Mondays should honestly be illegal. They’re supposed to be a symbol of fresh starts and new beginnings, but for me? They’re the bane of my existence. Especially when school’s involved.

Seriously, who even thought it was a good idea to invent Mondays? I just want to talk.

One second, you're cocooned in a perfectly warm blanket, body molded into the exact right position for peak sleep comfort—and then, just like that, it’s over. The alarm clock starts screaming like a banshee, and your life is ruined.

I should know. I’m currently locked in a deadly staring contest with my blaring alarm, pretending if I ignore it long enough, it'll stop on its own.

Spoiler: it doesn’t.

But just when I think I can win this battle of wills, the real danger enters the arena—my mother.

"LIANA AVERY COLLINS!" she roars from downstairs. "IF YOU DON’T WAKE UP RIGHT THIS SECOND, I’M DROWNING YOUR HARDCOVERS!"

I bolt upright "I’m up, Mama Bear! Please, not the hardcovers!" I call back, already stumbling toward the bathroom, tripping over socks and dignity.

"Come down in twenty minutes and you can save them!" she yells, with just enough evil cackle in her voice to let me know she means business.

Listen, you can take my sleep. You can even take my pride. But my hardcovers? Those are sacred. They cost more than my soul on the black market.

I brush, shower, and throw on whatever clothes are at the top of the pile.

"Present!" I announce as I rush into the kitchen, flopping onto a chair.

Mom gives me a once-over and shakes her head. "Eat something before you run off to school," she says, already halfway through cleaning dishes and sorting papers.

My chest pinches a little watching her. My mom works two jobs just so we can live comfortably. We’re not struggling exactly, but we’re not living in a mansion either.

“You should take a break,” I mutter between bites of toast. “One day off won’t break the universe.”

She snorts. “And who’s gonna pay the bills while the universe fixes itself? A break doesn’t mean much when it costs your electricity.”

“I’m just saying... one day. We could go to our picnic spot again? Like last time? You know, water fight, ruined sandwiches, bird-poop near-miss?”

She pauses, a real smile spreading across her face as she ruffles my still-damp hair. “How about this Saturday, tiger?”

I perk up immediately, probably looking like a puppy promised a treat. She laughs and plants a kiss on my forehead.

“Now get your butt out of here before you’re late.”

We both giggle, and I sling my bag over my shoulder, heading for the door.

“I’ll probably be late tonight too,” she calls after me. “So lock the door, the windows, and don’t open up for anyone—”

“Mom,” I groan, “I’m fifteen. Not five.”

“You could have your own baby and you’d still be my baby,” she fires back, not missing a beat.

I just laugh and wave goodbye.

The school’s only a fifteen-minute walk, so I slip in my earbuds and hit play on my audiobook. At least if Monday’s dragging me to school, I’m taking my fantasy worlds with me.

reached just 3 seconds before the gate closed— immediately making a beeline towards my locker. 

I was getting my book out when "BOO!" I jumped, the earbuds falling out of my ear—my heart beating super fast.

Turning I see none other then my idiot friends all laughing, holding their stomach. "Axel! What the fuck! I could have had a heartattack"

I swatted playfully at his shoulder "nah, not even a heatheatt could kill you. You are too stubborn for that" My other friend—Damien spoke, joining us.

I shook my head in disbelief

I rolled my eyes “You two are menaces,” I muttered, slamming my locker shut.

Axel threw an arm around my shoulders, his grin far too smug for someone who nearly scared the soul out of me. “Aw, c’mon, Liana. Admit it—you missed us.”

“I saw you both yesterday,” I deadpanned.

“And yet here you are,” Damien chimed in, flipping his hair like he was in a shampoo commercial. “Back for more chaos.”

“I’m not here for chaos. I’m here for Algebra. Unfortunately.”

Axel clutched his chest. “That hurts. That actually hurts. I thought we were the highlight of your tragic little school life.”

I glanced between them—Axel with his perpetual smirk and tousled hair, Damien with his icy blue eyes and perfectly overdramatic attitude—and let out a long, theatrical groan. “You are the highlight. A very annoying, migraine-inducing highlight.”

“Hey guys!”

We turned around to see Amelia walking toward us, a big grin on her face.

"Hey sunshine" Damien said.

"Morning, flower" Axel flirted.

"Hey brainac" I greeted her back. 

“So, ready for the test?” she asked, and all of us felt our hearts drop.

“What test?” Axel asked, confused.

“You mean you forgot about the physics test today?”

And there go my weekend plans.

My mother could probably help me hide a body if I committed a crime, but if I fail this test—I’d be the body.

“Oh, you guys are in trouble,” Amelia said, laughing and clapping her hands.

We all turned to glare at her. She immediately stopped laughing and took a step back.

“Uhm, someone’s calling me. I have to go—bye!” she said quickly, turning to run, but Axel was faster. He grabbed her backpack strap and pulled her back. She stumbled into his chest.

