September 14th, 2018, 9:30 P.M. Michigan, Possum Springs, the Borowski Household, Mae's Room.

Mae was laying on her back on her bed, she was tucked nicely under her covers but she wasn't all that sleepy, normally she'd pass right out after her head touched the pillow, but her mind was to busy thinking about other things. A lot had happened last year, first Mae came home from college after dropping out, then her and her friends find out that somebody has been stealing kids, which led them on a wild goose chase, they tried to look for a ghost but the guy stealing kids wasn't a ghost, he was a guy, some guy named Eide, then after they find out there's a cult living under Possum Springs Mae almost gets shot and she goes into a coma and has weird dreams, eventually she wakes up from her coma and heads back to the cave almost getting herself killed but her friends, Gregg, Angus, and Bea save her from her own stupidity, then they find out deep inside of a mine shaft that the cult is throwing kids down into a hole so they could feed some kind of monster that keeps the town "alive" not only that but they also threw Casey Hartley, Mae and Gregg's best child hood friend, down that hole as well, then after refusing to join them that Eide guy tries to attack Mae only for her friends to drop an elevator on him braking his arm clean off.

Then after all of that Gregg and Angus move away leaving Mae and Bea in Possum Springs together, Mae didn't hate Gregg and Angus for moving away, that was their plan long before the whole cult stuff started to happen, but she did really miss them, they still talked online but it wasn't the same, them moving away also created a hole in Mae's social life which was eventually filled by her two new friends Selmers and Lori, two people she met after coming home and during the murder cult thing. But the reason why Mae was still up was because her life had become kinda boring since her and her friends defeated the cult so she was mentally planing a day's worth of activities her and her friends could do tomorrow, first they'd get some breakfast at the Click-Clack Diner which was actually pretty new, the menu had been implemented a week ago, then after breakfast they'd head over to Lori's place so they could help out wither her homemade movie which wasn't something Mae had to think long and hard about because everyone already agreed on meeting up there earlier in the day, then once they finished up what ever Lori would want them to help her with they'd head into the woods and just look around till around eight thirty or so at night.

Mae yawned finally becoming tired after all that time, she rolled onto her right side and stared at the wall in front of her, she mentally went through her list of activities again before her eyes started to close by herself, and just before she finally passed out she had one last thought "Before any of the activities I gotta run over to the Ol' Pickaxe and tell Bea about them."

And with that Mae's eyes finally closed all on their own and she drifted into the realm of dreams.

9:32 P.M. Possum Springs, Maple Street, the Applebaum Apartment Complex, Apartment 300.

Bea opened the door to her Apartment, after stepping into the apartment she walked into the kitchen and tossed her keys onto the kitchen counter, she opened up the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, as she walked over to her bedroom she could hear her father's snoring from his room, every time she heard her father snore it made her feel horrible, well worse then normal, when she was younger he never snored but after her mother died he just started randomly one night, Doctor Hank said it was because of stress but Bea doesn't really trust the man of a thousand diplomas.

Bea walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, she still had yet to unpack all of her stuff so boxes were just stacked everywhere, she sat down on her bed and twisted the cap of the water bottle off and took a sip of the refreshingly cool water. She just sat there drinking water and thinking for a bit, her mind never dwelt on any one thought for long and those that she did usually were about herself or the Pickaxe, eventually she set the water bottle down on the ground before standing up and walking over to the cardboard box she used to keep all of her clothes off of the floor, she grabbed a blue pajama shirt with the word "BLOOD" written on it's front in red, and the word was stylized as if it was written in blood, it also had sparkly beads all around the word, she then grabbed a pair of black athletic shorts she used to sleep in, on the both sides of the shorts was a pair of twin sports car like green stripes. Bea took off her long black dress and tossed it into a box next to the one she just grabbed her pajamas from, unlike the box of clean cloths the one where the dress now was had the words "Only stupid dirty cloths get in this" written on it's front in black ink which Mae had written one time when she came over, Bea then slipped off her black boots and put them next to a pair of simple very light blue, like to the point they're almost grey, slippers which sat in front of the box filled with clean cloths, after the boots came off she took off her socks and tossed them into the other box, then it was time for her last piece of clothing to come off, her dark black leggings, she slipped them off and also tossed them into the dirty cloths box, finally it was time to put on her pajamas.

