The day passed for Mike as he struggled throughout it while trying to figure out what he needed to know to prevent Lena from leaving the village and preserve their friendship. He languished about it all night, trying to come up with ways and it dawned on him that he hasn't thought about it in another way.
He thought about her as a friend now, because she was the only one who truly cared about him, and that without her, he'd died from his OD, and then remembered how he treated her before that realization hit him like a sack of bricks.
Mike acted thick and, in his thickness, he treated Lena as nosy and a buzz-killer, there's a reason she didn't trust him initially when he came to see her art yesterday, because that's out of character for him.
And worse of all, she wasn't wrong, Mike didn't even give her much thought prior, because she wasn't as attractive as some of the other girls in the village, and if she had been, he'd try to cozy up to her, too.
How horrible he treated the only lifeline he had and then coupled with what Theodore and Lila told him, that there's more to this than meets the eye, but he can't fathom what it might've been.
The village's his home and always been. Can't afford anywhere else, not with the meager money he barely held since he spent much of it on alcohol and drugs.
Desperate, Mike hardly slept because he wanted to figure it out before the deadline, else he risked losing Lena all-over again, and above all else in this, he didn't want her to become a soulless corporate monger because of him.
He's willing to accept that they'll never be friends like he wanted when this' said and done, but if he can prevent Lena from becoming what he witnessed her prior, it's worth it for him.
Tossing and turning on his bed, Mike fretted as he thought about it more. He has only two more days left before the end of the deadline and he doesn't want to waste a moment, but it's night, and he can't see much outside his window.
"I have to do something," Mike murmured. "What can I do?"
He threw out his stash, so he wouldn't be tempted to take them, he brushed off his friends' offers of theirs, he cleaned his house top to bottom, and he washed his clothes extensively in hopes of ridding faint lingers of his smoking and drugs.
Cleaned his mouth until it stung and numbed, must've scrubbed every corner of it with toothpaste and mouthwash.
Cut his messy hair to something that didn't look like he gotten attacked by balloons. Made sure it's not the oily black mess, too.
While tossing and turning, Mike felt nervous that he'll fail his task. All this would've amounted to nothing. He can't bring himself to think about it, but it's gnawing on him.
Unable to sleep, Mike's forced to look up at the plaster white ceiling as he's thinking to himself.
He can't go to the party or else something happens and Lena can't send her art in, he had to do something to show his friends that they couldn't trust him at the party.
They'll push him somehow into going, but if he forces their hands, they'll slag him and leave him alone.
Could always resort to snitching on them anonymously, if not for the fact the bobbies are in on the drugs and hate everything about themselves and the village, he can't trust them to bust it up and cancel it.
Cancel it.
Hey, that sounds like something he could do...
If he cancels the party, that'd mean his friends can't push him to go and that means he has enough time to meet Lena.
The post office's right next to the train station, the village mail arriving via a train every now again, it also means he'll know if he done everything right.
When Lena blasts him in the original timeline, she gotten her train ticket and a drink from the post office on her way back to the house to pack for the move.
She'd only have a bag of clothes and not much else, left everything she couldn't carry with her arms back at the house.
Once she left, she never returned, and eventually, the house she lived in became destitute. Routinely, people broke into the house to produce, use, or sell drugs on top of prostitution. Everything left behind destroyed or sold for money, vaguely Mike remembered walking by the house, seeing it in disrepair with graffiti on the walls.
If Mike fixes the point, theoretically, Lena won't have the train ticket coming back to collect her stuff at exactly 4:30PM on the final day.
Somehow, Mike managed to fall asleep despite his mind swirling with thoughts and fears, and when he finally woke up, he found his "Al" sitting in his bedroom.
Theodore looking through a book while Lila's busied reading a magazine.
Pushing himself up from his bed, Mike looked at them as they hardly registered him awake until he called out to them.
"Why're you in my room?" Mike awkwardly asked them as they took notice of him awake, turning their heads towards him.
Lila replied, "Your door's unlocked, really should lock it."
Theodore responds with a reminder for Mike, "You have two days left, Mr. Jenkins. Have you figured it out, yet?"
Groaning, Mike rubbed his crusty eyes as he tells Theodore what he thought about before, and Theodore told him that it's possible that Mike's onto something.
"You could help, you know," Mike pointed out that they could've helped him. If they did, he'd have everything said and done, they won't have to bother waiting around for him.
Theodore replied with a bored look, "Like I've said, we can't help you directly. You want to change your history, you do it on your own. Those are the terms. We'll help indirectly, but not much. Don't dawdle, Mr. Jenkins, we've little time indeed."
