By the crack of dawn, everyone has returned to the church and its basement. Ajay and Ambrose come back first, only as far away as the bell tower. In the bathroom, Ajay washes his hands twice. It wasn't rust on those earrings. This town has many ghosts as people, clearly. Most people work for the oil sands and commute out there every day. Anyone who stops by is just spending time in a truck stop and thinking about the oil sands. These bloody earrings could belong to any unfortunate Indigenous woman who happened to stop through here.

Why is Ajay alive when they are not? He can't remember it. No matter how hard he tries. He was on a sidewalk and Chelster doesn't have many. Ajay pukes.

So, it isn't just Nico's stomach. They can be sick. Perhaps he can die still.

Ambrose is not stupid. He doesn't know Ajay isn't going to tell anyone about their discovery, but he knows he certainly doesn't want it to spread around. Maybe Ambrose wouldn't be the best vessel for delivery, but there isn't much use for a panic. They are more powerful than a man in a black robe. Their connection to life and death has more depth than anyone could achieve by standing on a pulpit.

In a few hours, Fallon and Kaia have returned. Both smile and each time it hurts their faces. Muscles that haven't been pulled recently enough. They left without Barry and Eva and somehow found themselves talking. Being lesbians in small towns gives them enough in common. They don't have all that much in common besides wanting to leave, but that is enough.

Of course, they both have girlfriends, but neither of them even speaks their names.

Barry is exhausted when he arrives with Eva in tow. He cannot imagine someone less charismatic than Eva, from her choppy blonde hair and black eyeliner that couldn't look better if she hadn't been pulled out of a dirty ground less than forty-eight hours ago. Yet, she's bummed an entire pack of cigarettes and a bag of greasy fries off a fry cook at the diner. He doesn't want to cope with their inability to leave yet. This is the town of Evas.

When Eva gets back, she plops down on a cot, squishing between Fallon and Kaia. She offers them some of the fries. Kaia reaches in too quickly and Fallon laughs. Kaia bites into it, and the fry is just as soggy and flavourless as she had expected. As she remembered.

There is a lip gloss, cherry on her lips. She can feel its thickness, she tastes Rory. Her face feels a hot flush, embarrassment, rage. Kaia stands up and excuses herself to the kitchen. She runs the water and tries not to cry as it pours down the drain.

Clare and Leo see her enter and exit before she even gets to the sink. They see Ajay, and he offers them a small nod. They'll chat with him later. Leo keeps avoiding touching his face. It's not just the sight of it. He can feel how wrong it is. He needs a topical ointment, and he needs his pills for his RAS. All of this is stressful. If he listens closely, he can hear Kara sniffing.

Beside him, Clare is tapping their foot. They are sure how people are supposed to sit down. It might have been a dream three days ago to sit in a basement and think just for a minute, but Clare works best with a deadline hanging over their head and not a church. They want a book, or a podcast, or a thousand answers. They are here. The police haven't contacted them in days, and they were apparently still investigating deaths that definitely happened. Chelster may have few resources but Clare has even less at their disposal.

Having given up on all the markers that are running out of ink, Audrey scribbles with a crayon to create a list. When Audrey was studying journalism at Yale, lists were invaluable. Writing down every thought as it comes and being able to return to it, even if it is written in crayon, is more valuable than anything in the rest of the church. Audrey doesn't remember dying, but Fallon claims it is 2021. Audrey needs a newspaper, preferably from the outside world. She needs access to a computer to research exactly what caused her death. Audrey can start her search there and then later figure out what to do with her mother.

Out of her stupor, Fallon wants to do something. So, she chats with Eva. They last remember being alive within a week of each other. Eva would have been two years younger than her in school. There isn't any recognition in Eva that Fallon sees. She wishes she could remember lots of things. Not her death, certainly.

Finally, Este and Lydia come back. Este still hasn't explained the purpose of the outing to Lydia. They didn't talk much at all. The quiet was peaceful, which surprises Lydia. She is used to sound. When she isn't listening to music, Lydia is thinking about it. Having space to breathe, away from all of that stress, was peaceful.

Este does not feel quite so calm. They aren't surprised Jayce Rodwell is still sitting in the home they shared, and less surprised that Jayce has remarried. It's the scarf. Discarded so easily. Well, he will have to see it back there. He won't think Este is back but that doesn't matter. They plan to strike fear into his heart. Never compare a goddess to another. Death is not permanent enough to punish Jayce.

"Unfinished business finished?" Eva raises an eyebrow at Lydia.

Lydia shakes their head, "I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Maybe not for long," Barry says. Now that everyone is gathered, he talks. Barry hates to repeat himself to anyone. He isn't keen on all the repeating he is going to have to do to win over Lydia again. "When we were at the edge of town, Eva started disappearing."

"What?" Clare asks, her throat tightening.

Leo steps in closer to her, peering from her to Barry. He furrows his brow, "how do you mean?"

