My mother was waiting when I got home. When I opened the front door, all the lights were out, save for a candle on the kitchen table. Her lined face was illuminated in the soft glow. My mother was hunched over, a blanket around her shoulders. Her fingers grasped tightly at it.

"Where have you been?" She asked as I locked the door behind me.

"Out with a friend." I tucked my keys into my bag and hung it on the coat rack in the hallway. My hands were still shaking after the incident at the pub, and if when I looked at my palms, they were extremely red, as if all the blood had rushed there.

"A friend," my mother repeated. Her face reflected her disbelief, and I sighed. It was saddening to see the confusion on people's faces when I told them I actually had a friend.

"Yes." I twisted my hands together. "Mum, I have a quick question." She didn't say anything, but stared at me expectantly. "Do we…does our family have a history of madness?"

"Of madness?" My mother smirked. "Like being crazy?"

"Yes." I entered the kitchen and flung myself down in the seat across from her. "When I was out, something happened to me. It was weird. I was at the pub, and, well, I got emotional. Never mind why, I just did. And all of a sudden, I got this feeling in me. Like I was electric or something. And then all the glasses at the bar shattered. All at once. Maybe I'm going mad, but I think I caused them to break." I breathed heavily once I was finished. It was good to tell someone that.

My mother, however, didn't seem to share my feelings. She looked straight at me, into my eyes. For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of recognition cross her face, but it was gone in an instant.

"Are you telling the truth?" She asked in a deadpan voice.

"Yes."

All of a sudden, her expression contorted into a nasty scowl. "I don't appreciate you girls coming up with ways to bother me."

"What?" I nearly shouted in disbelief. "Mum, I'm telling the truth! This happened, you could call Chessie and ask. The glasses all shattered. And my body was just…it was on fire."

"Joie and Clemence fed me their cock-and-bull story too, Audrey. All in one evening. What, do you girls think I'm stupid? Maybe this would have worked on your father, but not me. I will not tolerate such disrespect in my household. In fact, you can't go out this week, not even to see your friend." She sneered at the word. "If you ever make up stories like this again, I will make sure to see that you're out of this house in an instant." My mother turned away from me, her face still a mask of rage, and ran up the stairs. I heard her bedroom door slam shut behind her, and the frame of the house shook.

Anger filled me like it hadn't before. I wanted to go kick down her door, take a hold of her shoulders and shake her. Throttle her. I never come to her with my problems, ever. Not when I was teased by other girls, not when I was harassed by customers, not when I cried for days after my father died. How could she not realize I was serious? When I left the room, I didn't notice that as I had stood there, shaking from anger, the candlestick behind me had completely melted, as had the candlestick holder, which was solid gold.

I snuck up the stairs, careful not to awake Joie or Clemence, and closed my bedroom door behind me. I cooled my anger by walking over to my vanity, where a bowl full of cool water sat. I cupped my hands into the water and splashed it on my face. I looked up into the mirror, and my reflection stared back. My eyes had a deadened look to them, as if I was slowly crumbling away inside. Slowly, I tilted my head to look at the picture of myself as a child.

"Hey dad," I said in a low voice, focusing on the picture. "I know I haven't talked to you in a while." The room was silent. "I need some guidance right now. Something happened to me tonight. Something weird. I'd try to explain it but I don't think I would do the event any justice." I tousled my bangs and leaned my forehead onto my hand. "I just…I need someone to tell me I'm not going mad. There's something wrong with me, I can tell. If you're there Dad, give me a sign. Please."

There was silence in the room. I felt like I might cry in frustration. What did I expect? Did I expect my father to appear in the form of a ghost? Did I expect him to tell me that it was fine, that everything would be okay?

Suddenly, there was a tap on my window. The glass pitched a little. I got up from my chair and apprehensively cracked open the window. A pebble sailed in and caught me on the shoulder.

"Ouch!" I shrieked, and then glanced towards my door, terrified my mum would hear. Luckily, she didn't seem to. I squinted out into the garden, but it appeared empty. "Who's out there?" I whispered as loudly as I could.

"Audrey, it's me, Fred." A tall figure stepped out from behind a rose bush.

"Are you barking?" I asked, though, secretly, it thrilled me he was here. "You could've woken up my mum."

"Sorry," he apologized, but he didn't sound it. He smiled, and in the moonlight, his teeth glistened. "Are you going to come down or not?"

"I can't," I said, looking towards my door. "My mum's barred me from going out."

"She has, has she?" Fred moved towards the house, carefully stepping over the flowers that dotted the way. He tiptoed onto the front step. "I need you to see something. Really, you need to come down here. I'm being serious, and that's hardly something to pass up."

As much as I wanted to jump out that window and scale down the drainpipe to meet him, I just couldn't.

"I can't. I'm sorry!"

