Miracle snuck his way down the stairs, careful to not wake his mother. His sensitive ears listened for a snore before rushing the steps and stopping when it became silent again. He cringed at the last squeaky step and begged to a higher being that the dogs don't start barking. Tip-toeing while cradling a heavy bag wasn't easy; it felt like walking in a minefield, would this step be the step that a can falls and chatters? He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the moonlight shining through the kitchen glass doors.

In front of the glass door, he grasped the lock and gently turned it hoping it didn't pop and create any noise. He took a deep breath as it gently popped open, sliding the door to the side. He softly giggled as he stepped onto the patio, once the door was closed he started to run. Run with his freedom into the night, passed the fence, and went straight to the dock. He set his backpack down and settled on the edge, he started swinging his feet aimlessly waiting for his friend.

The forest grew quiet, only the wind softly whistling through the leaves. Crunch, crunch, snap, thun, thun, creek. He slowly turned his head to look at the tall man towering over him. Tree plops himself right beside Miracle and stares out into the water. "Hey, um I uh..." He struggled to find the words "I brought some marshmallows and canned beans that we can cook over a fire. Maybe we can share manly stories? Do dude stuff like that." The man glanced at him, not very interested, "hey it's food" which caught his attention. He nodded.

The man cleared a spot for a fire surrounding it with rocks and filling the middle with kindling and wood. Miracle pulled out a matchbook and tried to strike a match, although he wasn't very successful. He softly whined at the third try at striking the match. Large hands engulfed his and guided him to strike it, his wrists hurt at the fast movement but there was a success. The orange flame was bright in between his fingers, he stared at it as it started to die out. Tree snapped his fingers, getting his attention and pointing to the campfire. Even though the flame was gorgeous, he threw the match into the fire watching it slowly grow.

The man opened Miracle's book bag and searched for the promised food. Pulling out the cobalt plastic bag of jumbo marshmallows, he handed them to Miracle and grabbed two sticks. With Miracle staring, fiddling with the bag, the man pulled out a hunting knife and whittled down the sticks to points. The boy opened the bag and handed the tall man a few marshmallows before placing a couple on his stick. He plopped his butt on the stump beside the tall man and held his treat over the flame.

The clattering of the mask on exposed roots caught Miracle's attention. Using the corner of his eyes he tried his best to look at the man's face. It was far less rotten than he expected, he turned his head to get a better look. There were still some patches of gray skin–that was undeniable; however, the new pink flesh that reconnected his jaw and covered his once exposed eye was a stark contrast. His small mahogany fingers brushed against the new skin causing the man to jump, Miracle softly gasped. He traced the cleft lip on the man before tracing his own.

"I didn't notice that before, you have a cleft lip just like me. On the same side too!" He softly giggled. "You are so cool Tree, you're like reverse zombie-ing." He checks his marshmallow "Do you have any stories to tell? It'll be a while before these marshmallows are good for s'mores." He softly smiled at the man as he thought for a moment, he then nodded and motioned for the boy to sit down.

He propped his stick between his feet and dusted off his hands. He raised an eyebrow before nodding, he felt rusty but he was slowly remembering. I don't exactly remember how long ago he started. All I remember is one day I saw a beautiful woman, her skin glowing, a face sculpted by angels, hair soft as clouds, and the voice of a goddess. She reminded me of a cactus fruit my mother would serve sometimes. He leaned back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. He softly sighed very sharp on the outside, it hurt to force yourself in, but she was the sweetest person I ever met.

"Kinda sounds like a love story you're telling" Miracle chuckled and the man nodded.

Love couldn't even describe it, she became a friend. One of my only friends. He sat up from the trunk, he glanced at Miracle. I don't remember much, all I remember is her beauty.

"Did y'all do anything fun together? That you can remember." The man thought for a while, stroking his chin and playing with his beard before nodding.

We would cook together, I remember helping her mix and put in ingredients. My mother is a chef, and I'd grow to love helping in the kitchen. Through a crack in the skull, Miracle witnessed shriveled-up brain matter slowly grow and flowed with pink. That's when the idea popped into his head.

"Can you tell me what you did together? Why did you fall in love with her? What made her special?" He pulls the marshmallow out of the fire and sandwiches it between graham crackers. He blows on it cautiously before taking a bite.

She taught me how to swim if I remember correctly, we would watch movies together too, and I would hold her in the night. What made me fall in love was her beauty and her fearlessness towards me.

"Why would she be scared of you? Because you're tall?" The man shook his head.

You're too young to understand. Maybe when you are older. This caused the boy to whine and huff. He chuckled back in response. How were you, when you were a baby?

"I came out as big, mi abuela, my grandma, would tell me I could never be full" he starts on his next marshmallow. "My mom's coworkers would tell me she'd walk in with me attached to her chest. She'd have a crib in her office for me. And she would take me to her meetings. I asked why no one would stop her and they'd say she was a scary person." He softly chuckled, putting the marshmallow into the flame. "My mom isn't scary, she's the best person on this planet." The man softly smiles.

What about your father? Miracle tilted his head father. Your father the boy softly gasped after understanding.

"Oh, my dad? My mom doesn't tell me much about him. He was her true love and she was blessed to have me." He looked back at the man, "now tell me why would the woman you like be scared of you? How am I not old enough to understand?" The man's face twisted into a frown and he sighed.

K-I-L-L-E-R just like you, I saw the body of the boy Miracle felt his heart fall to his stomach. He froze in place until his marshmallow caught on fire. Forgetting how to breathe his head starts to feel dizzy and he leans back. His shoulder is caught by the man and Miracle gasps for air.

