Mable: Here we are! The second chapter this week! I hope you Enjoy! ^-^

Almost Feels Like Home

Chapter Five

"When are you coming back to school?"

The question felt sudden even though it was so expected. Charlie was still stirring at her mug silently, staring down at the overly sweetened and watered-down coffee-based drink she had bought to wake herself up. Nothing to eat though, for she had lost her appetite. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the concern of her friend, or was surprised by it, but it was hard to actively talk around everything. She didn't know whether she wanted to say what she knew or not, and there were just some things she couldn't talk about.

Jessica had been Charlie's closest friend for years. They had basically grown up together, reached quite a few milestones together, and Jessica had been a good, supportive friend. However, it felt like since the revelations of her father appeared, they had almost begun to deviate. Then again, Charlie felt almost distant from everyone after children started going missing. Suspicion, confusion, questions she couldn't answer; Charlie was slowly falling apart. She wanted answers she couldn't get. She wanted a truth that she would never have access to.

"Soon." So, she continued to avoid the truth.

"Good. You don't want to fall too far behind," Jessica said. She almost seemed relieved, but their attempt at small talk wasn't necessarily easing either of them. "I just… I think you've got to let this go. You've practically been living in this town for months. I've seen your old house; it's not exactly…" Charlie knew what she meant. The house was still in a state of 'work in progress', even though she was still staying in it. Her aunt had been living with her for a while, but even she had left. Nobody wanted to think about the old house, the old family, or Freddy's anymore.

Except Charlie couldn't let it go. "I know. It won't be much longer, I just need to get everything settled. It'll be nice to get back to a normal schedule." That was a lie, but she was fine with lying if she would eventually believe it. "Have you talked with Marla?"

"No. They've pretty much been away from the house whenever I've tried to call. They're still looking for whatever leads they can," Jessica said. A family still looking for a lost child. They were probably terrified now that it had been five days, and Charlie was as well. However, her fear stemmed from whoever would be next. There was no doubt that there would be someone else in her eyes.

Then her thoughts returned to Marionette. He had said that he was going with Mike to stake out the theater in case it was the location of whatever was happening, and Charlie was just aware enough that he only told her to keep her back. The Puppet had told her the truth and let her into their reality, but just as quickly held her at arm's length under the intention of keeping her safe. She knew this, which was why she hadn't asked if she could go with them. Yet now that she thought about it, the idea was remarkably tempting.

"Have you talked with John? He's been calling about you," Jessica pointed out. She tried lightening the mood, "He's got it bad. It's one thing when he's calling you, but him calling me to get to you is a whole other story. What exactly did you to do together that has him so hooked?" The girl sent her friend a teasing smile and for a moment Charlie was able to send it back. It felt good to smile again.

"We were talking about going hiking this summer, but things have changed. Jason's more important than trying to climb through Zion." She hesitated a moment. Then se exhaled tiredly and propped up her head with her hand, her fingers threading into her hair. "I've got to get my act together."

"Spending five hours hiking across a dry canyon under the baking sun… I can't say that's my idea of a date but it could be fun. It is literally a hot date, if you think about it," Jessica quipped. It was clear that she was trying to keep the mood light, but Charlie had a suspicion that she was building to something with it. Probably another question was coming that Charlie wouldn't want to answer. "Do you want me to come over tonight?" Because it was the fifth day and she suspected that Charlie was going to be out looking for answers. She knew her much too well.

"No. I'll be fine. I'm just going to call it a night early and stay by the phone in case Marla calls with an update," Charlie reassured. It wasn't entirely a lie because, as it was, she wasn't sure what she was planning on doing. Sitting at home was a safe bet, as it always seemed that she ended up retreating in the end. "But I can call you later."

"Please do." Jessica's face betrayed her concern. "Maybe call John too? I don't want to shove you two together, but he really is worried about you."

"I know…" Charlie looked back down at the table. "…I will. I just need to get my head together first. I don't want to call him while I'm distracted, or he'll get the wrong idea." This sounded like it made enough sense, even if it was just an excuse to buy her time. She started to stand from the table. "I should get going. I have to stop and pick up a few things before I head home."

"Oh, okay," Jessica quietly said. She looked down at her meal and contemplated whether to wrap and take it with her or abandon it. Charlie certainly wasn't hungry, but perhaps she was. Perhaps Charlie had rushed them both in and out, but she felt so restless. It was almost as though she was running out of the café just to avoid the chance of a question she couldn't answer. Charlie really did rely so much on Jessica for her support, but this all felt like something she had to handle on her own… Though she wasn't too unused to that.

