As Dani walked up to the front door, he noticed that all the curtains to the house were closed. Shaking it off as some strange anxiety thing Erin must have, he unlocked the door and entered the surprisingly large apartment. He tossed his backpack onto the recliner near the door and headed to his room to lay down.

As he walked down the hallway he noticed a strange shuffling sound coming from Erin's door.

"Erin is that you?" No answer. "Erin are you ok?" he knocked on the door and the shuffling stopped. "Erin..?" Dani grasped the handle and tried to open the door. It was locked. "Open up Erin!" Dani started jiggling the door, hoping it'd do something. He started to hear something like crying from the other side. His heartbeat sped up, he could feel its pounding in his head. The sobs from the room became louder. It sounded like Erin was trying to muffle them, however.

"Dammit. God fucking dammit. Erin, open the Goddammed door!" Dani growled, tears starting to prick his eyes. He quickly ran into the living room and grabbed a pen out of his backpack and removed the ink carrier on his way back. He shoved the butt-end off the pen piece into the small hole in the handle and barged into the room. "Erin!" Dani shouted as his eyes found his childhood friend.

Erin was leaning against the closet door, which was mostly off its hinges and half laying on the ground. Their eyes were shut tight, a blanket wrapped around them and earbuds in their ears. Their face was streaked tears.

Dani approached slowly. "Erin... Erin are you okay?" The blonde curled up more at the sound of Dani's voice. "Erin open your eyes." His voice cracked. He slowly placed a hand on their shoulder.

"No no no no no no no! You're not real, you're not real your not real!" Erin's voice of hoarse from hours of crying. They started to scurry away when they felt something like arms wrap around them. Erin's eyes shot open and they went stiff immediately, trying to throw whatever was on them off. They fell back and banged their head on the closet frame. Erin stared at their best, too scared to feel the growing knot of their head. "Dani?"

The teenage boy could feel tears stream down his face as he saw the terrified expression in Erin's eyes turn confused and worried. "Yes, yes it's me." He whispered, voice cracking.

Erin let out a relieved, desperate laugh as they slowly pulled Dani into an embrace. "It's you, the real you," They cried, "You're real. Your here..." more tears flooded their already wet face.

"Shh, it's ok Erin, I'm here. I'm real. You can touch me, yeah? I'm here with you. It's okay." Dani whispered and pat their back, rocking them back and forth slowly. "I'm here, I'm not going to leave you."

They sat there, in Erin's room, in the dark, on the floor, and just held one another. They didn't speak or move. Neither could manage the strength to do so.

"What happened?" Dani finally spoke.

"You won't believe me."

"Of course I'll believe you. Why would I not believe you?" He ran his hand through their hair,"Please tell me..."

Erin sat there for a while, contemplating their decisions. They could leave it alone and have a very worried Dani, or they could tell him, and risk being called crazy.

"Erin..?"

"I saw.. I saw a creature today... while I was running."

Dani sat back a bit, "What type of creature?"

"I don't really know. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. It was larger than a dog.... but smaller than a horse. It was like a deer. Yeah, a deer. Its body looked a bit like a deer." Dani opened his mouth to say something, but Erin shushed him. "It wasn't a deer, as much as it looked like it..."