Bananas

It's all bananas

Ever heard the saying of "It's all monkeys and bananas".
Well, that is literally what Vivienne's world was, monkeys and bananas, CRAZY.
You humans may also ask, where is this world?
It is in a clock. You heard me right a clock. And within a clock there are 12 hours, and those 12 hours are 12 sections.
And within these sections is an entire city of wind up toys.
And that is exactly what Vivienne was. A WIND UP TOY.
Tick.....tock. Tick......tock. Tick........tock.
That was all Vivienne heard every single day. The constant ticking was enough to drive anyone insane but on top of that you couldn't move for days at a time.
Vivienne knew she was starting to go mad. She looked over at her best friend at her side. Her name was Julia. She was what most people would say was "the image of perfection" she had baby blue eyes, reddish hair, fair skin and had a slim, hourglass frame. Vivienne on the other hand, had jet black hair, brown eyes, a petite, rather chubby frame and darker skin. Their personalities were also completely different Julia was rash and reckless especially when she really believed in things, and she loved only 2 people in this world, her brother, James, and Vivienne. Vivienne was more trusting and more open to suggestions, and she had a kind but oblivious nature about her. Sometimes the only thing that was the same about them was the big metal key that was stuck into their backs.

The Key. The big metal key that made all wind up toys, wind up toys. All children of the clock world had this key in their back from the moment they came into this world. Wind up toys couldn't feel pain, no physical pain at least, they still very much still felt emotional pain. Apart from their looks, the only thing human about them was their heart, they could only feel pain through their heart, it was also the only way to kill a wind up toy, by piercing their heart. You couldn't physically harm them for too long they would just regrow their joints and body within a few days.

Julia had her head down low as they walked down the narrow halls of the 11th hours school halls. Tick tock. Tick tock. The school halls felt as though they were caving in with every step they took. Vivienne wrinkled her nose, trying not to inhale the clouds of dust that had accumulated over centuries . The school halls were decorated with portraits of the Time Takers, the governors of the clock world, every inch of the wall was taken up with memorials and praise of how simply AMAZING the Time Takers were. The crystal chandeliers that hung from the ceiling were too adorned with mini-figures of the governors. At the very end of the hall way was a mantra that said "Service to the Keeper is never wasted, Time is the best Service."Everywhere in the clock world you looked you would see admiration and celebration of the governors, and to be honest, Vivienne hated it all.

They rounded the corner to their mathematics classroom. I nudged Julia, whispering in her ear , "Math is sooo boring right? Mr. Fart-Kle doesn't even teach us properly." Vivienne was trying to lighten up the mood with a joke only she and Julia shared( aka making fun of their bald headed mathematics teacher, who always wore square spectacles and smelt constantly of fart). Vivienne sighed when Julia didn't respond and just stared blankly at the floor.

Her best friend had been like this everyday since her brother James, had gone missing. It had been a mystery, one day James was there with his sister, smiling and laughing, and the next he was gone with no trace of a struggle. Julia had been devastated and furious, she believed the Time Takers to have taken him. She had filed for an investigation , but being part of the Bronze circle, priority of her investigation wasn't high and they ultimately decided to just brush it aside. Julia had then tried to investigate on her own but always found herself at dead ends or in front of the Time Takers for the breach of  Decree Number 24 of  their view of in-productivity. Vivienne personally thought that it was the Time Takers who did it. It's not too far a stretch as the Time Takers had notably no respect for Bronze circles citizens but she had never shared her views in fear that Julia would throw away caution again and end up in front of the Time Takers once again. Strangely, after Julia's last run in with the Time Takers  she just stopped with her constant search. She just gave up. Vivienne had no idea what happened but decided it was for the best for Julia to not worry so much .

Her friend seemed to have lost the light inside herself. She would almost never talk Vivienne anymore, let alone  one of the workers or supervisors , who wore black work robes with the mantra on the back. Personally, Vivienne despised the supervisors, they would always look down on the children, they would treat them like objects or tools that had no particular meaning. Vivienne sighed, why were there so many things wrong in her world? Another thought popped into her head.

Or it could have been the Keeper who took James... Vivienne shuddered at the thought and turned her attention to the mahogany door in front of them.

She looked at Julia who was still looking at the floor, seemingly in another universe. She sighed again, before knocking on the door to be let in. The door opened to Mr. Funkle or Mr. Fart-kle with a strong smell of fart and rotten eggs. Vivienne held her breath and even Julia looked up at the sudden explosion of fart smell. Inside the classroom however there was almost no one except a boy a few years older than them ,in black work robes sitting in the back corner of the room, with his head down ,bent over his book. Vivienne knew his name, it was Matthew Heldens, the renowned mystery weird guy of hour 11, who worked at a dusty, old bookshop in Hour 7. What's he doing here? Vivienne thought, shooting a puzzled look in his direction. He looked up suddenly at their arrival, then he grinned , flashing bright white teeth. Mr. Fart-Kle, came up behind them and said, " Children, meet your new classmate, Mathew Heldens."