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.