Olive rushes up to her room, swiftly shutting the door. She should go, go back to that house. Maybe she missed something important? Or maybe she-

"Olive?.." Sundays voice interrupts olives racing thoughts, pulling her back into reality.

"Yeah?"

"Can I come in?..." her voice is soft, softer than normal, more quiet, almost as if she's...nervous...

Olive glances around her room, she shouldn't tell Sunday anymore about her plans to leave the human realm and go to Iris. Last time didn't go so well...

"Well if she's so strong and awesome or whatever you said...then she can save herself."

She can't let her think that way of Mira...so she just won't fuel the fire!

That's all she can do right? Keep it hidden?

God. Why did she even tell her in the first place...

"Hello?" Her usual chipper voice slicing through the silence, she must've been repeating her words, because now they're loud, and almost frantic.

"Oh uh- y-yeah just uhm... I'm- changing!" Olive blurts out, immediately regretting it.

"Oh. Well- where are you goin'?" Sunday questions, her voice back to its usual volume. It's a totally normal and valid question, but something about it seems almost desperate.

Olive pauses, "think! think! think!"

"Uhm...just- uh- on a Date!" She blurts out, that was dumb, so so dumb.

There's no response from the other side for a minute, olives pretty sure Sunday doesn't believe her...but-

"...gotcha! Hope it- goes well!" Sunday exclaims, there's a smile in her voice-a forced one- and the next thing Olive hears is footsteps.

Olive let's out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, and she thinks over her plans again.

Surely she didn't miss anything...she looked over every inch of that house! Top to bottom, inside and out. Everywhere! Except the basement, because it was flooded...with still water...ugh.

Olive shivers at the thought, germs, germs, germs.

But it's be nice to go out...and study somewhere other than her tiny room...

And she's got a hankering for caffeine.

So to the diner it is!

Olive grabs the cash from under her pillow, along with the two journals, hers, and the one she found hidden away in the attic.

Oh and can't forget her pens!

She instinctively goes to grab her messenger bag, but remembers it's not here. So she sighs, and just decides to carry it all by hand.

She climbs out her window, and drops the two stories, landing on her hands and feet, in a crouched position, like a cat!

She dusts her hands off on her pants, dirtying them, but she doesn't really care...

Mira would say something about tracking muck in the house, and then send Olive off to change, even if it was just a speck of dirt.

Olive misses Mira.

And she can't help but wonder if Mira misses her...

Before Olive knows it, she's at her favorite local diner, she didn't even realize she was walking.

The lit up sign in big, bold red lettering reads "sadies" but the two 's' and the 'a' aren't lit up, that's something mercy would've wanted a picture of, he would've laughed at it.

Olive wonders if mercy misses her.

She pushes the door open, and a bell Jingles as she does.

She pops a seat in a booth, one that sits in the corner, a wrap-around one, reminiscent of the eighties. One that fits a big group of people, one Olive doesn't have here.

Olive always comes here alone, Sunday never was a coffee person, so she'd never come.

Olive wonders if her friends from the other side would join her.

Olive is finally snapped out of her thoughts, with a tapping on her shoulder.

"Ya alright there stranger?" A girl with an apron asks, his name tag says "Frida", olives never seen her before. She must be new.

Olive smiles awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck. "Yeah- sorry about that..." she chuckles nervously.

Frida hums, tapping her pen against her notepad. "Hey...you're that missin' girl!"

Olives eyes widen, but then she recalls Sundays words from when she returned.

"Four months?"

The words ring in her ears for a moment, before she gulps, and nods. "Yep...that's me..." she giggles nervously, glancing down at her hands, which-unbeknownst to her-are shaking, just slightly.

Frida nods, "happy you're safe stranger! Now do ya wanna order now? Or are ya waitin' for people?" She gestures to the table, fit for a group of people, not just one person.

Olives eyes widen-only for a second- before she shakes her head. "Oh- no- it's just me-"

Frida looks befuddled, but only for a second, before that toothy grin is plastered on her face again, and she nods, it feels forced. "So what can I do for ya?"

Olive doesn't even need to think about it for a second. "Pumpkin spice latte..." She Mutters, "and can I get a croissant?" She asks, straightening her back as she sits up tall.

Fridas eyebrows furrow, "you a fall kind of gal I see..." She Mutters, writing it down on her notepad quickly. "A bit out of season, most people are orderin' hot chocolate and peppermint flavored stuff right 'bout now..." she snickers.

Olive looks puzzled, but then remembers...

"it's almost December..."

Olive nods, looking slightly embarrassed. "What can I say..." she mutters, it's a genuine question, what can she say? What does she say, what-

"Alrighty! Should be out in about fifteen minutes!" Frida nods, a quick singular jerk, and then she's off to the kitchen.

Olive watches her leave, and glances around the restaurant. Empty, save for one guy at a booth across the room, Olive imagines a perfect world, one where she could show her friends this place, one where they aren't so far away, one where they're safe.

Olive pulls out the journals, and buried her face in the yellowed pages, trying her best to read the faded cursive.

It's only after many paragraphs deciphered that she here ceramic clink against each other, she sits up, Frida's holding a plate, with her croissant, and a mug, which presumably has her pumpkin spice latte in it.

She sets it down in front of her, steam pouring out into the air, before Olive can say thank you, Frida is off, going to serve another table...

There's a few more people in here now, Olive assumes they came in while she was distracted with the journals.

She shrugs it off, and sips on the burning hot liquid, Continuing to write down notes...

"Today I got sick again, I threw up...a lot. I'll try and test stuff tomorrow!"

"I'm still sick, but I wanted to test my theories! I'm gonna try and tweak a few things!"

"So it didn't work, but that's okay! I still...felt something! It felt...strong, and tingly. I don't know how to explain it..."

And that's all she's gotten so far...