We won't be caught up

The setting is Planet Earth, the city of Chicago __________________________________________ The creaking of the metal door opening was unpleasantly loud, finally bringing him to his senses. He heard footsteps and realized that he was no longer alone in the room, completely unaware of when he had stopped being beaten. The girl was taken into the warehouse with her eyes blindfolded, and when the blindfold was removed, she saw Cross tied to a chair with his head bowed in a motorcycle helmet. The girl's heart ached painfully. She was very worried about her friend's condition. "Cross... What have you done to him?" she said in a trembling voice. She tried to approach him, but was stopped by one of Limburger's thugs. "Don't be in such a hurry, my child," the tycoon said as he approached the Martian. "Flora," the thought of the girl cleared his mind, and he looked up at her. "Tell me, do you know your friend well? What does he do, where does he come from, and most importantly, who is he?" said Limburger, emphasizing the last phrase. "I know enough. Let him go. I have fulfilled your condition," said the girl, seeing the guy in a rather pitiful state. "Enough, but not everything is visible. For example, you knew that your beloved friend is not human," said Limburger, pulling the helmet off the Martian. He turned away, hiding his gaze from the glare of the light. The girl froze in shock, staring at the creature sitting in front of her on the chair. "Is this a prank?" she said softly, not believing her eyes. Cross slowly raised his head and looked at her. He saw the devastation and disbelief in her eyes, and he shuddered. What he had feared was happening before his eyes. "On the contrary, my dear, I can prove that this is not a costume, and that this creature is made of flesh and blood," Limburger said as he took a knife from one of his thugs and slashed at Cross's shoulder. His clothes were immediately stained with deep red blood. "You little bastard, you'll pay for this," the Martian hissed through his pain. The girl shuddered at the sound of his voice. The alien was speaking in Cross's voice. Her mind refused to believe what she was seeing and hearing. "It's not true. It can't be true," she repeated in her mind, trying to keep herself from sinking into a pool of panic and despair. She kept her eyes fixed on the man she considered more than a friend. "They're a wild people, unruly and cruel. I don't know how he managed to restrain himself from harming you, my dear. Well, I've fulfilled my part of the agreement. Here's your lover. And keep this. If he tries to attack, shoot him," Limburger said, placing a gun in her hand. Meanwhile, Cross was untied and left alone with her. He slowly stood up and took a couple of steps towards her, but then stopped when he saw her raise a gun pointed at him. Gradually, everything fell into place. That's why he never took off his helmet, jacket, or gloves, so she wouldn't see his body covered in thick, short, light gray fur. Her empty gaze swept over his silhouette. His well-proportioned figure in the high-rise compartment looked quite human, and by human standards it could be considered attractive, and a tight, torn khaki T-shirt could not hide it. Muscular thighs in black jeans and thigh-high boots with straps. However, the tail that loomed behind her, nervously quivering, flexible as a whip, covered with light gray fur, made it clear how different the creature in front of her was from a human. The girl looked into his inhuman, round, purple-colored eyes, his round ears with a metal plate on one of them, and his small, round, animal-like nose. "What are you?" she asked in a flat voice, gradually recovering from her shock. The weapon shook in her hands. "Flora, please, I can explain everything," Cross said, trying to approach her. "You can't be Cross," she said, taking a step back. Everything that was happening now felt like a nightmare. "Flora, I'm sorry," he said, approaching her. Everything went dark in front of her eyes, and she realized that her consciousness was leaving her, and the only thing she could do was say the code word. After that, she lost consciousness. Cross managed to catch her. A few minutes before her bodyguards entered the room, he disappeared through a side door. When the biker mice arrived at the building, Cross was sitting on an empty barrel in front of the building, looking down at his feet. He didn't seem to notice the bleeding wound on his shoulder. "That's it... It's over," he thought, a pang of sadness squeezing his heart. There was no hope that Flora would ever accept him for who he was. He could still see her empty gaze and the gun pointed at him. "You're hurt!" The Rimfire exclaimed, dismounting from his bike. He looked at his friend, and the sadness in his eyes told her that things hadn't ended as well as they seemed. There had been a tragedy that Cross didn't want to talk about. His wound had been hastily bandaged, and they had returned to the shelter. She woke up early in the morning. She was in her room, lying on the couch with a blanket over her. Walter was dozing in a chair nearby. Flora stared at him for a long time, remembering a similar incident from her childhood. When she got a sore throat and a high fever, he held her in his arms all night, sitting in a chair in her room. When she woke up, she saw him sleeping as well. She touched his hand, and he immediately opened his eyes and looked at her with concern. