Tuesday Afternoon

Chapter 16

Hi! Hello! Sorry for disappearing for so long, there's multiple reasons for that, so I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of a life update lmao.

First of all, college has been STRESSFUL this semester because I'm taking all upper-division classes since I'm technically a junior now??? I'm only in my second year but I somehow got way ahead of the game so I'm over halfway done with my degree lol, and the classwork has been just bonkers for some of them so I've been struggling to keep up and needed to take the time to do that.

Second of all, for the last three years, my grandma has been re-diagnosed with breast cancer, however because she had the booby removal surgery (I forgot what its actually called, please don't come for me) 30 years ago when she first had it, all the cancer cells just kinda, trickled down into her abdomen and were wrecking havoc down there instead. On March 11, she unfortunately passed away; It hadn't been looking good for a while by that point, but I won't go into a lot of detail for both privacy reasons and to not bring up anything with you guys if you've gone through something similar. So during my absence I was helping my mom and aunt take care of her and also taking care of them since she was like a mother to them (she's technically my great grandma since her daughter is my mom's mom, but semantics. Getting author lore today lol). We were all really close to her, so even though we've been expecting this for a while it's hitting all of us pretty hard. Her memorial is in a couple weeks, and while we aren't... great, we are doing the best we can right now sorting through everything and grieving.

Third of all, just for something happy to end this a/n on, I got accepted into a study abroad program! I've been working everything out with that as well since it'll be for about a month over the summer, and I'm really excited to go :D Not excited for the time change and the jetlag though lmao, that'll be yucky to deal with.

Trying not to take up all y'all's time with me though, since I know you're here for our favorite blond alien, so I'll keep it at least this short hahaha. All I ask is that you be patient with me with the next chapters. I promise I'll do my best to get more out soon, I'm just really terrible at updating on any kind of schedule. But more will come! Eventually!

Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter <3

How To Run From The Mess You Made

You flew for a day straight as soon as you were out of the building, trying to get as far away from it and its pretty scenery as was physically possible; you don't remember how many towns you skipped over to get even this far. You went on and on until you simply couldn't anymore. You could feel the fatigue settling deep into your bones and the way your body ached uncomfortably from being awake and in use for so long. You remember crash-landing in the middle of the desert about a mile out from any town, then having to painstakingly walk for another 30 minutes to find an inn or hotel to sleep. And sleep you did; a full 16 hours of it, even though it seemed more like 5 minutes. You left town as soon as you were awake, despite the growing migraine and fatigue settling in. This routine continued for the rest of the week.

The latest town hadn't been as kind to you as the others. Word got around that the Heart-Eyed Outlaw was nearby, now traveling alone, setting the entire town on edge. Many were poor and starving, so you didn't blame them for what happened.

Despite what you told Zazie, you refused to kill anyone in that town - they were desperate, many of them poor and starving. You wanted to help in some way, you really did, but you really didn't want that to include being turned in to the authorities and likely put to death. So when you were recognized as, well, you and the town devolved into chaos trying to capture you, you ran. You ran away like a coward. Unfortunately, the town fell to its own hubris even after you left.