Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lydia is a Marble Hornets fan. She wasn’t old enough to watch it when it was first being uploaded to YouTube, but her dad had been, and being the horror fanatic that he was, he’d loved it. So, when twelve-year-old Lydia stumbled across the old YouTube channel, her dad had been ecstatic to learn of their shared interest. Hours were poured into watching, analyzing, and enjoying the content together.

Coincidentally, Lydia shared a birthday with the channel; they were the same age. So, when the channel turned thirteen, so did she, and when Lydia turned thirteen, her life fell apart. Both her parents were gone in an instant, and with no other family, she was swept up by the system and dropped into the nearest orphanage. So began the three long years wishing for her family back. Every Christmas, every birthday, every holiday under the sun, she wished for her family back. However, when she turned sixteen, she changed up her wish. 

Logically, Lydia always knew she could never get her family back. Her parents were long gone. However, that didn’t stop her from wishing because what if she could get something close? A new family that was just as loving, who would hold her when she was sad, and would listen to her while she talked about the latest indie animated shows. Maybe they’d know about Marble Hornets, or maybe she’d get to tell them about it like her dad had told her. There was no new family to take her in, though. So, after three years of waiting, Lydia decided that she needed to be a little more direct with the universe.

The year 2025, in Lydia’s opinion, was honestly super shitty, but after a pretty enjoyable birthday that consisted of eating red velvet cupcakes, watching the Marble Hornets 16th anniversary stream, and the announcement of a new Marble Hornets mini-series, she thought, ‘Hey, maybe it’s not all so bad.’ A new Marble Hornets series, no matter how small, gave her a bit of hope for the future. Which might sound silly to most people, but that show meant a lot to her. So, when, like every year, she made her wish to the universe, she was a little more positive about the outcome.

“I wish I had a family.”

Little did Lydia know that this year someone was listening.

—

When Lydia woke up, she was not in her bed but on the ground, which wasn’t the odd part. She moved a lot in her sleep, so on occasion she’d fall out of bed and wake up on the floor. No, the odd part was that the ground didn’t feel like the hard wooden floors of the room she shared with three other girls at the orphanage. It felt like… dirt?

Lydia opened and then shut her eyes quickly, hissing in pain. The light hitting her eyes had sent a shock to her brain, alerting her to the headache that she had, which was only getting worse the longer she was awake. Slowly opening her eyes again, she immediately noticed the trees. A forest, she concluded. How the hell did she get in a forest? Or woods? What was the difference? Whatever.

After carefully sitting up, Lydia noticed several things. One, her hands looked a little weird. Two, her clothes definitely look weird and not like anything that she owns. Three, her headache was fucking awful. Four, she had no idea where she was, but from where she sat, she could make out what looked to be some open area beyond the trees. That was probably the best way for her to head.

Slowly, she stood up, and yeah, something wasn’t right. As she took a moment to brush herself off and pick bits of dried leaves out of her dark curly brown hair, she examined herself. She seemed smaller. Her hands looked softer and more childlike, and either the trees in this area were really big or somehow she got smaller.

As the seconds went by, panic became more and more present in her mind. She was almost grateful for the headache; the pain was a good distraction.

Just keep moving forward, she thought as she began to head for the clearing. She placed a hand just atop her glasses, shielding her eyes from the sun.

Walking out of the woods, forest, or whatever, Lydia realized that she might be in a park. A ways away from her, there were handfuls of people spread around. She tried to stick to shaded spots, which mostly meant sticking to the tree line, as she continued walking. There was what looked to be a mother with her kids, not too far ahead, next to a gazebo. The woman beckoned her kids over to her and began walking in Lydia’s direction. She seems like a good person to approach, Lydia thought. She quickened her pace a little more, heading in the direction of the gazebo.

When she got closer, she could hear people talking. The woman, possibly a mother, stood not too far away, talking to her kids. Lydia cringed at the increase in volume. Her headache was getting better, but the noises were making her ears ring a little. Suddenly, one of the people from the gazebo shouted. 

“You brought your dog!”

