The Black Umbrella

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I woke up looking at my reflection. In front of me, there was a tall mirror with some cracks. Nothing special, the wooden socket was kind of bigger and did not completely fit. Scattered in front of my face were small pieces of mirror that reflected the cracks on the ceiling. I sat up and looked at my reflection. My hair stood up in a pretty weird way and  I had some scratches on my face. The rough floor attacked me in my sleep. The coward.

I untangled the dirty piece of cloth we refer to as blanket from my feet and started looking around, trying to ignore my body's need for sleep. I noticed a small figure sitting in front of the water. I thought nothing of it since it must have been Mercury sitting cross-legged, looking at his reflection. He must have woken earlier and decided to creep out the water with his sleepy stare. That or he fell asleep like that.

I shoved my hand into my right pocket and felt a familiar cold round object. I pulled it out and saw my pocket watch.

It wasn't the first time I was seeing it of course but even so, it managed to be breathtaking. Around the cover, roots, leaves, and flowers were tangled up, hugging the perimeter. In the middle, there was a flower. I think it used to be blue with some purple details but the colors had faded away through time. It had some scratches all over that made my heart ache. They were like thorns on a beautiful flower. I turned it over to see the carvings on the back. A huge tree that looked decades old stood proud on a field with blue flowers. At least they used to be blue. Now the looked kind of yellow on the silverish metal. I felt with my hand the carvings and I was amazed by how much detailed the leaves and petals were done. It was truly crafted with skill. The man who made this clearly spend sleepless nights trying to craft it. I can't even imagine how long it took just to design the cover, much less the whole thing.

I pushed the crown on the top and the cover opened with a soft click. Mercury flinched to the sudden sound. He wasn't sleeping after all. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time he fell asleep like that. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how he would survive without his amazing brother.

I turned to see the time. But of course, I got distracted by the complex mechanism. This sure was one unusual clock. You see, there was no glass and the gears were visible. Never have I seen any other pocket watch such as this. It was one of a kind. Whoever made this clockwork mechanism is no fool. But it was very unfortunate to see that the gears started getting rusty as it's been a very long while since the last time I could take care of them properly. Thanks to that every time the hands moved the characteristic tick-tock of the clock came hand in hand with the faint skirl that came from the rusty gear.

After staring at it religiously for a couple of seconds I finally checked the time. I closed the cover and put it back in my pocket. I stood up and looked at Mercury.

"Why didn't you wake me up? We have a job to do and we are late. It's almost noon already"My voice came out a bit low and I was about to repeat what I said but then, he turned to look at me. A chill came down my spine.

He looked awful. He was as pale as a ghost and his eyes were puffy and red. I couldn't decide if he had been crying, he didn't sleep at all or a horse farted at his face and he had his eyes wide open. I mean it wouldn't be the first time any of these happened. He looked at me with glassy eyes and it was like he couldn't focus at my face. But what caught my attention, was his cheeks and nose. They both had the color of burning red. He kept looking at me without moving an inch. Well, except if you count trembling as moving. He had the classic how-did-I-end-up-with-you look at his face and I knew he didn't really know himself how he looked. I was waiting for him to say something but instead, he just turned back to what he was doing.