My shoulder is throbbing. My head is spinning and I feel sick.
"Ugh," Red exclaims as she crawls out from under what looks like a banana peel, patches of light, sticky grey all over her arms. Bird hacks out random pieces of trash, making ugly screeching noises every time. I feel a weight on top of me and turn to try to escape, when suddenly, I start to fall. The sudden impact surprises me and almost knocks me unconscious again. There is a strange, high-pitched squeal in the back of my mind.
"Blue!" Green peeks out from the bin, and I can barely make out her form from the ground. The lid was probably on top of me and I must have fallen out.
"I'm fine!" I yell towards her. Dull, grey blades surround me, like guards preventing my escape, and I start to run closer to the place where Green's voice came from. Hundreds of grey pieces blur and block my vision as I rush past them. I start to get nervous when, after five minutes, I'm still alone in this unfamiliar forest.
Along with the now-fading squeal, I can hear strange hums and chirps envelop me. A stir in the shrubs to my right surprises me and I jump back so fast that a human wouldn't have seen me move if they blinked. As the sound gets louder, I quickly duck behind one of the blades. A giant, furry creature appears out of the leafy walls confining us, and slowing my breathing, I sneak a peek from my cover. Thick, long whiskers, at least twice the size of my body, protrude from the huge snout of the beast. I spin back and let out a shaking breath. The monster takes long, slow gulps of air, over and over as it approaches me. Breathe, I remind myself. In. Out. In. Out. The creature's movements have stopped.
After 6.323 minutes, I make myself sprint from my hiding spot in the opposite direction. I wonder if the other Dancers have given up on me? Don't look back. Don't look back. A blanket of rustling sounds drapes over me. I can't tell if the feeling of its hot breath on my back is a hallucination and gasp for air as I force myself to run faster.
"Where's Blue?" The question, although muffled by the sound of my breathing, cuts through the cacophony. I'm confident that it was Bird.
"Here," I shout. The sound of my lower-than-average voice echoes, tunneling through the maze of grey. Here. Here. Here. The shrill noise suddenly bursts out again and I scream before falling to the ground.
YOU ARE READING
Colors and Clockwork
Science FictionBlue is Lead Dancer of the Timepiece. But her flawless dancing is the only thing that earns her the approval of her fellow Dancers. Even with her advanced programming, she can't seem to change the one vital detail she needs- her eyesight. No, she's...