After she put on the blue BLOOD top and the black sports stripped shorts she flopped onto her bed landing on her back, she laid there looking up at the ceiling thinking more random thoughts eventually she started to think about her friends, Gregg and Angus had moved away a few months ago but Mae keeps on saying a year ago even though they moved away at the start of THIS year, and as for her new friends Lori and Selmers Mae had introduced them to her, at first she didn't know what to make of them, doesn't help that Mae introduced them as "Lori, a future horror movie director!" and "Selmers, Possum Springs' greatest poet!" but after a while of getting to know them Bea warmed up to them, just recently Lori decided that with the help of her new friends she could make one crappy, ultra low budget, so bad it's funny, horror movie and Bea's going to be in charge of the sound editing, she was also going to supply them with free tools that they'd use in the movie. She then decided that it was time for bed, so she crawled over to the front of her bed and slipped under her covers.

She laid there for a little bit thinking yet again but this time she was thinking about how oddly weird her life felt, after the murder cult was defeated she half expected everything they said to come true, she expected the town to wither away, but instead it didn't, in fact it kinda improved, the Click-Clack changed some stuff up making their food go from meh to okay, and of course there was Mae's new favorite part of town Taco Buck, a small Mexican restaurant that opened up after Pastabilities closed down, but in the back of Bea's mind at the end of everyday the same thought kept on coming back "Would Possum Springs just up and die tomorrow?"

And every time she asked herself that question she'd dismiss it telling herself that even if the town is dying that's not how it works, towns just don't up and die like people do, she then sighed after telling herself the same thing for the hundredth time and finally closed her eyes falling asleep.

Bea opened her eyes slowly and the very second her eyelids parted the light of the rising sun hit her eyes causing her to jolt upright, she blinked her eyes a few times trying to wake them up before stepping out of bed and walking over to the cloths box, she grabbed her usual cloths black everything and after getting undressed and redressed she walked out of her bedroom heading over to the kitchen, she grabbed her keys off of the counter and quickly grabbed an energy drink from the fridge before leaving the apartment, just as she was closing the door Bea thought she could hear the sound of her father getting out of bed. She walked down the stairs of her apartment only because it didn't have an elevator and walked out of the building heading to the Ol' Pickaxe so she could start her boring work day, but what she wasn't expecting to see when she got there even though she wasn't expecting to see anything was Mae Borowski leaning against the locked front door of the Pickaxe, once Bea came into Mae's view her face lit up "BEA!"

She got off of the door and raised her arms up into the air but Bea just stood there a few feet away from Mae staring at her with her dead pan face "Mae... What the eff are you doing here?"

Mae dropped her arms and frowned slightly "I can't be here early so I can spend more time with my friend?"

Bea blinked a few times still looking at Mae with a dead pan face "You can... If you weren't Margaret Borowski, the person that sleeps until almost midday even when her life was on the line."

Mae's semi frown turned into an angered expression "Yeah Beatrice Santello? Well, well, you... Haven't done anything out of the ordinary yet."

Bea grinned slightly before walked over to the door and unlocking it. She let Mae in after her and Bea flipped on the lights to the store "So what were you doing here so early?"

Mae smiled again "Last night, I came up with a whole list of stuff for us to do today!"

Bea walked over to the front door while Mae explained her list to the crocodile, she then flipped a magnetic sign that on one side, which was currently facing outside, said "We are closed, get lost!" to "Yes... We are open!" Bea then turned around and faced Mae "And what makes you think everyone'll agree on that list of yours?"

Mae stood there for a moment before saying "But do YOU agree?"

Bea rubbed her forehead and walked over to the front counter, she pushed the counter's little door open before facing Mae again "Mae, that's not an answer to MY question."

Mae shrugged "Can't you answer my question first?"

Bea sighed "Honestly... Those activities don't sound completely horrible so, I guess I'm fine with them."

Mae smiled and silently whispered "Yes!"

To herself, she then hopped up onto the front counter and sat on it as Bea made sure the cash register was still in working order "And as for everyone else, one of the items on my list is something we've already agreed on doing and another involves food so I'm pretty sure they won't say no."

"Say no to what?"

Mae and Bea hadn't heard the door open and close so they were startled by Germ sudden asking a question. Bea ran her hand over the top of her head calming herself down "Jesus Germ, I'm going to have to make it mandatory for you to wear a bell to work."

