00:00 ✓

Her lips were placed on his.

He could hear the steady beeping of machines. He could hear her every word. She got up to leave, her footsteps slow and unwilling. The doors opened and closed.

All that was left was the familiar sounds of birds chirping and machines beeping.

A whirlwind of emotions pulsated through his body. He had to wake up. This was his last chance. He would lose her if he didn't.

But he couldn't do anything. His body was not listening to him.

As her footsteps got softer and softer, the machines released a series of high pitched and urgent beeping. His heart rate increased and his breathing became unstable.

He had to wake up.

But no matter how hard he tried, he felt dead, as if the only thing alive was his mind and the endless swirl of thoughts within.

When the beeping stopped and everything returned to dead silence, a tear found its way onto his pillow as his mind fumbled to wake his body up. Every inch of him yearned to hear her voice again, to stroke her hair gently and let a few strands get caught between his fingers.

With a final breath, his fingers curled into a fist and his body trembled slightly, toes twitching and soul scratching to escape from his body. Heart beating faster than it had the first time he saw her and mind spelling her name out on an endless loop, he forced his eyelids open, expecting to see nothing but pure darkness.

But he didn't.

He saw the moon.

Perhaps that faint image of a moon was all it took to wake his senses up, as when the doctors finally made their way into his room, there was nothing left except for an empty bed.

Lips quivering and legs shaking, he hailed a cab and mumbled the name of the nearest train station.

"You alright?" He was asked, to which he replied with a shaky nod, wrapping his head in his hands and trying his utmost to stop the uncontrollable screeching in his ears.

He had to get to her.

"Could you please hurry?" He begged.

When the cab finally halted to a stop, he tumbled out of it, hopping as he made his way into the station. He could hear the driver yelling behind him, while strangers whispered and pointed their fingers.

Watching the second hand tick by on the clock, he released a shout of annoyance and quickened his pace, the screeching in his ears getting more unbearable with every tick.

When the clock finally struck midnight and the train began its countdown, he stopped in his tracks and looked around desperately, trying to find her.

"Five," she couldn't leave him like this.

"Four," there were still so many things that they hadn't done together.

"Three," he banged on the windows, screaming her name with his last breath.

"Two," a pair of eyes met his as familiar-looking hands placed themselves against his.

"One," it was her.

With a final shout of her name, the train left, and the last person that he loved was gone.

● ● ●

At 00:00, Cinderella left the prince, leaving a glass slipper on the marbled steps of the grand stairs.

At 00:00, she left.

Unlike Cinderella, she didn't leave a single thing behind.