The prospect of family life was always broken when it came to Charlie. She had lived with her aunt for years to supplement a family and learned much from her, but the price was that constant sense of being on her own. Her aunt's both involved and off-hand parenting tactics had led to Charlie feeling both loved and partially like a burden. As though her aunt did care for her but was waiting for the right moment to push her out on her own, so that she would get her own life back once more.

Then there were her parents. For years Charlie had resented her father because she had thought his death was more of his own fault. That he had effectively abandoned the family, and now was struggling to acknowledge that this wasn't the case. Recently her resentment switched to her mother, who she had lost contact with for years. Perhaps she could've tried to see where she went or what she was doing, but Charlie had decided not to, and finding out about the truth of this 'Golden Freddy' had not changed any of that.

Then there was the Puppet. The Puppet was the wrench in the works. The Puppet was the one who had abruptly made everything so complicated with the truth. She knew to keep a distance, to keep from getting sucked into this world that her father helped create, but the mere existence of Marionette coaxed her in. He was too human to be an animatronic, all while living in an animatronic's body. The confirmation of an existence of ghosts, of the secrets behind Freddy's. So foreign, so confusing, and slowly letting her see behind the curtain just a bit before yanking the curtain closed again to shield her.

Charlie had the intense desire to call Marionette and insist to go with him and Mike. Yet she still held her ground. After all, it wasn't just about her desires and wishes. It was about her friend's brother being stolen away and vanishing without a trace. Jason was a smart kid; he wouldn't have left with a stranger without something else at play. As for the other kids, from the news reports they were much too young to protest someone grabbing and dragging them off.

She unlocked the front door and stepped into her family home, toting her single bag of groceries, and disappeared back into the darkness.

Henry had not left much behind for her to find, so if he wanted her to know something then it wasn't obvious. Most of his old file cabinets had been emptied and his computer had been wiped, leaving little trace of his information behind- not that she went into his office for long. Whatever he had been doing was obviously not for Charlie to see, and the only thing she had left were a few broken down toys that she had shoved into her closet and locked away. She didn't even want to look at them anymore. Some of them could speak; she didn't want to hear their broken voices.

With a weary exhale, Charlie dropped onto the couch and stared at the ceiling fan. She felt empty and like she needed to be doing something, but she didn't know what that was. Maybe call John, and while she wanted to she felt reluctant to do so. She wanted to tell him what was going on, but she couldn't. She knew that she couldn't tell anyone what was happening. Again, she felt alone. She had to do something, to find something.

It was then that Charlie had a spark of inspiration. With that wild sort of determination, she got off the couch and headed into her father's office once again. Her heart was pounding as she started to yank open the drawers in his desk and search for anything she had missed before. "There must be something in here that he left behind…" She didn't know who disposed of all the information in the house, but she was silently cursing them as she became even more desperate. Yet other than a couple of dusty audio tapes shoved into the bottom drawer, she found nothing that stood out.

There was a tape player on the desk. However, the old box of tapes that her father had recorded had been taken by her aunt many years ago. They were long gone by now, but the two lost tapes remained. She fumbled over them before randomly choosing one of them and slipping it into the player. She hesitated only a moment, considering what she was doing, and then pressed the play button.

"-Six fifteen AM," a robotic female voice began. It sounded like a recording message that had been cut off. It was then followed by an unfamiliar male voice. "Henry, I just got down here to the pizzeria and I found- Oh geez, don't move! I- I found Will and he's- he's in one of the suits! It clamped down on him and it's-!" There was a scuffling, a groaning in the background, and panicked breathing and stuttering from the caller. "I'm calling an ambulance right now," the man insisted.

"No, you're not. Just get me the crank. I can't reach it," a wheezing, strained voice said from the background. Charlie had to lean in closer to hear it from how faint it was in the panting. "Put that phone down and help me!"

"Oh, dear Lord, there's blood everywhere!" the man started to panic. "Henry, get down here! He's dying! I can't-!" The voice was muffled as he set down the phone. There were some strange noises before the call abruptly ended. For a moment Charlie just sat there, then she started to reach for the other tape. If not for a second recording beginning. This one was cut off at the time stamp as well, as though someone purposefully was blocking the dates.