Lydia couldn’t help but snort even as the sound rattled her head. Just like in Marble Hornets, she thought, it's funny how out of all the things that Alex would do in the show, that's what he would become known for. 

The mother, or perhaps she wasn’t a mother but an aunt, Lydia didn’t want to assume, not that it really mattered, but still, looked over her shoulder to the people at the gazebo and then began to usher her kids away. Lydia was about to walk after her when she heard barking. Wincing at the sound, she turned just in time to see a big dog skid to a stop in front of her. He barked a few more times, excitedly bouncing around and, luckily for Lydia, never jumping up on her. She brought her hand up to her ears as the dog kept barking at her.

“Ouch, shh shh, dogo,” Lydia muttered. Even with the sound of her voice muffled by her hands, she could tell it was weird. It was more high-pitched and squeaky than it should be, like she was talking in a baby voice.

“Ace,” a voice called out. “Ace, sit!”

The dog, Ace, sat down but kept staring at Lydia, tail wagging behind him. A guy with blonde hair walked up and grabbed Ace by the collar as Lydia let her hands drop to her sides.

“Sorry, he can get a little excited at times,” he said, then looked at Lydia, and his eyes widened slightly. “Oh god, are you okay? You’re bleeding.”

"Huh?" Lydia said. “Where?”

She’s blaming her aching head for her first thought being, ‘Am I on my period?’ and her second thought being, ‘Oh fuck, is that why my head hurts so much?’

The guy crouched down a little, confirming that Lydia had indeed gotten smaller somehow, because she had been 5'9", and unless this guy was 7 ft tall, then he shouldn’t need to crouch down that much.

“Your forehead,” he said, and pointed to the right side of her head. “Near the hairline. It looks dry. Did you hit your head?”

Did she? Maybe someone had hit her over the head and then tried to dispose of her body in the woods. If they were trying to kill her, then they were doing a shit job because she was very much alive. She probably shouldn’t be critiquing her attempted murder. Anyway, if that’s what happened, how’d she get so small?

Her panic was coming back full force as she began to really process what was happening. She had a headache, possibly caused by a head injury; she didn’t know where she was, and she was impossibly smaller than she was supposed to be.

“Seth, what’s going on?” A different guy said with a generous amount of annoyance in his tone as he approached them.

Lydia looked at him and— What. The. Hell. He didn’t look exactly like him, but there was an uncanny and undeniable resemblance between the man that stood in front of her now and Alex Kralie from Marble Hornets. However, that was impossible because Alex was just a character played by a man named Joseph. Lydia had just watched him and Troy announce their new mini-series on stream the other day.

After another second, something else clicked in her head. Okay, now the panic was really kicking in because not only did that look like Alex, but the blond guy with the dog was named Seth. When Lydia looked back at him, he had stood up straight and was talking to Alex.

“I’m not really sure,” Seth said. “But she's hurt. Do you have, like, a medkit or something?”

“Why would I bring a medkit to a film shoot?”

“I don’t know. I usually keep one in my car.”

“Well, then go get it.”

“My car's not here; I rode with Sarah.”

“Of course.” He rolled his eyes.

Lydia looked back and forth between the two as they talked because Alex sounded like Alex from Marble Hornets, and Seth looked like Seth from Marble Hornets, and there was a Sarah here? There was a Sarah in Marble Hornets, too. Alex, Seth, and Sarah, all at a gazebo with Seth’s dog. It was just like one of the entries. Looking towards the gazebo, Lydia noticed a woman walking over to them, and behind her, leaning against the railing of the gazebo, was a man in a yellow shirt with dark hair, and she could just make out what looked to be a cigarette between his fingers. Tim. That looked exactly like Timothy Wright, but that’s impossible because Marble Hornets wasn’t real. 

Have I traveled back in time to the filming of Marble Hornets? Lydia wondered. As if that was more realistic than somehow being isekai’d into the Marble Hornets world.

“Hey, there.”

Lydia turned toward the voice beside her way too quickly as it sent a flash of pain through her head. She winced as she looked at Sarah, who was now beside her.

“Are you okay?” She asked kindly.

“No,” Lydia responded. She hated how childlike her voice sounded. She was small, like a child, and sounded like a child. Was she a child now in the Marble Hornets world?

