"Where am I?" Mae asked.
This was a dumb question, now that Mae thought about it. She was sitting beside a fire in the middle of a small clearing. To her left, there was Casey, roasting some marshmallows. To her right, there was Andy Cullen. Only he didn't look like Andy Cullen. He didn't have a face, for one thing; just a red hole. He didn't seem to mind, though. It was hard to tell, though, what with the lack of face.
"God damn ghost marshmallows," Casey grumbled as he glared, angrily, at the sugary treat he had stuck onto a stick. "These seriously the best marshmallows you could dream up, Margaret?"
"Don't call me Margaret," Mae said. She paid no attention to Casey's comment about dreams. Casey said weird stuff sometimes. "Why's Andy Cullen here?"
Casey pulled his stick from the fire, and inspected the marshmallow. Despite the time it spent over the fire, it hadn't been cooked at all. It was as clear and transparent as Casey was. That was normal for a marshmallow, and Mae knew that.
"That ain't Andy Cullen," Casey said. "Andy Cullen's got a face, Mae."
Mae looked over at Andy Cullen, who was staring, motionless, at the fire. The hole in his face dripped red shapes onto his softball uniform. Mae turned back to Casey and shrugged.
"No, this is totally Andy," Mae said. She knew it was Andy, and therefore it had to be him. Casey didn't know what he was talking about. Mae watched him unenthusiastically poke at the ghostly marshmallow.
"Mae, you really don't got time for this," Casey said sadly. "It's good to see you, and all, but you need to wake up. If you don't, you'll wind up in the hole. Just like me."
Oh, right, Casey was dead. Mae had forgotten about that. Being dead probably sucked for Casey. He really enjoyed various aspects of being alive.
"No, I didn't," Casey responded. "Mae, I was, like, clinically depressed. I couldn't really make myself enjoy anything towards the end of things." Casey sighed and shook his head.
"Guess you couldn't've really known that. I mean, I didn't even know it. When the best shrink in town's Dr. Hank, you don't have a lot of hope for an accurate diagnosis."
Mae didn't respond. She was mildly bugged that Casey had known what she was thinking. It was rude to just randomly bring up someone's private thoughts. Also, since when could Casey read minds?
"I ain't reading your mind, dummy," Casey groaned. "You're dreaming. I'm in your dream. I'm not part of your dream; I'm just a visitor. In a dream, there's not much difference between what you say and what you think."
"Oh, hey, that reminds me," Mae mused. "I had a bunch of dreams about you earlier this year. Just, like, us hanging out, or you giving me really bad advice. You didn't sound like you, though."
Casey tossed his stick, marshmallow and all, into the fire. He'd given up on roasting it. There was an unfamiliar, forlorn look on Casey's face. Mae couldn't remember the last time he'd looked that sad. He hadn't even looked that sad when his dad died.
"Mae, that wasn't me," Casey said. He looked at Mae out of the corner of his eye. Mae could almost see herself in the pure white of his dead eyes. "That wasn't my voice you were hearin', and you know it. You just wanted to believe it was me."
In the distance, music played. Mae couldn't quite make it out. It was one instrument, playing a lonely solo.
"What about now?" Mae asked hopefully. "Are you really you?"
Casey shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I don't even know if I ever was me. Maybe I'm really Casey's ghost, maybe I'm just some part of your brain tryin' to make you wake up. I'm more me than that thing that was using me voice, though."
"$#~+?/,"said Andy Cullen.
"Oh, shut up," Casey snapped. "I can't believe I got fed to somethin' that can't even talk."
Mae looked over to Andy, who was still facing forward. He was motionless as the dead. Every so often, he'd flicker and be replaced by a patch of nothingness hanging in the air. Mae looked back over to Casey, who was starting to look fairly pale.
"You got fed to Andy Cullen?" Mae asked, confused. "How? He doesn't even have a face, Casey."
Casey slowly turned towards Mae. His expression was disbelieving, as if he'd just heard the most bafflingly stupid bullshit ever uttered. He started to talk, stopped, and seemed to consider what Mae had said. Then, he spoke.
"Margaret, I…" Casey paused, holding up a finger to indicate he needed another moment to process Mae's idiocy. "I really hope I'm a ghost, and not part of your brain. Your brain is the worst, Mae."
That was a little uncalled for, Mae thought. Casey was being awfully rude tonight.