"-Eight thirty-five AM- Henry, it's me. Listen, the suits need tightening and I don't have time to do it before we open." It was odd, but Charlie vaguely thought she recognized the accented voice, but then assumed that she was mistaken. "I'll get to it after work, but from what Scott said, he's lined up as the backup if we don't go on stage. Now maybe you want to risk your life climbing in before it gets maintenance, but I'm not going to stand aside and let Scott try to shove himself into one. Call me back." Once again, the message cut off, and she waited to see if there would be another message. To her disappointment, there wasn't.

"Why even save these?" Charlie wondered as she took the tape out. "Was it evidence about the suits malfunctioning?... But if he knew the suits were this broken, why did he get into them again?" She exhaled wearily and put it back in the drawer. "Maybe Aunt Jen saved it for insurance or something like that… She didn't take it with her either way." With a sigh, she set the other tape into the machine. She expected another set of seemingly inconsequential calls, but that was not what came. There was crackling for a few moments and an uneasy silence. Then a voice came that she almost didn't expect.

"Sometimes I just think about ending it."

It had been so long, and she had been young, but Charlie somehow recognized the voice on the tape. She remembered it from the voice of one of her toys, from her dreams, from her father. It was Henry.

"Just having to get up day after day and return to the restaurant is a waking nightmare. As though I must experience the same pain over and over again after what I let happen. I look into those children's eyes and see my son, and I wonder… I wonder if he's still out there somewhere. If one of them is him… But I'm not that delusional yet, nor am I that desperate. I'll keep on going as I have… And maybe if this all works out as planned, I'll have the evidence I need to protect others before they too get forced to suffer such a terrible loss…"

The tape clicked off and Charlie stared down at the player emptily. So that was it; the message from her father, written to nobody, saying little more than that he was suffering over the loss of her twin. Her stomach twisted as she sat down in the office chair and looked to the desk. There wasn't much else to say or think; Henry had kept going back to get answers and lost his life because of it. Though him sparing the lives of others was unknown. Marionette said that children died after that, so it seemed like he saved nobody in the end.

…But perhaps she could.

Something shut off internally. Charlie didn't know if it was her rationality or what it was, but she made her decision then. She spoke to Jessica later and assured her that all was well, and then went through her evening like it was a normal night. It wouldn't be a normal night though. She sat prone, waiting, watching the clock as time ticked down towards the closing time of Foxy's Pizzeria. That was when Marionette said he was going to the theater, after work, and thus a few moments before she assumed he was to leave she got her keys and left the house.

Marionette couldn't tell her no if she was already there.

The lights were already off at the theater and it was completely deserted. Charlie even doubted that it had been opened that day at all. Or if it did, they had left some time ago. She parked at the far corner of the parking lot where her car wouldn't be as noticeable and began to wait yet again. From where she was, she could see a small light in the back of the establishment, which meant that it was possible someone was there. This only made her more determined to wait in the car until the others arrived. No need to blow their cover even before they were there.

There was the distant rumbling of thunder that foreshadowed coming rain. The clouds had been thick all evening and it had gotten darker earlier than it was supposed to; fitting. Her eyes drifted back to the cell phone resting in the passenger seat. Slowly she reached over and lifted the phone, contemplating whether or not it was worth using, and then made her decision. She quickly dialed the number and hesitated as it rung and was almost relieved when it went to voicemail. John was probably in the shower or in the other room, which gave her enough time to leave a message and turn off her phone before getting a call back.

"John, it's me, Charlie… Look, I… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry I've been so distracted. There's been some things going on… It's all been a little too much to handle. I just needed some space to work all of this out," Charlie said. She looked over the parking lot to make sure it was still safe. "…But I think that after tonight it's going to get better. Maybe we could hang out this weekend? I don't care what we do, it would just be nice to hang out again… So, okay, I'm going to let you go." Her thumb hovered over the end call button, "Talk to you later."

The message ended as quickly as the ones had on the tape. Charlie was left in silence.

While the front doors hadn't been locked yet, Foxy's was clearly closed. It was completely devoid of children and families, save for Chrissy, but it wasn't too unheard of for her to be staying a bit past closing. Jeremy had just finished cleaning off the tables and was currently gathering up the Minireenas into his arms.

"Head's up, Lad. We got company," Foxy forewarned. He was currently leaning against the stage, looking much too casual for a normal animatronic, but made no attempt to hide it. Jeremy looked to him briefly and then looked over to see a familiar woman walking through the door.

