Chelsea had seen many strange things since coming to The Elsewhere and working at The Last Shop on the Left. She'd seen creatures horror filmmakers could only fantasize about, and then some they never would because they were too horrifying. She had seen things beyond her comprehension, she had seen things that defied definition. Creatures that existed as pure beings of light, creatures that were nothing more than a set of sharp gnashing teeth looking for a good toothpaste, creatures who had so many limbs that they seemed more limb than torso. And yet, despite all of this...the strangest thing she'd ever seen had finally walked into the shop today of all days, and it wound up being a plain black horse walking and talking like a person. Funny how these things go, isn't it?

Standing behind the counter with Juno, watching him shop in the chip aisle, Chelsea couldn't help but wonder why this felt so weird to her. Perhaps it was because horses were from her world, horses were a plain, ordinary thing in the human realm, so to see one walk and talk was throwing her. That had to be it. Because nobody, nobody at all, ever runs into a set of disembodied sharp gnashing teeth back where she was from. That just wasn't something that happened, and not just on the regular, but EVER. But a horse? Yeah. Everyone, regardless of being urban or rural, had seen a horse. Hell, a lot of people had likely interacted with them, ridden them, and that's what made this sight so unusual. He was pure black, with no other distinguishing facial features aside from his almost cartoonishly large eyes, and a red and white striped tie hanging around his neck. He was currently tapping his hoof on the floor, as though lost deep in though.

"Um," Juno finally said, breaking her concentration, "I think you've been counting that single nickle for five minutes."

Chelsea glanced down, nodded, and finally tossed it into the register, shutting the drawer.

"What's got ya so focused?" Juno followed up.

"It's this horse," Chelsea said, nodding towards him, causing Juno to glance at him, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah? He's just standing there looking at chips," Juno said, shrugging.

"Yes, exactly, that's the problem. He's a horse. A horse standing on his hind legs, looking to buy snack food," Chelsea said, "it feels oddly menacing. Horses don't walk on their hind legs and they most definitely don't eat snack food. Horses don't just pop open a bag of chips after a hard day at work."

"...he's literally just looking at chips," Juno said.

"He's coming up to the counter, be cool," Chelsea said, and Juno rolled her eyes in annoyance. The horse approached the counter and dumped a few items on it, looking at Chelsea, who just smiled politely at him as she asked, "is this all for you today, sir?"

"For the moment, I suppose," he replied, "unless, give me some of that chewing tobacco, yeah?"

Chelsea nodded, turned, and grabbed a packet of chewing tobacco off the shelf. She turned back and plopped it onto the counter, causing the horse to look down at it and then back up at the girls.

"You ladies wanna know a secret?" he asked, and Juno nodded, smiling; he leaned in and whispered, "Cows ain't chewing cud."

The girls waited a moment for it to sink in, and then burst into laughter. It was always something new here.

***

"Don't you have anywhere else to be besides here?" Polaris asked.

Luna had called him up and asked him to get together, with, seemingly, no ulterior motive whatsoever. In fact, it appeared she simply wanted to spend time with him, which was surprising to him. Regardless, Polaris wasn't one to argue. He always wanted to see her more often anyway. They were currently sitting outside a butcher shop, having purchased what was commonly called a Wallet, a delicacy in The Elsewhere, filled with mysterious meats of various sources, wrapped tightly in a lightly fried, enclosed crunchy casing, almost like a Calzone.

"I have plenty of places to be besides here," Luna said, "but the girls at the shop keep insisting I shouldn't avoid you, so here we are. I'm not so sure they're right, but I'm willing to entertain the idea. Besides, after you took care of that...problem...I suppose I felt somewhat obligated to thank you."

Polaris snickered, finishing his snack, while Luna continued to eat hers. After finishing and licking her tentacles clean, Luna tossed her hair from her face, uncovering her one large eye sitting in the center, and she sighed.

"I didn't want to ask you to do that," she said, "I was desperate."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Polaris replied, lighting a cigar.

"Yeah, but I'm trying to be better than the others here," Luna said, "I'm trying not to be violent or even encouraging of violence. The Elsewhere is such a nasty place, and I want to make it just a bit more...approachable."

"To whom, exactly?" Polaris asked, and Luna shrugged.

"To me, I suppose. I'm not the same as all these other monsters and creatures," Luna said, "you of all people should know what that's like, partially coming from the human world."

Polaris nodded, exhaled smoke and tapped his cigar on his leg, ashing it to the ground.

"I do," he said, "but what you're forgetting is that the human world is often much like here. You're conflating one place with peace and another with pain, and that just simply isn't the truth. The truth is, Luna, that both places are despicable holes of anguish, but that doesn't mean good can't be found or made within them, like you're trying to do. Frankly, it's admirable. Not many would care enough to make the world a better place."

Luna smiled and nodded as Polaris sat there puffing on his cigar, exhaling smoke into the early evening sky. For what it was worth, maybe the girls had been right all along. Both Chelsea and Juno had gotten along with Polaris, and maybe, just maybe, she'd allowed their history to color their relationship in a negative light. After all, he'd never once done anything to her, nor had he ever done anything to make things difficult for her. Hell, he'd even helped her open the shop, given her what she really wanted. Maybe the time to look past their differences was finally here. Luna bit into the wallet and chewed as they sat in silence for a few minutes.

"The Elsewhere is a bad place," Polaris finally said, "but you're making it so it doesn't have to be. I respect that."

Luna smiled. She'd never known Polaris to respect anyone. She certainly felt special.

***

"Stilles Wasser is the name," the horse said, holding out his hoof for the girls to shake, which they happily did as he added, "it stands for dark horse, of which I am one of such variety, as you can plainly see."

"I was curious whether or not you meant that metaphorically," Juno said, causing Stiles to chuckle, mixed in with a neigh or two as he did.

"No no, it's definitely literal, that I can assure you!" he said, leaning against the counter, "So what are two lovely young ladies like yourselves doing working for slave wages in a sweatshop such as this?"

"Dude, she's a child," Chelsea said, sounding disgusted. But, as soon as the sentence left her lips, she was met with the confused stare of both Stiles and Juno, who then exchanged a humorous glance between themselves.

"Yeah, and I'm a human in a horse costume," Stiles said.

"I am not a child," Juno said coldly, "I'm way older than you."

This statement nearly threw Chelsea to the floor in total shock. How was that a statement that could even be remotely true? She'd seen some unusual things here, she knew time here worked differently than in her reality and she also knew that what she considered to be the normal rules of the world didn't apply here. But still...Juno....older than her? No. Literally impossible. Chelsea shook her head and picked up a box on the floor behind the counter with them and started carrying it to the aisles to restock. She needed a break from the weirdness. As soon as she was out of earshot, Stiles and Juno having watched her leave, they turned their attention back to one another once more.

"She seems high strung," Stiles said, making Juno chuckle.

"She's not from here, Luna employed her from the human reality," Juno said.

"Ah! A diversity hire!" Stiles said, making Juno cackle, the sound carrying throughout the store and making Chelsea feel awkward. Chelsea sat on the floor, cross legged, and started stocking the bottom shelves. As she placed item after item, she suddenly felt herself shiver, then she smirked, rolling her eyes.

"You know," Chelsea said, "for a ghost, you're not very subtle."

"Are ghosts supposed to be subtle? I mean, all we do is throw plates and...and...rattle chains," Monica said, making Chelsea crack up, her head thrown back.

"Rattling...who are you, Jacob Marley?" Chelsea asked, the both of them giggling now; Chelsea turned and leaned back against the shelf, sighing, as Monica sat - as well as a ghost can sit - on the floor across from her, hovering just so slightly over the floor. Chelsea shook her head ever so slowly, then said, "do you...do you ever think about the fact that you don't belong here?"

"I mean, not in the same sense as you probably do, but yeah. It's almost like...if I'd been killed back home, you know, where we're from, would I even be a ghost, or am I only a ghost because I was killed and buried here? Is The Elsewhere in direct correlation as to what is keeping me around? I don't know. I just know that it kinda sucks, either way."

Chelsea listened, nodding along. She thought about her sister. Her sister shouldn't exist either, but she did, but only here, in The Elsewhere, so yeah, she could very much relate to Monica's quandry. Chelsea glanced back down the aisle at the front counter, where she could just barely see a sliver of Stiles and Juno still conversing.

"My sister loved horses," Chelsea said flatly, "...maybe that's...maybe that's why it's so discomforting for me to see one, especially like this, cause all I can think of is how much she'd loved to have met him had she had the chance. Course, if she hadn't died, I wouldn't even be here, so I guess it's all sort of in contrast with eachother."

Monica smiled.

"I think you should embrace the weird, for your sisters sake," Monica said, "she'd want you to."

Chelsea knew she was right. Up until now she'd done a great job of embracing the weird, but because this was something that was so closely tied to her sisters interests, it had been jarriung and thus harder to acknowledge. She bit her lip and grinned to herself. She could take photos, tell her sister all about it after work in the back room where she was kept. She bet she'd love that. She did love being told stories, after all. Chelsea stood up and sighed, tossing her hair.

"Come on," Chelsea said, "let's go talk to a horse."

"Now that's a sentence you don't hear everyday," Monica remarked, the both of them laughing as they headed back to the front.

***

Luna and Polaris were strolling the sidewalk in the downtown, on their way back to the shop, sharing a cigar. Luna didn't often smoke, but she figured, when with him, it was worthwhile to partake in his hobbies. Neither had said a thing for what felt like hours, since eating, but that was okay. The simple silent company they kept between them was more than enough to make them happy. Finally, they stopped and look in a window at a deli, with various horrifying meats hanging from hooks.

"You know, despite it all, I have missed having you around," Luna said, "I just...it's hard to trust you, you know, cause of...well...cause of Morgarg."

"I am aware," Polaris said sternly, his blank face fixated on the window before them as he puffed out smoke and added, "there's no argument I can make that would counter your concerns in a logical manner. I can't claim Morgarg isn't dangerous. He is. But...he's what I needed. What I required."

"I know, that's why I try not to judge you for it, but it's made it hard to have you in my life, and my store," Luna said.

They hadn't spoken much about Morgarg since he'd shown up, but it was nice to finally at least somewhat broach the topic, even if only somewhat, by referential and nothing else. Luna sighed and looked at the suckers on her tentacles.

"Is there...is there a way to get rid of him?" she asked quietly.

"What gives you the assumption I would want to?" Polaris asked, "he's given me everything I desired."

Luna nodded solemnly. She understood. She wanted Polaris back in the fold, but his connection to Morgarg was too great a danger to risk her employees to. Their safety came first, no questions. She looked back down at her shoes and shook her head again, softly speaking.

"It's gone, isn't it? The way that it was?" she asked.

"Likely," Polaris remarked, shrugging, "who's to say what's to come. Things can always be vastly different in a brief amount of time, as you should know. I'm sure Chelsea sure as hell didn't see herself working in a place like this just a year ago, and look at her now. The future is unwritten, regardless of what some supposed seers may try to get you to believe."

Luna smiled and chuckled at his wording. Polaris still had his edge, even if Morgarg had taken most everything else from him. She appreciated that. In a way, it was as though he were still the same man she'd once known and loved. But he wasn't, and she had to remind herself of that fact far more often than she wanted to.

"Well," she said, "I hope he was worth it."

"Is anything, in the end," Polaris asked, making her eye widen a little.

In the deepest reccesses of her hearts, she hoped, prayed even, that this meant he regretted it. Wished he hadn't given in. Accepted his fate. But she'd been burned once, and she could so easily be burned again. Still, hope...hope was what got her through her life here in The Elsewhere.

Hope was all she really had. Hope...

...and her shop.

***

"I'm tellin' ya," Stiles said, "I know I should quit chewing, but it just isn't going to happen, gotta have at least one vice to make life remotely enjoyable."

"I feel that," Monica said, "I still buy lottery tickets even though I know I won't be able to collect since I'm dead, but the rush of the potential of winning, the adrenaline, it makes me feel as if I'm still alive."

"See, she gets it!" Stiles said, "that's what it's all about! You find the things that bring you even the smallest modicum of joy in a world where joy is damn near a sheer impossibility and you cling to it as much as you can."

Stiles looked back to Chelsea, who suddenly felt nervous and smiled in response.

"Especially in a place such as this," Stiles continued, "if there's one thing you learn as a horse, it's how quickly you can lose your life, all cause of one simple thing, so it makes you truly appreciate life for what it is, what you have. In the end, what you have is what you've got. No sense in running a track that ultimately goes nowhere."

This horse was somehow spitting philosophical fire, and Chelsea had never agreed with someone more than she did with him right now. Stiles thanked the girls for his purchases, hung out a little bit longer - happily obliging to take some photos with Chelsea and Juno - then said he'd gladly return to the shop another time before heading on his way out. The rest of the night went by without much to note. Stocking. Checking the register (if they were brave enough to stick their hands in). Cleaning. Monica even stuck around to help a little bit here and there to the best of her abilities. When it finally came time to shut down shop for the night, Chelsea pulled her apron off and hung it on the hook rack before turning to Juno, running her hands through her own hair and shaking her head.

"What did you mean earlier," Chelsea asked, "about, you know, being older than me?"

"Pretty self explanatory statement if you ask me," Juno replied, not looking at her.

"Is it though? Nothing in this place is remotely self explanatory," Chelsea said.

"It is once you give in to the absurdity and recognize the differences between reality and here," Juno replied, now turning to face her, "...I'm sorry for being rude. I just..I don't want to talk about it. About me. Ever. Okay? Can we just agree to continue being surface level?"

Chelsea nodded slowly as Juno hung her apron up as well, said goodnight, gathered her things and headed out the door. Chelsea got her stuff and headed to the backroom to see her sister, show her the photos with Stiles and tell her the stories of the talking horse. There was so much unexplained in this place, and some of it bothered her, but the one thing that was unexplained that she didn't care if it remained a mystery was simply the fact that this was a place where the reality, as she had known it, had no domain here, and thus, she could be whoever she wanted, do whatever she wanted, and have back whomever she wanted. And she wouldn't trade that for the world, especially not her own shitty one. Stiles was right. Why run a track that ultimately goes nowhere.

Chelsea had never really born a horse girl.

But she was starting to come around.

"What do you think they sell? Just coffee or maybe pastries too?" Monica asked, as she floated in front of the large storefront window beside Chelsea and Juno.

"How are they gonna sell pastries? They can't make pastries. They don't have an oven, they're a cart," Juno replied, sounding annoyed, "they're more than likely just a coffee cart. I'd be surprised if they sold anything else. Maybe cold muffins."

"God I love cold muffins," Chelsea said.

