The Future, the Past and the Ugly (Untrusted Love: Electric Boogaloo)

Ch 9. The Little Things

Mono finally located the pair who had taken Six captive. They snickered at her misfortune and rudely teased the girl who hung limply. She dangled dangerously high from the ground and made no attempt to respond to anything. Mono huffed in, sneaking as quickly as he could until he was close enough. With two loud bangs mixed with smashes, Mono was relatively satisfied with their destruction. Serves them right! He spat internally, he might have said it out loud if his useless vocal cords weren't still burning.

The boy turned his rusted hammer on the plank of wood, apologising silently to his still friend, and brought it's head down and by the time he was done, all that remained were splinters. A thud made his teeth grind against each other as he turned back to Six.

She lay unsettlingly still, her fall only slightly cushioned by a cut of fabric. Mono approached, last time she was okay but still his heart raced with the possibility that she could have landed on her neck.

"Six?" He whispered hoarsely. He stood over her form and waited for a sign of life. He didn't need to wait for long as she stirred awake and eyes fluttered weakly. They fixed on him, angrily at first but turned to surprise as she registered him.

"Mono?" She asked in disbelief. He nodded, unable to speak much but offered her his hand. She took it hesitantly and Mono bit his lip from guilt. She still felt strange in his grasp, like his skin was crawling under the contact.

"You came back for me?" Six muttered, steadying herself and letting go of Mono. He nodded again and smiled but knew she couldn't see it.

/ / /

Six ushered them out of the bathroom rather quickly, not that Mono could blame her. He couldn't say that he'd want to stay where he'd been tormented and humiliated.

The two made their way through the school as Mono successfully recalled the layout.

When they were just about to escape, they came across the Teacher and her piano. Mono took in the music, not really paying much attention to it the first time. He admitted he rather liked the song she was writing and he'd gotten Six and himself across so it couldn't hurt to wait a little longer.

Six was confused when the boy sat down on the shelves and watched. She was getting impatient as he just listened and became familiar with the tune. He almost started humming along but Six yanked him closer to the vent, glaring in confusion, annoyance and impatience.

The vent alerted the Teacher of their escape and the dreaded chase began. Mono hated it as the narrow teeth chomped at his body, Six safer in front. The two climbed and crawled their way out to a roof and tumbled down into a dumpster. The creaking thuds of the Teacher's head and impossibly long neck slinking back through the vent confirmed to the two that it was safe to come from hiding.

Mono brushed some old sticky stuff from his collar as Six removed a decomposing can from her ankle. Landing in trash was never ideal but it was far better than concrete or being caught.

"What the hell was that?!" Six demanded, keeping her voice low. Mono took a second to understand what she was referring to.

"Sorry" he responded. What had come over him? First his body was restarted but his vocal cords remained unfairly damaged, then his body fought against Six's touch and now he was wasting time to listen to music. Six grumbled in response and Mono thought he made out a rough "..thanks for saving me.." but he knew that he shouldn't try to confirm that. Instead, he just gave her his hand which she took, something he would later regret.

The weird skin crawling sensation made the hair on his neck stand on end from discomfort. What was happening to him? The longer he held her hand, the worse the feeling got. Six showed no signs of registering his displeasure but Mono swore that the itching, burning and seemingly endless violent goosebumps were becoming a physical symptom. Like a serious rash that was infected and rubbing against the fabric of his coat. Mono desperately tried to distract himself, redirect his attention to something, anything else.

Rain, cold, sore feet.

I don't like it

Footsteps in the rain, puddles forming deeper at his ankles, the water getting around the cuffs of his pants.

I want it to stop

Six was okay, he got a second chance, he could save her this time.

Make it stop!

Mono tried to breathe through it, inhaling and exhaling forcefully but the air in his lungs refused to leave his throat.

Can't breathe!

His hand went limp in Six's grasp but she didn't notice, still holding it firmly.

Why can't I breathe?

His legs felt weak in the knees, like they were numb and stiff at the same time. His head spun and chest tightened. Bile rose in his throat, furthering his difficulty in breathing but his mouth stayed completely dry.

I can't breathe!

His stomach turned as the bile rose further, threatening him into vomiting. His heart drummed so loudly and fast that his ears rang.

I'm dying!

His whole body was sore, waves of heat made him sweat but his skin was cold. This had to be death. It felt exactly like when he fell.

I'm falling; I'm going to die! I don't want to die! Why am I falling?

Mono's body trembled, vision distorted until he could only see the light rapidly shrinking as he continued to fall further down into the abyss. The wind whipping past and through his ears as he plummeted.

I'm going to die!

/ / / 

Six finally took notice as her new friend quivered violently.

"Mono?" She questioned. The bagged boy was.. cryptic to say the least. She didn't even know what he looked like but he claimed he knew her? And thought she knew him?

Very strange but stranger still was that he seemed to know the way wherever they went. As Six was new to this city-of-sorts, she presumed that he was from the drenched place but then why was he there to sav- rescu- free her from the Hunter?

Then there was his weird behaviour; glancing at her hands, talking strangely and stopping to listen to music when escape was right next to them. Sure she was attached to her music box but even she had the sense to leave it to get away.

Now what was wrong with him? He was barely walking at this point as she dragged him. She had noticed his hand get very wet but brushed it off as rain water.

"Mono?" She pressed again. Maybe it was the rain? The even present chill made her bones shiver as her cardigan lacked any water resistance. The boy's clothes definitely looked warmer but also felt incredibly damp, even when he'd been inside the school for a while, giving his clothes a chance to dry out. Perhaps they were soaked through to his skin and.. Six wasn't sure what but the rain made the most sense to cause his sudden odd, well odd-er behaviour.

She was about to call his name again, displeased at his lack of response, but stopped when he abruptly crashed to the ground on his hands and knees.