[hr][right][sup]Monday — Morning — Hallway[/sup][/right]
Keone was saying things that weren't true, and Kat's hands wrung around the side of his head, looking to grip something long enough to think.[color=fdc68a]"I understand. Okay. Okay. Maybe."[/color] Now Kat had said something that wasn't true. That wasn't good either. [color=fdc68a][i]"She's not going to make it."[/i][/color] That was true. [color=fdc68a]"[i]You're[/i] not going to make it."[/color] That was dubious, but to Kat it seemed true, also. [color=fdc68a]"No one grins and bears it. No one can pull that off. No one!"[/color] That he [i]knew[/i] to be true.

[color=fdc68a]"If you cut her on the inside she'll still bleed. Are we just going to leave her there? And you, too?"[/color] Conceptualising the act enough to say it aloud was too much for Kat. He wiped his eyes, again, and reached for his phone, and saw it wasn't there. That stopped him. Kat inhaled. [color=fdc68a]"Tell Rebecca-"[/color]

[i]'[color=82ca9d]Discourage her.[/color]'[/i]

[color=fdc68a]"...If you [i]have[/i] to go back in, tell her I've left for my exam,"[/color] he said, though by this point it was little more than an excuse in his mind. [color=fdc68a]"Tell her I'll be back, [i]whenever[/i] you think this is going to be over, or, or don't tell her anything."[/color] There was little compromise between [color=ed1c24]that thing[/color] and Rebecca's injury. [color=fdc68a]"Tell her I'll be back when the rain ends."[/color]

That, too, he knew to be true.

Kat stayed a few more seconds, then spun off and chased himself to the gym. His phone could wait. Or go to hell, for all he cared. It was probably already there.