Rylee's eyebrows arched and he glanced nervously from Charlie to the man, Elias. He swallowed and his hand stilled on Jack's fuzzy head. Chewing on his bottom lip for a moment he looked Elias over then cautiously reached out to shake his hand.
"I'm Rylee Ekholm. I live on the seventh floor." He retracted his hand after displaying his best handshake abilities, one that he had practiced on with his fathers when he was a teenager, something his father said about people thinking he wasn't as frightened if only he knew how to give a proper handshake. He hoped it came in handy. The man, Elias, had already unnerved Rylee but now he was bringing up something that was private to only himself and Charlie. The news that Elias had experienced something similar was certainly interesting, the fact that he had seen a creature as well even more so, but Rylee was unsure how much he wanted to say.
He looked at Charlie, trying to gauge from her expression whether or not it was okay to proceed, she didn't seem to be sending any warning signs so Rylee tried to relax his shoulders. "I uh... I got a burn. A pretty bad burn on my leg out in the hall. I was following Charlie to make sure she was okay. She... she had some problems hearing and I sort of just volunteered myself to go see her." His blue eyes slid to the side to look at Charlie once more, trying to imply that this was all he would say pertaining to her illness that night. No PTSD. No fear. Nothing like that.
Turning back to Elias he swallowed once more, trying to keep his anxiety to a minimum despite that he felt the prickling of sweat forming on the back of his neck. "The burn was pretty bad but it was gone the next morning. I... I thought I saw something in the hallway. Something slithering along the ground. Darting by my legs and that was when I got the burn. But it was so dark that night and I only had my flashlight and I was trying to make sure that Charlie was okay and... and uh..."
He frowned and glanced at Charlie again then looked once more at Elias. "That's it. I didn't see the thing anymore and the burn hurt like hell." He clamped his mouth shut and turned his full attention back to Jack who was waiting patiently for more pets. He had failed that night in some way. A former Captain in the Marines and he hadn't even made sure the hallway was secure. Something much worse could have happened to the both of them if that thing had come back... if there was a creature in the hallway. Rylee wasn't completely sure and he wasn't going to take what Elias said as fact right away.