I was back at number 12 the next day.

Listen, I hadn't particularly enjoyed my time there, the place was kind of gross and creepy, and the company was, well, barely company. But I worried Alphard wasn't eating.

I'd made my mum's special lasagna today, and it had actually turned out quite good, so I decided to share it with Alphard.

At first I'd just figured I'd bring the food over and leave, but to my surprise Alphard had actually asked me to stay and eat with him.

So we both sat at the table slightly awkwardly.

"You're quite good with pasta." Alphard commented.

I looked up at him with a small smile on myself. "I kind of have to be, I'm Italian."

He gave me a curious look. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I was born here but my parents are both from Florence, they moved here after they got married."

He nodded slowly.

"How about you? You from here?"

"Yeah, generations of Londoners."

"But you're not living here at the moment?"

He cleared his throat. "Uh, no, I'm not exactly settled."

I nodded slowly, not quite sure what he meant by that.

Right in that moment I heard a faint ringing coming from the open trapdoor to my place. "Oh my god, I think that's my phone." I said as I stood up. "I'll be right back."

I crawled through the hole as quick as I could. And reached for my yellow phone on the wall just in time. "Hello?"

"TESSA? IT'S ME, BEN."

I removed the receiver from my ear a few inches. Why was he yelling? "Yes, Ben, I can hear you just fine."

"I'm sorry." He said in a regular tone. "Sometimes I feel like overseas calls should have bad reception."

Why was he such a grandpa?

"Anyway, I just wanted to know how you're doing, how's the leg? Have you been following the doctor's instructions?"

I crossed my arms over my chest in annoyance, did he have to say that like I wasn't going to follow the doctor's instructions? "It's fine, and yes, I have."

"Because maybe you should reevaluate the possibility of staying at your mum's place for a while."

I huffed. "I'm not an invalid. I've been doing fine on my own. How's Brazil? Or was it Argentina now?"

"It's Rio de Janeiro, baby!" He exclaimed in a bad accent. "Argentina's tomorrow. Hope you can cope without me for a couple weeks more."

I laughed. "I think I'll manage."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"Love you too."

He didn't waste a second to hang up.

I'd missed hearing Ben's voice. His month-long trip to the Caribbean and South America was probably the longest period of time we hadn't seen each other in about four years. I should probably start getting used to it though, once we stopped doing ice shows completely, we'd probably see less and less of each other, which made me sad.

Don't misinterpret this though. Ben and I had been skating together for almost twenty years now, which required a certain kind of partnership. He was certainly one of my best friends in the whole world, but that wasn't quite the wording I would use to describe the nature of our relationship. It was complicated, but we were close, that's all you need to know.

"I'm sorry, that was just my friend, he wanted to know how my recovery's going." I explained to Alphard as I sat back down at the table.

I noticed he was already done with his food. He was a fast eater.

"Do you mind if I ask why you had surgery?"

My brows raised slightly. This was the first time he actively inquired something about my life. "Uh I had a syndrome because of over exertion of the muscles in my leg."

"So that means you exercise a lot?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

I hurried to also finish my food. I could feel Alphard's eyes on me, as if he was trying to look beneath my skin.

I cleared my throat. "You know, I could help you clean up the place a little, to make it more uh, inhabitable."

He smiled slightly. "If you don't mind."

"It's fine, as I said, not much to do these days."

"Right then, tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

So I was back at Alphard's place for the third time. Not exactly something I expected after that first meeting with him where he managed to creep me out beyond measure.

I'd been helping him clean the living room for a couple of hours. It'd been pretty boring so far. Also pretty gross, most of the furniture was covered in sap and dust, which was very hard to remove, but we sat on the also dirty floor trying.

"You know what we need?"

Alphard looked up from the spot on the table he was cleaning. "What?"

"Some music."

I set the rag I'd been using aside, and stood up.

Alphard smiled. "That's a good idea."

I ran over to my place and grabbed my portable stereo, and a few CDs.

I sat back down on the floor, where I'd been trying to get the sap out of a table as the first song started playing.

'I'd sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio.'

I bopped my head along to the rhythm.

"Is that – is that Queen?"

Oh my god did he not know Radio Ga Ga, literally how?

He must have noticed the shock on my face as he quickly explained himself. "I mean, I love Queen, I really do, I just, where I've been living the past decade or so, was pretty far removed from the rest of the world. So, I'm not exactly up to date with them."

Oh my god, that is so sad. "I have to update you, then. You've missed so much! Including this song, apparently."

"Yeah, it's quite good."

"Where'd you leave off then? What was the last you heard of them?"

"Um Under Pressure had just been released."

"Oh I remember that! '81, I'd just become a fan. There's been like four albums since then." I gasped. "Wait, oh my god, you don't know, do you?"

He frowned. "Know what?"

My expression turned somber all of a sudden. "About Freddie."

The look in his eyes told me that he definitely did not know. "What about Freddie? Did he go solo? No way."

I shook my head. How was I supposed to break this news to him? "He – um, he passed away." I tried to use a soft tone.

His eyes widened in shock, and he laid back against the wall behind him. He frowned. "But – how?"

"He had AIDS."

"Oh."

"It was about three years ago, he worked for as long as he could. They released an album after, with the last material he recorded."

Alphard looked pensive. "Well that fucking sucks."

