Mae sat hunched over on her bed, she was still reading the Adina story and was half way asleep, it wasn't because she thought the story was boring it was just that for most her life she had only ever heard this story just a few minutes before she went to sleep so her brain has associated this story with sleep. Mae flipped the page of the book and attempted to read the first word but each time she did her eyes closed more and more, suddenly the sound of a car's horn startled her back into a fully conscious state of mind, Mae closed the book and put it down on her bed, she then stood on top of her bed and stared out of the window that was behind her, outside she could see Bea's car parked in the street just next to the sidewalk, standing next to the drive side door with her hand through the window resting on the car's horn was Bea. Mae quickly hopped off of her bed and grabbed her suitcase, she burst out of her room and ran down the stair, as she ran out the front door she shoot her dad, who was getting ready for work, a quick goodbye.
As she ran towards Bea's car the crocodile took her hand off of the horn and walked over to Mae "You got everything you need?"
Mae nodded "Yeah, I don't know how long we're gonna stay there so I just plan on wearing each of my clothes more than once, and occasionally to bed as well... How long are we staying?"
Bea picked up Mae's suitcase and walked over to the back of her car with Mae following her closely behind "We're staying there for the rest of this week and then the next two."
Mae rubbed her hands together "Good, great even!"
Bea nodded although it seemed insincere due to her constant deadpan attitude "So seems like we're ready to go."
Mae nodded again as Bea opened up the trunk and placed Mae's suitcase on top of her own, as Bea closed the car's trunk the two of them heard a familiar voice call to them "Mae! Bea! Wait!"
Mae turned around as Bea closed the trunk, Mae saw Lori, with a brown duffel bag slung over her shoulders, running towards her. Following Lori from behind was Selmers who held a pink back pack by one of it's straps, Mae looked over to Bea, who had also turned around and saw the two other girls running towards them, in confusion Bea also gave Mae a confused look before yelling a question to them "What are you doing?"
Lori waited until she was closer to Mae and Bea to answer the question "Me and Selmers are gonna help!"
Just as Lori finished Selmers also arrived and nodded solidifying Lori's claim, Mae was still in a confused state but a natural twitch of her left ear broke her out of it "But you two have lives here, you don't even know Gregg or Angus!"
Bea nodded agreeing with Mae "And Selmers aren't your parents like, policing your life?"
Selmers shrugged "All I said was that they put a curfew on my life cuz of what I've done, I never said they checked if I'm home at that time, hell they don't care if I'm not there all day. I can even say that I've been out doing drugs and crime and they don't care, the only thing I have to worry out is me ending up on the news, that's when they remember me."
Bea scratched the back of her head "That sucks."
Selmers waved her hand dismissing Bea's words "Nah, it's fine... I've never gotten along with my folks, that's why I got with Dennis, that's why I had his kid, just to get back at em' then the drugs were at first to deal with a broken leg, then to also be used as a tool of my... Vengeance?"
She shrugged "I don't got a better word for it."
Mae looked over to Lori "And what about your dad?"
It took a moment for Lori to hear Mae "..Oh! Uh... He- He'll be fine with it."
Bea also looked over to Lori "You don't seem to confident in that."
Lori shook her head "No I.. I'm just nervous about all this, farthest I've been away from Possum Springs was that hill thing last night."
Mae took a quick look to Bea before asking a question that might strike a nerve with the crocodile "Uh... Lori, is something going on with your dad?"
Lori quickly looked over to Mae in surprise "What!? No! No everything's fine!.. I just, he don't pay much attention to me.. Not like Selmers' parents, it's just that he's really really busy with his work."
While Lori talked Mae took quick little looks over to Bea's face to see her reaction. Luckily, or maybe not, Bea didn't seem to react at all. Bea sighed and rubbed her forehead "Alright... Listen, I'm not taking anyone with us unless their parents are fine with it. So are you two sure your parents'll be fine with this?"
