Oh, God... boy, I really shouldn't have fallen asleep at the table last night... my head is killing me...

Maya allowed her eyes to open, eyes fluttering several times as she did. Her eyelashes batted like she was trying to dry her mascara, and she yawned a few times, reaching up to remove her glasses and rub her eyes. "Oh man... I'm gonna be late..."

"What are you mumblin' about over there, hon?"

"Nothin', Mama, I'm..." Maya rolled onto the side to go back to sleep, but then her eyes shot wide open. It couldn't be...

She bolted up and twisted her body to look across the room at a woman who looked a lot like Luda Mae Hewitt from TCM. This woman, however, had slightly darker hair, but she still had the glasses. She was sitting in the chair, sewing something up. She smiled in a very maternal way. "We didn't even know if you was gonna wake up. How'd you get all the way out here anyway?"

If it was possible, Maya's eyes widened even more. "L-Luda Mae Hewitt?" She quickly adjusted her glasses, wondering if perhaps her vision was playing a trick on her, telling her she needed her specs.

The woman gave her a strange look. "How do you know me when I don't have the slightest clue who you are?" She stood up, placing her sewing where she'd been sitting. "I bet you have a fever. Here." She sat down near Maya's legs and took a cloth from the table on that side. She pressed it against Maya's face, and it was cool against her skin. "Alright, let's see. Can you tell me what year it is?"

Maya blinked a few times, yanking her glasses off and rubbing at her eyes. This was just a dream. It had to be. "Um... is it 1969, Mrs. Hewitt?"

"Well, you're close." Luda Mae put the cloth back on the table and adjusted her own glasses. "It's 1964, dear."

"Oh..." She shook her head. All she could think when she heard the year was that she'd been right! TCM hadn't taken place in 1969; it was five years earlier than that. And so that would mean that Tommy wasn't thirty; he was five years younger, which made him twenty-five. That meant he was just one year younger than she was. "I-I'm sorry, I must have... hit my head..."

"We were wonderin' if maybe you did." Luda Mae stood up and gave a quick glance out the window. "What happened to you, anyway? Hoyt told me that him and Tommy found you lyin' clear by the side of the road. Woulda almost missed you."

Maya's head was spinning. "I... ah... h-how long was I asleep?"

"About two days. You must be hungry, can I get you somethin'?"

Maya shook her head, slamming a palm to her cheek. Her fingers curled up onto her temple and she trembled as she took in gulps of air. If Hoyt and Tommy had

been together, then... "Mrs. Hewitt! Did Hoyt kill the real sheriff yet?"

A look of shock flashed across Luda Mae's face for a moment, but it was quickly replaced with confusion. "Why, darling, I have no idea what you're talkin' about."

"Ma'am, look. I don't want no trouble but I gotta know." Maya blinked, looking down at her mouth. "When did I start talking like that? I'm from California, damn it! I'm not some hick!" She smacked the side of her head, causing a ringing in her ear. "All! In! My! Head!"

Luda Mae's hand now rested on the phone. "Maybe I should call Thomas's old doctor and have him take a look at you too..."

"No! No, I'm fine." Maya raised both hands, and then ran her fingers through her dyed aqua hair. "Look, Mrs. Hewitt... do you know about movies?"

"You mean like the ones at the theater they got up in Austin? Sure. Never really seen one - we don't have television around here, you see." She slowly withdrew her hand from the receiver. "What about it?"

"Mrs. Hewitt, I'm going to tell you something, but I really need you not to freak out and tell anyone else in the family, okay? Because believe me, it's going to sound really crazy! You're going to want to admit me to a mental hospital, but don't!" She grabbed her glasses and put them back on. "There's nothing wrong with my brain, and I would know because I'm a doctor too!"

Luda Mae swiveled her head to one side just a little bit. "One of them... crazy doctors? Like at the asylums?"

"No, no." She placed a finger on her head. "I'm a brain doctor. Y-You know - the same kind of doctor that told you Tommy was sick."

"There ain't nothin' wrong with my boy!" Luda Mae shot back, suddenly becoming more violent. She calmed down a little and took in a sharp breath, then let it out before looking away from Maya, at a door. "You work with that hack of a doctor? I would think I'd remember someone with your hair."

"No, ma'am, I don't. I don't even know who he is. B-But I can prove it, I'm a doctor." She patted herself down and when she realized she was still wearing her labcoat, she hurriedly reached into the right pocket. "See!" She held out a laminated plastic card. "Here's my medical license. I just had it updated a few months ago, took some courses and everything, got recertified."

Luda Mae hesitantly took the tag from her and looked it over. "'Maya Kelly, neurologist. Registered at Briar Ivy Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Original certification: June 2006. Recertification issued: May 2010." She looked up at Maya with an incredulous expression. "What are you, then? Some kinda fancy time-traveler? That's darn near impossible."

Maya shrugged. "A lot of things were once considered impossible, Mrs. Hewitt. But I can safely say that we haven't yet accomplished time travel."

"Then how in the Sam heck are you here if you're from the future?"

"Ah, well... remember I told you I was going to need you not to freak out?"

Luda Mae sighed, but sat down in the chair she'd been in before. "Alright, out with it then."

Maya took a deep breath. "Where I come from, Mrs. Hewitt, the story of you and your family is a movie - like the ones at the theater. Only they're a lot better made in my time. The movie is called the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Now, just so I know where we are in the storyline... has Charlie killed Sheriff Hoyt and taken his identity?"

Luda Mae let out a breath. "How do I know you're tellin' the truth?"

Maya reached over and snatched her card, displaying it. "Come on. What kind of idiot do you think I am? Would I, first of all, falsify this kind of information, and second of all, show it to somebody who could easily have their son kill me?"

Luda Mae looked down, then nodded. "Hoyt's dead, and Charlie is Hoyt now."

So then this was just the beginning - the prequel. She was in the first hour of Beginning; soon Dean, Eric, Bailey, and Chrissie were going to show up. "Then Tommy's already killed the guy at Blair. And..." She looked around and suddenly stood up in recognition. "Mrs. Hewitt, where's Hoyt right now?"

Luda Mae gestured to the front door. "Out... patrolling."

"Then he's... they're all..." Maya shook her head, trying to remember how exactly it had happened. Once the sheriff's car had pulled up to the house, Hoyt would call Tommy to take Alex's body inside. After that, what happened...?

She didn't get much time to mull it over, because all of a sudden a thumping sound invaded her ears. Her head immediately snapped to that door Luda Mae had been looking at after she'd gotten angry. That was where it was coming from; was that the basement? "Mrs. Hewitt, is that..."

Luda Mae smiled. "Sounds like Tommy's takin' a break from his work there. I bet he's thirsty - that's really the only time he takes breaks, you know, unless somebody goes down there and tells him to take a rest. It's really the only thing he knows, and he sure loves it."

Maya was just about pressing her eyeballs up against the lenses of her glasses, her hands shaking with anticipation. "I'm going to meet him..."

The large door swung open, and Maya squeezed her eyes shut for a second. "I'm not ready, I'm not ready... I'm a hot fucking mess, I'm not ready..."

After a couple of seconds had passed, she decided to stop being such a baby and just open her eyes. He couldn't possibly think too badly of her.

And there, standing right to the side in her vision, was Thomas Hewitt, staring at her.

... Her mother was so going to hear about this when she got home... and her mother was going to roll her eyes at her for idolizing Leatherface.