Mae ran up to the counter of the store, the door shutting behind her. Bea quickly looked up from her phone.
"A guy from the cult just came up to me and asked me to come to the mine at three in the morning!" Mae hurriedly sputtered.
"What? Slow down," Bea advised, putting her phone in her pocket.
"A guy. From the cult. Came up to me. And asked me. To come by. The mine. At three. In the morning," Mae panted.
"Really now?" Bea humored Mae.
"Yes!" Mae continued.
"Mae, I think that you need to get some more sleep," Bea said.
"What?! This isn't some made up garbage! I'm not crazy! I even asked Germ and he thinks it's possible that the cult's back!" Mae anxiously shouted.
"Okay, let's pretend the cult is coming back. Why would they want you?" Bea asked.
"I don't know! That's why I'm panicking!" Mae continued.
"Well, don't," Bea said.
"Well, I am!" Mae yelled.
Bea quietly chuckled. "Calm down. I'll come with you to the mine," Bea mentioned.
Mae sighed, "Okay. Alright. But, uh, could you maybe stay with me until then?"
"Why?" Bea wondered.
"I'm really nervous about being around in town. I feel unsafe. The cultists could be anywhere," Mae worried.
"Heh, alright, you cutie," Bea flirted.
Mae lingered around the 'Ol Pickaxe until closing. The sun had begun to set and the couple inside was running out of things to talk about.
"Okay, that makes no sense," Bea said, beginning to close up.
"What? Of course it does!" Mae responded.
"No, it doesn't. Garbo and Malloy is not filmed in an alternate universe," Bea continued.
"But have you ever seen Garbo and Malloy somewhere other than the show?" Mae thought.
"No, but that has nothing to do with it," Bea said.
"It has everything to do with it," Mae exaggerated.
Bea chuckled, "Okay, okay. Maybe it does. But, we gotta go either way. It's closing time."
"Okay," Mae said, following Bea towards the door.
"So," Bea started, locking the door behind her as she exited, "do you still wanna stay with me?"
"What do you mean?" Mae asked, confused.
"You know, the mine, cultists, three in the morning?" Bea continued.
"Oh, jeez. I forgot about that." Mae explained, "Yeah, that'd be good."
"Alright, then I guess we're heading to my place," Bea said, starting to walk towards her home.
The two arrived at Bea's before long, and Mae instantly felt her fatigue catch up with her; her sleeping patterns had become practically nonexistent. And so, after asking permission from Bea, she passed out on the couch in the living room, which was okay, as Bea's dad was again, absent. Bea grabbed Mae's phone, unlocked it, and texted Mae's mom.
"Hey this is Bea. Maes sleeping at my apartment tonight."
"Okay. Don't do anything too crazy!"
"Ha we wont."
Bea put down Mae's phone and picked up her own. She had to keep herself awake until three. Jeez, why did she agree to this? The cult wasn't back, and all she was doing was furthering Mae's paranoia! But, if this could possibly stop Mae's crazy conspiracy theories, then it could be worth it. Even if it meant missing most of her sleep.
Bea ran out of social medias to check, and texted Gregg, even though he probably wouldn't respond at midnight.
"hey"
Bea got up and grabbed herself some water from the fridge, before sitting down and noticing that Gregg had responded. Wow. He was still awake?
"yo bea"
Bea used the opportunity to ask about Mae.
"hey has mae been texting you recently?"
"no why"
"maes been thinking that the cult is coming back for days now"
"is it?"
"no and im worried about her. Is there a good psychologist I could send her to? other than dr hank?"
"aw jeez its that bad?"
"kinda, her sleeping is all out of order she keeps talking about the cult and now shes seen it and now she wants to head down to the mine in 3 hours"
"well shit have you told her parents"
"no shes told germ though"
"should we head back to possum springs for a bit"
"no I dont think so"
"alright well text me after she goes to see the mine"
"alright can do"
Bea put the phone down. She let her head rest back onto the cool counter behind her. Was she doing enough? Should she have scheduled a meeting with Dr. Hank anyway? Should she have told Mae's parents? Was she helping at all? She was truly worried about Mae, and it seemed like she wasn't doing enough to help her. Jeez, she was a terrible friend. A terrible girlfriend. A terrible friend and a terrible girlfriend.
It was about ten minutes before three, and Bea decided it was time to nudge Mae awake.