Louise didn't always come to get her mother from work but seeing her wander in wasn't too surprising. She noticed Jeremy and sent him a smile. "Hey there, Jerm! Good day today?" Her smile grew into a more playful one, "Mom didn't rough anyone up, did she?"

"Not anymore than usual," Jeremy answered jokingly. He quickly set the Minireenas down and turned to face the woman, effectively blocking her view of the tiny dolls. "I'm guessing you're hear to take her off our hands."

"That's the idea!" Louise chirped and continued towards the kitchen. She pushed open the door and called in, "Mom, your chauffeur is here!"

Jeremy took her distraction to turn around towards the Minireenas, only to now notice that one of them was missing from the stage. "…What?" He looked around the floor. "Rose?" Concern quickly turned to panic, especially with Louise still in the building. "Rose?!"

"Over here, Lad," Foxy spoke. Jeremy looked over to see Rose currently climbing up Foxy's leg and towards his waist. The relief was immediate, and Jeremy exhaled patiently before picking up Daisy and Forget-Me-Not into his arms. He leaned in to grab the pink dressed doll, but at the last second, she scooted around the leg and tried to disappear behind Foxy.

"It's time to go home, Rose. We'll be back tomorrow," Jeremy assured. He wrapped his fingers gently around her waist and tried to pull her free, to which Rose proceeded to hold on and make fussy noises. "You can play with Foxy tomorrow," he tried to convince, but she was having none of it. If anything, she only seemed more determined to keep herself stuck to the captain. "I think she's getting a little attached," Jeremy awkwardly joked, trying to ignore how embarrassing the situation was.

"That be one way of puttin' it," Foxy said. He seemed less than concerned and made little effort to help him or stop the doll. If anything, he only took amusement out of the struggling.

"I think she's trying to get under your suit." That amusement disappeared immediately. In an instant, Foxy reached back, grabbed the Minireena, and smoothly pulled her back off, ignoring her fussy noises. He handed her over as she thumped against his fist with her tiny hands. "And here comes the tantrum…" Jeremy gave a small sigh but smiled a little at it as well. After all, this wasn't the first time that one of the Minireenas had an episode, and Rose usually was well behaved.

Foxy straightened a little as Jeremy tucked the doll into his arms, then tapped the human on the arm with his hook and gestured towards the Prize Corner. The young man followed the motion and looked to see Marionette half leaning out of Prize Corner door. He was looking towards the kitchen while beckoning towards them. Jeremy looked to Foxy questioningly, who gestured with his head, insinuating that Marionette wanted him. Then the man headed over, still toting the dolls.

"Jeremy, where's Mike? I can't risk leaving the Prize Corner with Louise here," Marionette asked desperately. His voice was full of concern and showed that something was on his mind. For a moment Jeremy thought maybe the Puppet was suddenly worried about Louise being around Mike, but then logic drove this away. Ever since establishing their own relationship, Marionette had not seemed worried about Mike's friendships with others. It had to be something else.

"I think he's in the office with Fritz and Natalie going over the receipts. Three heads are better than one calculator, you know?" Jeremy lightly joked back. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I don't want to take him away from work, but someone needs to take Chrissy home. She can't ride home tonight," Marionette insisted. He then looked to Jeremy, paused a moment, and quietly added, "It's the fifth day."

Jeremy knew immediately what he meant. They had all been on edge for the missing children and the possibility of a five-day pattern had been looming over them during the workdays. While Jeremy hadn't remembered that this was the fifth day until now, as he hadn't been keeping track since the last disappearance, he understood the weight of it. Tonight was a dangerous night.

"I'll go tell him," Jeremy agreed. "If you can just let me put the girls in the car." He gestured to the dolls in his grasp. Daisy moved to the front of the three and reached towards Marionette with a giggle for a greeting. Marionette managed a slight smile as he reached to her, touching a finger against her tiny hand.

"Of course. You three were wonderful today," Marionette said to the Minireenas. He then reached out to affectionately pat their heads one by one, to which they gave pleasant giggles. Even Rose, who seemed to have calmed down the slightest bit, seemingly forgetting her desire to stay with Foxy. The Puppet started to reach out like he was planning on picking up one of the dolls, but then froze when he heard footsteps coming. In an instant, he e moved back into the corner and out of line of sight. Louise didn't even get a chance to notice him as she stepped by.