"Who would ever eat a cold muffin?" Juno asked, sounding disgusted, giving her a look.

"It's bread, you eat most bread cold, what goddamn difference what shape or form it comes in?" Monica chimed in, with Chelsea snapping her fingers and pointing at her.

"I could go for some coffee," Chelsea said, "and not just cause the girl serving it has the head of a goat. I mean, that's cool, but I really could go for some coffee. It gets tiring working here. All the stocking and stuff. Exhausting. Kinda need to rejuvinate my energy."

Chelsea stood up and walked around the counter, then stopped and looked at Juno.

"Do you want a cup? I'm buying."

"I don't drink coffee," Juno said, shrugging, "I have enough energy as it is."

"Fair enough," Chelsea said, exiting the shop. Juno and Monica watched from the window as Chelsea nervously approached the cart. Juno was chewing on gum while Monica just floated absentmindedly in the air. After a minute, Juno looked up at Monica, who glanced down at her.

"What?" Monica asked.

"You ever miss things from when you were alive?" Juno asked.

"Depends," Monica said, "stuff like chocolate cake? Absolutely. Things like diarrhea? Absolutely not."

"Gross," Juno said, the both of them giggling. Meanwhile, Chelsea got into line, which only consisted of 4 people ahead of her, and anxiously waited to approach the cart window. As she stood there, checking the money in her hand, she tried to think of an excuse other than wanting coffee to want to come outside and meet this girl. She did have the head of a goat, and that was interesting, but she wondered if there was more...and she knew there was. She just didn't want to admit it. After a minute, she felt a long finger tap on her shoulder and she glanced up to see Polaris standing there.

"Oh, hi," she said, smiling.

"Good afternoon," Polaris replied, "I see you're as intrigued as everyone else by this new establishment."

"Can a singular cart really be called an 'establishment'? Don't you need a building to claim that title?" Chelsea asked, and Polaris snickered, patting her on the back.

"I have to say I'm surprised by the turnout, but I suppose when one lives somewhere for an eternity, anything new opening must be absolutely enthralling. When things are so stagnant for so long in your surroundings, the simplest little change or addition can feel downright exhilirating."

Chelsea nodded in agreement, then turned her focus back to the cart as they moved up one, the person in the front of the line having moved on ahead. Chelsea wanted to think about coffee, but all she could think about was Xorlack.

                                                                             ***

"So what about you? You've never really lived as a person like I or Chelsea have, what would you like to experience most?" Monica asked as she floated down the chip aisle - or what most closely resembled the chip aisle - while Juno swept. Juno stopped and chewed on her lip, thinking about it.

"How do you know I never got to live as a person?" Juno asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because you don't strike me as someone who existed outside of this place," Monica said, "but please, prove me wrong. I love nothing more than to be put in my place."

"If I could name something," Juno said, stopping sweeping and leaning against one of the freezer doors at the end of the aisle, "I would have to say connections with others. Or...at the very least, the chance to make them."

"You don't think the connections you make here are as real?" Monica asked, "you don't consider Chelsea or I your friend?"

"I wouldn't say that, but I do think you and Chelsea would agree there's an inherent difference between connections as a living person and connections as an ethereal being. Humans are messy, raw, but they're real. A lot of them, more often than not, hide their feelings, sure, but so many others wear their hearts on their sleeves and that's good too. They can connect over the smallest things, a band they both like or something like that. Here...everything is so surface level. We are friends because there's no better alternative in proximity. That isn't to say I don't like you guys, but let's not make it out to be more than it is."

Monica floated as she watched Juno go back to sweeping and felt her heart, if she still had one, drop a bit. What had happened to Juno to make her feel this way? Hell, even Polaris - the coldest, most distant mother fucker around - would agree with them that the connections they shared here in the shop were as real as anything else. Chelsea, however, might currently agree with Juno.

                                                                            ***

"I hate change," Chelsea said as the next person in the front of the line departed.

"Well, I could lend you bills if that's what you're asking," Polaris remarked, making her chuckle.

"You know what I mean," she said as they moved forward, "I don't like it when things are different. I think losing my sister, especially the way I did, made me scared of anything ever being different. That's partially why I never dated too. I didn't like the change it would bring to my single life, and then didn't like the change it would bring if we broke up, so I just flatout avoided the entire situation until I came here and met Xorlack."

"How is that going, by the way?" Polaris asked, pulling a cigar out from his tin and lighting it.

"And the thing is," Chelsea continued, ignoring his inquiry, "...I didn't hate the way it changed my life, actually dating someone, and that surprised me. I guess, because, if you meet the right people, it doesn't change much at all. All you have now is a better support system. But living in one dimension, working and dating in another, it's hard. I don't...I don't know how long I can go on like this for and now THAT change scares me."

"The universe is constantly in flux," Polaris said, taking a long drag from his cigar, "in fact, there's a famous saying that every ten years, all your atoms are replaced, making you an entirely new person, quite literally, but this is, in fact, not accurate. It's every year, not every ten. This is because your body is constantly undergoing cellular turnover, meaning old cells are broken down and new ones are built using nutrients from food, effectively replacing the atoms that make them up. So literally every year, regardless of the decisions one makes in their personal life, they wind up a wholly new individual come the following year simply because of change."

"That's...terrifying," Chelsea said, chuckling nervously.

"The universe often is," Polaris said, tapping the ash from his cigar to the ground, before adding, "and I think that's why I like The Elsewhere, because here, you know what everything is. It might be a monstrous abomination of unknown origin, but you can tell it's exactly that. Nothing is trying to hide itself. Everyone is so transparent, and in the case of folks like Monica, quite literally. But that world...the 'real' world....it was never like that."

Chelsea gave Polaris a confused look, furrowing her brow.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I've been there more than you could realize," Polaris responded as they moved up in line, becoming the penultimate folks waiting now; Polaris adjusted his tie, puffing smoke into the air as he said, "all I'm saying, Chelsea, is that change is scary, understandably so, but it's also not inherently bad. After all, if you hadn't applied for this job, we wouldn't be having this conversation now, would we? That's a change worth being happy for, isn't it? Being here?"

Chelsea smiled and nodded. It was.

It really, really was.

                                                                             ***

"Hey, come check this out!" Juno shouted, as Monica floated her way over to where Juno was currently stationed. By a wall, behind a single shelf unit, was a darkened doorway that led into a further darkened room. Juno and Monica gripped the shelf and started moving it aside, allowing Juno to slip inside as Monica simply floated right through. Once through, Juno stopped and looked at Monica, shaking her head.

"I always forget you can just go through things," she said.

"It is rather convenient," Monica replied.

Together, the two girls entered further, as Juno's left hand ran along the wall, searching for any kind of light switch. After a few minutes of scanning, she found it, and flipped it on, lighting up the room as they both gasped. The room was a full on arcade, filled to the brim with working cabinets, pinball machines, prize machines, ticket machines and everything. The two girls started to laugh in surprise.

"Why didn't I know this was here?" Juno asked.

"Considering it was covered up, I don't think anyone knew it was here," Monica remarked.

Juno and Monica continued further in as Juno ran her hands along the cold steel and bright plastic of the machines. She stopped at one, a pinball table designed to look exactly like the shop, and stared at it. Monica stopped beside her, floating, a gnawing feeling gathering in the pit of what was once her stomach.

"Are...are we just characters in an arcade machine?" Monica asked, and Juno laughed.

"Okay, The Elsewhere is weird, but no. I think Luna maybe had this built because she was proud of it at one point. Now she doesn't seem so proud of the store, and I wonder why. She's rarely here, she doesn't like Polaris being around, and she barely interacts with her employees. I wonder what changed."

"Peoples attitudes towards things they once loved can switch on a dime," Monica said, shrugging, "maybe the shop once meant something to her but now it means something else. Where once was something special now stands something...I don't know...painful. I'm just guessing here. But still, maybe that's why it's hidden. I think we should uncover it completely, open it up to the customers, I think they would appreciate it."

"Would Luna be okay with that?" Juno asked, and Monica shook her head.

"I don't know, I don't work for her, only you guys can decide that," Monica said, "I'm gonna go into the change machine and get some money though, and we can see if these things still run!"

With that, Monica turned tail and quickly zipped away, leaving Juno to stare at the pinball machine and wonder. Wonder why and how it came to be, and why it was buried now, like some intentionally forgotten relic of shame. She wondered if Luna was growing tired of the place proper, or maybe, as Monica had claimed, it didn't mean what it once meant to her, and this reminder was simply too painful to witness regularly. After all, she did barely come into the shop proper, so perhaps Monica's theory held water. Either way, when Monica returned with a bagful of quarters, they popped them inside and got to playing, and after a bit, the reason didn't matter anymore.

What mattered is they had it now.

                                                                              ***

Chelsea stepped forward, but Polaris politely stepped in front of her, tipping his hat to the goat headed girl behind the cart counter and thinking as he glanced at his options on the little sign within. Chelsea crossed her arms and impatiently tapped her foot, indicating her annoyance.

"Hello, I think today I would like to try your #3 Special, that sounds delightful," Polaris said. The girl got him his coffee, handed it to him and he paid, then paid for Chelsea's as well, to her surprise, before thanking her and turning to face Chelsea once more, lifting the cup to his face and taking what she could only assume was a long sip before exhaling and saying, "Don't be afraid of change, Chelsea. That's what made Luna into who she is today. You're better than that."

With that, he turned and walked off, down the street, and into the void. Chelsea shook her head before smiling and finally going to the front.

"What can I get for you?" the girl asked.

"Well," Chelsea said, leaning in and reading her nametag, "Anais, pretty name by the way, I think I'd also like the #3 Special since my friend seemed pleased with it."

"You got it, one Hot Cup O' Joe comin' up," Anais said. As she prepared, Chelsea leaned on the little counter and watched her.

"Is this your permanent spot or do you intend on moving around? Figure with a cart you can go anywhere, not tied down to a specific location, you know?" Chelsea asked.

"Not that simple," Anais replied, "especially not in The Elsewhere, where every district has its own specific rules for what you can and cannot sell, so. For the time being, this is where I'll stay posted. Wanted to open a proper store, was supposed to get in some recent land developers plan, but he disappeared so now I'm just stuck in this cart. But I kinda like it, ya know? It's cozy."

Anais handed Chelsea her drink and she thanked her, taking a long drink before stopping and looking at the cup. She pulled the lid off and glanced inside, only to witness dozens of tiny, screaming faces peering up at her as they melted into the liquid. Chelsea looked back up at Anais, who just shrugged.

"That's Joe, he's bred specifically for this," she said nonchalantly and Chelsea sighed.

"Of course he is," she said, "why would coffee be normal here. So your plans changed and now you're just in this cart, huh? I work right over there, in the Last Shop on the Left."

"That's cool, I'll come by now and then for snacks," Anais said, "and yeah, I mean, it's unfortunate that my deal fell through but, ya know, sometimes change is for the better. I like it out here. Easier access to customers, fresh air, my own dedicated space. I think, in the end, it worked out for the best."

Chelsea smiled, nodding. Everything in flux, and seemingly for the best, it seemed. After she and Anais spent a bit of time talking, she finally returned to the shop with Anais in tow, where she found Juno and Monica playing in the now fully reopened and functional arcade room, and decided to shirk her duties for the remainder of the day, opting instead to join them. Besides, it had been a slow day anyway, there'd only been one customer early in the morning, so she wasn't worried. Standing in the room, drinking her literal cup of Joe, Chelsea couldn't help but feel like maybe Polaris was right, in some warped way. Everyone here was exactly who they said they were, and unashamed of it, and maybe that was for the better. Odd, Chelsea thought, that she felt more at home amongst what most would consider 'monsters' than the people she was supposed to be a part of the species with.

But maybe her atoms had just rearranged that way.

"Is it just me...or does this store change size regularly?" Chelsea asked as she stood upright from stocking and glancing around the building. Juno did the same, collapsing the cardboard box in her hands as she did. She thought for a moment, then nodded.

"I think you're right," she said in agreement.

"I never really noticed it until now," Chelsea said, "but it does seem to alter in size every day. Sometimes, if we don't have as much stock, certain aisles are shrunk. Sometimes they're gone entirely. It's just not something I ever really picked up on until just now."

"Maybe you have a problem focusing," Juno said.

"I'm sorry what were you saying?" Chelsea replied, grinning, the both of them laughing. The bell over the door rang, and neither even went to see who it was. They knew. It was Polaris. It was always Polaris, in on his usual once a day stop and shop visit. As he came round the corner of the aisle, dressed in a dapper black and blue pinstriped suit with a bowler hat on his head, he stopped and looked at the girls who also stopped and looked at him.

"If you're having to restock this often," he said calmly, "then Luna needs to hire more help. Clearly you're understaffed. That isn't running a tight ship. That's barely running a ship at all."

"Nobody asked you," Chelsea said.

"And yet here I am, giving my opinion on the subject. Funny how that works, isn't it?" he remarked.

"We sell antifungal cream?" Chelsea asked.

"That's weird, cause there's entire beings here made of fungus," Juno chimed in.

"Well, someone wants to keep them away apparently," Polaris replied. Together, the girls gathered up the now empty boxes and walked them to the front of the shop, where Juno then took them all under her arm - they were all relatively small - and carried them to the dumpster out back as Chelsea took her place behind the counter once again. Polaris leaned against the counter, pulled his lighter from his shirt pocket and lit a cigar, puffing on it.

"So," Chelsea said, leaning on the counter and opening a bag of chips, "what non business do you have here today?"

"Actually, my cynical friend, I do have business here today. I am meeting Luna," Polaris said, which surprised Chelsea. She raised an eyebrow as she shoveled some chips into her palm and then into her mouth, speaking while chewing.

"Why is she meeting with you?" she asked.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, it's disgusting," Polaris said, "one of the few reasons I'm happy not to have one. We're meeting because, as you know, she doesn't want me here and yet I am here constantly. We're going to discuss that, amongst other things."

In all the time Chelsea had known both Polaris and Luna, she'd never once gotten the impression that they'd ever meet and talk. Then again, she really had no concept of their history together. Come to think of it...she didn't really know much about the store or The Elsewhere for that matter at all. The bell over the door rang, and in floated an enormous eyeball that constantly blinked. It approached the counter and stopped, looking down at Chelsea.

"Can you help me?" they asked.

"Depends," Chelsea said.

Just as this happened, Luna entered the store and, walking briskly past everyone, snapped her fingers at Polaris, who turned and followed her on her heel into her office. Juno finally came back in, picking at her fingernails.

"You know," she said, "it wouldn't hurt someone to clean the dumpster now and then, because-"

She stopped and looked up, seeing the giant eye and sighing.