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "I'm fine," she replied, trying to smile. Everything that happened yesterday, and all these days, seemed like a terrible dream, a vision, a fairy tale with a terrible ending. The handsome prince turned out to be a monster, and there was no way to break the spell. All I wanted was to forget everything and move on, but I wasn't sure if I could. "Did you manage to save your friend?" The man asked. "Yes, he's free," Flora replied. "Then why did he leave you alone?" Walter continued. "I asked you to leave," the girl said, making it clear that the conversation was over. It took him a long time to fall asleep that night. When he did, his sleep was a restless nightmare. Cross woke up early in the morning. He sat in his hammock for a long time, trying to figure out what to do next. The girl's reaction made it clear that he shouldn't see her again. Her disbelieving gaze and the question, "What are you?" made it clear that she didn't believe what was happening was real. "Well, maybe I should leave things as they are. Let him think it's all a nightmare," he thought, preparing to go to the garage as usual. "How are you feeling?" Charlie asked, worried about the wound on his shoulder. "Everything's fine," he replied, but from the sad intonation of his voice, it seemed to the girl that it wasn't so good. "And Flora?" What's wrong with her?" She continued. Pain filled his eyes. "She's fine, too. The guards took her away," he replied. Charlie realized that he didn't want to talk about it anymore. As evening descended, Cross sat in the shelter, watching the biker mice play soccer on their bikes. After their fun, they returned to the shelter for their usual soda and hot dogs. Cross did not join them. He had no appetite. "Aren't you going to visit Flora today? To think that you've been through so much together... " said the Rimfire, coming up to him. "No. I think she'll have other things to do now," said the mouse, and went to his hammock. This was the case for the next three days. Soon, Charlie noticed a change in her assistant. He was quiet, answering questions with one-word responses, avoiding the games the bikers sometimes played out of boredom, and trying to avoid patrolling the city. His smile had vanished, and the light that had shone from him, the spark that had been ignited by his encounters with Flora, had been extinguished. Her heart told her that something had happened, something terrible, and Cross was trying to cope with it in silence. "Listen, Cross, why don't you go to Flora anymore? Did you have a fight?" she asked. "No, I just decided that we shouldn't see each other anymore. I'm leaving Earth soon. Carbine has almost completed its investigation into where the Plutarkians are supplied with weapons. We'll have to break up. So the sooner the better," Cross replied. "Does Flora think so too?" the girl clarified. "It's for the best," he said, trying to convince himself more than Charlie. But his heart was growing more and more anxious. Was she really all right? That evening, he drove out of the garage and headed downtown. He got stuck in traffic and realized how much he missed it when he heard a song playing on a nearby blue Mitsubishi Airtrek: Ich lass die Erde hinter mir, Bin schon auf halben Weg zu dir Und mir ist wichtig, was du denkst Und fühlst, zu wissen. Feuer und Wasser werden Freund, Wir machen alles das vereint Und wir vergessen, was wir sollen, Was wir müssen. Sonne in der Hand Und am Himmel glänzt ein Sternenband Und der ganze Kosmos kann uns sehn Mir tut es so gut, Mit dir davon zu träumen. Hintern Horizont, Gleiten wir in einer wolkenfront Wie eine Lawine aus Schnee Soll der Wind mit Glück Uns beide überschäumen. As he approached the hotel from the balcony of her room, he noticed that the balcony doors were closed. This continued for the next couple of days. Cross was frustrated, and it was clear that she was indicating that she did not want to see him. However, he longed to see her, to gaze into her beautiful eyes once again, and to hear her voice. "Listen, can you explain what's going on?" Rimfire demanded angrily as they were in the garage. "It's what I've been afraid of. When she saw how I looked, that I wasn't human, she was so scared that she passed out, and