Miracle tumbles away and stands up quickly "p-please don't hurt me–I didn't mean to–he was just hurting my friend–I don't wanna get in trouble!" He babbles through his snotty sobs. He cries out when the man picks him up, he softly yelps when his head hits the man's chest. He hugs him tight and starts to shush the shivering boy.

His feet touched the ground with a soft thud. He looked up teary-eyed "you won't hurt me? You're not like Kyle's dead uncle or something?" The man shook his head and patted Miracle's head.

The nervous coil in his stomach released and took in a breath of fresh air. He was still stiff but managed to make at least two more s'mores. The birds started to chirp, telling the rest of the forest the sun is coming soon. Miracle yawned and stretched "I should head home soon, mom will throw a fit if she finds me missing." As he packed up what was left over, he stole a glance at the man "see you next time." They both shared a nod and Miracle started his journey home.

He poked at his ice cream, slowly pulling a spoonful into his mouth. Even though he got his favorite flavor and toppings, it didn't bring any joy to him, not this time. He softly jumps when Amirah sits down in front of him, she unpacks her lunch "what's on your mind little man?" She adjusted her hijab so it doesn't get stained by food, Miracle shrugged his shoulders. "You know that Kyle kid? I think they found his body. He's been missing too long." She watched for his reaction. "I know because they interrogated me, did they interrogate you?" He gave a soft nod.

She chewed on her food and hummed "did you lie to them too? Almost everyone around here lied. I don't know who did it and didn't have a part in it" she swallowed "but many of us see it as a good thing. His family doesn't come here anymore to harass us, you've noticed that too huh?" Miracle looked up at her. Someone could've seen me, and they didn't say anything? "But it could be because all the officers on the case keep turning up dead." His blood turned cold "so maybe they're just scared to get involved."

"I don't really know anything about what happened to Kyle. I don't care either, mi mamá said karma was going to get to him eventually. He might have pissed off the wrong person this time." He pushed his soupy ice cream away.

"Wow Miracle, he affected you didn't he?"

"Yes, and they tried to accuse my mom as the murderer!" He teared up, "She did nothing wrong but love me. Why accuse her?"

"You two are safe right?" Miracle nodded. "Okay good, just be careful. People go crazy with hysteria. How's your ma?"

He shrugs and looks at the clock "I think she's home by now" he slips out of the booth and waves Amirah goodbye. She gives a half-wave and tilts her head as she watches him leave. Across the street was an antique shop, it was hard to spot with the decaying bricks but there was a shadow. As it walked closer to the street, the afternoon sun shined on the figure revealing itself to be a man. A very large man was staring at Miracle as he walked away, and once he rounded the corner the man moved closer.

With Amirah's eyes widening, she sucked a breath in as she jolted up. Making haste to the glass door she glances around to see he's already gone. I need to call Mireya, without another thought she runs next door into a bookstore. "Mr. and Mrs. Choi! Anybody?" She desperately presses against the waiter bell, her breath starts to get uneven as she hops the counter and goes into the back. Ripping the privacy curtain open she pants "I need to call Miracle's mom, now" the elderly couple looked over from their tea and nodded.

"Her number is right above the phone sweetie." She rushes over to the black rotary phone and started spinning the number. She waited desperately as it rang, hopping on her feet and tearing up.

" ? Did Miracle break something?" Mireya put the phone on her shoulder.

"No uh Ms. Ezperanza it's me, uh Amirah." She swallowed to compose herself "Miracle just left my shop and I saw a huge white guy follow him." She softly whines on the phone "he looked so scary and I'm worried about Miracle." Mireya took a moment to process what hysterical blabber came out of the girl's mouth.

"Amirah, take a deep breath sweetie, you saw a man following Miracle?" She opens the front door and starts jogging to the gate. "Are you sure he was following him?"

"One hundred percent positive ma'am. Do you see Miracle yet?" She bit her thumbnail and whimpered.

"I got a visual on him, thank you Amirah. Tell your mom I said hi" the line drops and Mireya opens the gate. "Miracle! Come here now!" He looks up at his name echoing down the street and starts running to his mother. He finally gets to the gate door softly panting "Amirah called, said something was wrong. Do you want to talk about it?" His mother didn't look him in the eye but passed him, behind him into the brush and forest.

"The Kyle stuff is freaking me out, apparently everyone is lying to the police. Did you lie to them, mamá?" Her eyes met his and she gave a slow blink and sigh.

"No, I didn't, I don't know what happened to that boy. I also don't blame everyone for keeping their mouths shut. They can't arrest a whole neighborhood's worth of people. Come, I'm making sancocho." The boy groaned as she locked the gate.

"Mamá it's too hot for sancocho!"

"It's never too hot for sancocho mi hijo" she ruffles his hair and pats him off. Mireya held on to the gate for a little longer, swallowing her pride, she leaned against the fence. "Hey, Pamela" she softly whispered "if you're out there, and you can hear me" she bit her lip. One thing she hated the most was asking for help "if you can hear me, help me keep Miracle safe." The wind blew through her braids like a warm stroking hand "thank you."

She rechecked the lock before walking to the house. Her mind wondered, who would be following? Maybe a relative of that Kyle kid, or maybe it was the child murderer himself. It didn't matter to her anyway, she wanted to keep him away. The porch steps creak under her feet–I need to get that fixed–the thought flew past her while she made her way to the kitchen.

"¿Mi vida?" Miracle looked up from the dog in his lap. "Has anything weird been happening with you? Do you ever feel uncomfortable anywhere you go?" He shook his head and she nodded. She reaches over and pets his hair, softly smiling as the tight curls glide through her fingers.

"Who is my dad?"