.:000:. Birth Dream
She was surrounded by paperwork.
It wasn’t small, neat stacks on an organized desk. No, it was towers, mountains of paperwork, piling higher and higher with no end in sight. Her entire world - her universe - began and ended with these papers. No matter how quickly she filled out the sheets, the stacks continued to grow.
The stub of an ink stick rested by her hand, and the ink stone was a veritable well brimming with fresh black ink.
A man fluttered by wearing some absurdly pink and flowery robe, and he cried plaintively for her to come and have fun with him. “You should take the day off,” he pleaded, tugging at her sleeve. “You’ll work yourself to death!”
She impatiently batted his hand away as others passed by, adding various folders and documents to the ever-increasing mass of paper. “I can’t take the day off, sir, because I’m doing all of your work!” Her voice was harsh and even a bit shrill, probably more than intended, but really, how could she possibly get anything done with him pestering her all the time? One of them had to be responsible, after all.
He shrunk away, chastised, and rubbed at his hand with another whine. “Nanao-chan is so cruel!” he said, but but not in a serious tone. This was the game they played.
Satisfied that she really wouldn’t leave the confines of the paperwork cage that surrounded her, he flounced off to seek his entertainment elsewhere. Once he was gone, she realized that she’d already forgotten his face.
Another man approached her then, but this one was quite different. He was ancient, and his eyes cut her like knives. The seas of paper parted before him, setting themselves alight as he passed through. Looking up at him from her desk, she froze in fear, and the brush snapped in her hand, splattering ink over all her hard work. The fires were consuming everything around her, ash drifting down like snow. Her breath caught in her throat and her lungs simply ceased to function, leaving her gasping and scrambling for air.
“A child like you..” he said in a booming voice, looming closer as the flames closed in. She panicked, tried to flee, but she couldn’t break her eyes away from his. “I don’t have the patience to teach you how to breathe.”
She clutched at her chest, unable even to inhale of her own volition. The world flashed pink and white for the briefest of moments before everything went black.
It wasn’t small, neat stacks on an organized desk. No, it was towers, mountains of paperwork, piling higher and higher with no end in sight. Her entire world - her universe - began and ended with these papers. No matter how quickly she filled out the sheets, the stacks continued to grow.
The stub of an ink stick rested by her hand, and the ink stone was a veritable well brimming with fresh black ink.
A man fluttered by wearing some absurdly pink and flowery robe, and he cried plaintively for her to come and have fun with him. “You should take the day off,” he pleaded, tugging at her sleeve. “You’ll work yourself to death!”
She impatiently batted his hand away as others passed by, adding various folders and documents to the ever-increasing mass of paper. “I can’t take the day off, sir, because I’m doing all of your work!” Her voice was harsh and even a bit shrill, probably more than intended, but really, how could she possibly get anything done with him pestering her all the time? One of them had to be responsible, after all.
He shrunk away, chastised, and rubbed at his hand with another whine. “Nanao-chan is so cruel!” he said, but but not in a serious tone. This was the game they played.
Satisfied that she really wouldn’t leave the confines of the paperwork cage that surrounded her, he flounced off to seek his entertainment elsewhere. Once he was gone, she realized that she’d already forgotten his face.
Another man approached her then, but this one was quite different. He was ancient, and his eyes cut her like knives. The seas of paper parted before him, setting themselves alight as he passed through. Looking up at him from her desk, she froze in fear, and the brush snapped in her hand, splattering ink over all her hard work. The fires were consuming everything around her, ash drifting down like snow. Her breath caught in her throat and her lungs simply ceased to function, leaving her gasping and scrambling for air.
“A child like you..” he said in a booming voice, looming closer as the flames closed in. She panicked, tried to flee, but she couldn’t break her eyes away from his. “I don’t have the patience to teach you how to breathe.”
She clutched at her chest, unable even to inhale of her own volition. The world flashed pink and white for the briefest of moments before everything went black.