"Hey, Mae, wake up," Bea quietly said, poking the sleeping cat.
"Myeh. I don't want to," Mae moaned.
"Well, you wanna see the mine, don't you?" Bea asked.
"No… Yes… Maybe… I don't know…" Mae thought.
"Well, get up," Bea advised.
"...Fine," Mae agreed, slowly sitting up. She rubbed her eyes and yawned before standing up. She put her shoes on and followed Bea out the door.
"So what do you think's gonna happen?" Bea questioned, curious as to what Mae actually thought.
"Uh, no idea. Maybe they'll try to kill me?" Mae thought, nervously fiddling with a string from her shirt.
"Well, if that's what you think they'll do to you, then why go at all?" Bea asked.
Mae bluntly answered, giving no second thought to it, "Because I'm more nervous about what they'll do to me if I don't go."
The two continued in silence. Mae was too anxious and busy thinking to start any conversations. Bea was too nervous about Mae to continue the conversation.
The two arrived to the mine. Everything was quiet. No construction equipment. No noise. No movement.
At least, there wasn't any at first.
Something moved, very slightly, nearly a simple twitch, near the mine's entrance: a figure, cloaked in both darkness and a robe.
Mae noticed it without flinching, without blinking. Her anxiety was too much more pressing, and she stood against her biggest fear and enemy without blinking. Sometime in the last several hours her panicky nervousness had turned into a silent, static fear. And that alone was something to be nervous about.
Bea barely saw it, but she couldn't believe it. It was too tall to be a raccoon or mouse, too still to be a bear, too robed to be a construction worker. Mae was right. She wasn't insane. She didn't need a psychologist, at least, as much as Bea thought. This was the cult. They were here, and Bea was terrified.
The two were silent and unmoving for what felt like an eternity, before a quiet, raspy, southern voice broke the silence, "Are y'all just gonna sit there?"
Neither female wanted answer; neither even felt that they could. But, Bea filled in the role, regardless.
"N—No…" Bea stuttered.
The voice laughed, before breaking out into a fit of arid coughing. "Get over here! I ain't gonna bite!"
Bea hesitated, before grabbing Mae's hand and walking over towards the opening.
"Hey," Bea quietly said.
"Well, hi," the cultist spoke, paradoxically cheery.
"What do you want with us?" Mae asked.
"Oh, well, we'll be gettin' to that soon, but right now let's head into the mine," the cultist explained.
The cultist began walking into the dark mine. Bea and Mae hesitated, before Mae grabbed Bea's hand and follows.
"So, have y'all got any questions fer me?" the cultist asked, continuing to walk.
"How are you still alive? Did you not die in the cave in? Or the explosion?" Mae quickly asked.
"Well, we all got out. Y'all lived, didn't cha?" the cultist explained.
"Okay, what about all the rubble? How'd you get the construction equipment? Why was there rubble over the entrance every day even though you were digging every night?" Mae continued.
"Well, one of us knows a guy, and we put some rubble over the openin' every day so that no annoyin' kids caught us before we were ready," the cultist said.
The three made it to the elevator and headed down.
"What about this elevator? How'd you get it working?" Mae continued, trying desperately to get some information that she could use to prove that the cult wasn't back. Something that she could use to show that this was a hoax. A lie.
"We just replaced it," the cultist explained, the overhead light shining down upon them, creating eerie shadows on the elevator's floor.
"Why'd you come back? Why go through all the effort to come back to get back to the mine?" Mae asked, now having audible straining in her voice. She was anxious and scared. She was practically begging for someone to tell her that this was fake.
"Well, you know the tornada that came through here? That was because we hadn't fed 'im," the cultist said, nearly smugly.
"But… what do you want with me?! Why have you been taunting me?! Mocking me?! Following me and getting in my head all over again?!" Mae screamed, tears welling in her eyes, the red light above shimmering in them.
The elevator hit the ground below.
"That's not us gettin' in yer head. That's 'im. He's hungry and angry," the cultist explained.
"Then what do you want with me?! What does he want with me?! Are you going to kill me?!" Mae cried out.
The three continued to stand in the elevator. Bea wrapped her arms around Mae, attempting to comfort her. The cultist looked directly at Mae, and even though the robe covered their face, Mae could feel their eyes peer into her very being.
"Naw, we're not gonna kill you." the cultist grimly said, "We're gonna recruit you."