“Is your head hurting?” Sarah asked, interrupting Lydia’s thoughts before she could start spiraling.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, come here, let’s sit down.”

Sarah ushered Lydia to the gazebo steps. Ace, whom Seth had let go of at some point, followed them, and when Lydia sat down, he sat beside her. She took a few glances at Tim, who was standing on the top step. Similar to Alex, he didn’t look exactly like Tim from Marble Hornets, but he looked like he could be his doppelganger. This couldn’t be real. She had to be dreaming, right? That’s the only thing that this could be. This must be how Pomni felt in the Amazing Digital Circus, she thought.

“My name’s Sarah,” Sarah said, and Lydia was grateful for her talking so softly. “What’s your name?”

“Lydia.”

“That’s a nice name.” Sarah had a small smile on her face as she spoke. Lydia found it comforting, and boy, did she need comfort right now.

“Thank you,” Lydia said, and for the heck of it, she pointed at Tim and asked. “Who's that?”

“That’s Tim,” Sarah replied, and Tim gave Lydia a small wave that she returned. Sarah pointed to Alex and Seth, who were walking back to the gazebo. “That’s Alex and Seth.”

Lydia hummed. So she hadn’t traveled back in time then. She’s in the Marble Hornets universe. Great. There was a panic attack on the horizon; she could feel it.

“I’ve got some wipes in my car,” Sarah announced when Alex and Seth had reached the gazebo. “I’ll go grab them and will clean you up, okay?”

Lydia just nodded, and Sarah jogged off to her car. Silence followed her departure, and Lydia was glad for it because her head still hurt, and she hated it because her thoughts began to run rampant, and panic was once again sinking in for, like, the tenth time today. So, when someone spoke, she was grateful for the distraction despite the sound bouncing painfully around in her head.

“So, where are your parents?” Seth asked. He was standing next to Ace, petting his head.

“Dead,” Lydia said, mostly on instinct. After three years of answering the question with the same blunt answer, it became like second nature for Lydia to announce her parents' death with a straight face.

“Oh,” Seth said. His lips were in a straight line as he awkwardly looked at Tim and Alex, who were both in a similar state to him.

“Well,” Tim said after a silent second. “Where are you supposed to be? Who’s supposed to be watching you?”

“An orphanage and the people at the orphanage,” Lydia responds without missing a beat.

“How’d you get out here?” Alex asked. “No orphanages anywhere around here. At least that I know of.”

“I-I don’t know!" Lydia snapped, swinging her hands around in a frustrated manner.

“You don’t know?” Alex made a face, narrowing his eyes at her slightly.

Lydia let her head rest against her knees, her hair falling around her face, creating a welcoming shield from the light. She grumbled a ‘no’ as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She was lost, hurting, a minute from panicking, and in an impossible situation; they’ll have to forgive her for not being on her best behavior. She heard someone sit down next to her. Peeking through her hair, she saw Tim; his cigarette was gone, but there was still a faint smell of smoke in the air.

“Do you have the name of the place or an address that we can look into?” Tim asked in a soft tone similar to the one that Sarah had used. “Maybe a number that we can call.”

She had to think about that for a minute. Lydia knew the name and address of the orphanage where she lived in the real world; well, in her world, this world was starting to feel very real, too. Did she still live in that orphanage? Did she have the same caseworker? Did she even exist in this world, or had she just poofed into existence? She mumbled another ‘no’ as she sat up straight. 

Alex sighed and muttered, “Of course not, that’d be too convenient.”

“Alex,” Tim said, voice still quiet but harsher now. “That’s not helping.”

“Okay, how about this?” Alex said as he took his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. Lydia took a second to process that. That was an actual flip phone, not one of those folds or whatever Samsung was calling them. Then it clicked in her head that this was the 2000s. She was not only in another world but also in the past. That fact hadn’t really had time to sink in until now. Holy dang, 5G wasn’t even a thing yet, and Apple phones didn’t exist. Apple didn’t start making phones until 2008, right? “Let’s call the cops and tell them that we found a missing child. That helpful enough?”

“Yeah, actually,” Tim said.

