The three girls found themselves back at the start. Looking at the story backwards, the reality of how 'fake' this world was became all the more apparent. The strange mechanical 'dolls' were as statues, unmoving. It was like looking at a computer game that had glitched badly.
"They have no further story, so that's why they stopped," said Artemis as she poked one with a small paw. That seemed a reasonable explaination. To them nothing else has happened so... that was it.
"So if we go to a place before the castle, there won't be any story, right?" Lilly asked cautiously. She clutched the blue stick carefully.
"No ending either," said Jenny nodding. It was the ending they were trying to avoid, so this was a very good plan.
Walking past the castle, they felt a strange 'wall', like the curtain behind a play. It rippled with their touch like a barrier of energy, yet it certainly felt like they could just push through it.
"This must be the beginning," said Artemis.
Suddenly a single 'eye' appeared in the wall.
Jenny readied her weapon, realising the monster was now part of this strange field. It made sense, if the monster surrounded the words of the story in some way... but it could not affect the start, as it never 'created' the start... that was done by a human in their own world.
Explain your world to me said the strange eye.
Jenny was not sure she understood the question. "What do you mean?"
Suddenly the three girls found themselves back to normal as a wave of energy passed over them. The surrounding story world disappeared around them, as they stood on nothing. Now they saw only the eyeball of the strange book-monster.
What is the story of your world? This one could not find it. But it found these stories, all with little rules. Patterns of how things are to be. It found happily ever after. It found good and evil. these are worlds where laws exist... it could not find any in the other world.
Jenny just got even more confused but tried to explain it. "There ain't no rule in our w'rld," said the magic girl glancing at Artemis and Lilly. "Things... jus' happen." goodness wasn't that true? Things happened...
"Uh huh," agree Lilly. "We jus'- try to get on with whatev'r happens." She knew she would not have willingly had anything like this happened to her... but now that it had... well... her experiences were certainly not bad ones.
"Look- You're in the beginning of the story now," said Artemis pointing at the darkness. "That's our world. There ain't no endi'g like a book. It jus' goes." Was that what the monster got confused at? Perhaps it came from a different world where things worked differently. If it was a world that ran on story, then the real world must be very confusing indeed. Nothing ever got 'resolved' in the real world... not like they do in a story.
The monster's eye blinked and seemed enlightened at these words. An output... without an input? A Prime event leading to another prime event... It blinked again. Then all things must be significant... if it exists... your universe confuses me without end... but this one will continue to explore its mechanisations... Four...
The three girls found themselves back in the library. Lilly brushed her fur down at the strange energy around them, which made her tingle.
The ghost was still there, only she seemed to be smiling. She took the books gently.
Children... The books... Thank you... she whispered, before vanishing much as the Cheshire cat, with the last thing her gentle smile fading away.
Ricky felt oddly calm- even though there was no reason she should be at all. Perhaps this body didn't react in the same way without adrenal glands. Despite this, she was feeling 'stressed'. She could hear what seemed to be a perpetual loud tick like a pendulum, that might be her heart beat. However it wasn't just a single tick, although it was the loudest. It was echoed in precise synchronisation with a number of other ticks, in a kind of echo across her body.
"Hey Get out of there!" Jeff 'The Razor' shouted.
Ricky felt something strange at the words. The words entered into her ear, within which was itself some kind of strange mechanical cog, which altered the motions of a thousand other springs inside her head. Much like how a single sound would fire a neuron in the brain. However when done with miniature cogs, the 'idea' was transferred and impacted across all the other inter connected systems in a very ordered way, sending commands for an action. The ticking inside her became that much more 'insistent'.
The idea came that she should get out. Her hand was already on the door to unlock it, only for her to stop just before she completely opened it. why am I doing this? she asked herself. No... she didn't want to let Razor see her like this. The concern of him catching her in this body, was very unsettling- more so then actually being in the body.
"Are you okay in there?" The razor's voice sounded just a little concerned but then he shouted again. "Get out!"
She felt herself tensing. I do want to get out though she said to herself. The only way out besides the door was the window. For some reason actually being commanded to 'get out' activated a number of other strange functions. She seemed to move on automatic as she undid the window lock. She had to climb on the toilet seat to do so though, and could just barely reach it being so small now.
Glancing outside and down it was quite a nasty drop onto the grass garden.
