Hey Monday

g o o d b y e s

-noah-

"I'm okay," I heard Ellen mutter from the bathroom. "This is fine, I'm fine."

I tilted my head slightly to the left, confused. It was November first, and I thought that everyone else was asleep, but evidently I was wrong.

Kate was reclined on the armchair, taking dainty little breaths as she slept. I could hear Logan lightly snoring from the back bedroom- I didn't know if he slept on the bed or the floor, but he was in there every night.

The bathroom of the RV was inbetween the bedroom and living room, so I could hear Ellen perfectly. It was about three AM- she was usually asleep by now.

All of a sudden, Ellen dropped something and it clattered to the ground.

"Shit," she whispered. Then she left the bathroom in a hurry, not noticing me staring directly at her.

• • •

The next morning, Ellen woke me up by dropping a mug on the ground. It shattered and she gasped, then started crying.

"El?" I mumbled blearily. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she blubbered. "I'm fine, go back to sleep."

I glanced out of the kitchen window- the sun had just begun to peer at us above the trees, and it couldn't have been before nine AM.

I heaved myself off of the couch and padded over to go help her pick up the shards. It turned out to be one of her least favorite mugs, actually, a light pink one with flowers. I couldn't understand why she was so upset about it, but I wordlessly helped her pick up the mess anyway.

She collected the broken shards and started picking them up, sniffling and making a ton of rather unattractive crying noises.

"Hey, El, are you sure you're okay?"

She looked up at me and furrowed her eyebrows. "Yeah, Noah, I'm sure."

I looked her in the eye and replied, "And you know I love you?"

Ellen nodded, mouth set into a thin line. "I love you too, Noah," she whispered. Then she turned around and headed back to the bedroom, casting a fleeting glance at me over her shoulder.

I sighed and shook some hair out of my eyes, then headed back to the couch and pulled a blanket over myself.

"You know, she's having some unfounded crying spells lately," Kate murmured tiredly from the armchair.

I chuckled. "That sounds like something out of a textbook."

"Because it is," Kate retorted. "I took a psychology class in high school, remember? Unfounded crying spells, that's the fourth sign of depression- after overeating, oversleeping, and skipping responsibilities like class or work."

"Oh," I replied. "Well, that's some useful information."

"Yeah, it is." Kate pulled an eye mask out from under the armchair and slipped it over her face. "I'm going back to sleep, night."

"Night," I muttered.

Since I was awake, I figured that there was no time to waste. I made myself some toast and yogurt, and headed up to the driver's seat to hit the road again.

If I didn't make any stops, I could make it through Nebraska and probably Iowa today. But Ellen's bucket list was suffering serious abandonment, and I figured we could try to get a couple more things knocked off of it.

I took a bite of my toast and started driving. I was hoping for a little bit of alone time, something I hadn't gotten much of in the past couple of days.