"Okay," Mae said. "If I haven't been hearing your voice lately, whose voice have I been hearing?"
""\/#\/(*^*)[[[,"interrupted Andy. Casey shot him a dirty look before turning his attention back to Mae.
"God, you see what I gotta put up with?" Casey asked. He threw his hands up in a 'what are you gonna do?' gesture. "Those assholes that killed me call that singing, can you believe it? Just a buncha shapes, is all that is."
Mae nodded in agreement. The last time Andy had spoken to her, she hadn't understood him, either. She felt like she'd said something smart. Something she couldn't quite remember. Something, something, something.
"The last few months have been kind of nuts, Casey," Mae mused. She looked up at the sky and let out a small sigh. "I went around trying to make amends to people. That didn't really lead to what I was hoping for. I ruined Gregg's plans for the future, and probably scarred poor Andy for life."
"You probably already did that," Casey said. "Y'know, when you assaulted him with a baseball bat."
"Softball bat," Mae corrected. "Softball. There's a difference, probably."
The ethereal solo that drifted through the air suddenly became a duet. The instrument Mae hadn't been able to recognize was joined by the sound of a saxophone. Now that Mae listened, she could tell that the first instrument was a violin. Or a fiddle? Saleem said there was a difference between the two, and he probably knew better than Mae.
"Why'd you go around makin' amends, anyway?" Casey asked.
Mae thought about it, and shrugged. "Jeez, it's been a while. I don't really remember. Selmers brought it up, and it sounded like a good idea at the time. I guess I just sorta wanted closure, you know?"
Casey nodded solemnly. He turned around on the log he was sitting on until he was facing Mae. Looking at him, Mae thought he didn't look like the other ghosts she'd seen. He was more than an echo, but less than a living person.
"Mae, I think I need to level with you," Casey said. "You're never gonna get a sense of closure for some of the stuff you've done, or some of the stuff you've seen."
Mae stared at Casey, uncomprehending. While she didn't exactly disagree with what he'd said, it was still sort of depressing to hear it said out loud.
"I didn't say it out loud," Casey corrected. "I said it in your dream. And what I said is still real; saying it out loud wouldn't make it any more real. This is something I thought you woulda learned by now."
"What?" Mae asked. "That nothing anyone does means anything?"
Casey shook his head, and then stopped. He considered this, and then shrugged.
"Well, yes," he said. "But aside from that. Last year, you saw how fast the world moves. You saw a buncha old men in a mine who couldn't let go of the past. You saw the truth of things, out in the hole at the center of everything. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"No," Mae said. "Not at all. My brain's feeling kind of scrambled."
Casey chuckled. "Well, that's understandable. You passed out and got carried away by a guy with one arm. Your subconscious is prob'ly picking up all sorts of weird things."
Mae nodded. That made a lot of sense. She didn't really understand what Casey was talking about, but it still made a lot of sense. Slowly, Mae rubbed the side of her head as she thought about what Casey meant.
"What I meant was, you're getting hung up on this closure thing," Casey explained. "Did it ever occur to you that you went around makin' amends because you wanted to make up for somethin' you can't talk about?"
"No," Mae said. "I try to not think about why I do stuff. It gets confusing."
"What I mean is, you went lookin' for closure to make out for things you can never get closure for," Casey explained. "I'm talkin' about me and my parents. I'm talkin' about your aunt, and all the people who got buried in the mines. You've been letting this shit eat up at you from the inside, Mae."
Mae frowned ponderously. "No," she said. "No, I dealt with that stuff. I'm going to talk to Dr. Bort about it. I had a weird dream where people jumped into a hole, and I talked to a janitor."
"Your problems don't get solved because you had one dream, Mae," Casey said. "And you don't get better just 'cause you've had one or two therapy sessions. You're takin' steps, Mae, but your problems aren't gonna go away overnight. Some of 'em will never go away at all."
Mae sighed. She knew that already. This thing inside of her head wasn't going to get better. Not without medicine, at least. Mae had a feeling that, whatever was going on, it was more than just depression. That scared Mae; it scared her a lot. But she'd have to make peace with it, wouldn't she?
"I have to keep on living, or I'll die," Mae muttered.
Casey nodded in agreement. "Yep," he said. "And if you don't wake up soon, you'll die quicker than you think."
