HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN.

Mae shoved the trash bags filled with her stuff into the bus compartment. Everything she had was in there, and seeing them now, she realized it wasn't much at all. Her life summed up in two lowly garbage bags — what college amounted to. She dropped out, called her parents, bought a bus ticket, and now, she was going home, where things weren't just things anymore. It had taken everything to do this, to fight for this. Soon, she'd be in Possum Springs. Outside the bus, the last leaf clinging to the branch blew off in the wind.

A SECRET SHAME BY LORI M.

The credits rolled on the third horror film Mae and Lori had watched that night. They sat on Lori's bed, huddled close around a laptop precariously balancing on their touching knees. On the windowsill dozens of disfigured metal men, squashed and contorted by the train running over them on the tracks, kept watch for strange unfamiliars beyond the way. "What you wanna watch next?" "Um." Lori started hyperventilating a bit. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." She clicked a file on her computer and shut her eyes. "'A Secret Shame' by Lori" began playing onscreen.

PROXIMITY CALLING

Mae slammed the handle on the slushie machine to the right and watched as the neon coloured drink filled her cup in swirls. She excitedly mixed and matched all the flavours that caught her eye, not even stopping to read what they even were. Once she had filled the cup, she put on the plastic bubble lid and cleverly — she'd boast later — filled the slushie up even more with coloured goop. She joined Bea at the checkout counter and placed her drink down by Bea's smokes. "Anything else?" the cashier said. "Nah," Mae said. "Just the slushie and cigarettes."

DIE ANYWHERE ELSE

Tapping on her bedroom window. Mae found Casey sitting in the branches of the tree outside her room. He wasn't smiling. They walked along the train tracks on the outskirts of town, he on one side, her on the other. They held each other's hand as they tried to keep balance. There was something in the air, something unsaid, but Mae didn't bring it up, she just held tighter. One of them tripped, bringing the other to the ground, too. "I just wanna jump on a train," he said, staring up. "Be anywhere else than here..." he said.

ONE BIG STUFF SESSION

Mae stuffed her face with pancakes and hashbrowns. They were having breakfast for dinner, just like they used to. So much had happened over the fall, over the past year. It was still A Lot. Maybe it would always be A Lot. But sitting there in the afterglow of maple syrup and bacon, her parents on either side of her, finally home again, having dinner together, she felt like it was, at least, manageable, for maybe the first time. "You ready to tell us what happened at college, sweetie?" her mom asked. "Yeah," Mae said. "I'm ready."

SOMEPLACE NICE

Gregg had fallen asleep on Angus' shoulder as they rode the bus into Bright Harbour. It was a long ways from Possum Springs, being on the east coast. Angus didn't know what to expect as they arrived. They had been trying to find someplace for them to move to. It was a goal they had had since they first started dating. He hoped they were finally getting close. When they finally got out of the bus, the city lights shined back beautiful. Angus felt Gregg's hand slip into his, as they stared out at the bright future awaiting them.

HORRORSHOW

Mae bit her lip as she painstakingly attempted to paint the fake blood onto the artificial wound Lori had made. They had applied it to Gregg's bare chest, so now she just had to not screw the paint job up. Gregg winced as her brush touched his skin. "Dude, that tickles," he kept saying as he tried to hold in the laughs. Behind them Angus was setting up the lights. Bea, wearing half a monster costume — the head resting on the ground while she smoked — talked with Lori about the next scene. Pretty soon, they'd have their own little horrorshow.

SOMETHING SOMETHING SOMETHING