Throwing on his clothes, patted some musk on the sides of his neck, made sure the tiny nicks in his skin on his face went away after shaving, Mike washed his face heavily, and checked himself thrice over in the mirror in in the loo.
Weighing on his mind, the plan, and how it's his only shot. If it goes wrong for any reason, he'll never have a chance again, and everything he worked for gone in the wind.
The answer to his woe right in front of him, he was too thick to see past his nose, but not anymore.
This village, it's a sickness, always was, and he never knew the difference since he never had anything experiences elsewhere. No money or prospects.
It's rotted, festered, it did everything to inflict harm on everyone unfortunate like Mike, unable to leave, and he knows that this village, it's not his home.
Remembering the alternate timeline, Mike sees the village worsening as more people fled for the cities, and those remaining turned further into their drug fueled lives.
There's no helping his village, even if he felt the urge, it's doomed to the fate that it brought upon itself. Like all villages before it, it'll wither until there's hardly anyone left remaining.
Everyone that chose to remain in the village's beyond help at this point, Mike never thought about it until the original timeline.
It's because of that reason, he fell into his stupor, he stayed in the village for far too long, unable to leave it, coupled with his idiocy, it's a miracle he stayed alive long enough to see the consequences of his actions.
He won't fix everything wrong in his life, that much's evident, at least he'll know better to take things for granted, and to pick better friends.
His mind made up, Mike stepped out of the loo and informed Theodore and Lila that they won't keep time until tomorrow.
Today, he's doing what he can and getting everything he needs together.
Theodore asked if he's certain and Mike affirmed that it's his plan.
"What're you planning?" Lila wanted to know what Mike had in mind and he pointed at Theodore as he said that he's inspired.
In quick breaths, Mike told them what he planned for tomorrow, while going through his drawers and looking through the contents.
"You sure this'll work?" Theodore inquired as he sat with his book.
Mike insisted that Theodore's right, the village can't be helped, his friends aren't friends, and he knows that he can't stay in the village. He'll fall into the same pits that got him into trouble in the first place.
He's tired of his lonesomeness and wants to change. Sixteen years now, a couple years, and he's scratchy with no money in hand.
Withdraw symptoms be damned, Mike's making a new life for himself, starting now, and he's doing it the only way he knows how.
"Here it is," Mike murmured under his breath as he yanked out a small burlap sack and opened it. Shoving his hand through the opening, he yanked money out that he'd normally kept for drugs.
Counting it, it's enough for what he's planning.
Shoving the money into his wallet, Mike hurried as he collected things he wanted to keep with him. Mum's locket, her and da's wedding rings, the photo album, and his da's pocket watch.
"The party starts tomorrow night, everyone's going to be there, I can sneak out," Mike told them the first bit of his plan.
Once the party starts, everyone excluding him's there, and the village's dead at that hour, meaning it'll just be Mike out in the night.
"I didn't see any street lamps, you sure you'll be fine on your own?" Lila showed concern as she asked how Mike planned to go through his plan without the aide of street lamps, as she calls them, since the village's too small that it doesn't have them everywhere but the bobbie's station.
Mike assures her that he can walk through the darkness just fine, there's nothing scary about walking outside at night, but Lila cautioned him about his boasting. She reminded him that anything can and has changed without him even knowing, so even if he goes through the exact path in the day, it's become drastically different at night.
The day's spent with Mike coordinating the time Lena goes to send her art tomorrow night and where she'll be, where everyone else's going to be, and when he finished, he noticed the time as he realized it's dark out.
"Shite," Mike winced as he realized the time's moving faster than expected, but Theodore informed him that it's part of the deal.
The universe's slowly ramping up the time and Mike needed to keep on it for the plan to work.
Mike asked why the universe would've done such a thing, to which Theodore plainly told him that it's part of the balancing, and as much as Mike wanted more time in the day, the universe says otherwise.
"Well, how fast is time going, now?" Mike ask Theodore as he closed his book and checked his pocket watch before saying, "Four minutes a beat. It'll go faster on the third day, Mr. Jenkins."
Artificially, the universe's making time go faster, and putting more pressure on Mike.
It wants everything to go back to normal and Theodore never said it couldn't force Mike's hand further.
Flinching, Mike struggled before begging Theodore to help keep track of time since it's going faster than expected.
Nodding, Theodore agreed to help Mike as he kept an eye on the time for him while keeping an eye on any influx caused by the universe.
Don't know how, but by the time Mike closed his eyes to get enough sleep, when he woke up it's already noon.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Mike ran around the room as he prepped to start his plan.
Theodore reminded him, by pushing his own hand through his chest, going through like nothing's there, that he can't interact with anything or anyone that's not Mike.
"Look, you said the party starts at nine, right, then what time's Lena?" Lila tried to keep Mike leveled as he panicked.
Stopping for a short moment to catch his breath, Mike told her that Lena doesn't send it in until sometime at after six, because the last train that comes through doesn't arrive until a little after.
In the original timeline, Lena missed the post train by ten minutes and couldn't send her art.
The post train doesn't come back through for another few days. Problems of having a small village, they don't get daily mail delivery, and the days they're able to send mail sometimes changes depending on the post master's mood.
Lila asked what made Lena late in the first place and Mike finally told her what happened, as there's clarity in his mind now.
Because of him she's late to the post office, it happened just before the party started, he said things he shouldn't at the goading of his "friends" and they ragged on her until she nearly burst into tears. She forgot the time when she fled to the safety of her home.
"You changed, though, right?" Lila asked if Mike won't fall into the same stupor he did before and won't act cruel around Lena, anymore.
Nodding fervently, Mike insisted he's a changed man... teenager... Lila knows what he means.