The duet had grown into a full quartet. Mae sat there, listening to the familiar instruments that floated through the night air. There were no trees, or sky, or anything else. Just stars, all around them. The stars shined so bright that they turned the blackness between them into a cold, dark blue.
"When Granddad died," Mae whispered, "I just felt numb for the longest time. I was young, I guess, and couldn't really process it. But then, one day, it just hit me that he was gone. Like, this guy who'd been part of my life since I was a baby was dead, and he wasn't coming back. I'd never see him again.
"And, like, I guess it's the same here. With you and Aunt Mall Cop." Mae chuckled. "I guess I don't really handle loss all that well? I dunno. But, like, the world keeps changing, you know? And the changes aren't always good. We lose people, and it hurts; but the pain means it meant something."
Mae paused. "God, I feel like I'm going over stuff I already said. I thought I'd learned this stuff already."
"You prob'ly did," Casey said. "But it's one thing to learn something, and it's another to put it into practice. 'Sides, you've been trying to convince yourself your problems aren't as bad as they are, you haven't really had time to work on all this."
That was fair. On top of that, it had been a manic few months.
Andy Cullen had wandered off some time during Mae and Casey's talk. Mae didn't mind. She didn't know Andy that well, anyway. Plus, the lack of a face had really creeped Mae out. Mae wondered why those guys in the mind had worshipped Andy Cullen at all.
The fire was beginning to die down. Mae watched as the light slowly faded away, casting strange shadows on both her and Casey. How had Mae even gotten to this fire? And how had she met up with Casey? Something in the back of Mae's mind was nagging at her, but Mae wasn't sure what it was.
But Mae had a feeling that, after the fire died, she wouldn't see Casey again.
That realization set off a second one. Mae remembered what had happened before she came to the fire. She'd met Eide, who had choked her out. Mae was unconscious. This was a dream.
Why hadn't anyone told Mae this was a dream? That was really rude.
Mae couldn't feel angry, though. She was too sad to feel angry. The fire was dying down quickly now, its flame shrinking down until it was barely as bright as a matchstick. Before it died down completely, Mae turned to Casey. He was only barely there, now; just a vague shape in the air.
"Hey, Casey?" Mae said. "You were my best friend."
Casey was quiet. He smiled sadly at Mae, and nodded in return.
"Thanks, Mae," he said. "You were my friend, too."
When Mae woke up, there were tears in her eyes. She wasn't exactly surprised by this.
What was surprising, however, was that Mae wasn't dead. Not unless the afterlife was some dank, creepy basement. Mae wasn't sure she believed in an afterlife, though, so that theory didn't really hold out.
The basement was mostly empty, save for a boiler that was huddled up in the corner. This boiler didn't look anywhere near as friendly as Clanky, the boiler at Mrs. Miranda's house. Then again, Mae hadn't woken up in Mrs. Miranda's house after getting knocked out by a vengeful cultist. If that had happened, Clanky might have looked a lot scarier.
Mae slowly stood up. The room felt like it was spinning around her, and her legs weren't steady. Mae didn't know if that was fear, or if getting choked out had just gotten her dizzy. Mae looked around, trying to get her bearings.
The basement really was empty; a second inspection didn't change that. Aside from some wooden steps leading up to the basement door, and a small window on the opposite side of the room, Mae didn't see anything she could use to break out. Either Eide had planned for this, or he just didn't have a lot of clutter.
Where was Eide, anyway? Mae had to assume that this was his house. She doubted Eide had any friends who would let him keep someone in their basement.
Either way, Eide hadn't killed Mae yet. That was good. Mae had a feeling she knew why she was still alive, too. In Eide's mind, it would probably be a waste to just kill her. Mae guessed that Eide would want to sacrifice her to the Goat.
Did that mean Eide had found a way back into the mines?
Mae couldn't waste time thinking about that. She needed to waste time thinking about other stuff. Like escaping, or beating up Eide. Mae would feel bad about beating up a one-armed guy with a broken neck, but she'd probably get over it.
A noise from upstairs caught Mae's attention. Two people were talking; well, arguing, actually. Mae couldn't make out what they were saying through the insulated layer of wood and stone that separated them.
Curiously, Mae took a chance and wandered up the stairs to the basement door. She tried the doorknob. It was locked, of course. Mae didn't know why she expected different. But she hadn't come here just to check the doorknob. Mae placed her ear against the door and listened.