Lila added with her flipping a page in her magazine, "You also talk in your sleep, did you know that?"
Mike apparently talks in his sleep, that's a first he heard, and he asked if they were in his room for hours. To which they reply, they only arrived in the morning, rude if they sat in his room all night playing cards together, his snoring would've driven him mad!
"Whatever, if you can't help me directly, can't you hint me to the right direction. If I tell you a plan, can you at least tell me the chances of it working?" Mike bargained with Theodore as he flipped a page in his book.
His icy blue eyes bobbing left and right as he's reading, Theodore told Mike that they'll help with hypotheticals, yes.
"Okay, if I can't get out of going to the party, what if I get it cancelled instead, will that help me?" Mike asked for Theodore's opinion on the idea he mulled over since last night.
Thinking, Theodore pondered before he said, "It might. How would you cancel it and if so, how'll you keep the others from finding out it's your doing?"
He brought up a good point that Mike needed to ensure that his plan didn't cause him to end up in the crosshairs of people who'd want his head for ruining the party.
Mulling it over, Mike wondered what could he do to get the party cancelled that wouldn't lead back to him, as it'd look suspicious considering he's refusing to go, and Theodore suggested something that they'd agree on as bad enough that the thought of his doing wouldn't cross their minds.
"Could always go for crabs or bed bugs," Lila suggested an idea for Mike to spread a rumor that someone potentially has the nasty critters, enough that the party's cancelled. Maybe improve hygiene in the teenagers, considering the state of Mike's room. Something that's plausible enough that they won't risk the spread.
Mike hesitated as he said, "That's a bit much."
Theodore shrugged his wide shoulders as he responded, "An idea nevertheless, Mr. Jenkins. However, you could save time just avoiding it all-together, possibly avoid your friends in the process, if they cannot find you. They cannot force you into the party. Is breaking charity with your friends something you're willing to do to save your friendship with Lena?"
Suggesting that Mike avoid his friends at all cost, if he feels that he can't go outside in fear they'll entrap him, he could always hide in his house. If he's willing to handle losing their friendships in the process of his refusal.
"I remember Leper ends up as a deadbeat da. Gordon becomes the new bobbie and he's a... you know... Trevor dies from an OD," Mike recalled the timeline that led to his friends becoming less of friends and Theodore asked if they're worth saving, too.
If he's willing to salvage Lena's friendship, wouldn't Mike do something to help his other friends, as well?
Pacing around his room, Mike thought about it before he said that honestly, he knows in his heart that they're not really his friends. They're just stuck with him because they can't be half-assed to do anything else. Always someone worse off than them.
"Is that your final answer?" Lila inquired if Mike's sure about his answer.
Couldn't hurt to make sure before he does something permanently damaging to his friendship.
Nodding, Mike replied, "I can't stand them, honestly."
It's true.
Theodore turned his head fully as he inquired why Mike hangs out with them if he doesn't like them.
Pitifully, Mike replied that they're the only people willing to let him hang around, nobody else would, and with a small village, beggar's couldn't be choosers with friendship, even if the friendship isn't much as friendship rather than indenture.
"It's terrible, I know, but I didn't have a decent friend until Lena," Mike described.
The more he thought on it, the more he realized there's another reason why there's friction between him and Lena.
His friends didn't like her because she'd try to keep him leveled and they disliked that a lot because it ruined the fun, so they say, and for a while Mike believed them.
With that, Mike made his decision.
He couldn't face his friends, because there's no point, they weren't his friends at all, just opportunists, and maybe they did care when he OD'd, but only because of the attention he brought to their party.
"Guys, I think I know what I can do to keep my friendship with Lena," Mike's struck with a realization as he looked at them. "I need your help. You may not be able to help per say, but there's nothing wrong with keeping time, is there?"
Theodore shared looks with Lila as they silently talked about Mike's bargain. He wasn't getting help from them, only the time, and it wasn't explicit as to what time he meant or what matter it has, just to keep it.
Can't exactly meddle if they're just keeping track of time and nothing else.
"Alright, Mr. Jenkins, we'll keep the time, what're you going to do?" Theodore asked him what he aimed to do to save his friendship with Lena.
Even if they don't reconcile after this like he hoped, his plan should at least help her succeed.
Mike said that he didn't want to jinx himself and that he'll let them know when he exactly wants them to keep the time.
Quietly, the two watched as Mike rushed around his room, claiming fresh clothes as he hurried into the loo to shower and ready to start the plan.
It crossed his mind and he didn't think about it until Theodore made a good point.
"I have to do it," Mike muttered while he lathered his hair. "He's right. I can't do this, anymore. I can't live like this, anymore."