"Now what?" she asked.

                                                                               ***

"I really don't like that we have to speak," Luna said.

"Well, we could just sit here in awkward silence if you prefer that," Polaris said, seated in the chair in front of the desk, his long legs up on its solid wooden frame. Luna sighed and seated herself behind the desk, then shook her head.

"I know we have to speak, I just wish we didn't," she replied, "but seeing as you are part co-owner, I suppose it would behoove me to include you. Right now I'm dealing with something that requires...your input. Much as I hate to admit that. There's a landowner looking to develop the block. He's not a very up and up individual, not that many are in The Elsewhere, but even by our standards he's sleazy. He's pressuring me and other shop owners, and frankly, it's gotten to the point where it feels threatening. They all asked me to turn to you."

"Awww," Polaris said, still puffing on his cigar from before, adding, "So what do I need to do then?"

Luna bit her lip and exhaled, then opened a drawer on her desk, pulled out some papers and slid them across to him. Polaris sat upright and leafed through them with his slender fingers, chuckling as he did.

"I don't like doing this," Luna whispered.

"Well, good thing you won't be then, isn't it?" Polaris remarked, "after all, I'm part owner, so this is my responsibility."

                                                                                 ***

"Okay, do you have a certain brand you like?" Chelsea asked, as she, the eyeball and Juno all stood - or floated - in a nearby health care aisle. The eye blinked a few times, then shut its lid and shook itself in a 'no' manner. Chelsea nodded, then started looking through the available options.

"Well," she continued, "we have Retinox, which seems to be the favorite to be honest. It's the most expensive, but from what everyone who buys it tells me, they wouldn't entrust their eyes to any of the others."

"Retinox will be fine," the eyeball said.

"Now the question remains how we're going to do this," Chelsea said, "Juno, you can climb on my shoulders and administer them from above him, if you're not too scared of heights."

"Not really the height that's making me uncomfortable in this particular situation," Juno said, as Chelsea grabbed a box of Retinox and, with the others, headed back to the counter; as they walked, she looked up at the eyeball and spoke.

"So, how long have you been having irritation problems?" she asked.

"My whole life," the eyeball replied, "I get itchy and watery a lot. Sometimes I think that if I had a full body, all my problems wouldn't congregate in one particular place, but being just a singular eyeball, I think that's why I have these issues, because there's just nothing else on me to affect."

They reached the counter and Chelsea sat atop it, unboxing the Retinox and undoing the cap to make it easier for Juno to apply. As she did this, Polaris walked back through the store, but didn't seem to give them any attention whatsoever, which seemed strange to Chelsea. He usually stopped and chatted, or perhaps made a little quippy remark, but this time he was just out the door lickety split, no time to waste. She shrugged and handed the Retinox to Juno.

"Alright," Chelsea said, "now climb up here and get on my shoulders. Sir, can you float lower, maybe?"

"I can," the eyeball said, dipping down below them a bit as Juno pulled herself up onto the counter and then, clutching the Retinox in her hand, began to carefully get on Chelsea's shoulders, exhaling nervously.

"The things we do for paychecks," she muttered.

                                                                            ***

Morgus Yantil was exactly as Luna had described him.

He was shady, he was sleazy, but he was charming and charismatic and those traits seemed to cover up the less appealing ones and made him interesting to folks. So he wound up in the real estate business because he knew that The Elsewhere had a lot of open market worth developing, and he wouldn't even have to actually develop a sizeable portion of it and nobody would notice. But he hadn't counted on Luna, and the neighborhood her shop resided in, which was a pretty tight knit group. Sitting behind his desk, tapping his pen against some forms, he needed to figure out a way to get her to sell the land her shop resided on, but in a non threatening way. Not that there was really any legal ramifications in The Elsewhere to worry about, but moreso his reputation was at stake if he went down that path and others might not sell to him. Suddenly his office door opened and Polaris stepped through, causing Morgus to look up in confusion.

"Do we have a meeting?" Morgus asked, leaning back in his chair, still tapping his pen.

"I doubt it," Polaris said, "because those who schedule meetings with me often are aware of them. No, my name is Polaris, and I'm the co-owner of The Last Shop on the Left, with my business partner Luna. She and I had a...discussion, earlier, about you wanting her to sell the property?"

"Did she finally send someone over to do that, because that would be fantastic, I need to get permits going and-"

"Oh, no no," Polaris said, laughing as he sat down on the desk and loomed over Morgus with his tall, spindly frame, "no, actually, quite the opposite. I'm here to tell you to back. off. Leave her and the shop alone. See, she didn't want to bring me in on this, but the others on the block insisted she do so, and here I am. So just allow me to give you this warning once and once only...end your plans for the block development. Please."

"Wow, who knew being threatening followed by the word 'please' would be so convincing," Morgus said, smirking, "actually, I appreciate you coming down here, but I'm in no way interested in doing that. See, that block is prime real estate, and right now it's housing mostly trinket shops, small food marts, drink carts and, of course, your store. None of which, aside from yours, really, are worth saving. Now the shop you two have built is certainly worthwhile, and hell, lemme buy in and we can even relocate it and nothing will change except location. But as far as it stands, I'm going to continue with my plans, thank you."

Polaris stood back up and sighed, putting out his cigar, finally, on the desk.

"I'm sorry to hear that, because now I have to do this," he said, reaching up and unbuttoning the shirt under his suit coat, then pulling it slowly open. A blinding white light appeared, filling the room, and Morgus started to scream as his skin began to blister and bubble. Polaris walked closer, still letting this occur, as he spoke again, saying, "I gave you a very reasonable chance to pull out, do not forget my leniency now that you're suffering the consequences of your own decisions."

Morgus thrashed in his chair, looking half cooked now. After another minute or two, Polaris buttoned his shirt back up, straightened his tie, fixed the collar on his coat and then leaned across the desk to the now slumping, panting Morgus, who was having trouble keeping his eyes in their sockets. Polaris put his palms firmly on the desk and stared him right in the face.

"Let it be known that conceding isn't failure, sometimes it's simply a way to continue living," he whispered, before his head split down the middle and all the flesh on Morgus's body was sucked inside. After he finished, a now nearly skinless corpse laying in the chair behind the desk, Polaris stood back upright, turned, and exited the office. He told Luna he would take care of it, and she knew what that meant.

But he was starting to understand her hesitancy a bit.

                                                                                ***

"It's a miracle," the eyeball said happily, floating up and down like an excited dog wagging its tail, "I can see! It's clearer than it ever was! This stuff is amazing, oh thank you so much for your help! How much do I owe you?"

"You know what, since it's a medical issue," Chelsea said, trying not to laugh at how cute they were being, "how about the first few are just on the house, okay? Because nobody deserves to live in pain and nobody should have to pay to not be."

"That is so kind of you!" the eyeball said, taking its little bag with a few boxes of Retinox and turning to leave, "Thank you so much!" and as they started to float away towards the door, they stopped, turned back and said, "You two are maybe the single best employees I've ever deal with. Your genuine interest in helping me has not gone unnoticed, and I hope you keep in mind just how good of folks you are. Thank you again."

And with that, they were out the door. Chelsea was touched. She was almost crying. This job was usually just so much selling snacks, cigarettes, lottery tickets, or other generic items one might find at a shop like this, that when she actually got the opportunity to help someone, to truly help someone, she felt like she was doing the world a service. Juno sat on the counter beside her now, tugging at her braid.

"You know," Juno said sullenly, "nobody has ever really thanked me for my help. I guess maybe I've never done anything to really warrant being thanked, to be fair. But...but if today has taught me anything, it's that it feels good to help others, especially those in dire need."

"I appreciate your help, I couldn't have done this without you," Chelsea said, patting Juno on the shoulder, before hopping down and getting back to work, doing restocking, reordering and the like. Juno remained on the counter, swinging her legs as she chewed on her braid and thought. She thought about how she'd never felt like she fit in anywhere, how she'd never really been appreciated, and how suddenly all that was beginning to change. This place, this shop, it was becoming a home of sorts to her, and she was both scared and excited about that prospect.

That evening, Chelsea stayed overnight in the shop in the backroom with her sister. She'd turned it into a mini studio apartment of sorts, and now had books to read, her laptop with which to watch things on, and, of course, her sister to keep her company throughout the night. Besides, the shop had plenty of food and drink, so she didn't even have to go out to find stuff. Chelsea had even brought a small futon mattress and laid it on the floor so that she and Maddy had a comfortable spot to sleep in. And that's just what they did. Her little sister cuddled up to her, her arms wrapped around her, Chelsea never felt more at home than she did here at the shop. Maybe she'd entertain the idea, one day, of living in The Elsewhere forever.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away at a food stand, Polaris and Luna were standing in line, waiting to order. Luna dug her hands into her coat pockets, but Polaris simply shook his head at her.

"There'll be no need for that, your money is no good here, I'm paying," he said.

"I wasn't offering, I'm just cold," Luna said, the both of them laughing, "but thank you. So...how did it go?"

"It went about as well as could be expected when dealing with men of a certain nature, if one could call them men," Polaris said, "but rest assured, he won't be bothering you or anyone else on the block anymore."

"Did you...do that to him?"

"I did."

A long pause, and Luna shook her head.

"I know we've known one another a long time, and I know we're in business together, but I have to ask...what the hell are you?" she whispered, and Polaris adjusted his hat and stood up straight, not looking at her but instead staring straight ahead at the line before them.

"I am nonexistence. The void. That liminal space you fear so greatly between life and death. I am obliteration, the end of everything and the beginning of nothing, but what I am most of all, my dear Luna," he said, finally looking down at her, "...is hungry. I am hungry."

Luna chuckled, because he had a way with words, and then she shivered. But that wasn't from the cold.

"What the fuck is a Peropkop Bar?" Chelsea asked, opening a box to stock a shelf in front of the counter.

"That's an energy bar made from these little creatures called Peropkops," Monica said, "They're these cute little guys who get harvested specifically because they give you a ton of energy, but they're also kinda addicting from what I've heard."

"What does a Peropkop look like?" Chelsea asked, looking over her shoulder at Monica.

"Like a mix between a badger and a hyena," Monica replied, as Chelsea started stocking the bars.

"That doesn't sound very cute to me," Chelsea said.

"You get stuck here for a long time and see how your tastes change," Monica remarked, the both of them chuckling. While Chelsea was doing this, she'd given Juno a small laundry list of tasks to manage around the shop, just so they'd get done faster, and it must've been working because she hadn't seen her in over an hour. The bell over the door rang, and a tall completely black humanoid creature lacking any facial features and their body moving like TV static shambled in through the doorway. Chelsea and Monica glanced at him as he approached the counter, and Chelsea sighed.

"Take care of these please," Chelsea said.

"Number one, I don't work here, and number two, I can't really touch things cause I'm a ghost," Monica said.

"That's horse shit, I've seen you touch lots of stuff, stop using your incorporeal existence as a means to avoid things," Chelsea said.

"Okay well the first part still stands," Monica said.

"I can pay you, if you'd like."

"The hell do I need money for? What am I gonna buy? There's no makeup line for ghosts, Chelsea," Monica said, making Chelsea laugh loudly as she finally scuffled around behind the counter and looked up at the tall creature in front of her. Chelsea waited patiently, smiling politely, until they finally craned their head down towards her.

"Can I help you?" Chelsea asked.

"I'd like 150 scratch off tickets please," the creature said, "the ones at the top, the Genies Wish."

Chelsea nodded, turned and went to grab them, when she noticed a small piece of paper hanging beside them. On it was a photo of this creature, and in big bold words it said 'do not sell to'. Chelsea rolled her eyes and sighed. Nothing could ever just be easy, could it?

                                                                          ***

Juno had, in fact, been taking care of that list Chelsea had given her. She'd done some inventory, removal of old stock, swept up, all sorts of little things. Now she was back near the dumpster behind the shop, tossing yet another box of expired bags of FluKus into it. Juno sighed, tossed the box in after as well, and turned to start heading back through the door when she heard a rustling from the dumpster. Juno stopped and turned back towards it, raising an eyebrow.

"Hello?" she asked.

Some more rustling, and Juno approached cautiously, always aware it could be something potentially dangerous.

"Someone there?" she asked.

"You just throw anything away, huh?" a voice asked, as the box she'd thrown in climbed out and sat on the rim of the dumpster; they wiped themselves off best they could, then added, "that's kind of rude, you know. Just because I'm cardboard means I'm automatically disposable garbage?"

"No, I...I'm sorry, I didn't..." Juno stammered, half confused, half trying not to crack up at the absurdity of it all.

"Oh, you think this is funny?" the box asked, "really? This is humorous to you? Tossing a lifeform with thoughts and feelings and emotions into the trash huh? Yeah, real comedic. You know, young lady-"

"I'm not so young," Juno mumbled.

"-you could stand to learn some manners, some respect for others, especially if they don't fit into your ridiculous beauty standard criteria of what you think a sentient creature is," the box finished, and Juno nodded in agreement.

"Anything that gets me out of work. I'll take sensitivity training any day of the week," she replied. Anything to get her out of restocking.

                                                                               ***

"So," Chelsea said, returning to the counter, "...I'm apparently not supposed to sell these to you. I have no reasons as to why, but I do have a sheet of paper with your photo on it that specifically states I'm not supposed to sell to you. Do you maybe wanna clue me in on why that is?"

"She put up a sign?" the creature asked, just as the bell over the door rang and Polaris strolled inside. He passed by, patting the creature on the back.

"Hello Garvin," Polaris said, "what brings you in today? The usual?"

"She won't sell them to me!" Garvin replied, "Luna's put some kind of blanket ban on me!"

"Well, thankfully, Luna isn't here, is she, Chelsea?" Polaris asked, turning his eyelass gaze in her direction, which always made her uncomfortable. She shivered, then bit her lip and regained her composure, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm not selling anyone anything until I at least hear a remotely viable reason as to why you have been banned from purchasing them," Chelsea said, proud of herself for sticking to her guns, adding, "then, and only then, will I even consider it. Why are these so worth getting in trouble over? They're just scratch offs."

"Did you read the name?" Polaris asked, taking one from her, "they're Genies Wish. If you win, you get the chance to grant one wish, and have it fully granted. Now why wouldn't that be appealing to, oh, just about anyone? After all, Chelsea, isn't there a wish you always wanted to have come true?"

Chelsea's mind immediately went to her sister, but she'd done that by brute force via Todd. She sighed and nodded, turning back and taking the entire box from the shelf, then splitting them between Garvin, Polaris, Monica and herself.

"Okay, but if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it together, alright?" Chelsea said, "that way we're all held partially responsible."