"Whatever you're planning, do it now, Mr. Jenkins, time's marching forward whether you like it or not," Theodore prodded him to hurry up and get to where he's going, because time's moving forward faster than expected.
Can't delay it and they're already pushing their luck.
Nodding, Mike thanked Theodore and Lila for their help, and they watched him run out of his bedroom, leaving them to share a look.
Using his father's pocket watch, Theodore sent them ahead, and waited for whatever Mike planned to do.
It'd seem the universe wanted this over and done with and that's expected, it can't keep things as is for long, it must go forward, as is the nature of universes.
Mike ran with his lungs feeling like they're on fire, his breath showing in the cold breeze, his eyes look up ahead and caught sight of Lena walking up the same path. He studied her from afar as he sees that she's carrying her wrapped art piece with the postage on it, prepared for the post.
Lena's caught off-guard as she heard Mike calling for her. She stopped in her spot and turned her head to see Mike heaving as he put his hands on his knees. Concerned, she asked what was wrong and words spilled from Mike's dry mouth as he excitedly exhaled, "Oh, thank god, you didn't miss the deadline!"
Baffled, Lena asked, "Why would I?"
Coughing, Mike held a hand over his mouth, when the coughing subsided, he lowered his hand as he professed, "Lena... I'm... I'm a total knob head... I'm so sorry... for everything... I don't deserve you as a friend... and I'm sorry I never listened to you."
Eying him, Lena shifted in her spot as she asked him, "Mike... are you alright?"
Genuinely, Lena worried something's wrong with Mike, he's changed in day's time, and it's bothering her.
Mike raised his hands as he explained that he made plenty of mistakes in his life, but this time, he's not making anymore mistakes.
"Len... this village... it's no good... for either of us... I was so thick I never realized it until it was too late. I... I don't want to lose you, again," Mike admitted with tears under his eyes as he professes to Lena how the village's the root of their problems.
It's filled with the broken dreams and hopes that've replaced with drugs, the hopelessness infecting the younger generation, and the vicious cycles continue.
Mike never saw it clearly because he grew up in the environment, but now he knows, and he doesn't want to make the same mistakes again that caused him to lose Lena.
Baffled, Lena asked if he's on drugs again, to which he insisted he's not, he's going clean from here on out, and he's making sure Lena gets her chance.
The way it sounds, Lena's having a hard time understanding Mike's story, how he made it sound like Lena left the village at one point. She never left the village at all, wouldn't know where to go from here.
Trying to find answers, Lena asked if he had a nightmare, but Mike told her that he did, and it came true, but now he has a new chance to make things right.
Gently holding her shoulders with his hands, Mike tells her, "We have to get out of here, Len, we can't stay here. We'll never get another chance like this."
Seeing Mike's eyes animate with emotions, Lena sheepishly asked him, "Where would we even go?"
Smiling as tears ran down his face, Mike softly says, "Anywhere!"
He insisted that he and Lena leave the village right then and now, never look back, find their footing elsewhere, even if Lena's still sore with him from all his antics and actions, knowing she didn't despair's good enough for him.
"I... This... I don't know... Mike, we don't have that much money," Lena brought up their situation.
She's already scrapping by as is, barely scrapped enough to pay the postage for her art piece.
Reaching into his pocket, Mike showed her the money he took from his room. He told her while it's not enough for something fancy, it's enough for a new start.
"Well... I'd have to grab a few things from the house... but... Mike... what about the others?" Lena asked about Mike's friends, as she's aware they're close, and Mike scoffed as he explained that they're not his friends.
Pondering to herself, Lena weighed her options before agreeing with Mike's plan. She doesn't have anything tying her to the village anymore since her uncle died and Mike didn't have anyone in his family, either.
Mike wearily asked if she's able to forgive him for all the nonsense he put her through and she smiled warmly before reaching out with her free hand to touch his wet face as she said, "I was just worried I lost you, too."
Checking the time on his da's pocket watch, Mike prodded Lena to hurry, and he went with her to send off her art, talking along the way.
Standing across on the opposite side, Theodore and Lila watched the scene unfold.
"So, what do you think, they have a chance?" Lila asks Theodore as she turned her head towards him as he silently watches the two walking up to the post office.
Smiling, Theodore replied that he thinks they might, but now he and Lila needed to return to the TARDIS, because the universe decreed their deal over.
"Take us away, Ziggy," Lila called out as Theodore used his father's pocket watch to send them back to the TARDIS.
Returning to the console, Theodore set course, and the TARDIS brought them to an area near the same park they left from, a day after by Theodore's account.
Stepping out, they scanned until Theodore spotted two familiar faces having lunch together, older than they were when they last saw them, and two small children playing nearby.
"They work fast," Lila commented as she sees similarities between the children and the two familiar faces.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore replied that things happen, and Lila quipped about him and his siblings.
Shirking in his spot Theodore replied stiltedly, "Things happen."
Watching from afar, he concluded that Mike wasn't talking wasp, he cleaned his act, managed to court Lena, and now they're as happy as a clam.
"What do you think happened to the village?" Lila wondered as Theodore watched the children play near the play set.
Theodore told her that like all villages before it, it'll just turn into a creaky mess that you wouldn't notice was a village until you check a map. It'll grow even smaller than it did when Mike and Lena lived in it until it's so small, that when the last person dies or finally moves on, it'll become a ghost.
Checking the time, Theodore prodded Lila to return with him back inside the TARDIS, their deal complete, and now they needed to return to the city.
Work's never over and with his brother, that's especially apparent.
The TARDIS disappeared from the area and for a moment, Mike glimpsed over to the area the TARDIS stood, and quietly smiles before he's besieged by his two children.
THE END