The tick inside her had become another sound. Going from Tick-tick-tick to: Get-out-get-out-get out
Ricky glanced down wondering if her body was capable of surviving such a drop. A human might break a leg at that height. But there was another option, as she glanced to the drain pipe running down the edge of the window. She quickly took a towel, and put it in a knot under the pipe making it as tight as she could. This would slow her decent a great deal.
get-out-get-out-get-out-get-out
She swivelled her legs, resting her skirt on the window. She attempted to shimmy down, but she had under estimated her loss in weight. She was falling way too fast. She braced herself against the wall, expecting a mighty fall and crash...
... but it didn't come.
She had shimmied down a couple of meters, and then her shoes got caught into something. With curiosity her glass eyes became level to the very strange groove marks that were left in the wall that must have slowed her down. Considering herself very lucky, she jumped down the rest of the way, bending her legs with another loud tick, as even more ticks made her rise to a full upright position.
She creaked her neck left and right, as she evaluated her options. She was out now, so she could be left to her own devices. Her white blouse had become a little dusty from the wall, and she found her eyes being drawn to the strange orbs on her chest.
Run... she should run from here. Then work out what to do later.
The strange clockwork girl immediately ran in a straight line, in perfect synchronisation worthy of a marathon runner. She barely moved anything aside from her legs as she ran and ran from the mansion.
It was still dark and normal humans stared at her a little, especially the way her hair changed colour when she moved. Some were startled to see her run, but most were just very curious having never seen a changed like her before. The fact that she was a girl in appearance was something she tried to ignore for now. She wanted to get back home and get out of these clothes into something more comfortable. However she lived a fair distance, and even though she didn't feel tired she had no idea how long her energy lasted. Would it recharge when she slept? She hoped so.
Still she continued to run, for at least a good hour, passing the school. It wouldn't be long until she reached her house... but then it happened.
She couldn't move.
Well she could move a little, slow very imprecise motions as she could no longer raise her knee high enough to complete a running motion. It was a very strange sensation of being held into place by a simple inability to provide locomotive force in her gears. This was certainly not paralysis, as that would require real muscle. This was just... something else that her mind was a little more comfortable with then it should be, even though it certainly shouldn't be.
She couldn't hear the shaft on her back turning any more. It gave one last click before it stopped, and she fell a little limp. She tried to move her arms finding that she still could, as she tried to reach the handle. However it was the first time she had made this attempt and in this state, she wasn't sure she could. Her hands just barely brushed the looped metal wire.
Passers by saw the strange clockwork girl, and gave her a wide berth... that was until...
Anne came out from the school and saw the strange girl in the navy dress, and tilted her head. She was a small thing indeed. Anne thought she was short, but she had at least a head over the girl. "Hello?" she asked... "Are you okay?"
The strange creature was motioning to behind her back...
Anne wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do, but grasping the handle with both hands she started to turn it...
Jeff broke down the door and found that Ricky was gone. He must have jumped out the window- that.. that idiot! He glanced down praying he didn't just kill himself, and was relieved to not see any body down there... still he best make sure. He didn't want Ricky 'dead'... (he still had his homework to do!)
He went outside, and realised the only witness was probably going to be the mermaid. He really didn't want to ask her right now... but it didn't look like he had a choice.
"Hey Wanda, did you see anyone go by here?"
"My name isn't 'wanda'" spat the mermaid. "And that was a stupid thing you did. You ruined the pool- and get this bell of me!"
Jeff sniggered a bit, but grimaced when he saw just how much of a mess the pool had become with the fish food floating on the top.
"Well you know you could just eat it all up. I could even put a filter system in there for when you-"
"Oh shut up!" the mermaid said angrily. "This isn't funny!"
"Yeah okay- maybe the fish food was a bit far..." He said looking at it. "I'll get someone to clean it up... I just thought you wanted to have a little fun. I was actually looking for a shark fin, but they don't seem to sell them any more."
"I'm stuck in a swimming pool for the rest of my freakin' life!" she shouted again. "Just- go away..."
Jeff sighed, and took out a blade. "Here- let me... help you with that bell." Honestly he didn't really understand. The mermaid either stood there catatonic, or she would just move from end to end of the pool... what exactly did she want? She was practically begging for a joke to be played on her. "So- you really didn't see anyone?"
"I saw someone run off... I didn't really get a good look though." said the mermaid.
"what a dufus"... he said rolling his eyes.