Germ shrugged and walked behind the counter, a few weeks before Gregg and Angus moved Bea hired Germ as an intern and from what Mae heard Germ was actually doing a good job at his job. Germ headed into the back area of the store to go and do something, Mae looked over to Bea who was scanning over the store trying to see if she forgot to do anything, once she made sure she did everything she pulled open a drawer next to the cashier register and grabbed her pack of cigarettes, she opened up the pack and grabbed one she then used her other hand to grab another thing from the drawer which was a lighter, as she lit the cigarette in her mouth she tossed the now closed pack back into the drawer and closed it. Mae scratched the back of her neck slightly "Okay, so I'm gonna run home and tell everyone to meet up for breakfast. And at the Click-Clack I'll tell them the rest of the list."

Bea smiled slightly and puffed out a cloud of smoke "Well in that case.. See you then."

Mae hopped off of the counter and ran out of the store heading back over to her home. She opened the front door and before it slammed shut she ran up stairs heading towards her bedroom, normally she wouldn't make all that much noise at home but both her parents worked today so she could make all the noise she wanted to, once she ran into her room she jumped onto her bed and pulled out her laptop and started the slightly tedious process of giving everyone the same message "Breakfast at the Click-Clack! Meet up at" Mae then looked at her laptop's clock and saw what time it was "7:19" she was in slight disbelief, this was the earliest she'd gotten up since her sixteenth birthday, she then continued writing the message "Meet up at 8:20!" she then went through all of her friends' messaging profiles and sent them her message, almost immediately Mae got a reply from Lori "I'm gonna be a little late."

Mae was actually startled by the sound of Lori sending a message so quickly "Why?"

"I... Kinda got covered in my fake blood."

"How did that happen?"

"It happens when you ask your taller then you dad to put it away and you go to grab a cup from the top cabinet in the morning and knock it over."

"Oh... How later are you going to be?"

"I should finish up my shower by 8:23."

"K, should we wait for you before we order?"

"No, just let the waiter know that I'll be late."

"Got it, see you then."

"See you then."

Mae closed her laptop and placed it back under her bed now all she had to do is go and tell Bea when to meet up with the rest of her friends. Mae ran out of her house and headed back over to the Pickaxe, along the way she saw her aunt's cop cruiser parked by the side of the road and sitting in the driver's seat was of course her aunt who had a cup of coffee in her hand and was watching Mae closely as she ran by, Mae ran back into the store which only mildly surprised Bea who was leaning on the counter a lit cigarette still in her mouth, Germ was also in the back moving something around, Mae walked over to the counter and hopped up onto it sitting next to Bea "We're all gonna met up at 8:20, but Lori's gonna be late."

Bea nodded "Got it.. HEY GERM!"

Germ then walked out of the back area holding a box of various kinds of nails "Yeah?"

Bea got off of the counter so she could face Germ fully "You gonna be fine her for a few minutes to possibly an hour?"

Germ nodded "Yeah I'll be fine, not like the store has anything valuable to steal, it's got useful things but not valuable.. When are you leaving?"

Bea looked over to a clock hung on the wall behind her seeing that the time was now "7:21" she then looked back over to Germ "I'm leaving at 8:20 I'm not sure when Mae's leaving or for how long."

Mae rolled her eyes "I'm leaving when she's leaving."

Germ nodded again "Okay."

He then walked back into the back area to continue doing whatever it was he was doing before. Mae looked over to Bea as she huffed out another cloud of smoke "So what do we do till then?"

Mae shrugged "We could just hang out and talk for a while."

Bea nodded slowly "Yeah, that seems good."

Then the two just sat in the store waiting for the time to pass by just talking to each other, just talking about random thoughts that would occasionally spiral into a real conversation but not always, and when it did Mae loved it, she loved being around Bea, she loved being around all of her friends but she loved being around Bea the most, just hearing Bea talk made her feel good it always reminded her of simpler times, when she could run around the house naked and make her parents chuckle, when the worst thing that could happen to her was that she lost a toy, now Mae was an adult, not a very good one, but still she was an adult, she had to worry about adult problems, but when ever she was around Bea it felt like the world was giving her a look into the past, letting her feel previous emotions of carefree childhood memories, and it always ended up giving Mae smile that also infected Bea and made her smile along side the cat.