"That sounds fair," Polaris said, as she reached into the register and gave all 4 of them a single nickle each to use. With that, the 4 of them started leaning over the counter, scratching away. Chelsea really hated going against Luna's wishes - this was her shop, after all, and she had given her this job - but Polaris was so damn good at convincing her to do otherwise that she just couldn't help herself. In a way, she was starting to understand why Luna didn't want him around. He was clearly manipulative, even if not for bad reasons.

"Are wishes transferrable?" Chelsea asked.

"It's just a ticket, Chelsea," Polaris replied, "whoever holds the ticket gets the wish granted, not whoever uncovers it."

"That seems like kind of a sketch reward system, that means if someone wins it, then drops it on their way home, they lose their chance," Chelsea said.

"That's why it's often smarter to just use the wish the minute you win it," Monica said.

"You know..." Chelsea said, stopping momentarily, "I don't think I've ever done a scratch off ticket, or any kind of lottery or gambling. Until coming here, I lived a pretty sheltered life. You know, I'm starting to think you guys might be kind of bad influences," she finished, grinning, and everyone chuckled.

                                                                                ***

Juno had jumped up on the lid of the dumpster to sit with the cardboard mimic, swinging her feet back and forth as she did. Juno had never actually met a mimic in all her time here, which was surprising cause she'd always gotten the impression that they were fairly common. The mimic was still cleaning himself off from the various debris he'd been dumped in with before finally looking up at her.

"I guess I don't know what to say since I've never interacted with one of you before," Juno said, shrugging, "do you get mistaken for trash often?"

"More often than not, yeah," the mimic said, sighing, "it's hard. I didn't ask to be born this way, you know? It's just a happenstance of nature, and I had no say in the matter, and now I'm saddled with this issue for the remainder of my life."

"I know what that's like," Juno mumbled.

"It's not so much the conditioner that bothers me, as it is others perception," the mimic continued, "I like myself plenty. Others are the ones with a problem with me, and that's where I take offense. Just cause I look like trash don't mean I am trash. But...well...most folks aren't too eager to take advice from a piece of corrugated cardboard, so."

"How did you learn to like yourself? Cause that's been hard for me," Juno said, "I'm also different than everyone here, and I know they're all constantly judging me for it, even if they're doing it unawares. Nobody really knows much about me, if anything at all, but even still. So how do you get past the hangups you have with yourself?"

"You just convince yourself they aren't hangups, that's really all you can do," the mimic replied, "...you wanna see something?"

Juno nodded as the mimic hopped down onto the ground, Juno following its lead. Together, they started to walk away from the shop, and Juno couldn't help but wonder if it was safe to follow this random mimic to whatever it was they were leading her to, but, really, who would even notice she was gone. Nobody ever really did. Nobody ever had before, so why would they now?

                                                                               ***

"These things aren't a scratch off, they're a rip off," Monica grumbled.

"Sore loser isn't a personality trait, you know," Polaris said, making her glare at him as they each continued, taking another ticket individually and still searching for a wish. Chelsea opened another bag of chips and started eating them as she kept doing her own scratch offs, Garvin finally sighing and tossing both his tickets and his nickel on the counter and burying his head in his hands, his elbows on the countertop.

"This is hopeless," he said, sounding like he was going to cry, "this has always been hopeless, she was right to ban me from buying anymore of these...these...paper lies."

"Hey man, you never know, the next one might-"

"I just wanted to go home," Garvin whispered, and Chelsea looked up, chewing, tossing her hair from her face; he continued, his voice low and shaky, "I just wanted to go home, that was all. But I'll never find a wish. I'll never get to go home."

"Are you...not...from here?" Chelsea asked and he shook his head.

"I used to be like you," he said, surprising her as he added, "I used to live in a home with a family and everything. I miss it all so much, and I just wanted my old form back, so I could go home again. I don't want to be here anymore."

"How did you get this form?" Chelsea asked, and Garvin sighed.

"It was an optional thing. I thought it'd help me fit in better in The Elsewhere," Garvin said, "and, it has, but at the same time...all I want now is to go back. I thought I was doing, at the time, what was right for me, and now all I've realized is that, what was best for me, wasn't what I initially assumed it was. I just-"

"I got one!" Monica shouted, gleefully holding up a ticket and giggling as everyone looked in her direction before saying, "boy, it sure is tempting to use this to be alive again...but..."

She glanced over at Garvin, his eyes wide, and she sighed, smiling and handing it over to him.

"You need this more than I do," she said, and he cautiously took it, shocked. Holding it in his hands, he looked around at the others, and then exhaled, looked down at the ticket in his hands and spoke gently.

"I wish I could go home," he said, "and have everything be like it was before."

And with that, a blinding white light filled the store, and when everyone unshielded their faces, Garvin's skin was crumpled up on the floor, and whoever he was was gone, leaving behind this husk. Chelsea smiled weakly and stood up, gathered the remainder of the tickets and started to restock the shelf with them.

"Well that was anticlimactic," Polaris said flatly, adjusting his tie and standing up straight, stretching, "I suppose I should head on out. I do have other things to do than spend my entire day here."

"Don't lie to us," Chelsea said, grinning at him. He bid Chelsea and Monica goodbye, and once he was out of the door, Monica sat down on the counter again and crossed her legs while Chelsea continued to clean up the counter area of all its empty snack containers and putting the rest of the tickets away.

"I really wanted to keep that wish," Monica said, "but...I guess I need to just accept that this is my home now, this is my afterlife. Besides, can't leave you alone here. But boy it would've been nice to be alive again."

"Eh, being alive's a little overrated, but I'm sorry, Monica. For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here," Chelsea said before glancing around and asking, "where's Juno?"

                                                                               ***

Juno and the mimic had been walking for a good fifteen minutes now, further and further away from the city, and closer towards a small landfill, a deep hole in the ground where all the garbage got dumped. Presumably, Juno though, including all the garbage from the shop. As they approached, Juno started to get an anxious feeling chewing in her gut.

"This isn't going to wildly depress me, is it?" she asked.

"Depends on how easily you get depressed," the mimic said, shrugging, "I just think it's something worth seeing is all."

Juno nodded and stayed quiet until they reached the rim of the hole and then she put a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening a bit. Inside the hole were a thousand other mimics, all of differing variety, as if they'd been exiled to this space. None of them even looked up at them, and instead went about their business of moping. Juno looked down at the mimic, who kept staring out at its friends.

"This...this is where they all go?" she asked quietly, nearly whispering.

"Why wouldn't it be? Nobody likes something pretending to be something else," the mimic said, "so why shouldn't they cast it out, right? Who could ever trust something that acts as though it were a totally different thing? That's lying on such a high level that trust could never possibly be rebuilt."

Juno, sadly, knew exactly what they meant. She nodded slowly and sat down on the edge of the hole, mimic still standing beside her.

"Don't you have to get back to work?" they asked.

"...in a bit," she said, "this is more important."

When Juno finally arrived back at the store, Chelsea was already getting ready to leave for the night. She'd done the rest of the restocking, cleaning, and other little chores that she often had to do before her shift ended. When Juno came back in through the back door and wound up in the main area, Chelsea finally looked up at her and, broom in one hand, put her other hand on her hip, tossing her hair back.

"Where did you disappear to?" she asked.

"I took the trash out," Juno mumbled, before looking at the floor and noticing the husk of Garvin on the floor.

"Is that skin?", she asked, "Do you want me to sweep it up or hang it on the wall like a jacket?"

"Heh, do whatever you want with it," Chelsea replied, chuckling, "and then, after we're done here, how about we go out and get something to eat together. I think we both could use some company."

Juno smiled weakly and nodded. She might be familiar with the problems the mimics faced regarding identity, but...at least she with certainty knew that she would never be tossed in the trash.

"Do you have a last name?" Chelsea asked, and Juno shook her head. Chelsea groaned and ran her hands over her face. In the months since Juno's hiring, Chelsea hadn't managed to learn a single thing about her, and it had begun to wear on her patience. Juno was polite, a good worker, fun to be with, but the mysteriousness bothered Chelsea in a way she hadn't expected and didn't like. Juno chewed her gum, her jaw clicking as she did.

"I have a first name," she said in response, "and really shouldn't that be enough?"

They continued down the aisle, as Juno stocked the lower shelves and Chelsea stocked the higher shelves. They figured, by arranging things this way and splitting the load, they would finish the restocking faster. Juno handed Chelsea another box of what appeared to be some sort of pasta and cheese microwavable bowl, but written in a language she couldn't read and images of maggots on the box, and Chelsea, after grimacing, slid it onto the top shelf with the others.

"Why can't you tell me anything about yourself?" Chelsea asked.

"Why should I have to?" Juno replied, "after all, it's not like you're my mom."

The bell over the front door rang, indicating someone had entered, but neither girl paid much attention to it.

"Were you cursed by a witch and now you can't divulge personal information or she'll hurt your family?" Chelsea asked, grinning, as Juno looked over her shoulder at her, deadpan.

"Yeah. That's it. You got me. Cursed by a witch," Juno said, making Chelsea laugh.

"Excuse me," a voice said from the end of the aisle. Both girls turned to face what, appeared to be anyway, a floating black void of nothingness; the void continued, "I'm looking for a specific kind of nose spray you used to carry."

"Don't you need a nose?" Juno asked, as Chelsea shot her a glare.

"Follow me, I'll get it for you," Chelsea said, walking towards the counter, the void floating along behind her; Chelsea continued, "please forgive my trainee, she hasn't been here that long and she completely lacks people skills or any kind of socialization it appears. We've had to start stocking these kinds of things behind the counter because too many folks were coming in and stealing it, I guess it can be used to create some kind of street drug."

"Oh, that's a shame," the void said, sniffling, somehow, as they added, "I can't imagine the kinds of folks who would use medicine for nefarious purposes."

Chelsea rang up the spray, handed it to the void who, again, somehow, managed to carry it and exited the shop. Chelsea leaned on the counter, happy with herself being able to help someone who clearly was in need of some kind. Juno came around the end of the aisle, tossing the empty boxes into a corner together.

"Hey, we have a recycling bin for a reason," Chelsea said.

"Yeah. Outside. In the back. In the dark," Juno said.

"You guys never stop arguing," Monica said, floating near the end of the aisle, right behind Juno, Chelsea smiling at seeing her; she continued, "A dead girl can't even rest in peace around here because all I ever hear is bicker bicker bicker. You're like an old married couple...and...now realizing the age gap, that was an incredibly creepy thing to say and I regret it immensely."

"Regret what?" a voice asked, and all three girls turned their heads to see Polaris entering the store, looking at his perfectly manicured hands. Monica squealed a little and hid back behind a shelf. Chelsea chuckled and shook her head.

"Nothing," she said.

"Regrets are an important part of life," Polaris said as he approached the counter, "Without regret, how do you learn from your mistakes?"

"Uh, other people tell you they're mistakes?" Juno said, shrugging, "pretty easy actually."

Another ring of the bell and Chelsea rolled her eyes, huffing, as she excused herself and headed to the back of the store, Monica floating closely behind her. Monica glanced back over her shoulder and watched as Polaris and Juno interacted, and if she were alive and could shiver, she would've done so.

"I take it you're not exactly a fan of the guy," Chelsea said.

"He's evil incarnate," Monica replied, "if I were still alive, I'd be terrified he'd kill me at some point. I don't trust him as far as I, well not I since I don't have much upper body strength, but, someone can throw him. He's just got this...aura about him that's so untrustworthy."

As Chelsea stood in front of the freezer section, and Monica floated down, sitting atop it, they could hear this new customer talking to both Juno and Polaris. Chelsea figured it'd be good for Juno to get some upfront social work for a change. She couldn't hide in the stocking area forever. Chelsea opened the freezer, pulled out a popsicle of some kind that she'd become a fan of, and ripped open the wrapper, sucking on it.

"I mean, to be fair to Polaris, aren't there a lot of terrifying creatures here? Surely he can't be the only evil one," Chelsea said.

"Oh, definitely, this place is a death pit," Monica said, "but still, it isn't the same. He has powers nobody else has, and nobody even really knows where he came from. I think that's why most are scared of him. The lack of information surrounding his origins, and his incredible abilities."

The patron who had entered left, the ball ringing over the door - Chelsea never even seeing them - as Juno and Polaris came back to the front, laughing together. Admittedly, their camaraderie made Chelsea a mite nervous, but she tried her best to ignore it. Juno hopped up onto the counter and uncapped a drink, sipping from it, as Polaris lit up a cigar to smoke from...well...Chelsea wasn't sure where, because he had no facial features with which to utilize, so.

"Have you finished unboxing the rest of the products from the backroom?" Chelsea asked, and Juno rolled her eyes; Chelsea scowled, adding, "you know, it's actually kind of important to do the job you've been hired for."

"I didn't get 'hired'," Juno said, making air quotes with her fingers, confusing Chelsea further.

"Oh, give her a break," Polaris replied, "she's new to the scene, she's still settling in! Chelsea, tell me...has Luna been in lately?"

Chelsea slowly shook her head. Luna had, in fact, been around, but had specifically requested, if asked for by Polaris, to not be given up. She just didn't want anything to do with him, if she could avoid it and Chelsea was more than happy to oblige by that request, even lacking clarification. Polaris puffed smoke into the air and shook his head.

"What's it take to track that woman down," he mumbled. Just then the bell over the door rang again and a large, vertical fleshy creature slithered in, an opening slit down the middle, filled with jagged teeth, gleaming under the light of the store as it approached the counter.

"Excuse me," it asked, "would you happen to carry a tooth filler of any kind?"

"I'd be happy to help you, follow me," Chelsea said, gladly leading the creature away and towards the hygiene aisle. Monica watched as Chelsea left, then looked at Juno and Polaris and smiled awkwardly.

"Welp," she said, "time for me to get back to being dead. It was fun."

Chelsea and the tooth creature, meanwhile, continued their small trek to the aisle.

"Are you in need of something to fill in holes?" Chelsea asked, and the creature nodded, or, as best as it could anyway.

"Yes yes, I am growing in new teeth, but some are breaking before falling out," they replied, "I'm in pain, and want to alleviate it best as I can until they fall out properly."

"Well, we have a really good one here called Ectopaste, it's made from the ectoplasm of ghosts, so it's very sticky," Chelsea said, kneeling down as they reached the proper spot and gathering two boxes, holding them up in front of the creature, adding, "see, this stuff'll really keep your teeth from falling apart, guaranteed. It's the only one we even stock because it's literally the only one worth using."

"You have no idea how hard it is to be a monster who just wants to look their best," the creature said, two fleshy tendrils reaching out from both sides and taking the boxes, looking at them for itself.