“Great,” Alex said, then walked a few steps away from the group to make that call.

Tim turned back to Lydia and asked, “How are you doing?”

“Terrible,” she said.

“Yeah, that checks out. Seth, do we have any water she could have?”

A minute later, Lydia was sipping from a water bottle that Tim had to open for her because her little hands had been too weak. That frustrated her and scared her a bit because the last time she had to have someone open her water bottles for her, she had been eleven. So, she was likely younger than eleven right now, maybe ten. She’d probably be able to tell by the glasses that she was wearing. Each year, she got a different pair of glasses, and at some point in her life, she started to use her glasses to categorize the years of her life. So, assuming she was wearing the same glasses that her younger self would be wearing, she’d be able to tell her age, or close to it, by looking at them.

Alex was off the phone by the time Sarah got back. He informed everyone that the police were coming and they all needed to stay put, as the police would have questions for them when they arrived. Lydia got the chance to look at her glasses when Sarah had her remove them while she cleaned her head. Ten was her age estimate for herself. She remembered picking out these dark pink frames with a floral design on the inside, not too long after her 10th birthday.

The next twenty or so minutes consisted of her sipping on water and answering questions from the group. The answers were usually ‘I don’t know,’ ‘maybe,’ ‘no,’ and ‘yes.’ After about ten minutes, Alex’s annoyance with everything had fizzled away, and he seemed much more sympathetic towards her. When the cops arrived, Lydia had finished all her water. She had been surprisingly thirsty; she guessed that universal travel dehydrated a person. The group gave their statement, and Lydia was ushered into a cop car and driven back to the station, where she proceeded to have a mental breakdown and a panic attack at different times. Luckily, the officers who were assigned to her were really understanding people. One of them brought her a Gatorade and a sandwich from a nearby convenience store.

She learned a lot of important information while at the station. One being that she did exist in this world, and she still lived in the same orphanage and had the same case worker. Another being that her parents were still dead, but they had died only three months ago rather than three years ago. Finally, her case worker was in the process of contacting her living relatives to see if any of them would be willing to take her in. That threw her for a loop. In the other world, she didn’t have any living relatives. Apparently, in this world, she did.

When her caseworker arrived hours later, Lydia expected that they’d just head back to the orphanage; however, her caseworker, Ms. Ivory, had handed her a bag filled with her things and told her that she’d been adopted. After she’d been found, Ms. Ivory was able to get in contact with a relative of Lydia’s who, until now, they hadn’t been able to reach, and he agreed to take her in. The catch was that the relative was Alex Kralie.

While Lydia sat in the back of her caseworker’s car as they drove to Alex’s, all she could think was, ‘Well, fuck. I might just be screwed.’

Chapter Text

Alex was surrounded by trees, not an uncommon occurrence for him, but this felt different. In fact, it didn’t feel like anything at all. It was like he was just existing and nothing else. Taking a look around, he took note of how bright the world around him was, the sunlight that was spilling through the gaps in the leaves, and the vegetation that was very green. The sound of running water caught his attention most, though. Without much thought, he began to walk towards that sound.

Eventually, he came upon a dirt trail. It looked to be formed from someone's constant use of the path, wearing down the grass, leaving only dirt and rock behind. Alex could just make out footprints in the ground. What was a little odd was that they didn’t have any noticeable patterns that most shoes and boots left behind in the dirt. Again, without much thought, Alex followed the footprints. The sound of water began to get louder as he did.

It didn’t take long to get to a river with a wooden arch bridge over it. The water was as clear as new glass, and fish swam within it, light bouncing off their scales. The bridge’s railing had little bits of pastel ribbon tied to it in various places. Beyond the bridge, the path continued. So, once again, without much thought, he walked over the bridge and continued. 

The trail began to taper off as the trees opened up to a clearing, and a new sound filled the air. Music. Angelic-sounding music drifted around him, and Alex followed it to the source. A woman with long brown hair that was elaborately braided sat on a large rock playing a harp. She wore a loose-fitting pink dress that stood out among the grey rock and green grass. Her eyes were closed as she plucked the strings of the harp. This time, without thinking at all, Alex approached her.

