Astrid hadn't really thought about what it would mean to have a friend that was an adult.

Yes, she played with her mommy and daddy and with her grandparents, Delia and Charles, not to mention her godparents, Barbara and Adam.

But this was different. No one else in her family knew about this man.

And when she had asked 'B' if she could tell her grandmama and granddaddy and her god-mama and her god-daddy, 'B' had quickly suggested that she didn't, said that he was the type that parents didn't like, cause he had "too much fun."

Again, Astrid felt like she was doing something wrong by not telling any of her family, but she didn't.

And 'B' was in fact, very fun.

She didn't know how he did it, but sometimes he would twist his face into completely ridiculous shapes and make Astrid laugh until she thought she might cry. Whenever they played hide and seek together, she didn't know how he would be able to hide in the places where he was, whenever she looked for him, but when the game was over, he'd emerge, somehow from some long, but too thin crack in a cliff, or from a compartment under a house and she had to wonder how he got in there.

Still, she never thought too much about it.

He would always give her that smirk and said, "I've got my ways, kid."

Whenever they talked together, near the woods, away from Astrid's mama and daddy's house, 'B' would ask Astrid questions. About her parents. About her grandparents and godparents.

But he seemed particularly interested whenever Astrid would talk about her mommy.

'B' would pay perfect attention to what Astrid said, whenever she talked about her mama.

Astrid had noticed this over time-'B' was curious about her family, but practically was endlessly focused, whenever Astrid talked about her mama.

Any detail he could glean from her about her mama, he seemed to almost savor.

Astrid wouldn't actually realize this, until she was older, however, what her young mind could process, even then she was able to see that 'B' seemed to pay more attention whenever she spoke of her mama.

'B' would want to hear what Astrid's mama's interests were, what she liked to eat, what her favorite music was, what her favorite movies were, he seemed to want to know everything.

Astrid wouldn't understand the meaning of this until later, but she noticed that 'B's' expression tended to soften a bit whenever she talked about her mama.

Astrid couldn't help but ask him why he seemed so interested in her mama.

'B' would just give that same chuckle and answer, "Don't worry about it, kid."

One day, when Astrid was six, she asked 'B' about what his life was like and where he was from.

The answer she got, as 'B' sat with her on a grassy slope and they overlooked the path that led back to Astrid's house, was a surprisingly long one.

He said, smirking, an odd look on his face that Astrid would learn eventually, was nostalgia as he spoke, "I was born to some very poor people. We couldn't buy that much food, so, I had to do a lot of things that a lotta people wouldn't like doing, to get money. I was born in Spain, long ago."

Astrid wasn't sure what the things 'B' was alluding to when he said 'things that a lotta people wouldn't like doing, to get money.' But she knew what 'poor' meant.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Her daddy had explained that if a person wasn't 'poor,' then it was likely that they wouldn't have to worry about whether or not they would be able to buy food.

It sounded awful being poor.

"It's okay, kiddo," 'B' said, seeming to honestly mean it, "It was a long time ago. I mean a real long time ago."

Astrid nodded then asked, "Are you married?"

This time, 'B' snorted with laughter, startling the girl next to him. "I was," he said, "One time. Her name was Delores. She was something." 'B' shook his head as he added, "But that's stuff not for kids' ears, okay? Point is, I was married a long time ago. Not anymore. I tried to get married a second time, but," he shrugged, "It ended badly. The woman I wanted to marry…well, she wasn't ready, is all, and I guess I moved too quickly."

Astrid didn't understand what this all meant. If 'B' had been married one time, how could he get married again?

Astrid didn't know what the word, 'died' meant, but she had heard of it before. It happened when someone "went away" and didn't come back. Was that what happened to 'B's' first wife?

"Did she die?" Astrid asked softly, "The first woman you married?"

"Yeah," 'B' chuckled, "She died."

Astrid winced. Again, she didn't know what "die" meant exactly, but she knew it was bad.

"I'm so sorry," she said quietly.

"No worries, kid," 'B' said, "Like I said, it was a long time ago. That was why I tried to marry again years later. But like I said, the woman I tried to marry, wasn't ready. I moved things too fast. When I see her again, I hope I can make it up to her."

"I hope so too," Astrid said, smiling, a look that 'B' shared with her.

It wouldn't be until years and years later, when she was a teenager, when Astrid realized who 'B' had been talking about.

Another two years went by, and Astrid never said a word about her friend to her mama, daddy, grandparents or godparents.

School was starting for her.