"… You can't dig a tunnel in a few days, Eide," said a strangely familiar voice. "Especially not alone. You're gonna have to be more patient with me. I need time."
"You've had three months!" Eide cried out. "What the hell is taking so long? You're just digging a hole! It's just rocks!"
The second voice sighed. Mae recognized that sort of sigh. It was a noise people made when they were talking to someone who didn't understand anything about anything. Mae heard that noise a lot.
"Okay, I'm not gonna waste both our time by explaining the fine details of mining," the second voice said. "Why're you suddenly in such a rush? Their bodies aren't going anywhere, Eide. We got plenty of time to gather whatever remains are left."
Mae didn't need much deductive reasoning to know what they were talking about. It sounded like Eide was having someone else try and find a way back into the mine. Whoever it was, if they were talking about gathering someone's remains, it was probably safe to assume they knew about the cult.
Eide didn't seem like the sort of person to go out of his way to give someone a proper burial. If he wanted into the mine, Mae was certain it was so he could gain access to the hole the cult had used for their sacrifices.
So, this other guy knew about the cult, but Eide was lying to them? Mae didn't bother wondering what that was all about. She was too busy being kidnapped.
"Don't effing question me, Leon," Eide snapped. Mae felt her heart skip a beat when she heard that name. Leon? Cole's dad? The guy with the special hammer?
Mae guessed that confirmed a few suspicions she had. Still, it was a bit of a shock.
"Okay, okay. Don't throw a tantrum or anything," Leon said. Mae could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "Look, why don't you use some of that money you've got lying around and rent some machines? That'll speed things up."
Mae heard Eide groan. "Yeah, okay," he grumbled. "Okay, okay. Lazybones."
"Yeah," Leon quipped. "I'm so lazy. I need mining equipment to dig through solid stone. Old age has truly robbed me of my work ethic."
"You said it; not me," Eide said. Mae noticed with some alarm that his voice was coming closer. A pair of feet trudging along a hardwood floor began to approach the basement door that Mae had her ear pressed up against. Mae suddenly felt dizzy; panicking, she stumbled backwards and fell down the stairs, landing on the cold stone floor with a thud.
Mae clutched the back of her head. The pain wasn't too bad; she'd fallen from higher places. Mae could still barely hear Eide talk. It sounded like he was right behind the door.
"Huh? Oh, it was nothing," Eide said, responding to some unheard question. "Nothing. Just some rats in the basement, probably. Or… owls. Probably."
Mae noticed with some disbelief that Eide was somehow a worse liar than she was. How the hell had this guy been a member of a secret cult?
"Dinner sounds good," Eide continued. "You go on ahead. I'll meet you at the Clik Clak. I gotta take care of that owl."
Mae listened to the silence that followed. Leon had probably left Eide to deal with his imaginary owls. Mae bit her lip. She almost expected Eide to fling the door open and attack her.
There was a loud, angry knock on the basement door. Mae winced at the sound of it. In the back of her mind, the noise of metal against metal was eating away at her consciousness.
"Go back to sleep, you little shit," Eide snarled through the thick, wooden door. "Ain't no one who can hear you out here. Ain't no way for you to get out. I've made sure of that. Been planning this since I got outta the hospital. You're going to the Goat, girl. You hear me?"
Mae frowned. "You can't see it, but I'm showing you my favorite finger," she said as she waved a familiar gesture at the door.
Eide grumbled something. Mae sat up as she heard his feet trudge away. There was the sound of a door opening and closing. After a few minutes, Mae knew she was alone. Either Eide was stupid, or he was just confident that Mae couldn't get out. Mae supposed he could be both.
Mae walked up the stairs once more and tested the door. It was sturdy, alright. Mae seriously doubted she'd be able to knock the thing down. She didn't have a baseball bat to beat the shit out of Eide's furnace, either.
Mae looked over her shoulder at the small basement window that looked to the outside. It was right next to the boiler. Mae could probably climb up that thing and open the window. But then what? There was no way she'd be able to slip through that thing; not with her big, nightmare head.
It was kind of the only option Mae had, though. Eide had cleared out the basement of pretty much anything that could be used for an escape plan. The only thing Mae could think of to do was open the window and call for help.