Bea and Selmers nodded, Bea turned back around and opened up the car's trunk again, as she did she silently muttered to herself "Alright"
And took both Selmers's and Lori's luggage, she then semi tossed them into the trunk before closing the trunk. Bea walked over to the driver side door and opened it up signaling to everyone it's time to get in and head off, Mae hopped into passenger seat next to the driver seat, while Lori and Selmers sat in the back, Bea slid her keys into the car's ignition and turned on the engine, Mae watched Bea as she shifted the car's gears into drive mode, if you couldn't tell Mae doesn't know a thing about cars or how they work, and Bea started to drive down the road heading for the exit of the town. As they drove out of town Mae caught a quick look at the sign sitting on the edge of the town's boarder that has read "You're not lost! You're here!" since Mae's grandfather was born, as they drove away from town Mae looked out of the car's side window out of boredom, although Mae hasn't been outside of Possum Springs a lot she has seen the tall trees that lined the sides of the road numerous times so it wasn't all that exciting seeming them again only this time faster then before. But she was also having a bit of a mental crisis, she felt like she should be nervous, scared even, about what's to come, about how Gregg is missing, she felt like she should feel bad for Angus, but she wasn't. Everything felt... fine, she didn't feel bad, or nervous, or scared, she was just bored, kinda sleepy too and THAT was scarring her, not her friend going missing, not the fact that she's heading to some place she's never been to before or ever seen, she was scared because she wasn't scared for the right reasons.
Mae placed her elbow on the car door and rested the side of her head on her hand, she scratched the other side of her head with her other hand while, Lori sketched aimlessly on her sketch pad, Selmers stretched herself out and relaxed into her seat, and Bea sat there as deadpan as ever driving. Mae's eyes grew heavier as they drove along the road, the hypnotic sight of trees whizzing by and the sky slowly turning purple as the sun set in the distance was put Mae under their spell of sleep, Mae yawned rather loudly which caught the attention of Bea "It'll be fine for you to take a nap. We won't get there for a few more hours or so." Mae responded by yawning again this time much quieter as her eyes slowly slid shut, eventually after a minute or so of trying to fight back she eventually gave in and feel asleep her head still resting against her hand which was resting against the car door. Bea took a quick glance over to Mae and grinned slightly, even though Mae would never admit it, or even notice it, she looked tired and stressed all the time kinda like Bea, only the reason for her looking so miserable was probably because she was stressed over trying to keep her mental sanity in check, trying not to have a random out burst like that one time at the softball game, but right now, and every other time she slept, Mae looked so peaceful, so happy, so cute- "NO!... Uh, no. Cute in the platonic way, like oh that dog is cute... Yeah."
Bea sighed and readjusted her grip on the steering wheel "Yeah."
Mae stood in front of Gregg and Angus' old apartment, the window that used to belong to them was unlit with no sign of life or even any kind of contact in or on it. She didn't know why but she felt like something bad was going to happen at any moment and that she wasn't going to be able to stop it or do anything about it, she took a look around, the streets, and sidewalks were all empty, the sky was an almost pale blue color with fog like grey clouds hanging in the air in patches, the sun must've been behind the clouds because it seemed as though there was a yellow light sitting right behind them trying to poke it's way through. Mae suddenly felt the ground rumble, she quickly returned her stare to the apartment and say brick after brick, step after step, plank after plank, window after window be ripped out of the building and lifted up into the sky, past the clouds and disappear leaving nothing behind except a patch of dry dirt where the base of the building once was.
The ground was still rumbling, Mae looked around and saw the buildings, sidewalks, and streets be ripped up out of the ground, crumbled down into the building blocks that made them and lifted up into the sky, past the clouds just like the apartment, suddenly the part of sidewalk Mae was standing on started to lift up into the air, but it phased right through her as it also flew off into the sky. When she blinked the town was gone, leaving dry dirt patches everywhere, but nature was already retaking the land that was once home to several families at one point or another, Mae was alone, she was surrounded by endless forest that was slowly creeping up on her and she felt like it was her fault, she felt like she caused all of this, like she could've done something about all of this, like she could've prevented the death of her home if she had just listened to the cult and joined them none of this would've happened, the town'd be fine, Gregg and Angus would still be with her, she wouldn't be alone, if only she had listened to the cult, and to that voice. That voice, down in the mines, the one surrounded by shadows, the one with no body, no face, it didn't even really talk to her, it just... Sang.
"Margaret Borowski. It's been a long time."
