Trent sat down at his desk, turned on his laptop, and then sat and stared at it for a long moment.
He had a list of things to do basically every morning now, and progress to be made just about every day.
It occurred to him, very suddenly, that this was absolutely crazy.
Slowly, he turned and looked out the window, onto a town that he had barely even known existed before six months ago. In a way that it sometimes did, it occurred to him the absolute totality of how his life had changed. Barely fifteen feet from where he sat, an awesome woman who was his girlfriend slept naked. A bit farther to the left from her was another awesome woman who was also his girlfriend was showering. Downstairs, eating breakfast and working at her editing job, a third awesome woman, who was also his girlfriend, sat.
He was sitting down at his laptop, in his office, in his own house that he legally owned, to begin working through a series of tasks related to writing novels for money, and a social life. A car that he legally owned, bought and paid for, sat in the driveway.
Six months ago, almost literally none of that was true.
Everything was so different, pretty much all of it for the better. Sure, he'd had to get shot and almost killed, and had to deal with the fact that not only was he now pretty secure in his belief that there was no God, but also that there actually existed Lovecraftian nightmares somewhere out there, one of which was within a dozen miles of his home and might someday come for him, but all in all...it was worth it.
Trent turned away from the window and got to work. He had things to do and the time for musing was not now. Although that didn't stop thoughts from leaking in as he began. First thing, he checked over his chattrbox. It was pretty much the default way they all communicated now if it wasn't via text over the phone. He had a few messages. One was from someone who had just discovered him and wanted to tell him how much they loved his work, but they were looking for the first Demontower novel and couldn't find it.
This happened a lot now. He typed out a response and let them know what was happening, then hoped that they didn't get pissed off that they missed the window where it was free to all. Trent didn't particularly like the idea of locking things behind paywalls...but he did like the idea of being able to pay his bills and help his girlfriends live the lifestyle they wanted and be able to help people who needed it.
Another message was Tabby.
Trent! I just found Mayday's 'special' video on and you. Are. SCANDALOUS! Absolutely scandalous! And I fucking love that. I'm a pervert and I hope it doesn't damage our working relationship, but I just wanted to say I want more. Also, Demontower I is officially finalized. Editing, cover, synopsis, and I will be making the pre-order page live tonight at midnight. Normally I hate pre-orders as a concept but I've come to understand it's different in the world of writing, so I'm giving it a shot.
He laughed and considered all that for a moment. It felt incredibly strange that his business partner had just listened to him having sex with not one, but two of his girlfriends. Or that he had a business partner.
He toyed around with a response for a bit before responding.
That's awesome, and I'm pretty sure there's gonna be more. I'm glad you liked it.
That felt really weird to type in response to her asking to hear him having sex more, but he genuinely didn't know what else to say.
There were a few other fans that he was in semi-regular contact with, some of which were actually in Possum Springs, and there was also Lori. She didn't talk frequently, but usually she fired off updates on the movie. According to her, it was getting kind of close to being finished.
And, finally, there was a message from Mae, even though they lived in the same house: lol your my boyfriend and hot
He laughed and shot off an equally silly response, then started checking his e-mail. When that was over, he checked his sales. Not a lot of people had or were buying the shorts collection, but the two novels he had out got at least a few sales every day, with the occasional spike. It was, altogether, averaging between two and five hundred dollars per month. Not enough to live on, but also a lot better than he'd expected, and he had the idea that it was going to get better with the release of the Demontower books.
And, with that in mind, he spent the next hour working on the series. With Demontower II finished, at least in terms of writing, still going through editing on Tabby's end, he had begun planning the third one. It was a bit more complicated and now that he was actually publishing this stuff and had a huge audience, he was a lot more nervous about the quality of the work. He was trying not to let it slow him down too much, but that was difficult.
Somewhere around noon, he stopped work because he heard something odd.
Mae, getting up. He waited for a moment, wondering if she was just going to the bathroom before going back to bed, because that happened sometimes, but she came to stand in his doorway after she visited the bathroom.
"Hey," he said, "you okay?"
"I am," she replied, looking a little anxious, "like...I feel good. I feel awake. It's noon...it is noon, right?"
"It's noon," he confirmed.
"I...is this the meds?"
"Good chance."
"I'm a little nervous."
"That's understandable. You took them for today?" he asked.
"Yeah, right after pissing and brushing my teeth. I was up til about four last night, normally I'd still be brain-dead right now."
"It could be a fluke, but I've heard some stories that some medications, some antidepressants specifically, can give you a kind of boost of energy in the beginning."