“Who are you?” he asked when he stood a few feet from her.

“I don’t really have a name,” she relayed without looking at him.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Not one for pleasantries, are you, Alex? Straight to the point, hmm. I wonder…” She opened her eyes but still wasn’t looking at him. “Have you always been like this, or were you perhaps different before it showed up in your life?”

“You didn’t answer my question, and what's ‘it’?”

The women hummed. “You’re someplace safe.” She looked at him now; her eyes were gold and seemed to glow when the sun hit them. “It can’t get you here.”

Alex watched her for a moment, processing everything she had said before speaking. “But where's here?”

“You’ll find out someday.”

“How about today?”

“Hmm, no, not today.”

“I’m guessing not tomorrow either.”

The nameless woman smiled slightly. “No, not tomorrow either. Have patience; I believe the day will come rather soon.”

“Don’t really have much patience these days,” Alex mumbled, looking down at his shoes. They were covered in dirt and grass stains. Most of it was from the previous months, location scouting and shooting outdoors.

“No, you don’t,” she said as her eyes returned to her harp.

“You never answered my question.” Alex didn’t look up from the ground. He kicked at the grass a little as he waited for a reply.

“About ‘it’?”

He nodded, and even though she wasn’t looking at him, she continued.

“You’ve seen it in the waking world. What a terrible thing to be forced to look upon its featureless face.”

Then it clicked in Alex’s mind, and he looked at the woman. “The tall man in the suit. It’s not human, is it? Do you know what that is or why it’s following me?”

“I don’t. Its methods of choosing its victims are known only to it. As for what it is, I don’t know that either. Some say a demon, others say a ghost, and others still say it’s an unknown entity from another realm. But you, Alex, may not have to worry about it for much longer.”

“You know how to get rid of it?” Alex asked, a little bit of hope bleeding into his words.

“Not exactly. It will never truly be gone, but it can be kept at bay.” She stopped playing and turned her full attention to Alex. “The universe is sending us someone special. They’ll be able to help you. So, when the opportunity presents itself to you tomorrow, take it.”

“What's the opportunity?”

She didn’t answer him; instead, she looked away from him and began to play the harp once more. Alex felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy as the music flowed through the air. The feelings of fatigue and sickness that had become a constant for him were returning. Gravity weighed his body down more, and there was a small ache in his head. The bright world around him was fading quickly into darkness, but before it was all swept away, he heard the nameless woman speak one last time.

“I’ll see you again soon, Alex.”

—

Alex woke up that morning with the dream clear in his mind. However, he didn’t dwell on it for long; he had things to do. Check the time, then check the date, and make sure no time has passed that shouldn’t have passed. Check the camera, make sure there's still time on the tape, and grab another tape for when it reaches its limit. Check the door, check the windows, check the whole house to make sure no one is watching, then check his schedule to see what he has planned for the day.

Filming with Tim and Sarah at the gazebo. It was a simple day, or it was supposed to be a simple day, but there had been a child—a child who had apparently just woken up in the woods and didn’t know where they were. Alex remembered how she had looked at him when he had first approached her and Seth. Her eyes had been wide, and she’d just stared at him, looking a little shocked. Odd, considering she was the one walking out of the woods with a head wound, not him. In fact, he should be looking at her like that, not the other way around, but there she stood looking between him and Seth like she couldn’t believe that they were there. It was strange, very strange, and Alex had grown to hate strange.

He was annoyed with the young girl for throwing off their filming schedule, but as the minutes went by, he had softened a bit. She would sit on the steps curled into a ball as Tim talked to her softly, and whenever she showed her face, it would scrunch up in pain. Plus, Alex was tired. Much more tired than he felt he’d ever been. So tired that holding on to any emotion—anger, happiness, annoyance, or whatever—was too much work. He was still glad when she was finally gone, though. He needed to get this part filmed, and they had wasted enough time already arguing earlier. They couldn’t afford to spend any more time playing babysitter for a random lost kid.