"Well, thankfully, I like to help monsters when I can," Chelsea said, smiling brightly, as her thoughts turned to her sister.

                                                                           ***

"How's work been?" Xorlack asked.

Xorlack, Chelsea and her sister, Maddy, were sitting in the spruced up janitors closet. Ever since this version of her sister had come into her life 3 months ago, Chelsea had been doing her best to keep this space maintained and make it fun and cute for her. Thankfully, it was a defunct closet that nobody bothered to use, so between its space and its privacy - Chelsea was, in fact, the only one with a key to it even - it made the perfect spot for keeping her sister for the time being.

"It's been frustrating," Chelsea said as she set down a grilled cheese in front of Maddy, who immediately dug into it violently; Chelsea continued, "This new girl still won't tell me anything about herself, and Polaris and her are gettin' buddy buddy and that makes me uncomfortable. Honestly, if not for Monica I'm not sure how good I'd feel working there right now."

"To be fair, Polaris is friendly with, like, everyone," Xorlack said, and Chelsea nodded, crossing her arms.

"I know, I know that, he's just a charming fella," Chelsea said, making Xorlack smirk; she continued, "but this new girl feels like she's upended the natural order of the store, and what's with all the secrets? Why won't anyone just tell me what's going on? Luna and Polaris won't tell me why they have this weird relationship, Juno won't tell me a damn thing about herself, and I feel like I'm constantly being left in the dark."

"They're not really your concerns. Whatever happened between Luna and Polaris is their business, not yours."

"Yeah, but if she's expecting me to stay away from him, restrict access to the store from him, I'd sure like to know why," Chelsea said.

Maddy finished her sandwich, then went back to finishing her coloring before tearing the page from the book on the perforated line and getting up, walking to Xorlack and handing it to her. Xorlack happily took it and looked, as Chelsea came to look over her shoulder. The drawing was of a beautiful unicorn in an echanted forest that Maddy had colored in so perfectly. The girls smiled at one another, then looked back at Maddy, who had since gone back to coloring.

"She doesn't feel like she belongs here," Xorlack said, "she feels like...like a good thing that exists in a bad place."

"Would you call The Elsewhere a bad place, exactly?" Chelsea asked, "because, personally, it feels more like a home, far more preferable than where I'm from, to me anyway."

"It has its pros and cons but ultimately yes I would," Xorlack replied, "take it from someone who's actually from here, yeah, it isn't great. But I suppose if someone as pure as your sister can exist within it, then it also can't be that bad."

The girls looked back at Maddy, happily humming as she laid on her stomach, coloring, her legs kicking up in the air behind her, and they both smiled. It was true. For all the weirdness, darkness, evil that surrounded them, all the frustrating things like Polaris's suspicious behavior and Juno's dodging of answers, there was a goodness here, in Maddy, and that alone was worth it.

                                                                           ***

Juno was counting money for the day, despite the shop not really closing ever, when Chelsea and Xorlack rejoined her. She didn't even look up or acknowledge them in any way as they re-entered the room, so Chelsea kissed Xorlack on the cheek and said goodbye to her for the night, before stopping at the counter, grabbing a candy bar she'd become fond of, and tore open the wrapper, biting into it.

"You gonna pay for that?" Juno asked, still not looking up.

"I'm an employee, this is a perk," Chelsea said, "Luna always said to just take whatever I want, so."

"Mmm," Juno remarked, nodding a little in response.

"Juno, listen," Chelsea continued, "um...I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I've been pushy or, like, annoying about getting information out of you. You're under no obligation whatsoever to tell me anything about yourself. I just figured, ya know, since we're working together, it might be useful to know one another better. But ultimately what you clue me in on is entirely up to you and I'll completely understand if you just simply never feel comfortable enough being open."

Juno finally put the money down on the counter and sighed, looking up at Chelsea.

"It isn't you," Juno said, "you seem nice. The few months we've worked together, you've been really patient and understanding with me, while I've been kind of a monster."

"Par for the course attitude for a place like The Elsewhere," Chelsea interjected, the both of them chuckling. Juno continued.

"But it isn't personal, just know that," Juno said, "I just...I don't really trust anyone."

"That's understandable, trust is hard," Chelsea replied.

"So maybe one day we can be friends, but for the time being...can we just...would it be okay if we were coworkers?" Juno asked, and Chelsea nodded, smiling warmly.

"It'd be more than okay," she said.

"Awww, that was so heartwarming," Polaris said from behind Chelsea, making her jump and put a hand to her chest.

"Christ! Don't you EVER leave?!" she shouted, making him laugh.

"I'm here on business today, ma'am," Polaris said, "I'll leave when my business is concluded, as soon as Luna is willing to provide me with ample time for said business. Until then, I think I'll stay, read a few magazines, have a few snacks, and just take in the quiet ambiance of the shop, if you don't mind."

Chelsea smiled weakly, shaking her head. She didn't mind. She really didn't. That was the thing, she couldn't see whatever it was that Luna had an issue with in regards to Polaris. Sure, he was weird and kind of spooky and sometimes, actually quite often, offputting, but he didn't come across as a bad guy by any means. Plus, his burgeoning friendship with Juno put Chelsea somewhat at ease because she felt like he wouldn't do anything to her, which meant he likely wouldn't do anything to Chelsea either. So the three of them stayed in the main foyer of the shop, enjoying snacks and drinks, doing magazine quizzes, and simply participating in the thing the Elsewhere called living.

Something Chelsea herself was finally becoming adjusted to.

"When you're removed from it all, the universe can look like a beautiful place," Polaris said, leaning against the wall outside the shop, smoking a cigar while Chelsea puffed on a cigarette; he added, "it's only when you're in the thick of it, when things are rough, that the world seems awful. But when you escape all the noise, the unnecessary clutter...that's when you see the universe for what it truly is. A magnificent mistake, a miracle of accidents, and it's glorious."

"...you sure have a weird way of stating positives," Chelsea said.

"You know, Chelsea, just because you work here part time and live somewhere else doesn't mean you don't belong," Polaris said, "...this place, the Elsewhere, this is where people like you do belong. This is where you matter most. Not in a place where nothing matters, but a place where everything, most of all yourself, matters greatly."

Chelsea wanted to cry. She'd never been told these sorts of things before, and she was so appreciative.

Maybe she'd take a smoke break more often.

"My parents hate me," Chelsea said, "they act like they don't, because society says you have to love your children, so they put on this facade, but I know they do. They blame me for what happened to my sister. They think I'm useless, worthless, not capable of being on my own. But if being here has taught me anything, it's that their opinion is worth less than a monsters. These creatures in this place, they all think I'm super cool. Since working at Last Shop on the Left, I've helped a ghost girl accept her death, helped raise a little creature, gotten a girlfriend, helped an ancient being openly acknowledge his affection for his long deceased wife. This is a place of beauty and hope and love. The world isn't that."

"The world can be that," Polaris said.

"You just spent ten minutes extolling the virtues of the Elsewhere by putting down my dimension, now you say my dimension CAN be good?"

"Just because it's worse doesn't mean it's without merit. There's plenty of things your home can be or have," Polaris said, "...it's just harder to see them through the haze of bullshit. And the Elsewhere isn't perfect, hell if anything it's way more dangerous, but it's honest about it. The problem with where you're from is that it isn't honest. It pretends everything is okay, that the horrors don't exist, whereas we're just blatant about them from the get go. We recognize, accept and adapt to the horrors, not brush them under the carpet."

Chelsea nodded. She hadn't considered that. She looked out at the semi lively night life on the street and smiled. Monsters and creatures walking past, humanoid or otherwise, enjoying themselves but knowing that they could die at any moment, or that everything could change in an instant. There was some kind of odd recognition in that realization that she appreciated.

"Hey," Xorlack said, coming up to them, "What're you guys doing out here?"

"We're on smoke break," Chelsea said, "Well, I'm on smoke break, he's just keeping me company."

"Not very busy tonight I guess?" Xorlack asked, and Chelsea shook her head.

"Nah, that's why this is fine."

"What're you talking about?"

"The inevitability of unhappiness no matter what location you preside in," Polaris said as Chelsea handed Xorlack her cigarette for her to take a puff from.

"Boy, you're a big ball of sunshine, ain'tcha," Xorlack said before inhaling, making Chelsea chuckle.

"You're from here," Chelsea said, looking at her, "do you like it? Do you think the Elsewhere is a good place to be?"

Xorlack took a moment, a few moments in fact, exhaling smoke and thinking before finally answering. After a bit, she nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I do," she said, "Don't get me wrong, it can be nasty here, but at least it's upfront about it, you know? The few times I've been with you back to your dimension, it's all felt so...so fake? You know? So insincere. Like it's better to pretend the ugliness and brute cruelty doesn't exist rather than face the fact that it does head on. I don't know, that seems worse to me."

Chelsea nodded. Xorlack and Polaris made good points, and she wasn't even sure why she was defending home to begin with. It wasn't like home was ever really good to her. If anything, it'd been so bad, it'd driven her to be in a place like this preferably over it.

"There's depth to everything," Polaris said, inhaling his cigar, "and that's half the problem. Before you see depth, you see black and white, not shades of grey. Once you recognize depth, it complicates things, and that's why so many from your dimension, Chelsea, prefer to ignore depth. They prefer the falsehood of black and white. Good vs bad. Right vs wrong. That isn't to say there isn't abject evil there. Xenophobia, racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, you know. Those things are outright hurtful and don't deserve a place among the discussion. But there's shades of grey to so many other things that people adamantly believe to be objectively right or wrong, and they refuse to compromise or, even worse, recognize the possibility of a compromise."

"...you're not wrong, and much as I love having a philosophical debate, I can't argue because I have nothing to defend," Chelsea said, "home is terrible, this place is terrible, but at least it's honest and upfront about it, and that's preferable to the alternative."

Chelsea's watch beeped, and she sighed. She had something to attend today at home, but she couldn't leave work just yet. The alarm was merely a reminder anyway, not an instruction to leave immediately. She could go when she was off work.

"I think," Xorlack said, "the thing people don't realize about existence is that it can be great once they admit how fleeting it is. Too many people are far too scared to take too many chances or risks, and as a result, they lead lives of quiet desperation, wishing they could do anything different, but obsessed with the judgement from others that comes with the decision to do so."

"I mean, you're not wrong," Chelsea said, "I was always afraid to date because I didn't think I was worth it, and because I was afraid of what others would think of who I dated."

"Well, we got you over that hump, didn't we?" Xorlack asked, the both of them chuckling.

"Girls, the lesson here to take away is this," Polaris said, "beauty can be everywhere, you just have to be willing to see it. The Elsewhere is a special kind of place, where you can see things for how and what they truly are, and that in and of itself is beautiful," he said before checking his pocketwatch and sighing, "now if you'll excuse me, I have a prior engagement to get to."

With that, he put his cigar out and started to walk away. Chelsea and Xorlack exchanged a glance, then shrugged and headed inside.

"I heard your watch beep," Xorlack said, "Expecting something?"

"...today is an anniversary," Chelsea said, "of the day my sister died. Or, rather, the day I killed my sister as my parents would love to believe. I was gonna go to the cemetery, see her grave, but...ugh, I don't know, I always feel terrible doing that. I wish there was a way to see her without not seeing her, you know? Talking to a rock isn't the same as talking to the person underneath it."

"...well...Todd can create things, right? He made your uniform, he made skin for me," Xorlack said, "maybe he could...you know...create your sister, or a facsimile of some kind or something. Her but not her, you know? A representation of her, in a sense."

Chelsea had never even considered this before. She then turned and headed inside, briskly, with Xorlack on her heels. As they headed through the shop and into the back, down the hall, Chelsea felt her blood racing and her heart thumping. Would this work? Could this work? Or, perhaps most important of all...should this work? She didn't care. She just knew that she had to try. She opened the door to Todd's office and stepped inside, Xorlack right behind her. Todd glanced down at them and waved.

"Todd," Chelsea said, "I need a favor."

Todd growled in understanding.

"I need you to create my sister," she said, "or, rather, some kind of version of her."

Todd growled again, then shut his eyes as he reached down and rested a tentacle on her head. Chelsea felt a small surge of electricity course throughout her body, down her spine, and she felt lightheaded all of a sudden. When this was over, she opened her eyes and, once her vision became clear again, there, standing in front of her, was a small girl. It wasn't her sister, exactly, but it was supposed to be, she could tell. Xorlack back away and left the room, leaving Chelsea to do her thing. Chelsea approached cautiously and smiled, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"...is...are you..." she started, but her sister nodded, as if she already knew the question Chelsea wanted to ask. Chelsea fell to her knees and put her arms around this version of her sister - with the clear skin and the big eyes and the monstrous teeth - and she squeezed her tightly, warmly, and to her surprise, her monster sister hugged her back.

"it not your fault," the creature said softly, and Chelsea lost it. She couldn't take it anymore. She started sobbing, weeping, openly right there, letting everything she'd felt for the past few years fall to pieces in front of her. This neighborhood, Slipside, in this universe, The Elsewhere, was her home now, and she was determined to be a better sister this time around than before, no matter what the cost.

                                                                            ***

She set her sister up in the janitors closet for the time being, giving her food and drink and activity books. She watched as her monster sister colored and ate candy. She sat there and just watched, her heart so full of love.

"I'll find you a real place to stay soon," Chelsea said.

"Store best," her sister said.

"Why is the store best?"

"Closest to you."

In real life, Chelsea and Madison had never really gotten to become friends, partially because Madison hadn't lived that long, so now Chelsea was determined to be the best friend a sister could ever be.

"Maybe I'll find a place to live here, in the Elsewhere, and we can live together," Chelsea said.

"Okay," Maddy responded, yawning.

She set her coloring tools down, laid on her side on the pile of towels Chelsea had found, and Chelsea tucked her in best she could before handing her a stuffed animal she'd bought at another store down the street, where she'd gotten the coloring books. She stroked her sisters hair and watched her, waiting until she was asleep, then exited the janitors closet. She then headed back into the main storefront, only to find Luna standing there with a young girl who looked about 11.

"Oh, I didn't know you were back," Chelsea said.

"I was giving the new employee the ropes," Luna said, "You've done very well, but you need help. You need someone who can work alongside you who knows this place well. This is Juno."

"Hi," Chelsea said, holding out her hand so Juno could shake it, "I'm Chelsea."

"Hiya," Juno replied.

"Anyway, you'll be training her from now on for a bit, until she gets the hang of things," Luna said, "...it smells like Polaris. Was Polaris in here?"

