Marie doesn't waste any time as she races to get ready for work. This could be the day where they end everything. The day where Kal finally gets to rest and no one will get hurt because of supernatural causes.

But as she looks at herself in the mirror, feeling more exhausted than ever before her thoughts start to spiral.

Her hands find the edge of the sink, the only thing keeping her from falling over.

She died. It hadn't really set in yesterday, but now it has. She had been dead. How is that even possible? How did she even come back? It shouldn't be possible.

Her hair falls down into her face as her breathing grows faster.

Is this a side effect from dying? Are the soreness and the tiredness all side effects? Or are they side effects of being alive? Is she a zombie now? Can she even be called human anymore?

Two short knocks come from the bathroom door. "Marie?" Evie calls. "Are you okay?"

Marie slowly lifts her head until she's looking at her reflection.

Is she okay? She just died yesterday. Can anyone really be okay after that?

She looks upon her red-rimmed eyes, the bags that seem to never leave. Her auburn hair hangs loosely around her shoulders looking a little greasy. Is that all from her coming back from the dead? Or just from crying, not showering and never getting a good nights sleep?

"Marie?" Evie knocks again as worry creeps into her voice.

She shakes her head, takes a deep breath and releases the sink from her deathgrip. She reaches over and opens the door to find Evie standing there chewing her lip. Marie's phone sits in Evie's hand, an ongoing call taking place.

She squints her eyes and lifts a brow as Evie continues to just stand there. "What's going on?" she asks.

Her roommate shoves Marie's phone into her hands. "Your phone was ringing and it said work, so I thought it was okay to pick it up but then all these different people started talking. They sounded really excited and they kept talking about a ghost and putting him to rest and finding a song and-"

Marie's eyes widen. She places her one hand on Evie's shoulder, which finally shuts the girl up. "Slow down," Marie tells her.

Her roommate nods and closes her mouth.

This isn't how Marie thought Evie would find out. To be fair she didn't think Evie would find out. It's not like this was some big secret anyways, it's just that it would have been really hard to explain all of this to her. It was already a lot more than Marie could handle, so she figured she could wait a bit. But the ghost is out of the bag now.

She points to her phone. "I'm going to take this, okay? And then I'll explain everything." A white lie, but her roommate doesn't need to know that.

Evie nods, still biting her lip. She looks a little bit like a spooked kitten.

Marie slowly closes the bathroom door, wanting a little privacy for this phone call. But as she closes it she keeps an eye on Evie like she'll do something. But the girl just stands there and watches the door close between them.

After a minute of making sure Evie isn't going to break the door down, Marie brings the phone up to her ear. "Hello?" she asks in to it.

"Marie?"

"Roan? Did you guys figure out the song?"

"We did! We're going to perform it tonight at the show instead of that lullaby."

Part of her wants to be angry and surprised at the fact that she has less than a day to perfect a song. The other part of her is relieved and jumping with joy at the idea of finishing this all tonight.

"That's awesome," she replies. A smile grows on her face. The news makes her forget about her worries from a few minutes earlier. "I'll just finish getting ready and then I'll come over so we can practice."

There's a nervous chuckle on the other side of the phone. "Yeah... about that. We can't exactly use The Rabbit Hole today."

The smile is wiped off her face. "What do you mean?"

Another chuckle. "So, we think Kal is throwing a tantrum or something."

There's a muffled voice. Roan responds to them but Marie doesn't catch what it's about. Then his voice is back, closer to the phone. "So right now all the doors into The Rabbit Hole won't open."

"Are the locks jammed?"

"That's what we thought at first but it doesn't seem like they are. The keys go in and unlock it but when we try to push the door open it's like something is fighting against us."

Marie sighs. So Kal really is throwing a tantrum. "Do you want me to try talking to him again?"

"No!" he responds a little too quickly. "No. Um... the plan is for you and me to practice the song somewhere safe and away from here while everyone else tries to get into the bar."

She hums. It sounds like a reasonable enough plan. Even if it makes her worry for her co-workers. "So then where do we practice?"

"Well... I was hoping we could use your place? I'd suggest mine but I didn't think you'd be comfortable there."

He does make a good point. Even if he is her partner and has been overall, pretty kind to her she still doesn't feel comfortable going to his house alone. Not that anything would happen. "Yeah. We can use my place."

