Author's Notes: Hello. This isn't my first time making a story, however it is my first time posting one for many people to see (If many people even read this). I hope you like the first chapter, it took me a few weeks to make, but it was fun. I'll start working on chapter 2 soon. Enjoy!

"Bea, look we're almost back," the enthusiastic cat said while pointing to the upcoming buildings. She jumped all around in her seat, catching the attention of Bea.

"Mae, cut it out," Bea spoke slowly. Mae calmed and put on her seatbelt. She did not want to agitate Bea, but Mae was antsy to arrive back to Possum Springs after being in a car for so long. She and Bea drove far out west, which took a week. They bonded more during that week; Bea even smiled thrice during the trip, legitimately.

"Remember the cactus incident?" Mae asked Bea.

"How could I forget? I told you not to touch it, but that guy kept daring you to, so you decided to hug it. You were running around screaming in pain. It took me an hour to try and pull out all the thorns. I had to bring you over to the hospital, though."

"It was hilarious for a couple seconds, then I felt lots of pain. Although, the next day, I paid for a nice dinner with the fifty bucks that guy gave to me." A tear started to show in Bea's eye. Bea didn't know where the sudden feeling came from, but she felt the need to speak about it.

"You were badly hurt. Of course, it was funny at first, but I felt guilty just watching you run around in pain," Bea turned to stare at Mae as she continued talking, "Promise me you won't ever do something as stupid as that. I don't want you to end up worse than when you were at the hospital. First, we thought you got shot. Then you hug a cactus and bleed all over. Promise me." Mae gazed back at Bea as she spoke.

"Wow… Bea I didn't know that upset you so much. I promise," as Mae said this she wondered if she could keep the promise. She is known to be mischievous and do stupid things. Honk! Honk!

"OH SH-" Bea quickly shouted as she swerved the car back into the right lane. Bea's focus was on Mae and not the road, so a truck almost hit them.

"I guess you also need to be careful BeaBea," Mae winked at Bea playfully, but Bea didn't notice because her attention was towards the road.

"Yeah," Bea replied as they now entered Possum Springs.

Mae jumped out of the car. Unlike when she dropped out of college, she felt excited to arrive back home from a long trip. She turned around to look at Bea. They waved goodbye to each other as Bea drove off towards, most likely, home. Mae stepped up the porch, then fumbled with the lock, putting the same code as always. Click! After unlocking the door, she entered to find it empty. It was becoming dark outside, so she could assume it was around seven or eight in time. Her father comes home at about eight thirty; sometimes at nine o'clock. She went upstairs, and stared at the clock. The minute hand pointed at nine while the hour hand pointed at eight. Eight forty-five, maybe dad's working late tonight, Mae pondered. She then went to her parent's door to put her ear up against it. Mae could hear a faint snoring. Ok, Mom's home, so the house isn't totally empty, thought Mae. Suddenly, a knock at the front door startled Mae, making her accidentally bump into the bedroom door.

"Huh? Mae is that you?" said her mom on the other side of the door.

"Yeah. I just got back, and I am making sure you were home."

"Who's at the door?"

"I don't know, but I'll check. It might be dad."

"Ok. Be careful. Goodnight." Mae then heard her mom shift in the bed a bit before going back to sleep. Mae rushed down the stairs, curious of who was at the door. She unlocked and swung open the door to see Gregg was there, smiling.

"Hi Mae! I was walking through the neighborhood, and I saw Bea's car drive by. I came over here to say hi." Gregg began flailing his arms around, just like he always does, although he quickly ceased flailing.

"What are you doing walking around this late?" Mae asked wondering what Gregg was up to.

"Oh, just taking a walk," he said in a tone that was cheerful but seemed false. "Do you want to hangout tomorrow?" Mae wanted to say yes, but she promised her parents over the phone that the three of them would have fun. Mae shook her head no. "Alright." he spoke. Mae could see Gregg smiling, however, she could sense he was sad. He was lowered in posture and his ears were drooped.

"Are you ok? You can hang out with Angus tomorr-" At the mention of Angus, Gregg stopped smiling, which made Mae end her sentence.

"I'm fine," he said, before heading down the street.

