"Are you okay?" He asked.

I didn't answer so he tilted my head up to look at him and wiped the tears off my cheeks.

"Let's go for a walk," he suggested. "Let you calm down before you go back in."

I nodded and shakily got to my feet. I followed him down the sidewalk, it was getting dark out and there weren't many streetlights here. I couldn't stop the tears as we walked, we made it a block before James stopped me and wrapped me in another hug.

"Calm down," he said softly. "You're shaking."

I couldn't calm down I just kept picturing Derek and the mystery French girl living happily ever after together. Derek forgetting all about me and never wanting to see me again. What was the point to coming back? He was my whole reason for coming back. If he didn't care about me anymore then I might as well go back to the demon world.

My legs were shaking so bad I almost dropped to my knees.

"Alright come on," he picked up and started walking again.

He brought me a few blocks to his house and set me down at the door.

"What are we doing here?" I asked.

"You're shaking Chloe, I know what that means and I figured you'd want privacy."

I followed him onto the front porch. I sat down on the cement and used my sleeve to wipe snot and tears from my face.

"Why's he in France?" I asked James. "Why did he give up and move on?"

He sighed and sat down next to me. "I don't have the answer to that."

I buried my face in my arms to muffle my sobs and hiccups. James set my bag down behind my back, I hadn't even realized he'd grabbed it for me earlier.

"Chloe," he said helplessly. "What can I do to help? Do you want Simon?"

I shook my head not lifting it from my arms. Footsteps approached us in the dark.

"Good cause you got Jeremy," he said as he walked up. "I was sent to see if everything's okay."

He sat down on the other side of me and set a hand on my back.

"What's wrong?"

"The phone calls got her upset," James answered.

"I'm sorry Clo. We got through once though, someone's bound to answer again."

"Why'd he leave me?" I sniffled and looked up from my arms.

Jeremy sighed, "I think that he probably left at first to find answers but over time he probably thought that its what you would've wanted. He probably thought you didn't want him wasting his life on a hopeless cause. You'd want him to go try to be happy."

I took a deep breath to gather myself before I could talk.

"Is it selfish of me to say that's wrong? I wanted him to be there waiting for me when I got back." I paused then added. "He was the whole reason I survived. The only reason I came back. What's the point of being here if he's not?"

We sat in silence except for my sniffles for a few minutes. Neither of the boys knew what to say at first.

"I don't think that's selfish," James broke the silence. "You needed a reason to hold on. Whether that was hoping he was waiting for you or hoping to see the super bowl. You needed a reason to survive."

I forced a chuckle. He was doing his best to make me feel better.

"Do you think there will ever be a way to get him back?" I asked.

James looked to Jeremy since Jeremy knew him better.

Jeremy hesitated, "I know we'll get through to him eventually, they answered once they'll do it again. But I can't really say if he'll come back. I know you want me to say you'll get back together but I just don't know. If he's with someone new, would he really just walk away from the life they've built and come back? It's hard to say."

I buried my face in my arms again to fight back the tears. My head was pounding from all the crying.

"Deep breaths Chloe, calm down." James said.

I sat there with my head in my arms taking long slow deep breaths until my head stopped hurting. Something warm was draped over my shoulders. I looked up, it was Jeremy's jacket. I closed my eyes and keep focusing on my breathing until I caught a weird scent off Jeremy's jacket. What was that?

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. Jeremy must've thought I recognized the scent because he put a finger to his lips telling me to be quiet.

"Are you alright?" James asked.

I shrugged, calmed down a bit now for the meantime, "I'm not going to change if that's what you're asking. But I'm not alright."

He nodded, "Well let's get you inside and out of the cold."

We got to our feet and went inside. James told Jeremy where his room was and dismissed himself to the kitchen. Jeremy and I walked down to James' room. It looked exactly the same as it used to. His friends didn't touch a thing.

"Are you going to be okay?" Jeremy asked me.

I just shrugged. "Eventually."

I set my backpack down on the bed and sat beside it. Jeremy looked at it oddly.

"What?" I asked.

"It moved," he said.

I didn't know what would have moved inside of it so I grabbed it and unzipped it. I blinked surprised as Edgar's head popped out of my backpack. Jeremy swore and jumped backwards. Edgar hopped out and into my lap.

"Edgar!" I exclaimed. I scoped him up into a hug. "How did you get in there?"

James appeared at the door with mugs in his hand and stared at the scene before him.

"What the heck is that?" He asked.

I released him from my hug and he climbed up onto my shoulder.

"This is Edgar, my dragon demon friend. He won't hurt you guys."

They seem weary of Edgar but still glad to see me smiling. They sat down on the bed and James cautiously handed out the mugs, worried about spooking Edgar and getting hurt. They were hot coco. I held mine up in front of Edgar to see if he would drink some. He sniffed it and backed away.

"I can't believe he snuck back," Jeremy said. "He's probably been in there all day sleeping."

Time Skip

The boys fell asleep a few hours ago. I'd fallen asleep too but I couldn't stay asleep long. I was too adjusted to the night of the demon world where you always had to be on alert. Edgar was feeling the same way, or he was just energized from being bagged up all day, because he was pacing at the foot of the bed.

I sat there twiddling my fingers and trying to fall back asleep but it wasn't working. I felt like I was going to wake the guys up with all my movement so I grabbed Jeremy's jacket again and snuck out of the room with Edgar. I slipped it on as we headed up the stairs and felt something hit my side. There was a water bottle in his inside pocket. I pulled it out and caught the smell from earlier. It was alcohol. I rolled my eyes at Jeremy and put it back in the pocket.

We stepped outside and Edgar got up on my shoulders. I knew he wouldn't stray too far from me, he seemed too nervous in this new environment. I took a deep breath as I looked out at the dark lawns, feeling like I didn't really fit in here anymore. I looked at Edgar and spoke.

"You ever seen Castaway where he comes back and everything has changed and he doesn't feel like he belongs anymore? That's us right now."

Edgar just stared at me with his big cartoon eyes, not understanding what I said. I smiled at him. I picked him up off my shoulder and set him on the ground next to me so I could take off Jeremy's jacket and my shoes.

"Let's burn off some of this energy," I said to Edgar and let my nerves take over.

A minute later I was standing there wolf. Edgar followed me as I took off down towards the woods bordering James's home. He let out little excited noises as we raced into the trees. I ran as fast as I could, Edgar followed close behind. I ran over creeks, around trees, everywhere I could.

We ran and ran until we were out of breath. We stopped at a cliff to catch our breath and I looked over the landscape. The moonlit trees seemed to go on for miles. There was nobody else out here. I found myself sighing with relief at that thought. Wow I really was having a hard time adjusting to coming back.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and nudged Edgar. I'd taught him tag back in his world but now I had no broken bones and we could really challenge each other. Edgar nudged me back. I watched as he took off into the trees. I gave him a ten second head start before I went after him to try to tag him back.

We played for a long time until we found a river and I got to watch Edgar investigate the water. Rivers were rare to come across in his world so he was fascinated. He would step in and jump out over and over until I stepped in too, showing him it was okay it wasn't going to hurt him. Edgar stepped in and stayed in this time, watching the water rush past him.

Hours of playing and exploring passed until we finally got tired. I didn't feel like heading back to the house so we found a hollowed out tree and slept in there.

When morning came I knew it was time to head back even though I didn't want to. I liked it out here in the woods. There were no worries in the woods just fun and games. No demons to worry about or relationship to mourn. Just me and Edgar.