I don't want her to go back to the nightmare she's been through," Cross replied. In response to her questioning looks, he explained that during their relationship, he had been forced to wear a helmet, and she had mistaken him for a human. Limburger had somehow discovered this information and exploited it, causing emotional distress to both of them. "That's a mean bastard," Mudo cursed. "Don't you think it's a bit unfair to make that decision for her? Maybe she's over the shock and wants to see you again," Charlie encouraged. "You should have seen the way she looked at me like I was an alien," Cross said in a dejected voice. "Buddy, you are an alien." I forgot you were from Mars, Vincent chuckled. “At least don’t decide everything without talking to her,” the girl insisted. Cross knew he wanted to do this, but how could he when she didn't leave the balcony open since that day? He had no choice but to go to the office, sit down at the desk, and write her a letter. The days passed, and Flora tried not to think about what had happened, but in her dreams, she still saw the creature that resembled a human-like mouse, who called himself Cross, and she tried to convince herself that he had simply gone far away and would never return. The beautiful fairy tale had come to an end, and she had to move on with her life, doing her job, giving interviews to reporters, and visiting the renovation sites to see how the orphanages had been transformed since her conglomerate had taken over. Since then, she had kept her balcony locked, as if she didn't want to remember the happy days she had spent with her strange acquaintance. Every morning, Flora would step out onto the balcony to greet the rising sun and the hotel guests who also came out to enjoy the fresh morning air. One day, she discovered an envelope with a letter on a wicker chair. She picked it up and hurried back to her room. It was as if everything was starting anew. Flora slowly opened the envelope, not sure if she wanted to go through with it, but she pulled out a sheet of paper covered in a messy handwriting and began to read. "Flora, I can't express how sorry I am that things turned out this way, that I had to hide who I am. Yes, I'm not human, and there's nothing I can do about it. But that doesn't change how I feel about you, even though you're not from my home planet of Mars. During this time apart, I've realized that I miss you. I want to see you again and explain everything, and it's up to you to decide what happens next. Will you accept me for who I really am, or not. If you agree to talk to me, leave the balcony door open tonight. Cross." She looked at the piece of paper for a long time, and her fear began to return. She remembered those inhuman purple eyes staring at her, and shuddered. However, he was right to suggest that they should find out the truth, because she wanted to do the same. That evening, he drove to the hotel, not expecting the balcony doors to be open. It's hard to imagine how he would have felt if the girl of his dreams had turned out to be some unknown creature instead of a cute Martian mouse with shiny fur and big, expressive eyes. He came out of his dark thoughts only when he was stuck in traffic, listening to the tense hum of cars and the discontented voices of drivers, and through all this noise, he could hear the melody coming from the red Buick Lucerne. I took some time away For understanding of what brought us here today Oh, you'll be the end of me I'm never happy like we were happy I'm never sad like we were sad Oh, you'll be the end of me You know me all too well And I can't suppress the memories You're gone and I can tell That I've lost more than you'll ever see. And an oppressive feeling took hold of them. As he approached the balcony of Flora's room, he saw that the doors were wide open. Night was already falling on the city, and a lantern illuminated it. The girl was sitting on a sofa in the living room when she recognized the familiar heavy footsteps and remembered how, every evening like this, she would wait for his arrival, which was so unusual and somewhat magical. Cross entered the room and, looking at her, slowly removed his helmet. She had hoped until the end that everything she had seen in that basement was a bad dream, a terrible vision, an evil prank, but her expectations were not fulfilled. Inhuman eyes were looking at her again, and the face resembled that of an animal. "I'm sorry, Flora. I really didn't want it to happen like this. I had to hide who I was because I was afraid of what was happening now. Believe me, I didn't have any bad thoughts towards you," he began a difficult conversation for both of them. "Who are you?" Flora asked him. "I'm a mouse from the planet Mars, I told you, I even showed you the planet in the sky," he reminded me. "But does it matter now? I don't want to lose everything that we've