When he’d finally gotten home, he felt ready to pass out. Every bit of energy in his body had been used, his muscles ached as if he’d just done the workout of a lifetime, and his eyes were so dry. He felt heavy. It was like gravity had been dialed up to eleven. There was a weight on him that he couldn’t shake off; it had been like that for a while, but this was worse than normal.

He’d collapsed in bed and fallen asleep within minutes. Unusual, as he’d been having a lot of insomnia lately, but he wasn’t complaining. There was about an hour of peace where he was totally dead asleep, and then his phone rang and everything drastically shifted.

He picks up the phone, and a woman named Ms. Ivory tells him that his cousin is an orphan, and she wants to know if he’s willing to take her in. Then she tells him that this cousin of his was found earlier today by him and his friends, and that’s why he’s being contacted now, since apparently they didn’t have his contact information before. Alex has what he believes to be a reasonable amount of suspicion of this. He didn’t even know he had a cousin who was now an orphan. 

So, he was going to say no. No, he could not take care of a child. Even if this situation wasn’t fishy, and even if he wasn’t being stalked by some strange person/possibly supernatural being, he was still in college. Financially, he was doing okay, but he couldn’t possibly take in another person. He had no idea how to even care for a child. No, he wasn’t going to take in a kid. He wasn’t going to bring someone else into this.

The words were in his throat. He felt them form and take shape in his mouth, but then they stopped, he stopped, and changed directions. Without thinking much, he spoke.

“Yes, I’ll take guardianship of her.”

—

So, now here he was, signing off on paperwork to officially take a child under his care. Ms. Ivory was sitting next to him at his dining table, and Lydia, his cousin, who he didn’t know existed until a few hours ago, sat across from them, drawing in a notebook. When she wasn't drawing, she was kinda just staring at them. She seemed to do that a lot, and it was a little creepy.

“And then just sign here and we're done for now,” Ms. Ivory said cheerfully as she pointed to a line on the paper before him.

Alex had very little knowledge of how the adoptive system worked, but he was pretty sure it shouldn't be this easy. He and Ms. Ivory had had a rather long conversation on the phone about everything, and he’s been doing paperwork for almost the past hour, but still, he’d learned about and taken a child in in a day. Surely the process was supposed to be longer than this. The paranoia that had been a constant in his life for the past few weeks was showing itself again. He still signed the final line, though.

“Wonderful,” the caseworker said. “So, now I’ll just need to take a quick look around to make sure there are no immediate threats that need to be taken care of, and then we can set up a time for a proper examination of the house around next week.”

Alex nodded along as she spoke. She’d given him a heads-up during their phone call about the home inspection, so before she and Lydia had arrived, he’d done a quick check around the house himself, making sure there wasn’t anything out in the open that would give away what exactly was going on in his life. The camera that sat innocently on the countertop nearby was easy to overlook. Though he’s pretty sure Lydia took notice of it not long after walking into the room. However, she hasn’t said anything about it. Alex wondered if she knew how to tell if a camera was recording. The little blinking red light was noticeable to him, but was it to a ten-year-old?

“Sure, I can show you around,” Alex said, standing up from the table.

As they walked around the house, Lydia followed them. She hadn’t spoken since she got her, and that for some reason only made Alex more anxious. What made him even more anxious was someone looking over his living space. What if she found something that was connected to his haunting/stalking situation? What if she just decided that he wasn’t fit for child care and just left with Lydia? 

Why was he nervous about losing a kid that he doesn’t really want? The only reason that he can come up with is the dream he’d had the night before. It was still crystal clear in his mind, clearer than some of the memories that he had from earlier that day, which was odd and a bit concerning.

After looking over his house, Ms. Ivory gave the okay, and Alex felt himself relax slightly. Before she left, they set up a time for her to come back, and she gave him a packet of what needs to be taken care of in order to pass the safety inspection. They said their goodbyes, and Lydia hugged her caseworker before she left out the front door. Alex locked it after she left. 

Quickly flipping through the packet, Alex noticed that it stated that all the outlets needed to have outlet covers on them. Alex made a slight face at that. Lydia was ten, and she wasn’t going to stick something in an outlet and electrocute herself. He was smarter than that when he was ten, right? He couldn’t actually remember, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out how to take those out, so, really, what was the point?