Mae spun around trying to find the source of that loud and booming voice, it was unnaturally deep, and it echoed as if it was inside of a hole "Who's there!?"
"Do not worry. I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to talk."
It echoed all around her as if who ever was talking was walking circles around her "Where are you?!"
"Margaret Borowski, I'm right behind you."
Mae hesitantly turned around slowly, once she turned around fully she found herself standing inside of... The cave where that horrid hole was "Didn't you hear me? I'm right behind you!"
She slowly turned around again and standing between her and the hole was, a pure black goat, with bright yellow eyes, his horns were long and jagged, they looked like they were ready to impale whatever got close enough, and he had a short goatee growing out of his chin "Wh- Who are y- you?"
Mae was shaking in fear, even though he was just as tall as her he still some how loomed over her "I've gone by many names."
"L- Like what?"
"Oh well I've been called Cronos, Saturn, Hades, Dis Pater, Satan, and the Devil to name a few. But none of them are true, because I don't have a NAME, although I do like what my newest followers named me."
"Wh- What did th- they-"
The Black Goat!.. It's so.. Well it's rather unoriginal, but still it's something NEW!"
"Ar- Are y- you th- the th- thing i- in the h- hole?" Mae shakily pointed at the hole behind the Black Goat and her followed her finger taking a look behind himself before answering
"Yes, indeed I am the thing in the hole. Like I said before I have multiple names you can chose one of them."
Mae felt like she was going to puke, the thing that had caused all of last years troubles, the thing that made people kill other much more innocent people was standing right in front of her, and it wanted to talk, never mind the fact that before it was an un-solid mass of shadows and fog that simply sang at her because here it was, in full form standing right in front of her "Why d- do you w- want t- to t- t- talk to me?"
Mae's mind desperately tried to find the humor in the situation to keep it's self from going crazy out of fear, she tried to make fun of how she was stuttering but each time she did she kept telling herself she should be stuttering, this is fucking terrifying!
"Well you see. You're heading to Bright Harbor, and before you ask the reason I know that is because I'm an omnipotent being I know everything. Anyways, and I also know how you react to new and unfamiliar things, your mind breaks, everything becomes SHAPES and, in an attempt to feel something you lash out, you've only done it once before in your life, well outside of your dreams that is, but still you're scared of it happening again. And I can help you! I can prevent your mind from snapping like that, but there is a catch which is that you must... Well to put it simply and quickly, you must work for me. Now then it's nothing to serious, not yet, and I might not even need you to do anything for quite a while, so what do you say? An eye for an eye? Work for me and you'll never see those SHAPES again?"
Mae hesitated as the Black Goat reached out his hand awaiting her hand to shake it, she was actually contemplating this deal! She was actually thinking of working for the guy that said one of his names is the DEVIL! What's wrong with her?! This is like something out of her worst night... mare. Th- that's right! She fell asleep in Bea's car on the way to Bright Harbor stressed out over her mental chaos, and this was her mind personifying it! It was like trying to tell her something, although she didn't know what, she never really knew what her mind was trying to tell her half the time so this wasn't anything new. She gave the Black Goat a fake laugh "HAH! Like I'd work for you! You're not even real!"
The Black Goat shrugged and pulled his hand back "Welp, at least I can say I tried to play nice. See you soon Miss Borowski."
The Black Goat then dissolved into shadows and fog like how he looked in the mines last year, he then quickly flew into the hole before a massive bright white light erupted from out of the hole blinding Mae as it did.
Mae's eyes jolted open, she blinked a few times regaining her bearings, she was still inside of Bea's car, Lori and Selmers were still sitting in the back seat, and Bea was still driving. Although there weren't any trees lining the sides of the road, instead there where tall building, some looked like office buildings, others looked like apartments, eventually they passed through and intersection which gave Mae a perfect view of a massive lake sitting just a few miles away, they where here! They where in Bright Harbor! Mae quickly sat upright which startled Bea slightly but not enough to cause the car to swerve, Mae then quickly looked over to Bea "How much farther?"
Bea shrugged "Maybe, a mile or two, but don't be so loud. Lori fell asleep a few minutes ago and has Selmers' hand locked in a death grip so we don't want to scare her awake and possibly do something to Selma's hand."