She was nervous about it and told 'B' this. He assured her it would be fine. And if it wasn't? She could always tell him if anyone at school was bothering her. Astrid was slightly worried about this, but 'B' promised her that he'd just scare the kids or teachers if they picked on Astrid, and nothing else.

Astrid supposed that that was good enough.

School started, and with the reassurances of all seven, her parents, grandparents, godparents and her friend, 'B,' Astrid went off to school.

Some of the kids made fun of her, but for the most part, a lot of kids were friendly.

Astrid went over to some kids house, and had a lot of fun. She contemplated telling them about 'B' but thought better of it.

When she saw 'B' a day later, she told him what happened happily and he smiled, approving. "See, kid?" He said, "Told yah you could take those kids on. You're your mama's kid, so, of course, you're gonna be tough."

Astrid chuckled, telling 'B' that he was silly. She hadn't thought about the implications of what he had just said.

She just assumed that he was referring to everything that Astrid had told him about her mama, not giving thought to the possibility that 'B' had met her mama before.

During her birthdays, 'B' would change himself into absolutely bizarre shapes that always made Astrid stare in awe. Things like a large, striped rhino, a frog, a dog and other animals.

Again, Astrid didn't know how he could do this, but didn't try to think too hard about it.

His seemingly magic abilities, brought her to one conclusion eventually; that 'B' was simply imaginary.

But that was later.

In the early years of her knowing 'B,' she was still in awe of him.

Before Halloween, in the days before Astrid's mama and daddy would take her trick or treating, 'B' said that he would take her to a "special haunted house."

At first, Astrid was cautious, in the first year, when she was five, but 'B,' as always, proved it to be fun.

'B' would draw a door on the wall of an old, abandoned shed near the woods, and would knock three times, and to Astrid's shock, the door opened up, and there was pale green light coming out.

'B' smirked as he reached out a hand and Astrid reached out, holding the man's hand and 'B' led her through the door.

After the door closed? 'B' led her throughout this strange haunted house.

This happened when she was six and seven too, on the Halloweens of those years.

Astrid didn't know how 'B' did it, because when she tried to get into that same haunted house through the abandoned shack, it didn't work.

But when 'B' did it? She was taken through a shocking hall, with many crooked, leaning doorways, and strange looking people.

There were some people that were moving about, without their lower torsos, there were some that were so pale that it seemed they didn't have any blood in their bodies.

There were some that seemed to have gashes in their necks.

Astrid was excited whenever she saw this, but would always lean in closer to 'B' whenever she saw these people.

Some very elaborate costumes, she decided.

But at the end of the day? She always looked forward to whenever 'B' would take her to that secret haunted house.

One thing she found odd, well odder than what she saw in general in that secret haunted house that 'B' took her to, was that there were some rooms in that haunted house, where there were a lot of long lines waiting and people in weird costumes waiting, with slips of paper in each of their hands.

She didn't know what that was about.

There was an office of some sort there, where there were large people in yellow suits, and they had very small heads.

Astrid didn't know how these costumes were pulled off, but she liked them.

And she always enjoyed whenever 'B' would take her to this haunted house. And like always, she never told her mama or daddy or grandparents or godparents about it.

Something else that Astrid noticed? 'B' had the most unexpected items in his pockets sometimes.

Animals, specifically.

Sometimes he had mice or rats in his pockets, sometimes snakes or frogs, sometimes even lizards.

It was when Astrid was nine that she asked 'B' if she could have some of the animals as her pets.

'B' had laughed and said, "Alright, kiddo. But you know the deal, right?"

Astrid nodded and rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, yeah, don't tell anyone in my family where the animals are from."

"That's right," 'B' said, grinning, and he reached into his pockets, pulling out one animal after another.

To that end, Astrid went running back to her home, grinning happily, carrying all four a five-lined skink, an eastern milk snake, a red-bellied snake and a painted turtle. She learned the four reptiles names when looking it up on her daddy's laptop.

Before that, she had begged her parents to let her keep the animals and her daddy, unable to refuse, had allowed it.

And her mama was more cautious and demanded to know where Astrid got the snakes, lizard and turtle, and Astrid quickly came up with a story, that she had gone out walking in the woods and had found the animals.

Astrid could tell that her mama wasn't entirely sure she believed that, but nodded, allowing Astrid to keep the animals, much to Astrid's joy.

Three years later, when Astrid was twelve, and she and her parents visited her grandparents and godparents' house, she met one of the biggest threats to her life.

An older boy. Named Jeremy.