Alex sighed. Looks like he was going to have to do some shopping. Then another thought occurred to him: Lydia didn’t have much stuff. She had arrived with a backpack and a cardboard box, which were probably just filled with clothes. No doubt she was going to need other things. Probably some shampoo, conditioner, and other hygiene products. Something to entertain her, maybe some coloring books and actual books, and—crap, she didn’t have a place to sleep. Also, he should really buy more food; he was feeding two people now anyway. Damn it, why did he do this to himself? He could back out of this, but for some reason, he really didn’t want to. He sighed again and hit his head on the packet. Lydia giggled beside him.

“Mood,” she said.

Alex looked down at her, confused. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said, turning away quickly and heading towards the dining room/kitchen. “Young person slang.”

“You know I’m still considered a young person, right?” He said as he trailed after her. He was only twenty-one, and most older adults still tell him to enjoy his youth.

“Sure, anyway, what's with the camera?” She walked up to the counter where the camera still sat.

“Don’t touch it.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to, but now that you told me not to…”

Alex grabbed the camera off the countertop and held it away from her. “Don’t touch it. Ever. Okay?”

Lydia frowned at him, and Alex knew that this probably wasn’t a good way to start things off with the person he was supposed to be taking care of, but she had to understand the importance of this.

“Sorry,” Lydia said, and she did look a bit guilty. “I wasn’t really going to touch it. It's probably expensive, and you don’t want a kid playing with it, and blah blah blah.”

She leaned against the counter and started to stare at him again. Maybe she wasn’t staring at him; maybe she was just looking at him, and he was overthinking the situation.

“Yeah…” he said after a moment. 

Then the room fell into awkward silence. Alex began to fiddle with the camera in his hands. He checked how much time was left on the tape, about two hours. Now what? What does he do now?

“So…” Lydia said, breaking the silence. “What's the setup? Any house rules or other things I should be aware of?”

“Um, well,” Alex started and then stopped. He hadn’t thought about any of that stuff. “I guess just pick up after yourself, don’t do anything dangerous, and yeah, that's about it.”

“Alright,” Lydia said, nodding as she spoke.

“And don’t wander off alone.” Not that it would do much good anyway. When it came to that thing, safety in numbers didn’t exist. He had video proof of that.

Lydia looked a bit nervous as she nodded again, but it disappeared rather quickly. “Yeah, that’s kinda common sense.”

“Right.” What to do next, he wondered. Making a list of items to get seems like a good place to start. “So, what do you have with you, and what do you need?”

“I haven’t really looked yet,” Lydia said, pushing off the counter. She walked over to where her stuff sat on the table. She struggled to open the box for a few seconds before Alex took pity on her and grabbed a pair of scissors and cut open the box. He heard her grumble something about how she used to be able to rip open boxes. Once it was open, Lydia searched through the box for a minute. “Just clothes and a blanket. The backpack just has art supplies in it and my toothbrush.”

From where the bag sat open on a chair, Alex could also see some type of stuffed animal in it. Okay, those were some of the essentials. Where she was going to sleep was still a problem, though. She could take the couch for now. Rocky wouldn’t like the fact that he’s being kicked off it, but he’d just have to sleep in the dog bed he never used. Yeah, that could work. 

Then a thought slipped into his head. She’d be alone in the living room. The living room was a floor away from his. If something were to happen, would he be able to get there in time? That thing was still out there, and it had gotten inside before. No, he needed to keep her close. At least for now. She’d most likely want her own space eventually, but he wanted to keep an eye on her for a bit. So, she’ll sleep in his room, but she can’t just sleep on the floor, though. He didn’t have an air mattress, but he’s pretty sure Brian does. He’d probably let Alex borrow it, being the nice guy he was.

“Okay,” Alex said, getting Lydia’s attention. “Don’t have a lot of open space right now, so we’ll have to share my room. I think a friend of mine has an air mattress you could use. That way you don’t have to sleep on the floor. I’m not sure how many extra blankets I have. Might have to borrow some of those too.”

“Can’t I just sleep on the couch?” Lydia asked.

