It had been a few days since everything happened. I would have thought it was all a dream if it wasn’t for the fact that witches don't dream. If we traveled anywhere near the Death Realm, beings known as Nightmares would eat our souls. When I asked Papa, "Then why is the Archive located there?" He told me not to think too hard about it.

Thinking wasn’t my strong suit lately. There were too many questions forming with no answers in sight. How can a mere human see magic? Was that Papa's ghost? And, what was that shadow creature? Surely not a Nightmare. It was how Papa described them, but they didn't leave the Death Realm. Well, they do once they devour someone's soul and possess their body. I shook my head. I was too busy to think about any of that right now.

Given that we didn’t have a lot of walk-ins at the salon today, I had some downtime to help unload the truck at the café. It was running late, and the employees had enough on their plate with all the orders. We may not have a line out the door, but we did keep busy.

I placed the final box on the table. The kitchen was now covered in boxes. I told Mama I would help unpack them too, but she insisted she had it. That only meant the stool would be out soon, or Mama was going to climb on counters again. Her height was the one thing that I'm glad I didn't get from her.

"That's the last one, Mama!" I called out.

"Thank you!"

I couldn't help but smile at hearing the pure joy in my mother's voice. She lived by the mentality that every bump in the road was a new experience to learn from. It made it easier for her to adjust to change while it had taken time for Papa. I was somewhere in the middle.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I pulled it out to see what all the buzz was about. A small chuckle escaped me. My happiness turned to melancholy upon seeing the group chat. Georgie had been added. This officially made me the fifth wheel of the group.

"Hooray," I cheered in false enthusiasm.

"What was that?"

Mama’s voice scared me. I turned and saw her peeking around the open doorway as I tucked my phone back. Her orange dress and cat sweater combo made her look like a little muffin too cute to eat. Perfect for posting on socials though. However, she didn't want to be the face of our business. "We're not the stars," she'd scold. Then, Mama would hide her shy smile at the overall compliment.

"I was talking to myself," I replied.

Mama gave a soft, "Ohh." Then, she put on the gentlest of smiles. "Is something wrong, Tetsuo? You've been down the past few days."

I sighed. There was no way in heaven or hell I would tell her about seeing Papa. The hurt in her eyes alone would tear me apart. What was worse, she would still push through any feelings she had to comfort me.

"There's a lot going on. I haven't had time to process it all yet," was all I could think to say without lying.

Her eyebrows knitted in worry. "Well, if you're comfortable talking about it, I'm always here to listen."

I loved that it was not 'when' but 'if' I wanted to talk about it. She never pressured any of us four kids into anything. Instead, Mama gave us all she could to then make decisions on our own.

"Thank you, Mama."

She put her hand on her cheek with a content smile. "I won't keep you anymore. You should hurry back to the salon."

"Right!" I gave an enthusiastic nod. Someone could be waiting for me. I started on my way, but not before calling over my shoulder, "I love you, Mama!"

"Love you too!"

When I got to the front of the café, the staff said their hellos. I quietly greeted them back. The café mostly employed college students. A lot of them stayed in Calabaza due to the lower rent compared to the city the university occupied. There was only one employee that was here for the long haul, and that was Mama's best friend, Cecillia. She's the only person that I knew that loved cats more than Mama. She's this close to convincing her to get one.

My eyes flickered up to some movement in the window. It took me a moment to register who was outside. Remington. My stomach jumped as I was sure they made eye contact with me. However, the tinted window wouldn't allow that. It had a one way film on it.

I slowly got closer to the window, near the door in case I needed to book it. Remington was talking to one of our regulars. His name slipped my mind, but not his orders. It was always something chocolate on chocolate with extra chocolate added. Despite this, he was so skinny. I hope he was okay.

Remington gave an awkward smile. They pointed down the street in the direction of the salon. Maybe they had to go pick up something from the post office. Oh, or they were going to the new thrift shop that opened! I still needed to go check it out myself.

Chocolate guy raised both hands and gave an excited wave. Remington nodded. They did their own little wave before going on their way.

Thank goodness. I sighed in relief watching them go. If they were to have come in the café, I don't know what I would've done. I didn't want a repeat of what happened in the plaza and cause any trouble for Mama.

Once Remington was out of my line of sight, I took it as my cue to be on my way too. The chime of the little bell went off as I opened the door. I stretched my arms up in the air then dramatically let them fall back to my side. There were only a few more hours until the salon closed. Mama would be heading out soon too to pick up the twins from their after school clubs. Since I had no plans, maybe I'll bother my siblings tonight. I had to keep up my brotherly love, after all.

"There he is!" Mitzi called out.

Back when I was dating my ex, I was often left in the club corner waiting for him to finish networking. Mitzi, who studied IT with him, took notice one day. She was the first fiend I made since Estelle and Jaynee, and I’d known them since both our dad's were besties.

Mitzi was like the first bite into a gooey grilled cheese dipped in tomato soup. Without her, I don't think I would be in a good place right now. During our talks, Mitzi had mentioned her passion for makeup. It was about the time the salon and café was about to become reality. So, together, we're living out our dream jobs.

I finally looked up to see her standing with Remington. Of course they were going to the salon...

"Did everything go well with Mama?" Mitzi asked.

I let out a dry laugh, "Yeah. A late delivery isn't that big of a deal."

She folded her hands behind her back, leaning forward ever so slightly to give her biggest grin. "Now for my very important question! You're takin' walk-ins today, right?"

Remington quickly put their hands up in defense. "Wait! I- I was only lookin' for a price."

"The owner here would be the best person to ask," she pointed to me. "I wouldn't want to tell you the wrong information."

This seemed to embarrass Remington, "Right."

Both of us yelped as a fire truck honked. I turned to the road and angrily groaned. It was one of the older firefighters who was always willing to set off the alarms for kids, no matter how many complaints were sent in. They weren't going to do anything about it though. He's too close to retiring. "I hate that guy."

"Hey Boss." I looked back to Mitzi. "Could you put Remi on my discount? They're chosen family."

"Another one of your gamer group members?" At the mention of their name, I took a glance over to Remington. Their hand was flat over their chest and it seemed they were having a hard time catching their breath.

"One of the game masters, even!" Mitzi said. She jumped at her name suddenly being shouted out. She turned to wave at some people passing by.

At this point, I couldn't let Remington go on in their state. I knew how overstimulating panic attacks could be. "Are you okay?" I asked, to which the obvious answer was no. Of all the things to say...

Remington simply shook their head.

Mitzi went into mama bear mode at that. She cooed softly, "Hey, let's head inside where it's quieter."

"Yeah. We can go back to my office to finish talking," I offered. “I had it soundproofed to make it a safe place for when I was overwhelmed.”

Remington nodded slowly. Mitzi hurried to get the door. I thanked her as I followed Remington inside.

Luckily, Lotte didn't have the hair dryer going. She's busy curling Ms. Norma's hair. "Ahoy, Captain!" she called out.

When I turned to Lotte, I noticed Remington in the mirror. Their eyes were focused on their hand placed on their belly. They didn't seem pleased with what they saw. I thought Remington's overalls were cute.

When they looked at me, I smiled. A little something to try to assure them that things would be okay. Their expression turned as if they smelled something foul. Maybe I needed to practice my smile.

I gestured back to my office door. It was the one to the right. The left was the bathroom. Cold brews could do a number on anyone. Perhaps I should check on them after this for Remington's seemingly sensitivities to smells. "Shall we?"

"Don't forget the discount!" Mitzi called. I simply waved to let her know I acknowledged what she had said.