andy nodded, but quickly regretted it. His whole head began to pound again. He reached up with both hands and cradled his aching head.

“Come with me.” The girl said, helping him stand up and leading him up the stairs.

She led him down a long, dark hallway. The entire interior of the house appeared to be the same burnt charcoal color as the first room he had woken up in.

She brought him into her room and let him lay down on her bed. She covered his shivering body with her black comforter and sat down beside him.

“You’re going to have to stay here for a while.” The girl informed him.

Andy slumped his shoulders and sighed. “Really? But I— I have something really important to do.” He said.

The girl giggled at his attempt to hide his identity from her. “I know who you are, Andy. I know you have shows to do, but I can’t let you go yet. You’re still in too bad of a condition to perform and the person who tried to kill you is still out there. I just…I can’t let you… I need to protect you. I’m not going to lose another person I care about.”

Andy looked down at his lap. “What do you mean you don’t want to lose another person you care about?”

The girl stayed silent and just sat there, staring at the floor. “That’s a story for another time.” She told him.

Andy nodded, respecting her decision to keep this particular memory to herself. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and find out sooner or later. He could see it in her eyes. This girl had gone through a lot of pain in her life and she was still so young. She had saved his life. Now it was time for him to save hers.