[title from It's U by Cavetown]

YOU GUYS THIS WRITING WEBSITE I WAS TALKING ABOUT IS DOING WONDERS FOR ME OMFG

1,500 WORDS IN 20 MINUTES. IT'S THE ONLY REASON I'M ABLE TO GET OUT 2 CHAPTERS BACK TO BACK LIKE THIS

Without further ado, some more little Marcy I wrote within 20 minutes. I did actually do a bit of proofreading on this one so it should be slightly better

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Going to the mall while teetering on the edge of little space was dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. Marcy shouldn't be doing it, she should at least be telling Anne, but she decided she'd be okay. She'd be okay just long enough until she could finally go home.

But just in case, she gathered up a few comfort items and threw them into her backpack for the mall. It wouldn't hurt to have them, maybe they could even bring her solace while she didn't have the ability to regress.

She packed all of it neatly and organized it into her bag, pulling out her phone to text Anne that she was ready.

Anne's mother picked her up and quickly dropped the two off at the mall with a promise to be back within a few hours. Marcy tried not to sigh at that.

A few hours was too long.

Not that she didn't like hanging out with Anne, but... she was so close to slipping. How would she last a few hours? She really shouldn't have said yes to coming. She should've cancelled, said she was sick, anything.

As soon as they arrived, Anne began pulling Marcy through the mall, looking around through a few different clothing stores. Marcy couldn't help but stop and look through the window of one of the children's stores, staring at the clothing. She couldn't slip right now, not until they were home and out of public, but god was it hard when all of this was right in front of her.

She stared longingly at the items before looking up to follow Anne to the other clothing, but paused before she could take a single step.

Anne was gone.

Marcy couldn't see her at all, no matter how far she looked. She walked down a few of the isles, panic growing, before convincing herself that Anne must be waiting outside for her.

No luck.

Okay, maybe she'd gone into a nearby shop?

After a long moment of searching, Marcy came to a conclusion:

She was lost. She was lost and Anne was nowhere to be found.

The single thought sent her barreling into headspace, and she was stubbornly rubbing tears from her eyes that just wouldn't stop. She was completely alone in the middle of a huge mall, and she didn't know what to do or where to go. She felt so small in such a large place.

Her crying wasn't slowing at all, no matter how much she told herself that crying was useless in the situation. Her brain wasn't thinking logically, it couldn't. She was only focused on the fact that she couldn't find Anne and she was extremely scared.

Was Anne worried? Did Anne even know she was gone? Was Anne looking for her?

Marcy searched half-heartedly for another moment before deciding it was useless, clutching her backpack tighter and rushing over to an especially large rack of clothing to sit down, trying desperately to hide herself in it.

Suddenly very grateful she had brought some of her comfort items, Marcy zipped open her bag and took out Cocoa, holding the little plushie close to her chest with a stifled sob. She was lost and confused, and very, very little. With the stress of it all, she felt even younger than usual, but everything was so overwhelming that she couldn't even figure out just how old she really was.

There were too many people in the mall, and it was far too big for her to comprehend. The sounds and lights were all too much, and she wanted to curl up and cry until she passed out. She wanted to curl up on Anne's lap while she played with her hair and read her a story, tucked under the blankets in bed. She didn't want to be here at all.

But Anne wasn't here, and Marcy wasn't back home.

Stupid, she told herself, stupid for getting distracted and falling behind. It was her fault she was lost, her fault she was little, and her fault Anne was probably scared out of her mind.

She was crying harder; she could see people staring at her awkwardly. It didn't help her anxiety one bit. People were watching her, far too many people, and it was so loud, so bright, so-

"Marcy!"

"...Anne?"

"God, Marcy! I lost you, I swear to god you were right there, and then I looked behind me and you were gone! I'm so sorry, dude."

Marcy sniffed and rubbed her eyes wearily, trying to comprehend Anne's words with how quickly she had spoken.

"You... you're crying. Are you- wait", Anne stopped, looking from Marcy's teary eyes down to the plushie held tightly in her hands.

"You're little! Oh, Mars, I'm so sorry. Of course, I should've- I should've never looked away, I had no clue."

Marcy just stared at her, nodding, very confused at what all she was saying. It wasn't processing, nothing was.

But she blinked, and suddenly Anne's arm was around her shoulder, leading her away from all of the people and away from all of the noise. Away from the eyes of everyone and into safety.