"I walked past the town sign and my body started fading away," Eva explains, rolling her eyes. Barry is being a bit dramatic. "I walked back and I was fine. Just, my fingers stopped existing once I passed the line, but I pulled my arm back."

"So would all of us stop existing then?" Kaia asks. She's been back on her cot for hours, but has pulled herself upright to stare. "Are we stuck here?"

"We shouldn't panic," Ajay tells them, begging his body to obey his advice.

Ambrose looks at him, eyebrows raised up and wide. He stares at Ajay until his eyes start to burn, trying to understand why everyone is panicked. The edge of town is a decent distance from where they were buried. It feels concentric.

"We need to divide and conquer," Audrey speaks up. She stands up and reads from her notebook. "We should go back to the forest and look for any hints as to how we ended up here. I want to go to the library to research some news articles."

"Talking to the police is a good idea too," Clare nods their head.

Audrey rolls her eyes. If the police were going to be helpful, that would have happened already.

Their eyes scanning the crowd, Nico feels like the crap cot they are sitting on is folding in around him. They're drowning in basement and sheets and walls. Their lungs are still filled with dirt. They still haven't found Kye. The library isn't going to know Kye's address and the police aren't going to tell it to Nico. Kye's home isn't in the deep of the woods. No one else seems to suggest they need to find their families. Surely, someone else even wants to look for people they love?

"What's investigating going to even get us?" Kaia asks.

After leaving the edge of town, the feeling faded. Fallon isn't there to protect her. The library will have answers to Rory's fate that Kaia would bury more deeply than her own body. The flash of anger. In a church too, and she feels the sting of her mother's words. Lust and wrath were sins she was accused of growing up. She shoves her hands in the pockets of pants that do not belong to her. Somehow, with nothing, she feels as if she is now condemned for her greed too. She has taken too much life.

"I'd like to go to the library," Audrey says. "I'm used to looking through archives of newspapers. I'll be an asset. One of the cops should go to our crime scene."

"I can liaison with the police," Leo offers. He looks at Clare. Perhaps Leo might be usual in the forest too, but they should divide and conquer. Leo would not mind being in the woods without his medication in his system. It is only fair if the world claims him for itself. Leo is not keen to let others suffer. "It's a boy's club, right?"

Ajay has decided not to tell the others, but he hasn't deemed the police unworthy of the information. Missing women are only missing because someone is looking for them. Maybe Ajay will be able to tell if he can trust the police with the knowledge he has. They might be able to switch to a motel instead of the church basement. "I'll come too."

Though he is used to his fingers feathering through pages and pages of legal documents, Ambrose looks at Clare. He knows the dirt. He's felt in between his fingers, buried animals in it. As a child, Ambrose was petrified of rodents and spiders. The forest crawls with such creatures. Now, he is still afraid of them, but he knows them and their home.

"I can accompany Clare to the woods," he says.

Este looks at Audrey who is just her height. Someone who knows how to research, who knows how to take charge, and who is looking for a paper trail of answers. Without Audrey, Este would still go to the library. A powerful man is a threat. A powerful woman is an asset. Este looks at Audrey and their lips curl. They wink. A powerful woman is an asset but a beautiful woman is a threat. Este is both.

None of the others announce themselves. Audrey shrugs. She grabs a coat and heads out. Este's pushes herself back out, still dressed for the cold and ready for the morning. Kaia mutters a curse to herself and hurries after them. Soon enough, Clare and Ambrose has headed to the forest, and Leo and Ajay have paired up for the police station.

Barry is nearly alone with Lydia. He forces his eyes forward.

"Well," Eva stands up, fishing out the cigarettes from her pocket. She puts one in between her lips and pats herself down. No lighter. Another excursion. Scanning the crowd, she points one finger at Nico and the other at Fallon. "We're going out."

Fallon hates to be relieved. She stands up and looks over at Nico. They sigh and join her. Something should stay buried, and the basement can be a coffin for every bad thing they both have forgotten. Eva flicks her fringe out of her eyes, and once Nico has picked out a coat, the three head out.

"Where are we going?" Nico asks as the hallway door shuts behind him.

Lydia chooses not to look at Barry. All of this has been exhausting. Barry seems to know her. The more she has parsed through, her mind hasn't forgotten just Barry. There are long stretches that are gone. She can't remember a single song from her album or the better part of the last year before her life. It could be the death or her stroke or some stress-induced memory blockage from the stroke or her death or her conversation with her father. Barry might have the answers. Lydia isn't sure she wants to hear them all.

He does have them. Barry might be sitting with her, trapped in Chelster, but for the first time since her death, he feels like he's going somewhere.

~~~~~

I like to finish things. This will be done and I finally have an idea where I want this to go. It's kind of a non-chapter, but I figured we should revisit our friends and get to see them again. Let me know if I did you character dirty here! I'm going to try to finish this during the summer so hopefully it is the last time I go six months without updating.