"I can't stop someone from shopping here," Chelsea said, shrugging, not that she'd ever stop him anyway. She loved his friendship.

"Ugh," Luna replied, shaking her head, "I have to get to my office, I have paperwork to fill out. Chelsea, show Juno how things work, alright?"

With that settled, Luna exited through the backdoor and headed to her office. Chelsea saddled back up behind the counter as Juno hopped up to sit on the counter and the two girls sat there together, not saying a word to one another. Xorlack must've gone home, Chelsea figured, as she was no longer in the shop. Chelsea looked at Juno, who just smirked.

"You like to play cards?" Chelsea asked.

"Is that allowed?" Juno asked.

"It is when the boss ain't in the room," Chelsea said, "Besides, nobody's really coming in tonight. Might as well entertain ourselves."

Chelsea pulled out a deck of cards she kept under the counter and they started to play Go Fish. As they played, she thought about her sister, and about what Polaris had said to her. Shades of grey, complexity, nothing is black and white. Was creating a weird monster version of her sister what she should've done? Maybe not. But who cares, it's all subjective, right? Chelsea's watched beeped again, and this time she turned the alarm off. Juno looked at her wrist, then up at her face.

"What was that for?" she asked.

"Just a reminder," Chelsea said, "about something I don't have to do anymore. Got any sevens?"

"Go fish," Juno said.

And they played cards well into the night.

Chelsea pushed some juice boxes onto the shelf, then knelt down and picked up a few more from the crate, aiming to fill the shelf entirely before moving on. It was late, and the store was empty. Polaris wasn't here, Xorlack hadn't come in, and Chelsea was, for the first time in a while, totally alone in the shop and it was kinda nice. She was enjoying the solitude for a change. She liked their company, certainly, but sometimes a person needs a little time to themselves.

As she shoved another few juice boxes onto the shelf, the lights flickered, and then went out. Chelsea groaned and turned, only to see one of the doors to the frozen aisle open up and a floaty figure slowly creep out. Chelsea bit her lip, trying not to scream, just as the lights came back to life, illuminating the figure, which she realized was now just a teenage girl. A dead teenage girl. A dead ghost teenage girl who just happened to look like a movie starlet from the 40s.

"I'm sorry," the girl said, "I hope I didn't frighten you."

"Takes a lot more than that to frighten me at this point," Chelsea replied.

The ghost floated across the floor and over to the candy aisle, looking around. Chelsea finished her shelf work, then abandoned her post and headed to the same aisle, watching.

"I don't see any Beaver Teeth, do you not carry that anymore?" the ghost girl asked.

"Yeah, it's right there, below Acid Wash," Chelsea said, pointing, and the ghost girl squealed and grabbed a few bars.

"It's amazing the things you miss when you're dead," the ghost girl said, "they say you get crazy cravings when you're pregnant, but death cravings I assume are even more intense."

Chelsea smirked at this. At least the ghost wasn't going to kill her. Seemed like her night was still gonna be pretty good. Chelsea pushed her hands in her pants pockets and walked further into the aisle, also looking at the candy.

"If you're dead, can you even eat it?" Chelsea asked.

"Of course," the ghost girl replied, "Ghosts can do plenty of things people can do. It's just that you all assume we can't. If anything, we can do more than living people can do. The living just have such a high opinion of themselves they can't imagine the dead being capable of doing more than them. They see death as the end, not an extension."

"Is it an extension?" Chelsea asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm here, ain't I?" the girl said, making Chelsea laugh a little; the ghost girl smiled and added, "I'm Monica."

"I'm Chelsea. It's nice to see another human," Chelsea said, "even if it is a dead one. So...how'd you die? And why are you haunting this store in particular?"

"How I died is kind of a personal question, don't you think?" Monica responded, making Chelsea feel awkward for having asked; but she just smiled again and added, "I'm yankin' yer chain. It's not that personal. I actually was here before the store was. I was killed and buried on this property by the guys who murdered me. So, if you wanna get technical, it's like the shop is haunting me."

"You were murdered?" Chelsea asked, grimacing, "geez, sorry."

"It happens," Monica said, shrugging as she tore open one of the candy bars and started eating, "When you're dead, you don't really think about regrets anymore. I mean, some ghosts can't escape it, but most I've found have felt that none of what the living thinks matters, so why worry? At least if you're alive you can make some kind of gesture to fix those regrets sometimes, but when you're dead, it's done. It's over. You're finished. So why bother worrying, you know?"

Chelsea nodded, thinking. Monica had a point. Chelsea did think about her regrets quite often, but she rarely if ever made any attempts to fix them. Chelsea pulled a bar from the rack herself and opened it, starting to eat. She'd since learned which things in the store, especially candy, were safe to eat and which would melt her insides.

"I was worried at first that maybe you were going to possess me or something, you know, being a ghost and all," Chelsea said while chewing.

"Why would I possess you? You work HERE. What would that gain me?" Monica asked, making Chelsea snort in laughter.

"Hey, it's not so bad," Chelsea said, surprising even herself with this admittance, "I mean, I get a discount, I get to eat or drink whatever I want, I get paid, and I get to meet plenty of cool people. This world has a lot of interesting folks who stop by."

"This world is relentlessly unforgiving," Monica said, "it's cold and it's cruel and it casts so many out without ever giving us a chance. It's dog eat dog here. Don't get me wrong, I'd never live or die anywhere else, but at the same time, I wonder if I made the right choice coming."

"Are you not from this realm?" Chelsea asked.

"I'm a human, or I was, now I'm a ghost, but you know what I mean," Monica said, popping another candy piece in her mouth and chewing, "I was a human, just like you. I found this place and it just seems like...like it was magical, you know? So different. So worth exploring. But the thing you don't learn until it's too late is how much it needs us, people like you and me, to continue running. Needs to feed off us. Our energy, our personhood."

"Am I...am I in danger if I stay?" Chelsea asked.

She'd long since questioned whether or not she was making a good decision, choosing to stay here, but she needed the job to pay for college. She sighed and scratched her forehead.

"Nevermind, it doesn't matter," Chelsea said, "if my parents lose another kid, what's the difference."

This got Monica's attention. She looked at Chelsea, raising an eyebrow, curious.

"I had a little sister," Chelsea said, "...and when I say little, I mean little, she was only 4. I was 15 when my parents had her, so there was definitely an age gap. Not that that mattered, we were still best friends. Sometimes I think she was my only friend. Anyway, I failed to keep her safe, so why should I worry about my own safety? Besides, they'd be happy to be rid of me, considering what I did."

"What'd you do?" Monica asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"....uh....I was...learning to drive," Chelsea said, "and uh...you know, student drivers, we're all really bad, but I thought I was doing a pretty good job. I was heading back to my house with my instructor, the test was over for the day, and uh...and I was certain I'd get my license anytime now. I had passed all the tests, written or otherwise, so. Anyway, I'm pulling up into the driveway and, ya know, my dad is there, and he sees me and he just...he stands there, staring, dead eyed. I'm like, confused, cause what's the problem, I'm just coming home from a test. Until I got out of the car. Until I saw her hand."

Chelsea felt her stomach turning. She didn't want to revisit this. She hated even thinking about it. But...she pressed on.

"I didn't see her, I couldn't...I couldn't have known. She was drawing with chalk, how could I...it was an accident, you know, and everyone knew that, it wasn't like I was put on trial or anything. But...but I couldn't help but feel like my parents hated me for it. Ever since then they've acted like they don't believe in anything I do being fruitful. Like I'm a waste of time and energy. So if this place eats me alive, literally or figuratively, then I guess it'll just be doing them a favor."

A long moment passed in the shop, as the two girls stood there, quietly eating their candy bars. Finally, Monica coughed and spoke.

"You know that isn't your fault, right? That's just what we call an act of god," Monica said.

"I'm just saying that if you exist, if you tell me that death is an extension and not an end, then maybe she's not really gone," Chelsea said, wiping at her eyes, "you know? The world might be cruel and uncaring here, but it's that way in my world too, and that sucks but...knowing you haunt this place, maybe she haunts our home and I just can't see her."

The bell over the door rang, and Chelsea went to help the customer. It was a woman with snakes in her hair, similar to Medusa, and she wanted a soda and a lottery ticket. Chelsea helped her check out, then turned her attention back to Monica, who was now sitting on the counter, or as close to sitting as a ghost could get.

"I love it here," Chelsea said, leaning on the counter, chin on her fist, "like...nobody expects anything of me except to do my job, you know? I love it. It's great. It's weird and it's different and it's not where I'm from but I'm also not where I'm from, you know? I never felt like I fit in, especially after what I did, and this is the kind of place that makes me feel like that doesn't matter, and I belong somewhere at least. This place has wholeheartedly accepted me. Whether that's because it intends to kill me someday or not I don't know, nor do I care. I like it here. With the monsters and the ghosts."

Monica smiled warmly.

"Slipshade is a pretty great place," she said, "and Last Shop On The Left is the best example of that. Out there, we might fight and bicker and argue, be divided, but in here all that matters is our purchases. We put aside all our petty differences to buy our crappy cigarettes and energy drinks, even if only momentarily."

Chelsea listened, but she didn't respond. That was the first time she'd talked openly about her sister before, or at least since the funeral. She tried never to tell anyone, mostly because she didn't want their pity. She didn't feel like she deserved it. No matter what her parents or even a psychologist might tell her, she couldn't shake the feeling that she felt single handedly responsible for her sisters death. Talking about it now, she felt a bit lighter, definitely, but not better.

Chelsea rolled her head to face Monica and their eyes met. Monica smiled at her again, and Chelsea smiled back. Chelsea cleared her throat and wiped her eyes on her shirt sleeve that she wore under her work vest.

"Uh, I guess I just like the idea that somewhere out there, she's still here, eating candy bars," Chelsea said, "I recognize the two places aren't the same, so maybe the same rules don't apply, but this...I don't know, it brings me some sense of comfort."

"That's what I hate about being a ghost. So many people just attribute us to abject terror, but we can bring so many other emotions out that they never even consider. I much prefer to bring peace and comfort to someone than scare them silly," Monica said, opening yet another candy bar and biting into it, adding while chewing, "Besides, in the long run, what'll you remember better? Something that scared you, or something that helped you?"

Chelsea nodded. Monica wasn't wrong.

"So you just haunt the store regularly, huh?" Chelsea asked.

"Yep," Monica said, "Waited a while before I made my appearance tonight, had to make sure you were the right kind of person to show myself to. Some people don't deal with this sort of stuff well."

"I believe it."

The girls laughed, and it felt good to laugh. Chelsea hadn't laughed in years as much as she had while working here recently, and it was a nice thing to feel again. The girls talked some more, about the vanity of life, the banality of death, the mundane reality of both. After a while, Monica got tired, and said she should be heading back. As she gathered up a few things, taking them back to the freezer, she turned and looked at Chelsea.

"If I see your sister," she said, "I'll tell her you said hi."

Chelsea wanted to cry, but instead she just thanked her. A while after Monica left, the doors opened again, and Polaris finally came in. He approached the counter to find Chelsea sitting on a stool, eating more candy, reading a magazine.

"You know, you eat too much of that, you'll get cavities, or worse, diabetes," Polaris said, "Course I think you have to have been pre-dispositioned to get it, but still."

"I don't care," Chelsea said.

"Yeah? And what, pray tell, gave way to this brazen attitude?" Polaris asked, lighting a cigar, as Chelsea looked up and smirked.

"Life's too fuckin' short," she said.

"There's certainly an argument to be had for the beauty of love," Polaris said, leaning against the counter while Xorlack read a book and Chelsea walked around the shop, doing inventory; he turned a page in the magazine he was reading and added, "I mean, here's a couple who stuck by eachother after a horrific accident, and yet love one another just as much now as they did before."

"Was the accident being in this magazine?" Chelsea asked as she walked past, not even looking up from her clipboard, making Xorlack chuckle.

"Mr and Mrs Belorguxelnox were your fairy tale standard, high school sweethearts who had grown up on the same block, it seemed they were destined to be together, and their wedding only further acknowledge this fact, but when-" Polaris started reading, until Xorlack interrupted.

"Their last name is Belorguxelnox?" Xorlack asked, "Jeez, imagine having to write that on a check."

"I'll inform them of your disapproval of their name, XORLACK," Polaris said, making Chelsea laugh from a whole different aisle; Polaris continued, "Anyway, they were on their way home from their honeymoon when they wound up in a horrific car accident, and Mrs Belorguxelnox's face was decimated in the crash, so her husband gave her half his face and now they love one another even more."

"Sounds like he loves himself," Xorlack said.

Chelsea approached the counter and sighed as she dropped the clipboard down and sat on the stool behind the counter, laying face first on its top. Xorlack put down her book and leaned in, looking closely at Chelsea.

"Are you okay? You seem glum," Xorlack asked.

"I don't know," Chelsea replied, "I spent some time with my parents this past weekend, and all they did was argue, and it just made me sad to hear this story and think 'why can't my parents be like that?', you know what I mean?"

"What, sharing a face?" Polaris asked.

"No," Chelsea replied, annoyed, "you know what I mean. Willing to be that giving and appreciative of one another. It makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me personally, like, am I gonna wind up like that? Am I gonna be downright impossible to love, or unable to love someone else?"

Xorlack patted her hand and smiled, her skinsuit sagging a bit as she did so, but only momentarily before snapping back into place.

"Trust me, you're not unlovable, and you're certainly good at loving others," Xorlack said, "I can attest to that."

"Awww," Polaris said, "I think I'm gonna cry."

Just then the bell over the door rang, and they all turned to see a man, or what appeared to be a man anyway, enter the store. It was hard to tell if he was human or not, only because he was so very very ancient, covered in wrinkles and dust, but well dressed at least. He had on a nice suit and tie, and an old fedora. He walked further into the store, and disappeared down an aisle.

"Chelsea, take it from me," Polaris started, "love is nice, but what's better is being able to love yourself. Now I'm not saying that until you love yourself nobody else will, because that's an outright untrue, not to mention damaging belief, but I will say that while it's great to love someone else and get love from someone else, it's even greater to acknowledge you don't require it because you love yourself enough, and you're fine on your own."

"I think Polaris here is just angry because he doesn't have someone willing to give him half a face," Xorlack said, making Chelsea laugh.

"I don't need a face to know I'm handsome. I'm an adonis, a greek god, thank you," Polaris said, running his long slender fingers up the entirety of his featureless face, making the girls simultaneously chuckle and shiver at the sight. After a few minutes, the seemingly old man finally approached the counter and spoke, his voice sounding like it would crumble into dust at any second.

"Excuse me," he asked, "You sell bouquets here, right?"