Amelia is the smartest person you’ll ever meet. And being the idiots we are, we’re terrible at studying. Honestly, I’ve passed so many exams thanks to her help.

“You’ll tell us everything that’s on the test,” I said, crossing my arms.

Amelia groaned. “You guys are lucky I like you.”

“And we’ll bring snacks,” Damien added, grinning.

“Fine,” she sighed. “Meet me in the library at lunch.”

And just like that, we were (hopefully) saved.

And on clue the bell rang, indicating the starting of first period. We all went our separate ways, as none of us had the same first class. 

The classes blurred by like a fever dream, and suddenly—boom—it was lunch. And we were in the library, surrounded by open books, chaotic notes, and half-eaten plates of food that looked more tragic than edible.

Seriously at this rate, prison food must be better then school one.

All three of us were desperately trying to cram knowledge we were never going to use in real life. Like, ever.

“I still can’t believe you guys forgot about this,” Amelia said.

Axel snorted. “Mia, I don’t even remember what I ate for breakfast. You think I’d remember a test we were warned about five days ago?”

All of us laughed, mostly because it was true—and also because we were on the verge of a collective academic breakdown.

“Okay,” she said, pointing at each of us like an angry goddess of exams. “Leaving the dementia guy aside, what about you two?”

I raised my hands in surrender. “Not my fault. I was busy.”

“Busy?” Damien snorted. “Doing what? Crying over fictional men again?”

I gasped. Audibly. “You did not just insult my books.”

“I did. And I’d do it again. Now shut up, we have a test to fail slightly less.”

Amelia flipped through her notebook then jabbed her finger onto a page. “Newton’s Third Law,” she declared “For every action, there is—?”

We all stared blankly at each other, hoping someone had paid attention in class. Nope. Not a single brain cell in sight.

Amelia groaned. “Y’all are the reason caffeine exists.”

Then, without warning, she turned and shoved me. Not aggressively. Just a little nudge. Except—I was sitting on the very edge of the chair. I dramatically toppled off.

THUD.

“…what.”

“Uhm… Amelia?” Damien blinked.

I rose slowly, brushing off the imaginary dust from my very real bruised pride. I plopped back into my chair and, with equal grace, smacked Amelia’s shoulder with the exact same force she pushed me with.

“Why, bro?”

She just smirked. “For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Boom. Science.”

We all stared at her for a full minute, deadpan and dead inside.

Then—

Damien raised a hand like he was in a therapy session. “So… I can hit Axel for science?”

The silence shattered with laughter.

“Damn,” Axel chuckled. “That’s some different kind of physics.”

Amelia looked way too smug for someone teaching science through violence. And just like that, the whole hour went by. Poor Amelia losing brain cells teaching us idiots.

Finally bell rang signaling the end of lunch. We all got up "Good luck, make me proud my gremlins. And if you fail" she paused, looking at all of us "I didn't taught you. This past hour never happened, nope never"

And with that all of us went to rest of our class and in the end a test waited us.

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

"Why should I know the speed of light!" Axel groaned, dramatically clutching the poor question paper like it had personally ruined his life. “When am I ever going to outrun light? Huh? Am I secretly The Flash?”

“Doesn’t matter.” I snatched the paper from his hands and shoved it deep into his bag like it was cursed. “It’s over. We survived. We passed. And now we never speak of this again.”

Liana collapsed onto the bench beside us, dramatically fanning herself with her ID card. “I saw my soul leave my body on question seven. Like—float up, wave goodbye, and ascend.”

Damien dropped his head onto the table with a groan. “I wrote ‘Newtons’ with an apostrophe. I think I failed grammar in a physics test.”

Amelia strolled in, sipping her juice box like she hadn’t just guided us all through academic hell. “Well, well. Look who made it out alive.”

“Barely,” Axel grumbled. “My brain is soup. My future? Non-existent. My will to live? See ya.”

She smirked and sat beside him. “But hey, at least now you know the speed of light.”

“Only because I guessed it,” he muttered.

“Guessed it correctly,” she pointed out.

“That doesn't count"

"Why are we discussing this? Isn't it over? So chill people" I smiled at them.

"Exactly, our little monkey is right. Chill people" I smacked Damiens shoulder, earning a laugh from the rest of the team.

"We are going to the movies today, Mia and Lia,  do you guys wanna come?" Axel asked. "Can’t, mom is going to be late today. So have to take care of the house but you guys enjoy!" The nodded.

We talked for a little more before I said goodbye to them and left for my house.

Not knowing my life is about to change forever.

No foreshadowing author!!

✦•┈๑⋅⋯ ⋯⋅๑┈•✦

The door was open when I arrived. That alone was enough to make my stomach twist.

Mom never leaves the door open.

I stepped inside—and froze. The house was wrecked.