"I really like it," she murmured. "Can we go for a walk? I want a walk, and lunch, with you."
"Yeah, sure. Go get dressed and we can go," he replied.
She looked down at her naked body. "Oh. Yeah. Right." She giggled, then headed back to the bedroom.
Trent finished up what he was doing and shut down his laptop, then headed downstairs. Bea and Ann were both hanging out in the living room, eating lunch and watching cartoons.
"What's up? I heard some of that conversation, Mae is feeling good?" Bea asked.
"Apparently, yeah. She feels awake. We're going for a walk and lunch," Trent replied as he got his shoes on. He checked his phone and found the temperature to be good enough that he didn't need a jacket or a hoodie.
"Make sure she understands this is temporary," Ann said. "Basic drug rule: feels awesome the first few times, less awesome subsequent times, so you take more to try and get that first awesome back...you get get what I'm saying."
"I do, don't worry, I'll let her know," he replied. "I'm just happy she's happy."
"I'm ready!" Mae called as she ran downstairs. "Hey, guys!"
"Hello, Mae," Ann said.
"We're gonna do a lunch date!"
"Have fun," Bea said.
"Oh I will, come on!" she said, shoving her feet into her shoes and then grabbing Trent's hand. "Later!" she called as she pulled him towards the front door.
"Oh yeah, I've got something to tell you that will make you even happier," Trent said.
"What?!" Mae replied, grinning broadly at him.
"Got a message from Tabby. She saw your, uh, special video."
"Oh my God. Oh my God. Uh...was that bad? Is that a bad thing?" she asked.
Trent laughed. "No, she really liked it. She wants more."
"Yes! That is so awesome! We're gonna do more, right?" she asked.
"Yes. We can do more. It was pretty cool...where did you want to eat?"
Mae lost her smile and stared ahead of them. They were coming up on the tunnel. "Uh...well, I want pierogi."
"Oh. You want me to get it while you wait?"
"No. I want to go down."
"Oh."
"Yeah...I was thinking about, you know, well, a lot of things. I remember you saying I should apologize to the guy...you're right."
"I'm glad you agree but...you realize that if it goes wrong, he'll know I'm with you, and he won't sell to me anymore. Or Bea. He's seen me and her together now."
"I know," she murmured. "But…" She heaved a sigh. "That's his right."
"Damn," Trent muttered.
"What?" she asked.
"That's just...like...the most grown up thing I've heard you say, I think. That's really awesome, Mae."
She sighed. "Being an adult sucks. But I made peace with Pastor Kate, and I made peace with Aunt Molly, and those things felt good." She paused as they came to the head of the tunnel. "I don't gotta make peace with Mister Penderson do I?"
Trent thought of the old crocodile smiling cruelly as he told Trent Mae was a black marble. "No, that guy's an asshole. I'd say the most you should be with him is polite, but also don't let him walk all over you."
"Good. I don't want to make peace with him." She took a deep breath. "Shit. Let's do this."
They walked down the stairs into the tunnel. Trent was nervous, too. He didn't want to get shut out from this place. They had really good pierogi. They came down to stand in front of the pierogi stand, and it didn't take long for the guy to recognize Mae.
"You!" he cried.
"Yeah...me," Mae said. "Hi."
"I'm not selling to you," the man who ran the pierogi stand declared. "You are a thief!" He looked to Trent. "Are you with her?! Have you been giving her my pierogi?!"
"Yes," Trent said.
He let out a cry of frustration.
"Please!" Mae said. "I'm sorry, okay? I came here to say I'm sorry. For stealing from you. It was wrong. And I feel bad for it. And I'm saying that I'm sorry."
The man gave her a hard stare and crossed his arms. A long moment of tension passed.
"Come on, don't you believe in people bettering themselves?" Trent asked. The man looked at him, maintaining his hard stare and silence. "I'm not saying you owe someone forgiveness just because they ask for it, but how many people do you know that would actually apologize for something like this? She's trying to be an adult."
Finally, he spoke. "Sometimes being an adult is learning that you mess up, and there is no going back. That the world won't cut you any slack." He stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. "But this doesn't have to be that time, if I don't make it that time." He slowly uncrossed his arms. "I...forgive you, for what you did. I was young and stupid once myself." He grimaced. "In full truth, I was much stupider than stealing from a pierogi stand. But I worked very hard, and now I run my own business. And...it was because some people in my life cut me some slack, when everyone else wouldn't. But," he said, growing a bit more stern, "if you want to keep buying from here, I want compensation. I think it's fair. I want fifty bucks."
"Fifty?!" Mae cried.