Mae looked at Selmers and saw Lori cocked to the side gripping Selmers' hand tightly "Are you alright?"
Selmers nodded "Yeah, I'm fine."
Her expression betrayed her words, she looked like she was in a lot of discomfort while Lori looked as though she was perfectly content right where she was. True to Bea's words after another hour or two they eventually came to a stop in front of Gregg and Angus' new apartment, the building looked almost identical to the one they used to live in except it looked to be in much better care the the previous one. Bea parked the car and took her keys out of the ignition before slipping them into her pocket and unbuckling, she then opened up her door and stepped out of the car followed by Mae who practically leaped out of the car, then Selmers who tried to pry Lori off of her hand but that didn't work so, with a little help from Bea, she unbuckled both herself and Lori, and scooped the mouse up like a baby or a newly wed bride, but that analogy is weird so maybe the baby one instead of the newly wed. Lori actually looked kinda adorable being held like that by Selmers, she also looked really comfortable in Selmers' arms which made sense seeing as how not only was Selma's whole body was supper soft, but so was her clothes, she always said the reason why she kept her fur and clothes so soft was because "If I ever randomly fall asleep at least I'll be comfy."
Which made sense to Mae. Everyone grabbed their luggage, Bea also took Selmers' backpack while Mae took Lori's duffel bag along side their own luggage, they all walked into the apartment's lobby which was filled with a few chairs, a couch or two, and a few book shelves along side some tables, it was rather simple but it was just a lobby after all. The young teenager working the front desk eyed everyone as they entered the building "Can I help you?"
His voice sounded accusing and entitled, Bea walked over to the front desk while Selmers sat down on one of the couches. Bea placed her hand on top of the white marble counter of the front desk "We're here to visit Angus Delaney. What room is he in?"
The teen's accusing expression didn't waver as he reached under the counter and pulled out a black book, he flipped through the book glancing at each page "Room twenty. Stairs have been closed down for repairs please take the elevators."
Bea raised an eyebrow in confusion "What kind of damage would require the entire staircase to be closed down?"
The teen rolled his eyes "It's not the entire staircase it's just the first flight of stairs, some dick broke the railings and we're legally required to close it down till we fix them."
Bea nodded "Huh."
She then walked over to everyone else "Come on."
She then walked over to the elevator followed by everyone else. Once the elevator came down and the door opened they all crammed themselves into the elevator, as it rose up heading for Angus's floor Lori started to stir in Selmers's arms, she mumbled something to herself and the only words Mae could clearly make out was "Wow" and "Not like that, more dye" Mae guessed something in her dream impressed her, and that someone messed up her fake blood recipe, hopefully Mae hadn't. Once the elevator came up to their requested floor the mob of friends all came out of the metal box and headed down the hallway, as they reached Angus' door it opened up and out stepped a canine police officer, the officer looked over to the group of friends and closed the door behind him "Can I help you?"
Bea stepped forwards nervously "We're friends of Angus."
The officer eyed Bea slightly and reopened the door "Follow me."
The officer then led everyone into Angus' apartment. Sitting on a brown leather couch was Angus, he was in blue stripped pajamas and looked exhausted, of course he still had his glasses on. Once his friends walked in Angus stood up quickly "Mae? Bea? Wh- what are you two doing here?"
Before either of them could answer the officer spoke up "So you know these four?"
Angus inspected everyone and nodded "Yes I know them."
The officer then placed his hands on his hips on top of his utility belt lined with all sorts of police gadgets "Alright, then I guess I'll be going. Goodnight mister Delaney." the officer then gave a slight tip of his cop cap and walked out of the apartment. Once everyone heard the door shut Angus walked over to his friends "Seriously what are you two doing here? And who are the other two?"
Mae raised her arms up into the air "We're here to help you look for Gregg!.. And the other two are some new friends that also want to help!"
Angus looked at Selmers and Lori who was still in Selma's arms "...Okay, so, uh.. Listen I gotta get some sleep, I didn't get any sleep yesterday and right now I'm exhausted."
Bea placed her hand on Angus' shoulder "Alright Angus get some sleep, and we'll get set up out here."
Angus readjusted his glasses "Actually we have a second bedroom that's big enough for like, two other people. A- and the couch can pull out into a bed."