With a sigh, Mae walked down the stairs and approached the boiler. Hesitantly, she reached out and touched it. To her surprise, it wasn't hot at all. Had Eide turned it off? Or was it just an antique, here for show?
Whatever the reason, it was no obstacle. With a grunt, Mae leaped up onto the pipes and shimmied along towards the window. With some effort, Mae stretched her arm out and began to push against the rectangle of glass. She could barely reach it, but after a few times, she managed to nudge it open.
Warm summer air hit Mae's hand. It was scorching outside, but Mae didn't care. Anything was better than the feeling of the cold basement.
"Hello!" Mae screamed out. She heard no reply but the sound of birds and insects.
"Is anyone out there?!" Mae said, screaming louder. "I'm locked up in some weirdo's basement!"
Again, no response. Mae sighed and pulled her hand away from the window, which stayed open. Of course there was no response. Eide lived out in the woods, didn't he? There was probably no one around for miles who could hear Mae call for help. All Mae had managed to do was hurt her throat.
Mae winced as the reality of her situation began to weigh in on her. She wouldn't panic. Panic wouldn't help her. Mae just needed to wait for Eide to give her an opportunity to escape, right? He was injured, and not all there in the head. It was only a matter of time before he slipped up.
Barring a miracle, that was Mae's only hope.
"Hi, Mae," said a very familiar voice from the other side of the window.
Mae blinked once, then blinked again. She stared out the window at a pair of black canvas sneakers that had appeared. In her shock, Mae almost didn't know what to say. In the end, there was only one thing she could say:
"Germ?!" She cried out.
"Yep," said Germ's voice. "I was hanging out in the woods with my woods friends. I heard you yelling. 'Sup?"
"Oh my god, Germ," Mae said, laughing. This was the second time Germ had appeared out of nowhere to save Mae's ass. "Where the hell have you been, dude? You disappeared. We were all worried about you!"
"I was on vacation," Germ replied.
Mae opened her mouth to reply, but confusion stole her words away. "Vacation?" She repeated. "What? Dude, you just straight up vanished for, like, a month! Why didn't you tell anyone you were on vacation?"
"I don't have to tell you guys everything," Germ replied.
Well, he was right about that. Mae couldn't really argue with Germ on that one. Germ was kind of aloof, anyway; him not telling everyone he was going on a vacation was par for the course. Still, Mae thought they'd, like, bonded and shit. She'd been scared that Germ had gotten serial murdered.
Wait. Mae felt like she was forgetting something.
Oh, right, the kidnapping!
"Germ, I need help," Mae said. "I need you to, like, find some way to get me out of here. Like, get me a saw, and I can cut a hole in the floor to escape. Also, I guess I'd need a ladder?" Mae paused. "Oh, and, like, some juice or something. My mouth's super dry right now."
"Um. Okay," Germ said. He didn't question why Mae was in the basement. He just walked off to go get Mae some help.
Once again, Germ had come out of nowhere to save Mae's life. That was… kind of odd. Mae wasn't about to look a gift bird in the mouth, though. Whether it was just a coincidence, or Germ was some sort of trickster spirit who could sense when his friends were in danger, it didn't matter. He was a fricking hero.
Before too long, Germ returned to the window. Once again, all that was visible were his canvas sneakers. His arrival was accompanied by a strange hissing noise. Mae couldn't exactly place it, though it did sound familiar.
"Hi, Mae," Germ said. "I got something to save you."
"Oh my God, Germ," Mae said, letting loose a sigh of relief. "Germ, I could kiss you right now."
Germ was quiet for a moment. "Okay," he said. "Well, here ya go."
Mae watched as something long and cylindrical was dropped into the basement from the window. Suddenly, the hissing noise was inside of the room Mae was in. It took Mae a second to process this. Mae stared down at the red tube with the long, burning fuse attached to it.
"Oh, shit," Mae grumbled.
Mae hurried jumped down from the furnace, scooped up the stick of dynamite, and threw it in the direction of the basement door. The stick landed on the top step, rolled, and then fell onto the second. The long fuse was still burning, but it was burning quick. Mae guessed it was a good thing Germ hadn't picked something with a shorter fuse.
"Germ, warn someone before you give them a lit stick of dynamite!" Mae screamed. She huddled up to the wall opposite the stairs.
She couldn't hear Germ's response. The explosion was too loud.