Regina Mills sat idly by in her dark living room staring blankly at her flat screen TV, as The Breakfast Club played for the third time. Somewhere along the lines of sobbing hysterically and joyously singing along to 'Don't You (Forget About Me)', an emptiness had crept its way deep into her heart. It was just a movie, she thought. There's no reason to be crying over a movie, because what did it have to do with her anyway? Claire Standish certainly wasn't like her in any way. But she was, wasn't she?

After delivering her sweet undoing in the form of a goodbye to the Sheriff's Station, she'd moseyed her way back to her lonely mansion, making sure to take the back streets, of course. And when she'd arrived, she found that 'The Breakfast Club' DVD was lying on her coffee table. It was Emma's favorite movie, Henry had told her, and she never saw it. Never even heard of it, but she bought it anyway because any chance that she'd get to be that much closer to Emma Swan, she'd take. And that's all that this was about, her dear Miss Swan. So Regina Mills shut the drapes in her living room on that stormy gray evening, sank down into the couch and watched The Breakfast Club.

The first time she hated it. But as she was too tired to move, Regina stayed seated and waited for the movie to play again. The second time she cried, because Claire Standish really was just like her. And John Bender was just like Emma Swan. And after all of their anger and hatred towards each other, they still got their happy ending.

John Bender had walked away, shoving his fist into the air because 'hell yeah, he got the girl". So it was only natural for Emma to walk away shoving her fist into the air because she had won Regina's heart. Except it wasn't natural at all, not really. She was an Evil Queen, and Emma Swan was the daughter of her enemy and the birth mother of her son. Logic says that they were destined to hate each other. And so, when Emma had starting gallivanting around with that godforsaken pirate she'd made no complaints. How could she? She herself had fallen prey to the woes of true love—or so they called it.

Robin Hood was perfect. He was kind and treated her nice enough, so why not? Why not jump head first into the biggest mistake of her life? Regina regretted ever even entertaining the idea of being with him, but yet she still felt betrayed when Emma brought back his dead wife. She didn't really love him and she didn't give a damn about Marian but the prospect of Emma taking away one more thing in her life nearly shattered her to pieces, and so she kept on acting as if Robin was the love of her life. In truth, Regina would defy the laws of logic and gravity and all of the other invisible forces in the world to have Emma shoving her fist into the air, because 'hell yeah, she had gotten the girl'. But this wasn't like the movies, and fairytales were only for girls in white dresses.

This was more so one of those dramatic tragedies where the protagonist continuously makes all of the wrong choices because they were dealt a bad hand, and you're screaming at the TV for them to fail because they'd ruined everyone else's life, and you jump for joy when they do. Yes, Regina had realized, that was exactly what her life was like. But still, she thought, it would have been nice to kiss her just once. And it would have been nice to hug her and hold her, and whisper sweet nothings into her ear. It would have been wonderful to love Emma Swan, and receive her love in return. That's when the sobbing began, and Regina was reminded that dreams and happy endings were certainly not for people like her. It seemed that Mother was right, love was definitely a weakness. Because of her love for Emma and Henry, Regina laid shaking and crying like a child in her living room, all from a movie. Love, she thought bitterly, had ruined her. That's what had gotten her here. Because Regina loved and loved and loved, she lay here dying. This felt like dying, like the air that she needed to breathe was just out of her reach. It's true that love's labors are lost. She tried to be better, she thought, and for what? For a woman she loved that would never love her in return and a son for whom she'd give her life that hated her for nearly of his. This was not what love was supposed to feel like, she decided sourly. Well damn them all to hell because she'd tried and they still didn't love her, not even a little bit.

And she wanted to hate them, because if she hated them then it would be easier to leave. But there was still a part of her that kept waiting for Emma to show up on her doorstep with Henry in tow, for them to insist that she stay because families stay together. What a thought, she snarled bitterly. The precious Charmings were off gallivanting around with her true love and her son, and they were a family that she was not a part of. She'd do better just leaving them all behind, because that way Emma and Henry would be happy. But she wanted to curse them for daring to be happy without her. How dare they just abandon her to live out their own happy endings. And so the hysterics commenced, and Regina truly believed death to better than what she was feeling at that moment.

No, she needn't worry. All she had to do was keep breathing. Her plan was already secured, that was why she had gone through with the letter in the first place. She would leave before dawn, before Henry went to school and before Emma found her letter. Regina Mills was finally going to leave the Evil Queen behind. All that was left now was the message she'd received, and the ticking of the grand clock on the wall. But as Regina read through the message on her phone one last time, she couldn't help but think of how nice it would have been to have Emma thrust her fist into the air, just for her.

New Text Message

January 23rd, 2013 3:12am

From 201-622-1949:

It's time.

A/N: So what do you guys think? Should I continue this story? Let me know what you think, reviews are much appreciated!