"Hey, Mars-bars, can you tell me how old you're feeling?"

Marcy paused for a moment, thinking, then shakily held up two fingers.

"Two! Good job, Mars! So clever!"

Marcy giggled a little at the praise, her mood slowly lifting, and found Anne's hand to grab tightly in her own.

"My mom is at work, I don't think we can go home just yet. Is that okay? Is there anything you'd wanna do, or do you want to just keep sitting outside together?"

There was a lengthy pause where Marcy weighed the options carefully, brows furrowed.

"Inside!"

"What do you want to do inside?"

"Uhm... can we uhm. Clothes! Please?" Marcy pleaded.

"Is that what you were looking at when we lost each other?"

Marcy nodded, fidgeting with Cocoa in her hands.

"Okay, we can go look at the clothes. Lead the way, Mars-bars!"

Marcy giggled at the nickname, pointing forwards and leading Anne towards the direction of the store.

Anne let Marcy lead her inside and walk her to where she wanted to go, smiling softly when a grin broke out on Marcy's face.

"Green!" She exclaimed, pointing to a pair of green overalls with eagerness. Multiple patterns were covering the front of them, clouds and plants and other little shapes. Marcy's eyes shown as she looked up at Anne, bouncing in place.

"Do you want them?"

"Want please!"

Anne nodded and carefully took the overalls off the rack, folding them neatly and handing them to Marcy.

"Think you can hold these until we go to check out? It's a VERY important job."

"Mmhm! 'M smart!" She stated matter-of-factly, earning a laugh from Anne.

Marcy began heading up to the register, but stopped in her tracks when Anne called back out to her.

"Don't you want to look at the stuffed animals too?"

Marcy whipped around, racing back to Anne with a wide grin.

Anne held out a cat plushie to her, brown with little white spots on the belly and tail. It was soft in Marcy's hands, and she immediately burst out into a smile.

"Anne!"

"Hm?"

"You!" Marcy exclaimed, pointing to the little cat in her arms.

"Me? That's me?"

"Mmhm!"

Anne snorted and ruffled Marcy's hair, looking down at the plushie.

"How's that me, Mars?"

"Fluffy! Like your hair!"

"Is she now?" Anne struggled not to burst out into laughter.

"Gonna name her Anne!"

"You're naming the cat Anne? Won't that get a little confusing?"

"Nuh-uh! You can be... uhm... Anne 2!"

"Anne 2? You're going to call ME Anne 2? I thought I was the original!" Anne gasped dramatically, pretending to be hurt.

Marcy shook her head.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Hmm, well I guess that means Anne is going to have to buy that for you. I'm just Anne 2, I don't have money. Does Anne have any money?"

Marcy paused and looked down at the plushie, then slowly looked back up at Anne again.

"Uhm... she told me you can be Anne again... she's Anne 2", Marcy said with a guilty smile.

"Oh, I see now. Well thank you, Anne 2", Anne said, patting the cat's head.

Marcy giggled and latched onto Anne's hand again as they went to pay, hiding behind her while she watched the cashier cautiously.

"Say thank you, Marcy!" Anne said softly to her. Marcy looked back up to the smiling cashier and shied away, instead using her hand to sign 'thank you' timidly.

Now holding two stuffed animals in her arms, Marcy allowed Anne to lead her out of the mall and back outside, saying they needed to wait for her mom to pick them up.

"I'm sorry I lost you, Mars. I promise I'll pay more attention, okay?"

"S'kay" Marcy giggled. "Annie's silly."

"Hmm, maybe. But you love me", Anne retorted with a smile. Marcy nodded and yawned, leaning into Anne's side.

"Love you lots"

"More than you love Anne 2?" Anne asked, looking down at Marcy, who was already on her way to falling asleep.

"Uhhhm... maybe not that much..."

"Marcy!"

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Trying to write more for fun instead of caring a ton about if people will like it or not!! I spent 20 minutes writing this and another 20 proofreading/editing it, which is a massive improvement from how long I usually spend on chapters. I'm so picky with everything, so not spending a super long time focusing on little details as I typed helped so much

I went to the mall to find a homecoming dress today and it was AWFUL. The mall is one of my least favorite places ever bc it is literally a sensory hell 😭 I DIDNT EVEN FIND A GOOD DRESS MAN