"Awesome."

There's silence for a moment before Marie remembers he doesn't know where she lives. "I'll um... text you my address."

"Sounds good. I'll be over as soon as I can be." Then there's a click and silence.
Marie drops her phone to her side. She takes a round of deep breaths before turning around and opening the bathroom door.

Only to find Evie standing there still. She looks less scared and more curious and angry. "So you have someone coming over?" she asks with a raise of her brow.

Marie nods. "It seems like you'll get to meet my partner today."

The angry seeps out of her, and is overtaken with curiosity. "The one who was a no-show?"

Marie nods. "He's not like that anymore though."

"You better hope not!" She bounces up and down. "I'm going to go make lunch for the three of us while you get ready!" She bounds down their small hallway to the kitchen.

Marie steps out of the bathroom. "Wait-"

But Evie hums and sings as she starts to cook.

This wasn't how today was supposed to go. But Marie has no choice but to go with the flow. She'll just have to explain this all to Evie either before, during or after Roan comes over. She hopes that it's when Roan is here because then he could help her explain it.

In the meantime, Marie hops into the shower. It helps a little bit and when she gets out she feels a little bit more alive than she did before.

Maybe there aren't any side effects to dying and then coming back to life after all.

***

"You must be Roan."

Marie turns around from where she stands in the bathroom fixing her hair. She hadn't even heard anyone knock.

"Yep. And you are?"

Crap. She hadn't told Roan about Evie. She flicks the bathroom light off and heads to the main living area.

Roan steps into the apartment as Evie introduces herself. Marie watches the two as they awkwardly dance around each other. Evie holds out her hand but Roan isn't paying attention and almost hits her with his guitar.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Roan gasps.

"It's alright," Evie says as she rubs her arm.

Marie laughs at the two of them.

They both look up at her, their eyes wide.

"Marie!" Evie exclaims. "Your guest is here."

"Hey." He gives a small wave.

"I can see that, Evie."

Her roommate gives her an embarrassed smile. "Um... I think I'll just go grab some food and hide in my room while you two um... practice."

"Thanks, Evie," Marie says as her roommate passes her. She doesn't want Evie to leave, doesn't want to seem like she's kicking her out of the space they share but she knows it's for the best.

"You can thank me by explaining that phone call later," Evie says under her breath, her eyes narrowed.

Marie gulps. She had hoped her roommate would have forgotten about that.

Marie gestures for Roan to come further into the apartment. She then guides him to their living room. "This is the best space we have for practicing," she explains as she clears some pillows out of the way.

"It's fine. It's a good space. Much better than mine."

"I didn't know you got nervous," Marie remarks with a side glance at him.

He chuckles. "I do. Is it that obvious?"

She nods. "It is."

Roan nods and takes a seat. He pulls his guitar out from its case and sets it on his lap. Marie sits next to him on the couch. There aren't as many seating options here as there is at the bar, so she'll have to sit next to him.

"So you guys found the song?"

He nods. "We did. It took a while though. There were a lot of videos... more than either of us expected. It didn't help that we had to keep pausing them because we both were getting too emotional."

Marie reaches out and places a hand on his knee. "I'm so sorry. You too are so brave for having to go through what you've gone through."

Roan shrugs. "It's... that's grief for you. It comes when you least expect it. Or when you do." He laughs, but there's no joy in it. "But... those videos did help a little bit. They gave me a little bit of closure."

Marie smiles. "I'm glad it helped you in more than one way."

Roan smiles. "Me too."

"Should we start practicing then? Since we only have-" Marie checks the time on her phone. "Four hours before we perform."

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea." He turns around and opens his guitar case again. He bends down and digs around in it before pulling out two pieces of sheet music. "I tried to get the song as close to the original as possible. But it was hard. The sound kept cutting off at random points." He hands her the music. "So hopefully all the words, rhythms, and notes are correct."

Her eyes scan the music. She starts to hum under her breath after a few bars. "It's a lovely song."

Roan nods. "Yeah. It is."

She places a hand on his shoulder causing him to turn and look her in the eyes. "He'll love it."

Roan nods. His eyes grow wet.

Marie smiles softly. "Alright. Let's do this then."

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