Missing Monday

Aaron lay in bed staring at the ceiling. He couldn’t decide if he should stay in bed or get ready for school. What day is it? He didn’t know. He knew it wasn’t Sunday, but it wasn’t Tuesday either. Something felt different. Something felt wrong. Maybe his mom would know. He begrudgingly got out of bed, shivering when his bare feet hit the cold floor. “Mom!” He yelled, walking into the kitchen. “Hey, mom! Is today a school day? I… I’m not sure.”

Aaron’s mother wandered into the kitchen, still in her pajamas. “Aaron, I’m not sure. I can’t remember what day it is. It feels like a day I should go to work but I know it’s not Tuesday. I just don’t know what to do.” She sat down at the table and stared off into space.

Aaron felt like he was walking through fog, but if he thought hard enough it felt like there was an answer in the back of his mind. He stepped outside and looked around. All over the neighborhood, people walked aimlessly like they didn’t know where they were or what was happening. He called over to his neighbor. “Mike! Hey, Mike! Why is everyone just walking around? What’s happening? What day is it anyway?”

The other boy broke into tears and fell to his knees. “Aaron, I don’t know. Look at me, I’m half in my school uniform and half in weekend clothes. My parents are sitting in their car, but they haven’t left yet. They don’t know if they have work today or not.”

Aaron went back into his house. He thought about all he’d seen so far. As he thought about it, the fog in his brain thinned. He went into his room, sat at his desk and opened his laptop. He searched google for “how many days are in a week” and came up with “7”. He searched for the names of the days of the week and came up with “Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday”, but that was only six. He knew yesterday was Sunday, so he searched “what day comes after Sunday” and got an error message saying that google was unable to find that internet page. He searched several variations on that same question and suddenly the screen of his laptop cracked, and his laptop caught fire. Aaron ran to the kitchen for the fire extinguisher and put out the fire before it spread. Now he knew something was wrong.

Aaron walked back into the kitchen. “Mom, I think there was a day in between Sunday and Tuesday, but I can’t remember what it’s called. Does that sound familiar to you?”

“Nooooo! There’s nothing between… nothing… nothing…nothing…”

Aaron’s mother slid out of her chair onto the floor, drool dripping out of her mouth. Before he could run to help his mother, Aaron found himself somewhere else entirely. He wasn’t in his kitchen anymore. He was in a long room, completely white with no window or door. Just in front of him stood two tall grey-skinned creatures. They looked just like pictures of aliens. Tall, slender bodies, silver almond shaped eyes, and long fingers. Aaron just stood staring at them, unsure of what to do. One of the aliens spoke to Aaron.

“Why are all you humans so displeased. We have studied you for centuries and the most common complaint we have heard is about this day called “Monday”. We, Overlords, made the decision to remove Monday to see if overall human happiness improved, but your entire species is falling into chaos and confusion. You seem to grasp what we have done. Have you an explanation for our results?”

“Wait… what? Monday… oh yeah! Monday! That’s it!” Aaron remembered everything now and looked up at the Overlords. “You removed Monday? I can’t even begin to understand how that’s possible or how you are even possible! But if this is real and not some crazy dream I’m having then I think I may have an answer for you. You removed an entire day of the week, but you didn’t replace it with anything. You didn’t even move Tuesday up to fill the gap, so we all woke up this morning and it felt like something was missing… something was wrong. We didn’t understand. There was no Monday but there was nothing in it’s place. We felt empty. We didn’t know what to do.” He spread his hands and looked at them. “You left us in an empty void of nothing.”

The Overlords considered this for a moment. “You are correct. Would it be better to move Tuesday into it’s place and banish Monday from your brains?”

Aaron shook his head. “No. It’s not exactly Monday that we hate, just the end of the weekend. The end of fun. If Tuesday were there, we’d begin to hate Tuesday the same as we hated Monday. Just put Monday back where it was.”

The Overlords conferred with each other then spoke to Aaron. “You are correct. We never considered this possibility. You are a complex species that requires much more study. The Overlord’s silver eyes flashed, and Aaron found himself back in his kitchen.

His mom was sitting at the table eating breakfast. “There you are, Aaron. Go get ready for school. I don’t know about you. Every Monday you almost miss the bus. Hurry up. I must go to work early and won’t be able to drive you to school. I hate Monday too, but I have to go to work and you have to go to school.”

Aaron smiled to himself. The Overlords already put things back to normal. His mother didn’t remember that anything weird happened. He wondered if he was the only one who would remember this crazy morning. “Ok, mom. I’m going. Mondays do suck but you’re right. They’re a necessary evil.” Aaron laughed and got ready for school.