Though she did notice the Minireenas. "Aww, I didn't know that you got to bring these ones home!" she chirped as she leaned in to look closer at them. They stayed passively still to Jeremy's relief and didn't move even enough to believe they were anything beyond mannequins. "You're so lucky. All Mom brings home is leftover birthday cake."

"Well, you know, cake's not as much of a handful as these are," Jeremy scrambled out. "Could you open the front door for me?" Louise agreed without a hitch and propped open the front door to let him out. "Thanks. Are you… Sticking around a while?"

"Just long enough for Mom to wrap everything up. Literally," Louise quipped as she let the door shut behind them. Jeremy nodded in understanding and headed to his car, vaguely watching as Louise got into her own car's driver's seat to wait for Tabitha to come out. It was clear that she wasn't paying attention- she was currently reapplying lip-gloss- so Jeremy turned his focus back to the Minireenas.

"Alright, Girls. Just be patient and I'll be back in a couple of minutes, okay? Captain Foxy probably needs me to check in with him too before we're ready to go," Jeremy suggested with a smile. Yet even in this semi-carefree moment, he noticed the front door opening again and looked over to see Chrissy coming out of the front door. The girl hurried over to her locked-up bike and started to fit her helmet over her head. Jeremy's eyes widened, and he stood upright to call to her. "Chrissy, Mike's going to take you home!"

"It's okay!" Chrissy called back as she put her bicycle chain into her basket and wheeled it off the sidewalk. "I can ride really fast. I'll be faster than Foxy!"

"I know, but it's so dark…" Jeremy was hesitant to let her go. "Chrissy, please. At least see Mari before you go." She must've not heard him and thus didn't take the bait. Instead, she waved to him and started to peddle down the parking lot. He sighed and looked down at the Minireenas for a moment before looking back at the girl on the bike. In a way she was just like them and could be just as stubborn as they were when she wanted to be so. Even as she started across the parking lot, she was determined to stay independent. Jeremy watched her go.

So, he saw the car come out from beside Foxy's and jolt towards her. He choked out a half warning as he watched the car screech to a halt in the girl's way. Chrissy managed to turn her bike to keep herself from impacting and was left teetering, only barely catching herself with her leg. For a moment Jeremy thought that disaster had been averted, not taking into consideration the situation at hand. An old car with chipped paint had just peeled out from beside the pizzeria and cut off a girl on a bicycle. He should've known something was wrong.

The driver's door swung open and thin arms reached out and grabbed ahold of Chrissy. She gave a cry of alarm as the man tried to yank her into the car.

Within an instant, Jeremy was sprinting across the parking lot towards the car. "Stop!" he called out, watching as the girl disappeared into the car. Before the man could drive off, Jeremy was half into the driver's seat and fighting with the man.

Louise had spotted the scene and was also rushing across the parking lot. While she was more panicked- calling out with, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"- she rationalized enough to pull out a bottle of mace and started spraying at the driver. Jeremy unintentionally got a lungful of the peppery substance and fought through it, blinded but determined, and a few blows were exchanged. At wasn't enough. Before Jeremy knew it, he fell back onto the concrete with what felt like would become a black eye. Louise had no chance and was only able to empty more of the mace onto the man before the door slammed.

Jeremy tried to get back up even as the car started to peel off, but he wasn't nearly as fast as the footsteps beside him. He didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified when Foxy blew by. "Foxy!"

The animatronic was quick and just managed to catch up with the tail end of the car. With a swing of his hook, he broke through the taillight, but couldn't get a grip on the car. The car continued to speed off. To both Jeremy's horror and desperate hope, Foxy continued his speed and virtually disappeared around a corner, still in pursuit. He didn't seem to realize what danger he was putting himself in if he was seen.

Then again, neither did Marionette. Right before the car disappeared around the corner, Marionette teleported out to the edge of the parking lot and was watching the disappearing car. He twitched lightly, seemingly frozen in place, either by shock, by being out in the open, or by Louise watching. Though when Jeremy looked back, Louise was more pacing in panic than realizing that the animatronics were moving of their own free will. She probably wasn't a factor, but Marionette was stuck. He couldn't teleport fast enough to get into a moving car that he had never been in.

Marionette knew that Chrissy had been taken and he couldn't do anything.

"What happened?!" Mike came running out of Foxy's with some of the others following behind. Seeing Jeremy still on the ground, still in shock and maced, he hurried to him. "Jeremy, what the hell is going on?!"

