Hello Monday

Part 25; 10:07 am

I cry my heart out for the umpteenth time.

"Princess?" I hear Monday call out behind me with worry.

I want to tell him that I just need a minute, that I will be okay, but I cannot bring enough air into my lungs. I try to take in deep breaths, but hiccups cut through my attempt every single time. I beat my chest and look toward the window through puffy eyes, hoping the light streaming in would help me in some sort of way. I hear the howling sounds I am making, but it seems very distant. My head starts to feel woozy, so I grab my hair, trying to instigate pain so I can gather my focus.

It doesn't seem to work.

The thick walls I've built around myself starts to crumble all around me. Every passing second, they fall. I press my forehead to the ground, willing the pain to go away. Even as it hits the ground, I can still feel every fiber of my being tremble. They tremble, and tremble, and they don't stop.

Why won't they stop?

Why won't the tears stop flowing out?

Why won't the pain go away.

I hug myself even tighter, feeling nothing but small and vulnerable. I whimper. Before my hands could pull out patches of hair, I feel a soft touch on the back of my hand.

"Princess? Hey, hey," he coos at me while pulling me into his arms. He settles on the ground next to me and wraps his arms around my shoulders, stroking them softly. It surprisingly made me feel the faintest bit better, but it still isn't enough to stop my ever-flowing tears.

I sob into his chest unceasingly, my fists clutching his off-white henley shirt. That damn off-white henley shirt. Without hesitation, he holds me silently, rocking me slowly as my tears soak his chest. He rests a hand on my head and pats it gently.

And that is enough to stop my waterfall for tears.

I sit in Monday's embrace for a while, listening to his soothing heartbeats. It sounds just right.

My wails must have been pretty loud, because next thing I know, men in red uniforms pour into the cafeteria. I didn't even hear the sirens. But without doubt, I let out a breath of relief.

"There! Two people," a man yells, pointing a finger at us.

Before he could take a step towards us, another shouts, "Blood! There's blood!"

I follow his eyes to the ground and my eyes widen in horror. There on the ground, I see five bloody footprints. It only dawned upon me that Monday is anything but well. I pull away from him to look at his injured leg, only noticing that his pant is clinging onto his leg for dear life. The black pants makes it hard to see the blood, but the pool of blood that is forming beneath that leg is what worries me.

I gasp. I open my mouth to reprimand him, but Monday beats me to it before I could utter a single word, "Don't hurt an injured man, princess. Your anger will break his feeble heart," he says dramatically, placing a hand over the right side of his chest.

I forget my anger and laugh at him, "More like feeble lung." He knits his eyebrows in confusion. I laugh again and simply point at the hand that is still on the wrong side of his chest. Not long after, he understands and forms an O with his mouth, laughing along with me.

Our banter is cut off by one of the firemen. "Which one of you is injured?"

My thumb points at Monday. After the man—who I assume is the head fireman—shouts instructions to his subordinates to take the stretcher from the truck, he approaches us. Five feet away from us, he kneels and rests an elbow on his knee.

"Mind quickly filling me up on what happened?" he asks the both of us.

I briskly take him, who I find out goes by Regan, through the day's events: from the fire drill to a lockdown drill, to the kidnapping of a teacher (the part Monday had to help me with because it was all still too raw), and finally, to how Monday was shot and now we're here. I did leave out a few necessary details, though. Like how Monday came into this school as one of the raiders and is now... well, a freelancer.

"Yes, officer. My friend and I have only successfully run away from those men after they shot him," I recite. After barking a few more orders to search the school for said men, Regan stands up and moves to the side to make room for the stretcher.

They set the stretcher on the ground and hoists Monday up to lay him on it. Monday settles down on his belly with a grunt and not a second after, the stretcher suspends in the air.

"Get these students checked out," Regan tells one of the men carrying the stretcher. The man nods in response and shouts orders to another man behind him. What is with these people and giving orders?

The man who was given the order comes up to me and stands beside me, ready to escort me wherever they will get me 'checked out.' He points his hand toward the doors of the cafeteria, as if saying lead the way. I give him a nervous, tight-lipped smile and walk towards the doors that are already opened.

Before I could walk through the doorway, I feel a hand grasp mine. "Wait, please stop," Monday tells the men carrying his stretcher while adjusting his head to face me comfortably.

When they stop, Monday pulls my hand. Beyond surprised, I nearly hit my head on the metal rungs of the stretcher beside his head, but catch myself just a few inches above them.

With our faces less than a few inches apart, he stares into my eyes and whispers, "Princess, I hope we can see each other again in the right place, at the right time."

"I'm afraid I don't want to if you keep calling me that," I reply with a smirk.

He laughs weakly, looking paler by the second. "I should stop calling you that, shouldn't I?"

"It's for the best," I joke with a full blown grin.

"Just so you know, Princess Kate Middleton is the epitome of a princess. But you're far from that, aren't you?" he kids while messing my hair with a rub. "Let's start off with a proper introduction, shall we?"

He takes a deep breath, as deep as his pressed stomach lets him.

"Hi, I'm Carson," he juts his hand out for me to shake.

I take his hand.

"Linette."

Without releasing my hold on his hand, I take a step into the future with the flying Superman beside me. Honestly, I don't know what the future looks like, but there is nowhere else to go besides there.

I'll keep moving forward.

10:21 am, the end of this part of my life.