The first thing that I remember is humming, very soft humming that seemed to be coming from somewhere in my room. Had the radio turned on? No it couldn't have…there wasn't any school today; it was Saturday, so my alarm shouldn't have been turning on. There wasn't even a television in my room, so it wasn't like it could be a show or music video filling my room from my absentmindedness in turning it off the night before. So where was that humming coming from?

Like a child, I pulled my covers higher over my head as if that would be enough to protect me. Whatever it was, it was coming from behind me, at my window, and I wasn't in the mood to look and see something standing beyond the curtains. Though it wasn't threatening sounding, it was definitely a male's voice and…that only made me more jumpy.

If my heart hadn't been pounding so loud in my ears I actually might have been able to recognize who it was, but since my frazzled mind was only thinking of the fact that it was the middle of the night and there was a random boy somewhere near my window, I wasn't exactly being my usual logical self.

Working up enough childish courage just to peek over my shoulder, I pulled the comforter down just enough to expose my widened brown eyes and look over to the window. I couldn't see him well at first; I always slept with my fan on the highest setting and it caused the curtains to blow about. First I saw black hair, and it reminded me of the curtains being blown about. It moved about his face with the wind from the fan, only exposing parts of his face at a time, but when I saw his eyes I wasn't afraid. I knew them…they were blue, a deep set blue, and when the curtains blew again I could see a smile on his face.

"It's about time you finally looked…"

His voice was enough to slow my heart down: I knew him, but how had he gotten to my window? It was open and he was sitting on the sill with his back against the window's edge, one leg dangling. Though I knew who he was, his age was all wrong. And…why was I in my house back in Charleston? School…I'd thought of school, but…I didn't go to school anymore, least of all here.

I quickly sat up, causing even his eyes to widen as my hands moved up to my face and into my short, barely shoulder length, curly hair. What was going on? Sadly the first thing I did was pull the collar of my shirt and look down at my chest…yep, there they were, but they were still Cs and I was well into Ds by now.

"What are you doing…?"

I ignored him and tentatively moved my fingers to my lower back, for once actually praying that the scars were there…but my fingers only ran over smooth untarnished skin. No…that meant I couldn't be older than fourteen, what was going on? Well I suppose that explained his young appearance as well, but it still didn't make any sense!

"D-Dax…why are you here? Why aren't you in prison?"

He only laughed, as if I was the one that was out of place…well I suppose I was, but I knew what was what and this wasn't it! This wasn't how things were supposed to be! Even though I reveled in the thought of him no longer being locked up unfairly, I still didn't like what was going on…his laughing didn't make it any better,

"Why would I be in prison?"

I breathed out a sound in disbelief, eyes focused on him as much as possible through the blowing curtains.

"B-Because!"

He laughed again and I could tell he was only growing more and more amused by how I was acting,

"Well that's a reasonable answer."

"Be quiet! Stop laughing!"

He only laughed more. Dammit! I wasn't used to this new cocky attitude…well, I was sometimes, but not all of the time!

"Jeez I go through all the trouble to sneak out of my own house to come see you, and now you act like this and expect me not to laugh? Ha."

I'm sure my heart skipped a beat.

"You…snuck out of your house?"

"Don't act like it's so uncommon…I'm thirteen, not five. Though I could have done it then."

Again with that smirk. Yes yes you're a confident genius, I get it. It did lighten me slightly, but I didn't want to be lightened!

"Wait wait so your parents are there….they're there?"

Please don't say what I'm sure you're going to say…it was cruel to wish death on someone else's parents, but it was all I had to grasp onto for reality,

"Well yeah…I mean they'll be away again soon, but for now they're here."

His smile slowly faded, as if he was finally grasping the situation at hand. His eyes, where they had been filled with amusement and some other deep set emotion, were now edging into worry,

"Shana are you ok? You're acting…off."

"N-No I'm not ok…"

He hopped off of the windowsill and moved over to my bed that was really just a mattress on the floor, and sat on the edge of it, young eyes studying my very scared face.

"…did you have a nightmare?"

I swallowed down the lump forming in my throat and shook my head, moving my thumb to my ring finger to push my engagement and wedding rings closer to my knuckle…but there was nothing to push down. No…My eyes quickly shifted down to my ringless finger and a weak sound pulled from me, bringing fresh tears along with it.

"Where's my ring…? Wh-where's my goddamn ring?"

His hands found my face and turned it to look at him, but I only shook my head weakly as tears moved over his fingers. He was looking at my eyes, and he was an uber genius so God only knows what symptoms or problems he might have been looking for in them,

"Do you want me to wake up your mother? You look like you're about to have a panic attack…"

My eyes closed tightly, only causing more tears to stream down my cheeks that he gently stroked away with his thumbs,

"I-I can't find my rings…I-I can't find them…what happened to them?"

"Shana you don't wear rings…I think you just had a nightmare."

"N-No they're my rings, he gave them to me!"

There was silence for just a moment, but it was long enough for me to open my eyes and desperately call out to him with them. His own looked scared…as if he was watching his friend slowly slip away, but I wasn't slipping away, I was trying to pull back into what was real!

"Who gave you a ring?"

His voice was gentle, sincere, but I could tell he was only indulging in what he believed was a fantasy of mine,

"What do you mean 'who'? K-Kale! The person who's the only reason I even knew you were alive! The person I married last spring! M-My husband!"

Something in him seemed to twinge with a…not good emotion, but I didn't have time to try and pinpoint it right now. We were at a mutual understanding for how Dax felt for me, it was something no one really spoke about, but that flicker in his eyes was something completely different than what I was used to.

"Wh-Where is he? Tell me where he is!"

There wasn't time to just be sitting here in bed! This wasn't even my bed! Not anymore, my bed was in Scarborough and was supposed to be occupied by the man I was in love with!

"Shana…who's Kale?"