Mae looked over to leather couch "I thought only soft, fur like couches could be pulled out into a bed."
Angus shrugged and Bea took her hand off of him "I did to but then Gregg found this couch in the back of a furniture store."
Bea then readjusted Selmers's backpack letting out a strained sigh "Could we hurry this up?"
Angus nodded "Alright so, there's a bunch of pillows and blankets in the guest bedroom. I'm going to bed."
Angus then walked towards his bedroom leaving Mae, Bea and their new friends alone in the living room. Bea pulled out the couch bed and stepped back from it "Alright, who's gonna sleep out here?"
Selmers sat down on the couch bed "Me and Lori'll take it, you two have known each other much longer then either of us have so I guess you two have had a sleepover once in your lives?"
Mae nodded "Hell yeah we had sleepovers! They were the best sleepovers!"
Bea rolled her eyes "Yes we've had sleepovers and I guess you're right, we know each other more then you and Lori."
Bea then walked over to her suitcase and grabbed it's handle "Come on Mae."
She then started to walk over to the guest bedroom while Mae grabbed her suitcase and followed Bea. The guest bedroom was rather barren, there was only a two person bed with white sheets and a single blue blanket, and a little dresser sitting next to the door, Bea walked into the room and placed her suitcase against the wall closest to the bed, she then laid it down on it's back and started to unzip it's biggest compartment, as she did she glanced over to Mae "Are you gonna get ready for bed or?"
Mae then quickly laid her suitcase down on the ground and also unzipped it "Right!"
She then started to riffle through her clothes searching for a pair of pajamas she wanted to wear. Bea stood up and she was holding a pair of dark pale blue pajamas, one top and one bottom, she then turned around and looked at Mae "Are you going to be fine with me changing in here?"
Mae shrugged "Depends, are you gonna get naked?"
Bea shook her head "No I'm to tired to completely change, just gonna slip these on real quick."
Mae thought about it a moment "Yeah I'll be fine with it."
Bea then turned back around and started to undress, Mae kept her head down as she riffled through her clothes and Bea changed, she didn't know why but she felt kinda nervous with Bea changing right in front of her so instead of possibly make things worse she kept her head down and tried to find her pair of pajamas for the night. Eventually she found the pair she wanted to wear, they were yellow pajama shorts and a pink tank top, Mae quickly stood up and spun around trying her best not to stare at Bea or make herself any more nervous, sadly it didn't work according to plan, she'd gotten a glimpse of Bea's almost naked back as she spun around and now Mae was blushing slightly from the sight, as she also slipped out of her clothes and into her pajamas she kept thinking to herself "What's happening?! Why do I feel so nervous!? She's my friend!? This shouldn't be so awkward!"
As she finished her thought she slid her tank top over herself and slowly turned her head trying to see if Bea was finished, luckily Bea held her wadded up dress and leggings and was dressed in her pajamas. Mae and Bea both climbed up onto the bed, Bea laid down on the left side while Mae took the right. Mae slipped under the covers and as soon as she did a wave of exhaustion hit her hard it almost knocked her out immediately, luckily the voice of Bea gave Mae some more energy "This isn't going to get awkward is it?"
Mae looked over to Bea "What do you mean?"
Bea shrugged "I dunno, we're all grown up now, we know about stuff we didn't know about when we were young. So like this COULD become really awkward."
Mae thought about it for a moment "It didn't get awkward back at Angus and Gregg's old place."
Bea sighed "That was different, you were practically almost dead."
Mae rolled her eyes "If you're worried about waking up with me like spooning you, or my hand laying on a part of your body you don't want it to be on. Don't worry, I sleep like a rock, I don't toss, I don't turn."
Bea sat there silently for awhile "...Alright."
She then rolled over facing away from Mae and probably closed her eyes, but Mae laid there on her back staring up at the ceiling, her mind running a mental recap of the day's previous events, specifically that weird dream she had in Bea's car, and how she felt a few moments ago. As she ran her mental recap her eyelids start to slid shut again, and as her body screamed at her to fall asleep she listened, she closed her eyes and drifted off in to her dream land not sure what kind of pleasant or horrific world she'd end up in this time, but Mae hoped for a pleasant dream land, one where she wouldn't remember last year at all.