"You sure?" Mae shouted to him when he was a few steps down the street.

"...Yeah. Don't worry about me." Mae felt bad, but she didn't know what Gregg was sad about. Angus, maybe? She's tired and just got back from a long road trip, so she wanted to get some sleep. After locking the door, she went upstairs to her bedroom, and turned on the laptop. Only Bea was online.

{Mae} Hey Bea. Gregg just showed up. He was all sad and I don't know why.
[Bea] Yeah I waved hi to him when I drove past. He just gazed at me.
{Mae} Did something happen between him and Angus?
[Bea] Idk, we just got back
{Mae} hmmm… I'm going to sleep. night
[Bea] Goodnight.

Mae turned off her computer since nobody else was online. She took off her boots and slowly drifted off into slumber.

"You've changed, Mae. I hate you..."

She woke up the next morning on the floor. A headache flowed through her head. I feel like I just had a hangover, She thought. However, she didn't drink any alcohol. Maybe it was a bad dream. Mae concluded that it was most likely a nightmare. Trying to remember the dream did not work. What was it about? Mae pondered. All that came to mind was somebody, blurry, so she couldn't tell who. That person was saying something. The word hate? Oh well, it wasn't that important to her, so she got ready, and opened her laptop. Nobody was online today. Bea was probably still asleep, Angus usually isn't online, and Gregg… was actually online. Mae must not have noticed. She sent him a "Morning," but he didn't reply, which was strange. He usually replies, so she sent another message.

{Mae} Gregg?

[Gregg] Hey
{Mae} It took you awhile to answer back
[Gregg] I can't talk right now
{Mae} Why not?
[Gregg] Personal garbage
{Mae} Are you sure everything is fine? You seemed pretty sad last night.

Mae waited a few minutes, but Gregg didn't reply again. She didn't want to wait there forever, so she shut her laptop and went downstairs. As she passed the bird she told it, "hello," and the bird chirped back.

As she descended to the first floor her mother spoke, "Mae, honey, come talk to me before you head out." Mae grinned as she felt happy to see her mom again. She ran into the kitchen and hopped onto the counter. "How was the trip?"

"Me and Bea had fun! I hugged a cactus for fifty bucks."

"That sounds painful," the mom replied in slight shock.

"It sure was!"

"Well, I'm glad you had an exciting time." She waited for her mom to continue, talk about what she had planned for today, but they just stared at each other.

"Sooo…"

"What?"

"You had something planned?"

"Nope." Mae was annoyed. Did her mom forget? When she and Bea were driving back home Mae's parents called them. Her mom said that they had something planned for her return. It bugged Mae that her mom pretended like nothing special was going to happen at all.

"You told me you planned to do something on my return. I got excited. Tell me now! Please."

"Nothing planned," the mom replied in a normal tone.

"Fine! I'm going! And I take back my please!" Mae exclaimed as she jumped off the counter and thrusted her arms in the air. She began moving towards the door.

Before she could open the door her mom said, "Mae, honey, come talk to me before you head out." Mae turned around, and stared at her mom, who only stared back. "I want to talk about how you're trip was."

"Nope! I'm out of here." Mae hastily left the house. Her mom was acting strange, and she didn't want to be apart of it. Maybe Bea was at the Ol' Pickaxe. Normally, Bea leaves a message saying she went to work, but today she could've forgotten. Mae set out to the Ol' Pickaxe. As she walked along through the streets she got an eerie feeling.

The streets were empty with nobody to be seen. The town felt empty now. Selmers wasn't here, Mr. Chazokov wasn't here, even that guy on the porch was not here. Mae decided to rush over to Bea's workplace; she ran quickly. She did not know what was happening, but she had a feeling that something was wrong. She felt the need to tell Bea as soon as possible.

However, as she got closer to Bea people suddenly started to show. Cars drove by. People passed by. She got confused, but calmed. There were people. Maybe I just panicked a bit… just a bit, she believed, So Mae, now tranquil, walked into the Ol' Pickaxe.

End Notes: Hope the first chapter caught your interest. Please leave reviews of anything that could improve my writing, or anything you would like to say about the story :3

Edits: Fixed a silly mistake near the end of the chapter.