"Who are you?" asked Kelly with shock, as she looked at the young girl standing in the doorway. She looked like a ragamuffin, in clothes way too large for her small body.
"I'm Mary's cousin, Mandy," said Mary.
"Where's Mary?" said Kelly suspiciously.
"She went to the store. She said she would be back later. I can have her call you when she gets home," said Mary.
"And she left you here alone?" asked Kelly.
"Hey! I'm not that little. I can take care of myself, " said Mary, crossing her arms.
Kelly eyed the young girl with suspicion. She did look related to Mary. She could have been her twin. Well, her twin when she was 12 maybe. But there was something fishy going on here and she intended to find out what it was. She easily pushed past the smaller girl into the apartment.
"Hey! You can't come in here!" said Mary, as she chased after her.
Kelly moved about the apartment, calling out Mary's name. She saw no evidence of a struggle or foul play. But it was so out of character for Mary to forget about their weekly ritual, and then leave a small child alone. She was not that irresponsible. Something was wrong here.
"Why did you pretend to be Mary?" asked Kelly, as she turned to face Mary.
Mary looked up at Kelly. Kelly was not a tall girl, but now that Mary was a child it seemed like Kelly towered over her. She felt a little intimidated. Mary shrugged indifferently. "I don't know, " said Mary. "I guess I just wanted you to go away. I am not supposed to let strangers in. It's dangerous."
"Well, you don't need to worry about that know. I'll stay with you here until Mary gets back," said Kelly.
Mary paled. What was she going to do now? Even if she could find the vial, she couldn't transform in front of Kelly. It would be too embarrassing. And if she did it in the bathroom, how would she explain the sudden disappearance of her cousin?
"That's okay. I can take care of myself. You shouldn't bother yourself," said Mary.
"It's no problem. I was just going to watch movies at home, might as well do it here," said Kelly, as she sat on the couch in front of the TV. "Hey, what's this?"
Kelly looked at the box of vials. She opened the lid and looked at some of the vials. "Is this some of drug? Have you been doing drugs while Mary was gone, " said Kelly with a mixture of shock and anger.
"No, no," said Mary quickly. "It's just a ........ chemistry set. I was just doing a few experiments with it."
Kelly closed the lid and picked up the box. "Well, I doubt Mary wants you doing experiments in her living room. It could damage the carpet. I'll just put this up until Mary gets home, " said Kelly, as she put the box on top of the fridge, well out of Mary's reach.
Mary silently cursed. What was she supposed to do now? Well, she could just tell the truth, no matter how embarrassing.
Kelly sat back down on the couch and patted for Mary to join her. She glumly walked towards her, hands in her pockets. She felt something in there, and remembered she had kept the Age Regression vial. It still had some solution. Maybe she could use it on Kelly. Kelly had started the movie, but she looked at Mary angrily, impatiently waiting for Mary to join her on the couch.
Mary began to form a new plan in her head.