Tomorrow Will Come- A Hatchetfield Story

Chapter One: Magic To Do

Lex Foster leaned haphazardly on the cold brick wall by the loading dock of ToyZone. She sighed. Her shift had just ended- another godawful one. The kids had been unbearable because Frank had gotten cheap and cancelled their Spotify subscription, so they had to listen to ads. Not that they were bearable before, but Lex hadn't thought it was possible for things to get any worse.

The only reason she wasn't hightailing it as quickly as possible from that hellhole was that she'd told Ethan to bring Hannah and meet her there. It was payday, and besides her promotion to store manager that month she'd earned a decent sales commission because that weird dude Sherman had bought a bunch of totally messed up unicorn figurines, and three dolls that they'd forgotten to print the eyes on. Freaky stuff, but hey, who was she to judge if it put more cash in her pocket?

Anyways, she was going to put most of it aside for California, but... it had been a long time since she'd really treated Hannah to anything nice, so she'd decided to surprise her with a trip to Pizza Pete's. The kids deserved it, putting up with their shit excuse for a mother. Things had gotten better since Duke started getting involved, but they'd never be good until their mother was out of the picture- which looked like it might be soon, since she was putting little to no effort into improving so that she could actually keep the kids.

Lex heard footsteps, and her hand made its way to her keys instinctually- just in case. Better safe than sorry, especially in the area of town she was in. But then the scent of smoke, some cheesy cologne and motor oil hit her and she knew exactly who was coming her way. She looked up and grinned at him, and found that he was already doing the same to her.

"Hey babe..." She smirked, sauntering over to meet him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her gently.

"I thought I got to call you that." Ethan pouted teasingly.

"I dunno, I think it sounds better for you." Lex rolled her eyes, giggling softly. "Where's banana?"

"Who?" Ethan deadpanned.

"E..." Lex huffed, unimpressed.

"Oh, you mean that banana?" Ethan smirked, pulling away from her and strolling off aimlessly.

Hannah came out from behind a storage bin with a spray can in hand. Sometimes Hannah did some small graffiti around the town. She was actually pretty good for a thirteen year old. It was helping her calm down a bit, so Lex had no plans of stopping her. It's not like she'd been caught. Maybe the drawings looked a little weird... that goat thing with the clock that she'd done at Hatchetfield High had really freaked Lex out. But a happy Hannah made life so much easier.

"You've gotta stop hiding her." Lex sighed.

"You do this every day, babe." Ethan snickered, rolling his eyes. He stopped walking and turned to her, pouting dopily. "Don't you twust me?"

"Of course I trust you, E, but... you know life is rough around here!" Lex explained carefully. "Anything could happen, and it wouldn't even be your fault. It's stupid fucking Hatchetfield."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry." Ethan sighed, sombering a bit, a light smile gracing his lips. "You know I'm always gonna keep you two safe, right?"

"I know, babe." Lex chuckled softly, walking over to him and kissing his cheek before making her way to Hannah and getting on her level. She smiled, putting on what she called her 'Hannah face' to try and put her little sister at ease. Honestly, her life revolved around the kid- and for some reason, she didn't even mind. "Hey Hannah Banana! I missed you today!"

"Missed you too." Hannah mumbled, making brief eye contact before looking down. She was fidgeting nervously, and Lex knew what that meant.

"Was today a good day?" Lex asked.