The Worlds of Cog

Chapter Three|Re-Mastered|

It was a cold windy day, and Think was tucked up in his home drinking tea and reading about the skeletal structure of a Lynx. He was totally immersed in it barely noticing Bike ringing his bell erratically. After several minutes of incessant ringing Think slammed his book shut, standing up, his face hot. "What is it Bike? Can't you see I am reading?" He huffed, clenching his fists. He did not like to be interrupted when he was reading, Bike rung his bell and jerked his front wheel toward the door just as a knock sounded. Think opened the door to find Dream standing there, bundled up, her hair all in a tangled mass. "What do you want?" Think snapped, neglecting to notice that Dream was shivering and her teeth were chattering. "I j-just wanted to give you the p-project, I f-finished it. " 

Think's eyes widened, he grabbed Dream by the arm and pulled her in. She stumbled along to the coffee table, taking off her coat and throwing it on the couch, much to the relief of Think it landed atop his book. He had after all promised to stop reading the forbidden scripts, if she was to do this for him. Think shut the door after glancing down the hallways lit by industrial lights, casting a dim light everywhere. Think strode over to Dream helping to clear the coffee table. "Why didn't you call?" he asked, tossing a bouncing ball into his room carelessly. 

"I did." Dream stated, throwing herself under the blanket on the couch pulling it close and curling up.  "Why didn't you knock earlier?" Think  said, kneeling beside the table and reached for Dream's bag. "I don't think you realize that it was hailing out there. I was standing there for an hour."

"Well that was foolish. Why didn't you just go home then?" Think said, looking at Dream confused. "Let me repeat myself, It was Hailing you don't just walk in that kind of weather. " Think shrugged, "So? The hall ways are covered, and You could have run." he said, thinking she was over exaggerating. "Wind is a real thing Think, it carries water and cold with it." Think shrugged, opening her bag and reaching inside, eagerly anticipating what was inside. "Think! You don't just open somebody's bag and take things out!" Dream exclaimed, smacking his hand and retrieving her bag. 

Think looked at her accusingly, "Does that really call for hitting me?" he said, rubbing the back of his sore hand. Dream sniffed, "Who taught you manners? Dragons?  Next time ask permission before reaching in somebody's belongings."  She reached into her bag herself and took the glistening machine from it. Think smiled "Amazing! Can it fly?" He reached for the contraption but Dream held it away from him, "Apologize." she demanded, setting her jaw and giving him a hard look.  Think was hurt, trying to imagine what he  could have possibly done wrong besides reaching into her bag. "What for?" 

Dream rolled her eyes, "Whatever." she threw it to him and he barely caught it. "Careful! You could have broken it." Dream closed her eyes, resting her head on the arm of the couch. Deciding to just leave him to his ridiculous pursuits, since he didn't care about her near scrape with hypothermia and pneumonia at all. 

Think flicked the propeller and he smiled as it spun around becoming a blur. He wiggled the vertical stabilizer and spun the wheels. As happy as a kid in a candy store with this toy, he had read about how to get these things in the air, so he positioned the ailerons and wound up the propeller, he was quivering with excitement as he set it on the table and it peeled forward, and suddenly lifted into the air. 

He watched, fascinated as it went up and down and then rolled, spinning around and around then straightening, gaining altitude and then repeating it over and over. Think was so enraptured that he hadn't heard Dream get up, grab her coat and put it on. "Have fun with your toy." She stroked Bike's rusty handlebars gently and left. She had always been fond of Bike, she wished she had something like it, he would never be in the decrepit state the poor machine was in now. It was clear Think didn't care to take time out of whatever it was he did all day to care for Bike, one day Bike was going to break and never work again if he didn't maintain the contraption. She left Think's warm apartment and stepped outside, closing the door moderately loudly behind her.

The wind drove rain and frozen water into her face, chilling her nose and fingers. She tried to pretend that she wasn't bothered by Think's total disregard for her, it really was bothering her. But she wasn't going to cry, or talk to him about it she didn't need to. He just didn't realize that he had been hurting her because he had been so involved in whatever it was he was doing that was so important. 

She reached her home, cold and wet. She threw her coat off and started a kettle going while she changed into warm, dry clothes. It felt like a hug from laundry, very comforting.

When her tea had finished steeping Dream curled up on her love seat and reached for her pile of tarnished gears and her polishing rag, she started rubbing each one. The first twenty-six she reasoned out the issue in her head, and the rest she began talking aloud. "what is his problem? Doesn't he realize that I care for him?" she hissed, rubbing a little gear with more force than required, anger bubbling up inside of her. She tossed the finished wheel into the sparkling pile on the floor, taking a sip of her tea before picking up another, rubbing faster and harder than the last. "He is so blind, wrapped up in his discoveries and books that he can't see that I-" her voice escalated, and she couldn't handle it any longer. She threw the gear across the room and her rag as well, the cog hit the wall with a quiet ping as she pulled the blanket over her head, she cried as girls do when they have no other way to express themselves.

Dream cried for a while before telling herself to get a grip, she sat up, looking around with bleary eyes as the blanket slipped off her shoulders, pooling at her waist in a gray pile. "Let's just sit and watch videos on the Medigram until you fall asleep. That always makes you feel better." she told herself, sniffing and rubbing her eyes. She turned on her machine and drank the rest of her cold tea watching the figures dance above the Medigram. She nodded off to sleep, dreaming of ballerinas, fox trots and tangos.

Think was up all night long, watching the plane. Never getting bored, winding it up over and over watching it whiz around and around. When he was winding it up he smiled and said "This is brilliant.. How did you do it?" he was puzzled at the lack of a reply. Maybe Dream had fallen asleep? He looked over at the chair finding it empty. "Dream?" he asked, Bike was leaning against the couch looking abandoned and lonely.

"where did she go?" Think looked a little lost, all alone in his apartment, Unaware of what time it was. "Bike. " Think grumbled, upset that she had left without saying anything. Bike did not move.
Think turned the plane upside down making the mechanisms stall, and he walked over to Bike checking his battery. Bike was dead. Think dragged his hand down his face, rubbing his temples in an exhausted way. He sighed and walked Bike to the charging dock, locking his door and dragging his feet to his room falling asleep the second he hit his pillow. Forgetting all about Dream and her outburst.