Shattered dishes crunched beneath my shoes. Cushions were torn apart like they’d been mauled. Even some of the floorboards were splintered, ripped up as if someone had been looking for something hidden underneath.

My first thought was burglary.

My second was: they might still be here.

Mom didn’t raise me to be helpless. She made damn sure I knew how to protect myself. Hand-to-hand combat, daggers, guns—she made me learn it all. And now, every lesson came rushing back like muscle memory.

I pulled out my phone, fingers trembling, and called the police. They’d take at least fifteen minutes to arrive.

That gave me fifteen minutes to find out what the hell happened.

I grabbed a kitchen knife—small, sharp, familiar—and crept through the ground floor. No sign of movement. Just destruction.

But then—

A sound.

Rustling. Upstairs.

My heart slammed against my ribs. Fear clawed at my throat. Having skills was one thing. Using them was another.

Still, something pushed me forward. Adrenaline? Stupidity? I didn’t care. I took the stairs two at a time.

The hallway was eerily untouched. Like whatever had happened downstairs hadn’t made it up here yet.

I checked the guest room—empty.

Then I heard it. A faint, guttural groan.

Coming from Mom’s room.

My fingers tightened on the doorknob.

One breath in. One out.

I threw the door open.

I expected a burglar. A monster. A fight.

But nothing—nothing—could’ve prepared me for what I saw.

Mom. On the floor.

Blood pooled beneath her like a macabre halo. Her face twisted in pain, her breaths shallow and uneven. A gunshot wound bloomed across her chest, soaking through her clothes.

knife slipped from my hand and hit the floor with a dull clink. That sound was what broke me.

“MOM!” I dropped to my knees beside her, hands trembling as I touched her face. “No, no, no—please. Please, stay with me.”

I didn’t care about the blood soaking my jeans or the way my hands shook uncontrollably.

I just wanted her to breathe.

To open her eyes.

To say my name.

I prayed to every god I’d ever heard of.

Please, don’t take her. Not yet.

“MOM! Please—open your eyes, please!”

My voice cracked as I shook her gently, my hands trembling against her blood-soaked skin.

Her fingers twitched.

I hadn’t even realized I was holding my breath until she blinked—barely—but it was enough for me to breathe again.

“L… Liana…”

Her voice was a ghost of itself, but her hand reached up, brushing weakly against my cheek.

I gripped her fingers like they were the only thing anchoring her to this world.

“I’m here. You’re going to be okay. Just—just keep your eyes open. Stay with me, please.”

Tears streamed down my face, falling onto her like a rain she couldn’t escape.

“Shh, my sweet, brave girl,” she whispered, trying to wipe my tears, but her hand trembled and fell before it could.

“No. No, don’t say that,” I said, shaking my head like I could shake away reality. “You’re not leaving. Help is coming. You’re going to be fine.”

She tried to speak again, but a violent cough shook her body. Blood bubbled at her lips.

“Stop, don’t talk,” I whispered, though my voice betrayed me with every word. “Just breathe. Please.”

She gave me a soft, knowing smile.

No. No no no—

That look. That look.

The one that says goodbye without saying the word.

“Don’t look at me like that!” I cried, panic cracking my chest open. “You’re the strongest person I know. You’re going to make it through this, you have to!”

Her smile widened, soft and aching.

“This isn’t goodbye, tiger. I’ll always be with you…” She tapped just above my heart. “Right here.”

A broken sob tore from my throat. I clung to her hand like it was life itself.

“Liana,” she whispered, voice suddenly sharp with urgency. “Listen to me. In the drawer… the hidden compartment… the password is…”

She tapped her fingers in Morse code on the floor.

14—7—1975.

My mind scrambled to memorize it, trying to hold on to every second.

“No matter what happens next… whatever happens… you can’t let it fall into the wrong hands,” she said, her voice trembling.

Her palm cupped my cheek, tender despite the blood.

“I’m so sorry, tiger. None of this is fair. Your life was written for you before you ever opened your eyes. I tried—god, I tried—to protect you. I don’t regret a single moment… except this. Leaving you too soon.”

“I don’t understand—what do you mean? You’re not leaving me!” I snapped, frantic now. “Where the hell are the police?!”

She let out a rattling laugh, a tear slipping down her temple.

“Language…”

A broken laugh escaped me—a sob disguised as humor.

“It’s okay, my sweet pea,” she said, her voice weakening. “I might not be with you in the life ahead… but you have a destiny to fulfill. One only you can.”

She squeezed my hand with the last of her strength.

“Find James,” she whispered. “He’ll tell you everything.”

James?

Her co-worker? The tech guy with the awful jokes and too many coffee mugs?

Why him?

Why now?

I looked back at her—my mother, my anchor—and watched as her eyes fluttered shut.

“No… Mom? MOM!”

But her chest didn’t rise again.