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The wood thumps and bumps. Boards split and stick. They are skin, moving along the muscles of metal, and deep in the metal there is a sickness. Their bare feet tread through the steel–vein tunnels. They would inhale the scent of strong iron, and exhale their breath of rotten air. There was not much to find in the living machinery until they came across a wound. A gaping hole, with a hook and bag laid dead on the floor. Yet the others, the carriers of products, move along as instructed by their design. They were supposed to transport through the tiniest hole at the highest peak of the room, it wasn’t their fault a friend busted through the wall.
Six looked at the fallen luggage, a mere ant in comparison.
Ants did not dwell on things that were unimportant to them, so she went to the edge of the hole. The vista owned a world bigger than the being they were inside of, for there many other industrious beasts abound, where between them were cracks, and around those cracks were buildings, and between the buildings and rivers were docks, and in the docks there lumbered giants who don’t even know they were as much as a bug as she was.
Mono sat beside her, allowing his heavy legs to dangle over the cliff. They both had their heads down on the ground. If Six were to fall, she'd go fast. If she were to fall fast, then the yellow of her raincoat would look like a lightning bolt, but no thunder would echo out of her. Her light wouldn’t be a warning from the skies, but rather a gift from careless clumsiness. Because when she hits the bottom, she knows her body would make a nice midnight snack for a lost beast.
If Mono were to fall, he’d go weightless, as if he were emptied. His bag will no longer hold his fruitless fears, his temporary euphoria, or self loathing. Because by the time his head meets the ground, he already left before anyone could leave him. If they wanted to see the real him, they’d have to travel all the way down to see his lifeless face.
“Mono, don’t.”
Six held him back from leaning. He blinked and scooted a bit ways from the edge.
“I’m sorry…” he mumbled.
He said it as if she were angry, but… she wasn’t. She would pull him close into a hug, soft and sweet like the angel fruit cake. “Please…” she said. “I’ll miss you… you know that, I tell it to you every time you… lean down, but you keep doing it… why?”
The slight bitterness ruined the dessert for him. He sniffled. “I… I see a pit, and I’d wonder why I would ever want to fall, and when I knew why… the idea would always appear whenever it felt hopeless.” “I wasn’t gonna jump,” he quickly added.
She stiffened a glare, holding him tightly. “You’re my friend, my best and only friend, and if you… left, then this world can burn for letting such a thing happen.”
Firmness didn’t go well with sweets either. He winced. “Can you say that every month?”
“Yes.”
“Can you say that every week?”
“Absolutely.”
“Can you say that every day?”
“Of course.”
“Can you say that every night?”
“Ye–”
“Every morning? Every breakfast, lunch and dinner? Every boring afternoon?”
Her silence was painful, and suddenly the hug didn’t feel so soft and sweet anymore. He shoved her away, enduring the internal scorching alone.
“Why do you need to be told that so much?” She asked.
“I don’t know things,” he said. “I feel them… and I wish I knew you would always be my friend… and you truly do care about me, but it doesn’t always feel that way. I can’t help it.”
“Well, I’ll say it again, you're my best friend, and I don’t know what I would do if you let yourself go.”
His head sunk like a broken ship, and his eyes can’t help but trail back to the pit. It feels so high, he kind of wants to see what happens.
Six held his hands. “Maybe let's not look down. If you have to look outside, why not to the sky? No monsters and creepy structures there.”
No monsters nor creepy structures were there as said, there existed worse. Amidst the red night, there were sprinkled stars that stared in waiting. But what she didn’t know was what the stars were. He knew the look they gave the world, smug and devilish. If they were mouths, they would cackle every time he would fail. It was as delicious as the cherry blurs amongst the dark, a slushie for others to slurp and chortle at how much it hurts him.
“I never seen this many stars,” she said innocently.
“Those aren’t stars.”
She turned back to Mono with a confused glance. “What do you mean? They’re small, glowing specks in the sky, isn't that what they are?”
“Maybe where you came from…” he said, walking back to the bag and searching through its contents.
“What are you looking for?”
“This is a factory, right? They make cool items, so maybe…” He pulled out a small telescope with a soft ‘hah’ of satisfaction. It was red–golden with crooked joints and bolts, but it worked better than it looked.
Handing it to Six, he urged her to peer at the real world he sees. A single look in the glass revealed them. They certainly weren’t stars. Stars were bright, joyful, innocent, but these beings didn’t hold such qualities. They indeed blink and squint, the night skin around them folding along. Their pupils dilated, and looked right at her.
“Gah!” She dropped the telescope.
The shiny object sparkled before disappearing. It was so small in a long drop, they couldn’t even see it hit the ground.
Mono wondered if he was small enough for that to happen too.
He sighed. “Spooked ya, didn’t they?” He laughed a bit before it was smothered out by his nullity.
“Six doesn’t get spooked,” she huffed while folding her arms. He knew she was being playful, normally these gestures would amuse him but he wasn’t in the mood. He wasn’t… feeling any mood at all, actually. “...What were those?”
“Our tormentors,” he answered blankly. “They watch the world’s planes with all the power in the world, yet they do nothing to help us… all they do is take away our friends and be shamed on by the rest…”
Six winced. She felt her golden raincoat and realized once again its original owner is now gone… and it’s all those beast’s fault.
“The monsters want to kill you,” she snarled. “If you die, they’ll win their game, and celebrate by eating your body.”
He buried his bag head. “You don’t understand, I can’t win the game, I can only keep the crown for however long I can… maybe losing would be easier after all.”
“You shouldn’t!”
She sounded brash, but when he took a look at her face, she seemed to be on the edge of tears.
“I've seen real stars before, ones that twinkle and shine instead of blink and squint,” she ushered. “We just have to make it there, that’s why we’re on this journey together , I want to be friends in a place where we don’t have to worry about what the eyes created. If we die, we’ll have nothing to lose, if we try, and escape, we’ll have everything to win.”
He sniffled, wiping his nose. “I didn’t know you cared that much…”
She held his hands. “I do, that’s why we’ll always be friends.”
His eyes lit up. He’d never heard those words before, and he would’ve never expected them out Six’s mouth. But she had just said it. “You mean that?”
“You always try being my friend, and I always try being yours, and so long we try, we’ll always be together.” She shivered. “Can you try being alive as well? Just until we make it.”
He slowly nodded, and she went in for a hug. Mono wasn’t in a hugging mood, but he shared it anyway. The eyes hurt her too, she deserves the closeness.
And the two left their post and continued deep into the factory’s flesh…
“If I start feeling that way again… can you do me a favor?”
“Mhm, what is it?”
“Be nice about it…”
“...”
“...”
“I’m… sorry.”
“It’ll be okay… you never… seen this before, have you?”
“No… I would never get why but… I’ll try being there nonetheless…”
“That’s all I ask.”