Frank is a clock mechanic, set out to replace a broken loop in 2018, but when Luz, the friend he shouldn't have made sees more than she should've, the simple tasks he was given turns into a mission to save the world.
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The world doesn't live on beca...
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I stand in Luz's kitchen, listening to the rain slap against the back window. The sound of water slapping against glass distracts me from the thoughts running through my mind. Memories of enrolling into Cog services, training to be great like my father. It was all I wanted for so long, to be just like him. And yet, as I hold his watch in my hand, I realize how much I've done wrong.
Is it really this planet? My thumb slides over the shattered face of the watch. Its numbers are dim, unable to accurately connect with Galaxy time. A small, almost quest whirring noises comes from it and I turn it to see if the battery is still intact. As I do, shards left behind fall off it. Tiny pings echo as they hit the windowsill. Is this why my father never came home? Did he fall victim to this place?
"Frank?" Luz comes at my side, a cup of coffee in her hand. I can smell the dark roast before she pushes it towards me for me to take. "I think you need this."
I refuse to let go of my father's watch. Coffee may be a nice treat to have, but it isn't what I need. "I'm fine, Luz, thank you." I look out the window, at the rain, at the streets. The storm has gone from bad to worse. A city siren echoes in the distance. "I think you should watch the television events and see if there is anywhere you can go."
"Television events?" Luz snorts and keeps the coffee to herself. She leans her back against the wall as she drinks from it. "You mean the news?"
"Sure." I shrug, slowly brushing my thumb over the watch. Small pricks of pain stab at my thumb each time my skin passes its jagged, broken edge. A reminder of what I've done. "The news."
Luz sighs before taking another sip of coffee. "Ain't nobody got an idea of what's going on. What's the news going to do?"
"I don't know." Down below, I see a man and woman hurry out from the apartment building across the street. The man throws bags into the backseat of their running car. A small child is clinging to the woman's hands as she curries her. I can tell the child is crying; and so is her mother. I did this.
Luz chuckles quietly, but the sound is unlike her. Normally, Luz was my sunshine, a light that keeps me happy. Right now I feel seriousness comingoff of her. It pushes at me, pulsating like the aftereffect of an exploding star. As I turn to look at her, I see the heat, the damage. I did this, too.
"So, you said this guy gave you an option?" She sips her coffee again as she glances at me. "If you turn yourself in, maybe it won't be bad?"
I pull my bottom lip up between my teeth before I nod. Yet, right after, I shrug. "That's what I understood, yes," I say. "My crime is very much... obvious. I can't run from it." Turning my head, I look out the window once more. "And neither can you nor any of the other humans."
The man and woman in the streets below yell at one another, arguing, before getting into their car. The sound of their crying child hurts my heart.