“No,” Alex said, sounding way too panicked for the question. “That's where Rocky sleeps. He, uh, tends to get into trouble at night when he’s not able to sleep on the couch.”

“Okay,” she said, sounding a little confused. “I’m also going to need a pillow.”

“Alright, I’ll call Brian.” Hopefully, he was home and willing to help.

Lydia's eyes widen a bit, and she looks a little like how she did when he first saw her. Kinda shocked and unbelievable.

“Brian?” She asked.

“Yeah, he’s a friend of mine. He’s usually really helpful, so I’m sure he’ll be okay with borrowing some things. Assuming he has them.”

Lydia just nodded, and Alex leaned against the wall as he called Brian. He picked up almost instantly.

“Hey, Alex,” he said, sounding as chipper as ever. “I was just about to call you. Are we still filming tomorrow?”

“Oh, um, not sure. Something kinda came up.”

“You need to reschedule?”

“Maybe.” Alex glanced at Lydia, who was watching him like this phone call he was taking was the most entertaining thing in the world. “But right now, I could use some help with something.”

“Okay, sure. What is it?”

“Well.” Alex began to pace around the kitchen as he talked. “Long story short, I was contacted by my cousin's case worker, and I’m now her legal guardian. So, yeah. Do you have an air mattress that I could use?”

Lydia snorted. Alex looked over at her. She wasn’t watching him anymore and was drawing in her notebook again.

“Okay, wow, that—that’s a lot,” Brian said. There was some shuffling on his side of the line. “Was not expecting that, but congratulations on the adoption, though.”

“I don’t think it’s an adoption, exactly.”

“Well, either way, I do have an air mattress, but I also have an extra actual mattress that you can have, and are you going to need sheets?”

“Yes, and why do you have an extra mattress?”

“Because I got a new one, and I haven’t gotten rid of my old one.” There was some more shuffling and the sound of a light flicking on. “Okay, so sheets, mattress, anything else?”

“Pillows and any extra blankets you can spare?”

“So, you just need everything then, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“You’re really unprepared for this.”

“God, don’t I know it.” He spared a glance over at Lydia. She looked really engrossed in her drawing, or was she writing? It looked a little like she was writing, but she was probably listening, too.

“Need anything else?”

Alex started to look around the kitchen, checking the cabinets and fridge. “I’m a little low on food right now. Can’t think of anything to make with what I have. Do you have anything simple that I could have, like pasta or something?” He turned to Lydia. “Do you like pasta?”

“Is grass green?” she asked, looking at him with a straight face.

“Yeah.”

She smiled at him and then looked back at her notebook.

“She sounds fun,” Brian said. “Also, I’ve got some boxed mac and cheese if that works. I can make it when I bring the other stuff over. Tim says I make the best box mac & cheese.”

“It’s boxed mac & cheese, I don’t think you can really make it better than anyone.”

“You say that now, but just you wait.”

“Sure.” Alex looked at Lydia again. “Is mac & cheese good?”

“Reference previous answer,” she responded without looking up from the notebook.

“Alright,” Alex said, his tone a little playful for the first time in a long while. “Brian, you better not disappoint me.”

“Damn, okay, pressure’s on,” Brian said, amused. “Shit, I should probably watch my language. Wait, damn it—er, darn it.”

Alex snorted. He felt lighter than he had in a while. A stark contrast from how he was feeling hours ago. He also noticed that he was hungry, which made sense; he hadn’t eaten at all today. However, hunger had been an on-and-off phenomenon for weeks now. Sometimes he felt fine and was able to eat normally, but other times he didn’t even want to think about food.

Right now, things were okay. He felt okay. This wouldn’t last, but he’d enjoy it while it did. Glancing at Lydia, a line from his dream surfaced in his mind. 

“The universe is sending us someone special. They’ll be able to help you. So, when the opportunity presents itself to you tomorrow, take it.” 

He shook his head. That had just been a dream. A hyper-realistic dream that had somehow ingrained itself into his mind, but a dream nonetheless. But strange things were happening, and stranger things might still be yet to come. Maybe…no. 

He couldn’t afford hope right now.

He might not be able to afford it ever again.