had. Everything I said back then was from the heart. I'm ready to repeat everything I said: that you mean a lot to me, that I've never felt this way about any Martian mouse, that I love you, Flora, that I..." "It doesn't matter anymore. We shouldn't see each other again, and we should forget about each other," she interrupted, getting up from the couch. Her words cut him to the heart. "I understand that you're angry. But isn't it more important for you to know who I am, rather than what I've become for you? I can't believe that my feelings don't resonate with you. You've said the opposite. After all, we're not that different. Look at me, Flora," he said in a desperate attempt. The girl looked up at him, and he saw two wet streaks on her pale face from the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "If what you say is true, and if what we've been through means anything to you, you'll leave and forget about my existence. Our relationship, as beautiful as it may be, is doomed. I don't want to see you again. Please go," she said, covering her face with her hands and crying softly. Cross looked at her and fought the urge to go over, embrace her and comfort her. Gradually coming to his senses, he realized that this was really the end. It was foolish to hope that the beautiful thing that had been between them would outweigh reality. He turned, went out to the balcony and disappeared. After a while, Flora came to the balcony, leaning against the door jamb, and for a long time she looked at the night city, bitter tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn't even notice the knock on the door or Walter's entry into her room without waiting for permission. The man looked at her for a moment, and from the way her shoulders were shaking, he realized that she had been crying. "Miss Deloren, is there something wrong?" he asked, not entirely sure of his right to pry into her personal affairs. "Walter, perhaps it's time to stop. You've been working for me for ten years, and you've practically become like a father to me: You were there when I was ill, you admired my clumsy drawings as a child, you even went to my school matinees, you haven't even started a family and children all this time, you helped me recover from the death of my parents, but at the same time you act like a complete stranger, keeping a distance, hiding behind your profession. And now I'm really alone," she said without looking at him, barely holding back her tears. “You saved this brat and he abandoned you,” Walter concluded, moving closer to her. The girl turned around, came up close to him, and rested her forehead against his chest. "No. I was the one who left him," she said, and burst into tears. "I'll never understand women in this regard," the man sighed, gently stroking the girl's hair in an attempt to comfort her. Cross spent the night in the garage. He didn't want to sleep that night. The mouse sat on the couch, feeling an overwhelming emptiness within. It was truly over, but could it have been any different? He leaned back on the couch, listening to his heart pounding with pain. It was over. He didn't notice the large, unbidden tears rolling down his cheeks, lingering on his short, glossy fur. It was over. He didn't notice how he drifted off to sleep, and he woke up abruptly when he felt someone touch his shoulder. It was Trottle. Vincent was standing next to him. "I see it didn't go as smoothly as you'd hoped," Trottle said. Cross sighed heavily. "Don't worry, buddy, maybe it's for the best. After all, you're very different. Plus, you're returning to Mars in a couple of days," Trottle tried to cheer him up. "You'll meet a hot Martian babe and forget all about it, and we'll get our revenge on that stinky fish," the white man added, patting Cross on the shoulder in a reassuring manner. Mars. At that moment, he felt more than ever that he wanted to return and forget everything. A couple of days later, that's exactly what happened. After a few hours of long farewell hugs and well-wishes, they left the planet, and he watched as Earth slowly transformed into a beautiful blue ball, gradually diminishing in size. Only the echoes of Earth's radio reminded them of their visit to this planet. Like a closing door, I'm slowly shutting down. Like a falling leaf, just waiting for the ground. Don't even bother, nothing can stop it Tried my best, but I just can't help it. It will take a lifetime before I love again. You will see me die before I love again. Say my last goodbye. Say my last goodbye Goodbye; Goodbye. Say my last goodbye Goodbye; Goodbye. All the broken pieces shattered all around me. They've been lying there since the day that you left me. My last chance to fight against her Tried my best, but I can't break her. "Forgive me, Flora, forgive and forget," Cross thought, remembering the most beautiful aqua-colored eyes in the universe.