Tobias Trevino Mixed emotions filled me to the brim. I must be assuming that he was the Tobias that I knew. Even if he was, shouldn’t I be happy about it? Why was I feeling more anxious then? Besides, they must have had the same given name. He couldn’t be the only Tobias in this town.  

The next morning, the Silver Stag informed us that the training was due today. Aunt Odessa was ceaselessly asking me about what I had been occupying my time with lately, but I was too afraid to answer her questions. If she would know about this, she would be disappointed and I couldn’t bear that. She had been making some medicines for me so my anxiety would go away and here I was, trying to worsen my condition. I did felt guilty for doing this behind her back, but this was the only way I could help my parents get back at the creature who killed them. And I was also doing this to prove something to them that all of the hallucinations, as what they called it, that I was continuously having was true.

Tobias pulled off in front of a parking lot of an apartment building that stood taller than where Aunt Odessa and I lived in. I lingered my eyes around the place, examining the surroundings around me before getting off the motorcycle. Unclipping the helmet, I took it off my head and handed it to Tobias beside me. He pulled it out of my hands and hung it on his motorcycle. As soon as he took off his helmet, his hair became disheveled as it danced with the breeze that swept on our skin. Pulling the coat tighter around me, I heaved a sigh and smoke came out of my mouth because of how freezing it was outside. But when Tobias touched my back as if to indicate me to go inside, his warm hand made the coldness subside. I nodded in response as we both headed into his apartment building and entered the lobby.

I lodged my worn-out body on my bed after showering and stared at my phone on the nightstand. It kept buzzing the moment I arrived home, knowing that it was probably Valerie flooding me with messages. I left her on reading because I was exhausted. Maybe we could hang out tomorrow to catch up on things.  As my exhaustion took over me, I fluttered my eyes close and contemplated what happened a while ago. My mind began to wander as a vivid image of a person appeared in my head. The moment I thought of him, the heat rushed to my cheeks and the butterflies in my stomach appeared. I could imagine him staring at me with his piercing gaze, his beauti

It had been a few days since Valerie and I went for a massage and we were now training in the Silver Stag for this coming ‘hunt’. Though nervous and worried, I continuously shook off all the information I’d found out recently so I could focus more. And I was grateful to Tobias for assisting me in all of the activities and deviating my attention from these nagging thoughts. “Your shooting skill is improving,” Tobias remarked with his breath brushing against my ears, causing me to back off a little.