"Someone grabbed Chrissy!" Jeremy choked out. He coughed into his fist and only now noticed the burning in his throat. "Foxy took after him! Some guy- thin, white guy in a car with its paint peeling!" But as soon as he heard 'thin and white' he knew Jeremy meant Dave, who was just gaunt and pale enough to stand out.

"It was Dave! I knew it! I knew that stupid son of a-!" Mike cut off his venting and looked to Louise. "Louise, cell phone?!"

"In the car," Louise answered. She was trembling as she stood there. "Oh my God, I can't believe this is happening!"

"Call the cops! Tell them it's a guy named Dave Miller and that he might be heading over to Magictime Theater, or wherever he lives!" Mike directed. The woman nodded and hurried to her car to do so and he looked to Marionette, then sprinted to him. He snapped the Puppet out of his trance by grabbing his wrist and shoving his keys into his hand. "You can get to the car first! Get in the car, get it started, we'll go after him!" As stunned as Marionette was, he listened to the command and vanished, and Mike sprinted to the side of the building.

"I'll go after in my car!" Jeremy called after Mike as he fumbled to his feet and tried to get to his car. He wiped his face with his sleeve and tried to erase the burning, "I'll look for Foxy!" Same difference; he doubted that Foxy would lose sight of the car.

The car was started as Mike flung himself into the driver's side and peeled out of the parking lot. "Which way?!" he asked. The Puppet didn't respond, and Mike glanced to him. "Mari, which way?!"

"I don't know!" Marionette finally forced out. With it poured static, dialing tones, and distorted music as he spiraled into panic. "I don't know! I don't know what happened!" the Puppet cried. Though after a few moments in the outburst, he seemed to somehow pull himself together, and did so by pointing down the road. "That way. He took a left at the end."

"Got it." Mike started to speed down the road, trying not to fully freak out and focus on the road. "He probably went towards Magictime Theater."

"Why would he go back?" Marionette pitifully asked. "He took a child from there, why would he go back? He could already be halfway to his home." He then gave a choke, "Why would he come here?!"

"Then we'll just catch up with him," Mike affirmed. He gave a frustrated huff. "What is he even thinking coming here?! I knew the moment I saw that creep-…!" He gave a weary exhale and forced himself to go silent. He was unwilling to keep venting when he needed to focus. He continued circling the area, searching for any sign of the car or Foxy, but they had effectively lost both. "And Foxy's gone too. Beautiful."

"I was supposed to protect her…" Marionette's voice sounded broken. It was heavy with cracking and haziness. "I knew he was coming and I couldn't even protect my little girl. I let her walk out alone…" He clasped his hands onto his mask and bowed over, trying to will back the purple tears that were beginning to well into his eyes. "I let the Purple Man take her away!"

"She's not gone. We haven't lost her yet," Mike insisted as he kept his eyes on the road. "Yeah, maybe we screwed up- I should've driven her home an hour ago; what was I thinking?" He looked to the Puppet and forced optimism past his usual realistic view. "She's still alive and we know who has her. We're going to get her back and we're skinning that pale, scab covered freak alive!" Blue eyes scanned over the road. "He couldn't have gotten that far… Who am I kidding? He's probably waiting for us to follow. It's like he wanted to be caught."

It was then that Marionette gave a strange full-body shudder and sat upright against the passenger seat. His eyes glowed and his pupils snapped around as his static quieted down. Mike noticed the strange gesture, "What's going on?"

"…I know where she is," Marionette suddenly revealed. He grew more worked up as he looked around. "I know where she is! I know exactly where she is!" He pointed back behind them. "Find a place to turn around- they're on the road to the theater! They have to be!"

"That was sudden! What changed?!" Mike asked. He didn't argue though as he turned off to make a quick, but legal U-turn. While they were turning, it suddenly came to him. "Wait, you don't mean the bracelet-?"

"She's such a good girl. She turned it on as soon as she could," Marionette said in confirmation. He could feel the pulsing coaxing him after her. "Hurry, there's still time!"

This was their only chance to stop the past from repeating itself.

Mable: I feel like we should take a moment to acknowledge that Jeremy was punched and maced and still intends to drive. That's either foolish or admirable… But I'm not exactly certain which one. Just a moment, because that might be all we have before the worst becomes a reality. The next chapter will be finished soon.