"Yes we do," Chelsea said, "Over in the back right is a whole little flower department."

"Thank you," he replied, wandering slowly off again in that direction.

"God...I can't picture myself being old," Chelsea said once he was gone, "it just seems...not natural to me. I don't know that I'd enjoy it. Not that that means I'm going to throw myself off a bridge or anything when the time comes to avoid it, I just...I don't see myself as an old person."

"With age comes wisdom," Polaris said, "Or, at least, that's what people want you to believe. Age doesn't actually dictate anything, truth be told. You can be wise beyond your years at any age. Trust me, I've met plenty of stupid old people. It just depends on how cultured, how enlightened you allow yourself to become."

Finally the old man came back to the counter and sighed, looking sad, as he spoke quietly.

"Would someone please help me pick something out?" he asked, and Chelsea and Xorlack both agreed, while Polaris stayed behind and continued to read his magazine. As the girls escorted the old man back to the flower section, they couldn't help but notice that he was much older than they initially thought. He looked...almost ancient, like a relic from an entirely different era.

"So, uh, what exactly are you looking for?" Chelsea asked.

"That's just it, I don't really know," he said, his voice creaky, "I...I can't remember the kind of flower...it...it was white, with a bell shape, and...oh goodness, my memory is just worse and worse with each passing day."

"I believe what you want is a Cornish Bell Flower," Xorlack said.

"How do you know about flowers?" Chelsea asked, sounding surprised.

"My mom has a huge garden," Xorlack said, approaching the flowers, "When I was little, I used to help her out a lot in it, and I still do from time to time. I love horticulture. Here's what you want, I think."

Xorlack pulled a bouquet of flowers from the rack and handed them to the old man, who happily took them.

"Oh, oh thank you so much," he said, almost sounding like he was about to cry as he breathed them in, "oh...oh I haven't smelled this in a stars age. They still smell the same as they used to. Back when she was still with me, why, she used to have them around the house just for the smell alone. The whole house would wind up smelling like them, and in turn, so would she...I miss that smell. Smelling these now is like smelling her again."

Chelsea and Xorlack exchanged a sad glance, as the man sighed and ran his old fingers through the petals gently.

"That's the thing you don't realize, is that what you'll wind up missing most of all is the things you never think about...the smells, the sounds...those little quirks that at some points you find annoying but suddenly become endearing once they're gone," he said, "don't take anything for granted, young ladies, because if you do, you'll never really appreciate it."

"Are these for someone?" Xorlack asked.

"My wife," the old man said, "Died over a century ago, but my feelings are still as strong today as they were when we met. She's been gone so long that I'm finally starting to forget things, but the one thing time cannot take is how much I love her. It can take my body, it can take my mind, but it cannot take my love."

Chelsea wanted to cry. The way he spoke of his wife, she wished her own parents could be that close. She looked at Xorlack, who was already crying softly, but smiling too. Chelsea reached over and held Xorlack's hand, and squeezed it gently, making her blush.

"When she died, I felt like my world was over, but the thing is...she was a Lunar," the old man said, "so her soul was returned to the moon, from whence she came from. So, even if she's no longer in my life, at least every time I go look up at the moon, I know she's still there. I can see her every night, even if she isn't with me."

"When you're ready to check out, I'll be up front," Chelsea said, excusing herself, wiping at her eyes as she headed back towards the counter, leaving Xorlack alone with the old man. As Chelsea arrived, she found Polaris exactly where they'd left him.

"You know," Polaris said, "I've never really been one to order something from a magazine, but perhaps there's a first time for everything. Hey, you okay?"

Chelsea wiped her eyes again and sniffled a few times, nodding, then shrugging.

"I...don't know, man," she replied, "everything just feels so...empty. I worry that I don't care about people the way others care about people, especially romantic, and then I'm punched in the face emotionally by this old man who came in to buy his wifes favorite flowers centuries after she's died, after hearing a story about a man who gave his wife half his face. Seems like I'll never understand that level of closeness. Am I bad person for that?"

Polaris looked at her, lowering his magazine and checking the cufflinks on his shirt sleeve.

"No, you're not. Some people just aren't built for that sort of thing, and there's nothing wrong with it. Closeness requires opening up, and opening up isn't for some people, not to mention the dangers it brings. And not to knock those who manage to find it, who manage to open themselves up, but in my experience, it isn't worth it. I too find no real worth in connections of a romantic kind anymore. So, you're not alone, at least."

Chelsea smiled weakly.

"Thanks, I needed to hear that," she said, "I spent the weekend with my parents, and the entire time, when they weren't arguing, I felt like they were judging me for not having found someone for myself, and whenever asked, I would just think to myself 'why would I want that after seeing what it becomes?'. I know not all relationships become that, obviously, but still."

Xorlack approached the counter again, breathing somewhat heavily, like she'd been crying with the old man.

"Is he still there?" Chelsea asked.

"He wanted a moment alone," Xorlack said.

"For what it's worth," Polaris said, "even in spite of how I feel or what I said, I do find it sweet that he would still love someone that deeply after being alone for so long now. I wish I could have that level of closeness, but I recognize it isn't worth it for me, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it for you."

Xorlack and Chelsea looked at him, then back at one another.

"Just something to think about," Polaris said, buttoning his coat and paying for the magazine, "I'll be off."

With that he turned and headed out the exit. After a moment, Xorlack and Chelsea looked at one another again and giggled awkwardly. Xorlack finally looked at Chelsea plainly and took a long, deep breath.

"Tell me," she said, "would you like me without the skin suit?"

"Of course," Chelsea said, "I don't care. I like who you are, not what you look like. I guess I can find that sort of solace with you, if nobody else. I think...I think part of what makes us work is how different we are from everyone else. You don't fit in from where you're from, and I don't fit in where I'm from, but when we're together, we fit in with eachother, and maybe that's what love actually is, you know?"

Xorlack took a moment, blinked, then inhaled through her nose.

"Are you saying you love me?"

"...yeah, I am," Chelsea said, "I do."

Xorlack smiled, giggling, almost crying again when the old man suddenly approached from behind.

"Would you ladies care to step outside with me and see the moon?" he asked, plopping the bouquet down on the counter, "I understand if not, but I figured I'd ask, since you did so much to help me."

"...that sounds nice," Xorlack said, "but I think you shouldn't let others intrude on whats important to you. Be with her, alone. Appreciate that time."

"You know," the old man said as he paid for the flowers and picked them back up, "I know not everyone lives as long as my species does, and that I'm close to being on my way out as well, and so perhaps to other short lived species they don't see the wealth that comes in finding someone that completes you in some way. They might see interpersonal connections as a waste of what's already a fast ticking clock counting down to nonexistence, but I think the world is a better place when you see it with someone, rather than alone, even if they leave first."

Xorlack and Chelsea smiled at him, nodding in agreement as they held hands on the counter.

"I'll tell her you said hi," he said, "She'll be happy to know I made some friends."

The old man tipped his hat, then turned and dawdled slowly out of the store. Chelsea checked her watch and sighed, tapping her nails on the counter as she contemplated what to do next. She knew her shift was coming to an end, but she didn't really wanna go home, be alone. She looked at Xorlack, who was now packing her bag on the counter.

"Do you wanna go do something? I'm getting off work any minute," Chelsea asked.

"Sure," Xorlack said, "Got anything specific in mind?"

"Not really, just as long as we're together," Chelsea said, the both of them blushing.

"Sounds like a good time then," Xorlack replied.

Xorlack finished packing as Chelsea changed from her uniform back into her regular clothes, and she locked up, knowing the day shift employee would have a key. Together they walked outside, hand in hand, into the unknown, but into the unknown together. As they walked down the street bathed in moonlight, heading somewhere to get something to eat, they couldn't help but feel like perhaps the old mans wife overhead was smiling at them, proud of recognizing that even if they didn't need someone else, it was still fun to have someone else.

People, and monsters, are weird like that.

Chelsea couldn't make heads or tails of the gum in the shop.

Since working here, she'd tried almost every single one, except "Death Plague" because, well, the reason was obvious really, and she still had yet to understand the flavors of them all and the nuances between them. Personally, she was a fan of Garlic Thunder, two things she never would think could go well together or could be put together, but somehow someone here had found a way. She finally pulled the wad of gum from her mouth and wrapped it back up in the foil, putting the tiny ball into a little container with all the others as she sighed and looked at Polaris.

"I've got to admit," he said, "I'm tempted to try Death Plague, if only to say I did."

"It's not like you get a t-shirt that says you survived it," Chelsea remarked.

"It's not about recognition, Chelsea, it's about the acknowledgement from yourself. It's like going on a rollercoaster. You don't do it because you think it'll impress others, you do it because you'll be proud of yourself for having faced a fear," he replied, taking his own gum wad from his featureless face and wrapping it back up in foil, adding it to the pile.

"How do you chew without a mouth?" Chelsea asked, leaning on the counter.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to," he said.

Chelsea chuckled, then looked at all the stuff on the counter along with the gum. There were cans of mints, airline sized bottles of alcohol and magazines. All the normal kinds of things you'd find in any regular convenience store, except here the magazines were written in a language nobody human would understand, the bottles of booze would liquify her insides and the mints were actually alive until you bit into them, unleashing their inner freshness. All in all, terrifying, quite frankly. She looked back at Polaris, who had lit his pipe and begun smoking.

"I was told I could eat or drink anything in the shop that I want, but I can't tell what's safe for me to consume, honestly," Chelsea said, "I don't wanna leave and go looking for food either, cause I don't know what's safe out there, food or otherwise."

"You should just start bringing a bag lunch," Polaris said.

"I can do that?"

"Sure, why not," Polaris said, "bring a sandwich and a piece of fruit and a drink in a paper bag. Nobody's gonna stop you, and at least you know it won't kill you outright."

"Unless I choke on it," Chelsea said under her breath.

"Yeah but that's your fault," he replied, making her laugh.

"Excuse me?" a voice asked, as what appeared to be a young woman with the head of a cow skull approached the counter, "I think I need assistance."

"What can I do for you?" Chelsea asked, straightening up, ready to work.

"Well," the woman said, "I got this sandwich out of the deli aisle, and there's something living inside of it."

She plopped a saran wrapped sandwich down on the counter, and for a moment, as everyone leaned in to look, nothing could be seen. Then suddenly, and without warning, a small baby faced creature poked its head out from the innards of the sandwich and pressed its adorable face against the wrap, cooing at them. Chelsea and Polaris exchanged a glance, before looking back at the woman.

"Well, you didn't buy it, so I can't refund you," Chelsea said, "What can I do?"

"...I think we need to raise it," the woman said.

"...what?" Chelsea asked flatly.

Polaris leaned down closer, examining the sandwich, and after a moment he stood back up, seemingly satisfied with his findings.

"What we have here, ladies, is what's known as a Squatter," he said, "They're tiny creatures that take refuge in places they shouldn't so they get raised by someone other than those that gave birth to them. They're not dangerous, and they're relatively easy to bring up, given that they age at about 5 times the normal rate of anything else. In an hour this thing will be a kid, in 2 hours a teenager and in 3 hours a full grown adult. I'd say you have your work cut out for you, but when the workload is such a short time span, I don't think that saying really applies."

Chelsea leaned down again and looked at the creature. It was bald and yellow, with blue swirling galaxies for eyes a little nubby teeth. It smiled up at her, and she felt her heart warm. Guess it was time to be a mother.

                                                                            ***

"It's a good thing this place at least has coloring books," Chelsea said as she watched the Squatter, whom they'd named Enos, sit on the counter and color. The cow skull woman, whom Chelsea had since learned was named Aegis, was leaning against the counter coloring with them.

"Coloring books are the best way to develop hand eye coordination for youngsters," Aegis said, "It also teaches them to be more creative. They learn that they can do things with their hands, and if they enjoy doing so, make a career out of it."

"Are you in a creative field?" Chelsea asked.

"Yes, I design dresses," Aegis said, "What about you?"

"I mean, I work here, so," Chelsea said, shrugging.

"You don't do anything outside of this?"

"I'm in college elsewhere, but I'm not really sure what it is exactly I wanna do just yet," Chelsea replied, "I guess I could do something creative, I mean, I used to like making stuff with clay when I was a kid, so maybe sculpting or something would be up my alley."

"Look!" Enos said, holding up the page and showing Chelsea a horse that was colored completely black with glaring red eyes, like it was sent directly from the deepest depths of hell itself; he looked so proud though, and Chelsea couldn't help but pat him on the head and smile.

"That's beautiful, good job!" she said.

If nothing else, she figured, she could be more encouraging than her own parents had ever been.

                                                                           ***

By the following hour, Enos was a teenager. Turns out Polaris had been right after all, and their growth rate was way faster. Despite being a teenager, however, Enos wasn't surly or withdrawn, like most teenagers Chelsea had known in her youth. He was still the inquisitive, sensitive little guy he had been the previous hour, just bigger now, and more capable of verbally expressing himself. As Chelsea watched Aegis teach Enos how to prepare his own food, she heard the bell over the door ring, and saw Xorlack enter. She smiled as she approached the counter.

"What's going on?" Xorlack asked, almost laughing at the absurdity she'd walked in on.

"This customer found a Squatter living in the sandwich she was gonna buy, and now we're raising it until it grows up," Chelsea said, "Should only be another few hours."

"You had a child with someone else? I'm hurt," Xorlack said, making Chelsea laugh.

"Don't worry, she means nothing to me," Chelsea replied, both of them laughing now as Xorlack leaned in and kissed her on the cheek; Chelsea blushed then asked, "What are you doing here anyway? You just come by to see me?"

"Yeah, and to get some snacks for movie night. Me and the girls are having a night in and watching a lot of romantic comedies, and I was sent to get the snacks. Well, more that I volunteered, cause I knew I'd get to see you," she replied.

"You are a romantic comedy," Chelsea remarked.

Xorlack went about her business, grabbing a basket and dropping items into it while Chelsea watched Aegis and Enos finish their food preparation and then eat. She suddenly found that she couldn't help but smile. In fact, she'd been smiling this entire night since Enos had been discovered, and she didn't really understand why.

"It's maternal," Polaris said, making her scream a little.

"Stop doing that!" she shouted.

"Sorry, I was in the bathroom, I just got back," he said, "anyway what you're feeling is maternal. You wanna do for him what your own folks didn't do for you. You wanna prove to yourself that you're better than they were. It's the same thing as the gum or the rollercoaster. Your own judgement is what really matters. Sure, it'd be easy to point and say 'see, I'm doing this to show up my parents! make them proud of me!' but really you're doing it for you, and for that little guy I guess."

