Ch. 5 - When You Cry

The gentle breath that pushed Luna's head in sync with Cor's lungs faltered for a moment , the irregularity of the movement enough to pull Luna from her mind back into reality . Her first movements were the grip of her hand tightening on Cor's shirt , her head making slight readjustments to its position on his chest until she gathered enough mental strength to force her eyes open . The TV was off and the walls of the room were basking in a clear orange color from the falling sun , so the two had slept for a bit .

She looked up towards Cor when she'd gathered the physical strength to crane her neck up towards him , and when she did she noticed the transparent but somewhat sparkling silver trails of liquid running down Cor's face , enough to drip off the point of his chin periodically . The scene was mesmerizing and alarming at the same time .

She moved away from his chest and raised her hand up to grip and shake his shoulder , calling softly to him .

" Cor ? "

The small sound of his name lifted him from whatever dream-like state he'd entered and he first wiped at the cheeks he could feel the silver tears stream down before trying to communicate with Luna , looking at his hand -- sprawled with silver sparkles -- in disbelief .

" Oh no , oh no , " He said , unresponsive to Luna's questioning as he rose up from his slumped position and fidgeted , " It's already ... oh no . "

Luna stared in wonder as Cor twitched , wiped his face of the never ending stream of silver , and stared down at his hands , searching for a minute before grabbing Luna's hand .

" We need to go , we need to go now . "

It didn't occur to her to try and ask why or stop him from erratic behavior at this point , the fear in his eyes so tangible . The abnormality of his tears so tangible .

" I need to get Raya . " Cor understood immediately because of the eye contact they maintained , nodded and stood with her to rush to Raya's room . Luna called out to Raya , exasperated with an unknown fear urging her to urgency as soon as she pushed open the door . Raya was sleeping , stirred when Luna called to her and finally rose when Luna shook her awake .

" What the -- " Luna could see in Cor's eyes and the continuously increasing amount of tears falling that time was of the essence , so she grabbed Raya's hand and pulled her up without warning .

She stumbled a bit , but soon they were out the door and running down the streets trailing behind Cor who led the wild sprint away .

" Do we need to go far , Cor ? " Her breath was quick in her throat , hot from running and confusion .

" We need to go far . "

Luna knew the area , Cor would just end up getting lost , so she cleared her mind for a second and evened out her heartbeat so she could remember the time of day , all the transport around the town , how far everything was to them because they weren't going to get very far with just their legs .

" There's a bus that rides into the city , we can get on that . I don't know if it's too late though , I don't know -- "

" The last one is at 9 , it's at least 8:30 . It's all the way across town , there's no way we're going to make it ! " Raya yelled from behind the two , more out of breath but still managing to keep up pace with them .

" You guys better hope we can . "

It wasn't hot outside but they were running faster than they ever had before , faster than their sedentary college lifestyles had conditioned , but they stayed on Cor's heels until he started to stagger and stumble .

It was as if his eyes were a bottomless ocean , the tears ran nonstop down his cheeks until he had given up wiping and was squinting to try and see through the pools . Luna looked over to him as he'd fallen back in step with her and she quickly grabbed his hand again and started bolting forward .

They were almost there when they saw a few people boarding the stalled bus .

" We can make it . " Raya whimpered from behind the two , and Luna silently agreed and hoped in her head . The had been running along the sidewalks of the small city as all the pedestrians stared at the three in strange amusement for a while now , but now the streets were clear save for their footsteps and the last passenger's foot leaving the pavement to step onto the stairs of the bus .

Luckily , the bus driver saw the three in the distance as he started to pull off and Luna and Raya waved frantically to him , causing him to put the bus back in park . Luna could see the man smile and laugh for a second before waving them to hurry and thanked the Gods .

Once they were safely seated at the back of the bus -- gasping , panting , and completely out of breath , sweat an unsightly marker of their mad dash across the city , they laughed . Luna and Cor laughed , more specifically -- Raya was half dead but still smiling as she pushed herself against the cold metal of the buses wall . Something about weird , terrible situations really brought people together . Cor's tears had stopped falling so furiously , only making his eyes glassy and sparkly with the occasional drop as the laughter slowed .

" Can someone please tell me why I was woken and immediately dragged into a marathon ? " Raya asked through some final struggled breaths .

Luna looked to Cor , the same question in her mind Cor saw through her eyes . His expression and demeanor became more despondent -- he sighed and closed in on himself , avoiding eye contact with Luna and Raya .

" I'm so sorry . "