Before I could protest anymore, Fred had grabbed a hold of the drainpipe and began to scale up it.

"What are you doing?" I hissed. I ran to your door and locked it, and then ran back to the window. Fred had managed to grab a hold of my windowsill and began to pull himself up.

"A little help?" He wheezed. I grabbed his elbow and pulled him through the window. He touched down on your floor, and then straightened up. I didn't say a word. This was the strangest occurrence of my life. "Nice room," Fred said, looking around. He took in the wood floors, the polished vanity, the bed layered with blankets. He stepped forward to admire the photo of me as a child. "That's really quite adorable," he commented with a smile. "George and I, we were chubby babies. Fat little monsters."

I cracked a smile and stepped in place next to him. "My dad took it." I guess my voice must've conveyed my sadness, because Fred looked at me, his brown eyes dripping with sympathy.

"He's gone now, isn't he?"

I nodded. "He drowned when I was young. I hardly remember him now." I didn't cry as I said this. I had no tears to shed for a man who had been gone so long. Fred looked at me, and without a word, he stuck out his hand.

"What're you doing?" I asked, looking down at his palm. It was criss-crossed with scars and burns. He just cocked his head, as if to say: Go on. I won't hurt you. Hesitantly, I slipped my hand into his. At once, Fred pulled me in closer, but before we could get too close, he spun around, lifting me onto his back. I gasped a little, but then closed my arms around his neck.

"Hold on," he said quietly. "Close your eyes." I did. I shut them tightly as I heard the window open a bit more, and heard Fred's shoes scraping against the sill. I shivered as I heard the clang of metal, and nearly vomited at the movement of Fred's body sliding down the drainpipe. When we touched ground, I nearly fell off his back, my body shaking with relief to be on solid ground. "There," he said. "Your mum can't blame you for leaving now, can she? Technically, you didn't leave the house; your feet didn't leave the house. Mine did, and you just happened to be on my back."

I smiled at him. His way of bending rules was an extraordinary talent; one that I had no doubt had been practiced many a time before.

"What could possibly be so important that you needed to show me right now?" Dark had fallen completely by now, and it swallowed the air before me. I could hardly make out Fred's features; only his red hair was visible before my eyes.

"Come on," Fred said. I began to learn that until an event actually happened, Fred wouldn't begin to answer questions. He turned around and began to run. I almost hesitated. In fact, I almost went back inside. But then, who was I to pass up an adventure when there was one to be had? I began to run after him, even though my feet caught on roots and branches scratched my face and caught my hair. I followed him all the way to the end of town, to that dirt road my sisters had described earlier. On our right was the lake, on our left, grassy, rolling hills rose up into the night sky. We were alone. I smothered the urge to ask him if he planned to kill me out here, even with a teasing tone. I didn't want to scare him off. Fred sank down onto the dirt road, and then patted the spot beside him. I sat down too, and knitted my hands together.

"Just wait," he said by way of explanation.

"If I get slaughtered, this better be worth it," I whispered to him. He smiled in the darkness.

"I would hope so," he said back.

All of a sudden, there was a burst of light in the sky above you. Fireworks began to explode over the lake. There were pink ones, blue ones, green, red, gold, silver. They bounced around and danced in the dark, their reflections lighting up the water below.

"Wow," I breathed. It was a beautiful sight. They were unlike any fireworks I had seen before. They seemed to last lifetimes. And then, they changed. They were no longer vibrant colors, but they took shape, new forms. At first, I weren't sure what I was seeing. And then a fiery bird took flight across the sky. A dragon stretched its wings. A dog galloped by. And then, the fireworks ended with a slight poof.

"What did you think?" Fred asked after a moment, as I still looked to the sky, hoping to see more.

"That was incredible," I replied, turning my head to look at him. "Really. You said you were going to open a shop with your brother…will you be selling those?"

"Yeah," Fred told me. "Actually, we made those."

"They were…magical." The word seemed to fit. What I had seen almost appeared otherworldly, something not achievable in this reality. Fred grinned, but under his smile, I could detect a bit of worry. I bit my lip. Something was nagging at my stomach.

"Why me?" I whispered. "Why would you show this to me?"

"Why not?" Fred answered.

"You seem like you would have friends, a great many. And here we are, we just met a few days ago, and you show this spectacular display…to me."

"You are my friend," Fred said simply, as if he had just decided it in that second. "I knew that you would appreciate it most."

I felt my heart swell inside my chest, as if it was about to break open. I wanted to kiss him right then, express my emotions. Instead, I stood up. I was literally turning into an emotional wreck.

"I should go home," I told him.

"Already?" He asked. I nodded. Fred stood up and dusted off his jeans. "I'll walk you. But you're climbing back up that drainpipe by yourself, I'm not about to fall and hurt my beautiful features."