"I've never once wanted children," Chelsea said, "why would I care so much now?"

Polaris lit a cigar and exhaled smoke, then sighed.

"I think it's this place, this shop, this dimension, it brings out the best in us," he said, "When I was human-"

"Wait, WHAT?" Chelsea asked, jarred by this admission, but he merely ignored her and continued on.

"-I never once cared about anything. I was like you. Drifting and aimless. Feeling not just forgotten but let down by the world as a whole, and those who inhabited it. Once I came here, and once I came here for good, I really found myself. Really found who I was and who I should be, who I COULD be. Suddenly all the things I never cared about doing meant the most to me. Suddenly I saw myself doing things I never would've imagined, because now I could do them, and now they mattered."

Chelsea looked away from him back to Aegis and Enos. Aegis was laughing at something Enos had said, before looking back at the counter and waving politely, Polaris and Chelsea returning the wave. Chelsea sighed and scratched her forehead.

"My parents aren't bad," she said, "They just...aren't anything. They're barely there."

"And now so are you," Polaris remarked.

He had a point, Chelsea thought. Maybe Enos wasn't the only one rapidly growing up.

                                                                          ***

"What does an adult do?" Enos asked, now an adult himself, following Chelsea around the store as she did inventory while Aegis read a magazine at the counter, giving herself a break. Chelsea shrugged and shook her head as she marked something down on a clipboard.

"Frankly, I have no earthly idea. Whatever they want, I guess, so long as it doesn't hurt others," Chelsea said, "That's what I always believed anyway. So pick what you like best, and then try and help others with it. Art is a great example. You can make art, and art can help others."

"But...but what if nobody likes what I make?" Enos asked, and Chelsea stopped dead in her tracks, then turned and knelt, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Sweetheart, you make it for you, first and foremost. If it helps others, that's great, but you do what you do for yourself. Some may call that selfish, but you're the one you most need to look out for, because almost nobody else will. I'll always be here, and you can always come see me, but in the end, you need to create your own happiness. If that happiness spills out and splashes onto those around you, then you've done something spectacular without even trying, and that's the best way of all to do so."

Chelsea almost couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. She'd never once been told these sorts of things, so why was she saying them as if they were gospel? Perhaps Polaris was right. Perhaps it was simply innate to being here, in this place, in this shop. Enos seemed to accept her answer, and hugged her tightly. She felt herself starting to cry, and squeezed him back. Within the next hour or so, Enos had gathered his things and left the shop, on his way to make his own in the world outside. Watching him go, Chelsea couldn't help but feel like a part of herself now lived here...and she couldn't be happier for that.

                                                                             ***

"Well," Aegis said, "I suppose I should dawdle off as well."

"It's been a long night," Chelsea said as Aegis put her things on the counter to pay for them, but Chelsea waved her away, "No no, it's...you're fine. Free of charge. You did enough."

"...you think he'll be okay?" Aegis asked.

"I don't know. I can hope so. I think that's all any parent can really do, right? Is hope their kid will find a way to be alright in the world," Chelsea said, "I think he'll be alright. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he had two smart ladies to help him through it."

Aegis smirked. This was the last thing she had expected to be doing tonight. All she'd wanted was a sandwich.

"Well, thanks for the help," Aegis said, "It's nice to know this place is in good hands."

"Anytime, and thanks for shopping with us, we hope to see you again," Chelsea said.

Aegis gathered her items in her bag and headed out the door. As she left, Chelsea finally relaxed, laying her face against the counter. After a moment, she got up and headed across the store to the rack that had magnets on it and plucked one off. She then walked back behind the counter and, turning to face the metal shelving behind her, put up the black devil horse that Enos had colored in for her. She stood back, hands on her hips, and admired his handiwork.

"They grow up so fast," Polaris said, approaching the counter with a candy bar.

"Shut up," Chelsea said, snickering.

"You know, you'd make a good mom," Polaris added.

"...eh, been there, done that," she replied, glancing back at the picture, "it was a great experience, but I think once was enough. I don't think I could ever love another the way I loved him. He's my son, after all."

Chelsea was leaning on the counter, reading a magazine article titled, "Blorgs! How To Use Them!", none of which she understood a word of, when the bell over the door rang. She looked up and saw a group of three young women enter. On one hand, she was appreciative. These were just plain ordinary human looking girls about her age. On the other hand, because of where they existed, they didn't have any skin. The girls meandered a bit, looking for something until they finally gave up and approached the counter.

"Excuse me," the girl in front said, "Hi, we're looking for some sunscreen. You have sunscreen for people without skin, right?"

Chelsea stared for a moment, until she sighed and shut the magazine.

"Let me help you," she said flatly.

Chelsea came around from the back of the counter and headed to the aisle where they kept supplies like that. She knelt down and started sifting through a select few items grouped together on the shelf, muttering the names to herself as she did, while the other girls stood behind her, watching.

"We've already looked through here," the lead said again.

"I'm aware, I saw you do it. I'm just doing it too because sometimes customers miss things that are plain as day," Chelsea replied, "Seeing as I'm not one who's too keen on skincare routines to begin with, however, maybe I'm not exactly the best person to be helping you with such a request."

"Well is there anyone else even here?" the second girl of the three asked.

"No, I'm the only employee, and I was only recently hired," Chelsea replied, "So not only am I not super familiar with the products we carry, I also am not from this place, nor have I been here that long. You're working with diminishing returns here, is what I'm saying."

The third girl laughed a little, which made her friends glare at her.

"Look, we can't be out in the sun for too long without some sort of protection," the first girl said, putting her hands on her hips, "if we're exposed to the UV rays for that long, it'll flat out cook us, and that would be, well, kinda unpleasant I'd suspect. So how do we proceed?"

"Well, I suppose you could just...burn up and die in a glorious blaze?" Chelsea asked, smiling cheerfully, none of the girls except the third laughing; after a moment, Chelsea added, "...that...that was a joke. I don't know what to-"

The bell over the door rang and they all turned to see who had entered. After a few seconds, and the sound of nice shoes clacking on the floor, they saw the man Chelsea had come to know as Polaris standing at the endcap of the aisle, looking at the sunglasses. Chelsea knew if anyone could help her, it'd be him, even if Luna had told her to be careful interacting with him.

"I'll be right back," she said to the girls, heading down the aisle as she watched Polaris put a pair of sunglasses on his featureless face. Approaching him, she smiled and asked, "why do you need sunglasses? You don't even have eyes."

"It's a little thing called fashion, sweetheart," he said, making her chuckle as he added, "So, how's your night going?"

"It's...going," Chelsea said, scratching the back of her head, "Actually, could you maybe help me with these customers? They're skinless, but they're looking for some kind of sunscreen they can use to protect themselves."

"You get a lot of ironic customers, do you?" Polaris asked, making Chelsea chuckle again.

For the life of her, Chelsea couldn't understand Luna's disapproval of Polaris. He seemed fairly nice and polite and willing to help. But, she had to remind herself, this was not her dimension, and she hadn't been here that long. She was unsure of everyone's relationship to one another. Chelsea folded her arms and tossed her hair back behind her.

"Can you help me, please?" she asked.

"I can, but I would like something in return," Polaris said, checking his finely manicured nails.

"What? Something evil? I can't give you something evil."

"I just wanted a slurpy," Polaris said.

"Oh, well, that we can do," Chelsea said, laughing.

Polaris followed Chelsea back down the aisle, until they finally got to the girls, two of which were yammering about the lack of assistance and product, while the third remained ever quiet. Polaris stopped, leaned against the shelf and, presumably, checked his nails.

"So ladies, what appears to be the problem? Having a slight issue finding something to keep you safe?" he asked.

"Yeah," the first girl replied, "this store doesn't have anything that'll protect muscle and sinew, just skin proper. Not only is that sort of discriminatory - though I doubt intentionally - it also puts a hamper on our plans cause we can't go somewhere else now. This was our last hope for the day."

"I think I can help you find what you're looking for," Polaris said, as he took Chelsea by the arm and added, "wait right here" before dragging her off. Once he and Chelsea were out of earshot, he looked back at the girls, then faced Chelsea, who had a quizzical appearance on her face.

"So what's your solution?" she asked, folding her arms.

"Todd still work here?" Polaris asked, surprising her.

"You know about Todd?" she asked.

He snapped his fingers and they started heading to the back area of the store, through the double doors into the halls where Todd's "office" was located. Polaris's long legs allowed him to stride down the hall with ease, with Chelsea having a tough time keeping up.

"How do you know about Todd?" she asked.

"I know a lot about this store," he said, "So what you're gonna do is go in there and get three skinsuits from him. I'll bet Luna told you he only makes clothing, but that's not at all the case. He can make anything. You just have to ask him."

"...can't you do it?"

"What, your job?"

"I just...I don't really wanna see skinsuits be made, that sounds...gross," Chelsea said.

"Jeez, I can't believe she hired you," Polaris said, rubbing his forehead, "Alright, wait here, I'll be back in a moment."

Polaris entered Todd's office, leaving Chelsea hanging out in the halls. She leaned against the wall and blew her bangs out of her face, sighing. Why couldn't she have gotten a job at a fast food restaurant or maybe a...a video rental store. Those still existed, right? They had to somewhere. But no. Nobody else would call her back, nobody else would even give her the slightest hope or chance, and now she worked here of all places. In this bizarre multidimensional little shop of horrors. She heard the large double doors open and she turned her head to see the third girl of the group, the quiet one, approaching slowly.

"Ma'am, you shouldn't be back here, we'll be right out soon enough and-"

"I'm so sorry," the girl said, catching Chelsea by surprise, considering she hadn't spoken all night.

"Sorry?"

"For my friends, or...I guess they're my friends, I don't know," she continued, "We've been friends so long it'd be weird not to be, you know? But they're rude and selfish and I just feel like I have constantly have to apologize to minimum wage workers whenever I can on their behalf, so I'm sorry. I'm sorry they're jerks and that they've talked to you the way that they have. I think you do a fine job."

Chelsea wanted to hug this weird skinless girl, thank her for her kindness, but she didn't. Instead she just smiled, taking her words to heart.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. They aren't that bad, for what it's worth," Chelsea said, "I mean, sure, they'd kinda mean, but like, last week, I had this guy come in - I think he was a guy, I can't tell with monsters - and he was the biggest jerk. He was just a giant mouth and said he wanted chewing tobacco and I asked him 'do you want a funnel with that?' and he lost his temper. Like, okay perhaps what I said was rude but I figured humor would lighten the situation."

The girl was giggling now, which made Chelsea feel better. This was the first actually normal interaction she'd had outside of Polaris - and she questioned whether those were considered normal or not - in the store, and she welcomed it.

"It's hard out here," the girl said, leaning on the wall beside her and looking at her hands, "everyone is always so scared of eachother, so angry at one another. Then you have the outside world calling us monsters, granted they don't really know we exist proper, but still."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't use the term monster."

"I don't care, but yeah, others might," the girl replied, "I just want you to know that I think you're doing a pretty good job at keeping your cool for a human stuck in this sort of situation. Considering the things you've seen and the people you've helped, it must be warping your world view just a bit."

"Oh, a smidgen maybe," Chelsea said, grinning, both girls laughing. Suddenly the doors opened back up and Polaris stepped back out, holding three skinsuits, complete with faux bathing suits attached. He waved through the door as it shut.

"It was nice seeing you too, Todd, tell the wife and kids hi for me!" he said.

"Todd has a wife and kids?" Chelsea asked as Polaris approached.

"Of course he does. Todd's a catch," Polaris said, before turning to the skinless girl, "Now, you, uh..."

"Xorlack," she said.

"Xorlack, which of these do you want?" Polaris asked, holding the skinsuits out in full for her to choose from. After a moment of consideration, Xorlack chose one and Polaris handed it to her before heading back out to see which ones the other girls wanted, leaving Chelsea and Xorlack alone once again. Xorlack started to pull the skinsuit up around herself, like it was a dress, while Chelsea waited and watched. As she got it fully on, fitting perfectly, she turned and looked at Chelsea, who smiled at her.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"You look great, actually," Chelsea said, "Now let's go get some sunscreen for you."

Once Polaris had given the other girls their suits, and Chelsea had helped them find a sunscreen that would best fit them, she helped them check out. As they left, Xorlack grabbed Chelsea's wrist and wrote her phone number on her hand before smiling at her and leaving giddily. Chelsea looked at her palm and felt an odd flutter in her stomach. Polaris lit a cigar and leaned against the counter, sighing.

"Always feels good to help the customer find what they need," he said.

"I...I've never gotten someone's phone number before," Chelsea mumbled, blushing.

"She seemed nice," Polaris said, "You gonna call her?"

"I...I don't know, maybe, I just...this job is so weird, man," Chelsea said, "Half the time I feel like I don't know what I'm doing, and the other half I feel like this is exactly where I belong. I mean, it's not like I fit in super great in my own dimension, you know? I don't really have friends, and I'm sort of an embarrassment to my family, and I don't really care for socializing at college. I actually find myself looking forward to working now, because this place feels more welcoming than anywhere I can go."

"Yeah, that's the beauty of this place," Polaris said.

"I mean this dimension just seems so much more-"

"Oh, I don't mean the dimension, I mean this store, this place, Last Shop on the Left," Polaris interrupted, looking around the shop as he blew cigar smoke into the air and added, "it's got this magical otherworldly quality to it that's missing from the dimension its set in. It feels like a space place, like somewhere you can belong even if you belong nowhere else. Luna has a habit of hiring people who don't fit in anywhere, which is maybe why they fit in so well here."

"...how do you know so much about the store, and Luna?" Chelsea asked, leaning on the counter.

"Eh, another time perhaps I'll tell you, for now I think I'll just take my snacks and go home," he said, waiting as Chelsea rang him up; he leaned on the counter as well and said, "I think you should call her, for what it's worth. You say you can't make friends where you are, then make friends here. Monsters are the better people anyway."

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that," Chelsea said as she finished his check out. Polaris tipped his hat at her as he took his bag and exited the store. Chelsea, now finally alone again, stood behind the counter and looked at the number on her hand once more, now noticing Xorlack had even put a little heart next to her name. Chelsea felt flushed. She'd always assumed she liked girls as much as she liked boys, but she'd never really taken the time to know for sure. Well, now, it seemed, she knew for sure.

Come the next night, Chelsea found herself back in the dimension, though not for work. She and Xorlack had made plans to do something, and she was beginning to see what Polaris meant. The store had brought her employment, self worth and now friendship. What had the 'real world' ever given her, honestly, besides grief and isolation? Maybe, just maybe, Chelsea could be a monster for a while too.

At least, unlike other humans, she could admit she was.