I smiled slightly. "It definitely does."

A loud knock startled me and I dropped the needle I'd been sewing with. Was that coming from where I thought it was?

I approached the fridge slowly. I'd put it back into place as a sort of makeshift door for the passage, since I couldn't put the drywall back up. I moved the fridge again, and sure enough, Alphard was at the end of the passage, giving me his puppy stare. Oh this was bad.

"Were you asleep?" Was the first thing he asked.

"No. Come in."

I helped him get off the tunnel and out from behind the fridge.

"What's up?"

He looked down, as if he was embarrassed. He stayed quiet for a moment, and then looked around the place, then I realised this was the first time he saw my place. It was a lot different from his. The main difference was that it was a lot cleaner. I had a lot of old stuff here too, just in good condition, the only noticeably more modern part was the kitchen. There were a few family portraits around, and the only skating memorabilia I had on display was a picture of me and Ben, I don't remember at what competition from a couple of years ago, that my mum really liked.

"Were you busy?" Alphard asked.

I guess he was judging by all the lights being on, the telly being on, the teacup on the coffee table and the fabric draped over the sofa.

"No, not really, just doing some sewing."

"I thought you might've been asleep already."

I absent-mindedly started straightening some things up in the house. "Yeah, I just, even though I've lived alone for a few years now I still get a bit freaked out some nights and I have to turn on all the lights and put on some background noise and get busy with something." I admitted. "So, was there something you needed?"

Alphard took a deep breath. "It's just - " He avoided my eyes and shook his head. "It's probably stupid - but I can't stand sleeping in that house. I just I have so many awful memories in that place, and I feel like I'm being haunted, and then I get these terrible nightmares. So, I guess I was just wondering if I could crash on your couch for tonight. I mean, you can say no, I know it's a lot to ask."

"You can." I said without even thinking. He seemed like had been though a lot and I had a too soft heart, okay? "Do you mind if just finish sewing my thing, it'll just be a few minutes, you can sit down."

Alphard gave a small sigh of relief. I then noticed that he was in what I assumed were his sleep clothes, which consisted of flannel pants and a t-shirt, which made me notice how sickeningly skinny he was. I'd have to take him to my mother's house one day, she'd fatten him up.

I sat back on the couch and picked up my needle. Alphard sat on the loveseat across from me. He stared at the TV for a bit, but then I could feel his eyes on me most of the time as I sewed. Surprisingly, this had been our least awkward silence yet.

"Okay, I'm done." I put my fabric aside. "I'll be right back."

I turned off the TV and ran upstairs to get him a pillow and a blanket.

He'd already switched to the sofa when I got back. He took the stuff from me with a quick thank you.

"Alright, I'll be upstairs. You can help yourself to anything from the kitchen if you get hungry during the night."

He put the pillow below his head and laid down. "Thanks, Tessa. Goodnight."

I smiled. "Goodnight, Alphard."

I awoke slowly the next day, I could tell from the light coming from behind the curtains that it was a bit late.

I'd actually fallen asleep pretty quickly once I'd gotten into bed. At first I'd freaked out that Alphard was actually a criminal and would steal all my stuff and murder me in my sleep, but then I figured that if he were going to do that, he would've done it a while ago, since it'd been about a week since he found out he pretty much had access to my house unseen any time he wanted. I still locked my bedroom door to feel a little safer.

But having another person in the house actually made me feel calmer.

When I finally went downstairs for breakfast it was 10am and Alphard was gone.

The Holiday season was always a hectic one for me. This year my family had laid off me a bit though, since I'd had the surgery so recently, and I was actually pretty thankful for that.

Alphard had slept at my place two more times after that day. It was a good arrangement, he didn't have to sleep in a place that gave him nightmares, and I felt safer at night. He hadn't been there for the past couple of days though, since I'd been at my mum's house, which was in London, just on the complete other side of London.

I loved my family, I truly did. My mum had been through so much to raise three daughters on her own, and she'd always tried to make our childhoods as fun as possible. Neither my sisters nor I ever missed a holiday at home. My mum's house just radiated warmth and joy and welcoming energy, I longed to have a house like that when I was older.

Epiphany Day wasn't the biggest holiday of the year, but my mum's deeply rooted Catholic faith meant going to church and then a celebration. I found church services rather boring, but I didn't mind as long as I got to eat my mother's food later.

I'd just arrived home carrying heaps of Tupperware filled with food. As I finished putting everything in its place, I grabbed the container with my mum's special fruitcake to bring to Alphard, I could not let him go on with his life without trying this cake.

I crawled through the passageway, threw open the door and just as I yelled out Alphard's name, I noticed the odd scene awaiting me.

Alphard was standing a few feet away from the passage with a worried expression on his face, and beside him was a man a little taller than him, with long-ish dirty blond hair, wearing some sort of cloak just as raggedy as Alphard's clothes. But the weirdest thing was, the blond man was pointing a wooden stick at me, as if it were some sort of magic wand.

I frowned as the strange man yelled something like "how did you get in here?" then he yelled out "Bombarda!" and a jet of red light spurt out of his stick and caused a small explosion on the wall behind me out of nowhere. I jumped in shock.

What the hell?

I then heard another yell of a word along the lines of 'stupid-something', and then everything went black.