"I caught you stealing twice," he replied, crossing his arms again, "but I think you stole more than twice. You were a crafty little thief. I think fifty is fair."
Mae sighed heavily. "Yeah...fifty is fair," she replied. "Okay." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet. She was the only woman that Trent knew who didn't carry a purse. Although technically it was Trent's money, as he had given her two hundred bucks recently for spending cash, he was happy to help her maintain the illusion that it was her money. The guy probably wouldn't take it well if Trent had tried to pay for her. And she did have her own money...or she would, anyway, once the YouTube money and the money paid out. "Here."
She set down two twenties and a ten.
"Thank you," he replied, taking them and slipping them into his pocket. "Okay, we're even. What would you like?"
They put in their order for pierogi and fries and some soda, then took a seat at the nearest table.
"Feel better?" he asked.
"Yeah, actually. A lot. That went well...mostly." She frowned suddenly, looking down at her hands on the table.
"What?" he asked.
"I was just wondering...do I have anyone else to apologize to? Hmm...I don't think so."
"Hopefully not," Trent replied.
"Jeez, I was a jerk."
"You're not anymore, though."
"Yeah...mostly. It's not easy, sometimes. I still think mean things."
"We all do, Mae."
She looked up at him. "Do you ever think mean things about me?"
"What? Come on, why would you ask that?" he replied.
"That's a yes."
"Not necessarily, just...it's a weird question." He paused and really considered it. "I mean...not really, actually."
"For real?"
"I mean, I get annoyed with you sometimes, but everyone's annoying sometimes. But for the most part, no...do you?"
"Aw man," she muttered.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
She awkwardly met his eyes. "Really? You aren't curious?"
"I mean yeah, of course I am. But I don't really blame people for their thoughts, Mae. It's what you do that matters. Everyone has bad thoughts. I mean, I'd like to know if I'm doing something wrong and-"
"No," she said, "you never do anything wrong. It's not-it's never you. It's more like...they just come to me. Bad thoughts. Angry thoughts. I don't really think them...if that makes sense?"
"Yeah, it does. I think they're called intrusive thoughts."
She sighed. "Usually it's just stuff like, you know, when I want you for something but you're busy. There's a part of me that gets mad about that. Or there's other times where I feel kinda like how Bea said she felt, about you. Like why are you so nice and patient all the time? Why do you even like me? Are you just putting up with me? And I don't want to believe it, but it's like there's another voice in my head asking me all these questions, and some part of me thinks maybe it might be true...I'm sorry. I was feeling good, I still mostly do, just...sometimes I go down these paths."
"It's okay, Mae. That's just...insecurities. Everyone has them. I have them. Bea has them. Ann and Gregg and Angus, your mom and dad, everyone. We all think fucked up things sometimes, and we all get paranoid or down on ourselves sometimes. For some of us...it's just a lot more common. Especially if you've been traumatized. And you have. A lot. Like, a lot. But you're working through it, and you're doing amazingly."
"Do you really think that?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm not just telling you what you want to hear. Mae, there are people who refuse to deal with their trauma for their entire lives. And I'm not saying that everyone can. Sometimes, there is no dealing with it, just living with it, and that's fucking awful. But...I'm just saying, a lot of people just get kinda stuck, and stay there. Sometimes it isn't even their fault, sometimes it is. But the point I'm making is you are actually trying and working really hard to deal with the bad things that happened to you, and the more negative aspects of your personality. It's really impressive, and I'm really glad to see you doing it."
"You're pretty cool, too," she replied awkwardly. "Now shut up. You're making me feel weird."
He laughed. "All right, fair enough."
"There's our food."
They got up, grabbed their food, sat back down, and started eating. For awhile they talked about random things. How Demontower was coming along. A dream Mae had last night. And, as the meal was coming to a close, she asked about her journal.
"Did you read it? I mean, not really read it, since it's not a journal like that…"
"Yeah, I did. I got through it all."
"Wow! That was fast."
"Well, like you said, a lot of it was drawings."
"What'd you think of it? I mean I know it's probably just a lot of incoherent craziness."
"I mean, I got most of it," he replied. "It was...sad. Especially since I have context for some of it. The fight with Bea. The drinking at the party. The...mine. I just wish I could've helped you through that stuff...but I also know you had people there for you."
"Yep. I was lucky...did you have any questions?" she asked.
"Surprisingly, just one."
"Oh yeah?" She leaned in, grinning. "What is it?"
"Who's Bombshell?"
For just a split second she looked utterly confused. He could see her begin to ask 'who?', and then her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped open.
"Holy shit I forgot about Bombshell!"