Chapter Text

The world was grey. Not literally of course, but mine pretty much was.



Around me the corporate world spun, efficient, monetary, productive, monochromatic, steel, cold, joyless, sad, and boring.



I just sat in the hustle and the bustle, a bump on a log. Or a cat at a desk really. My small cartoonish, anthromorphic, cattish figure barely showed above the dark brownish grey desk top.



My periwinkle fur shone out like a beacon in the monochromic office space. My maroon eyes listlessly staring up at the large vent in the ceiling. I placed a hand protected by a white Mickey Mouse style glove on the desktop drumming my fingers loudly.



A loud shrill bell pierced the air. The metallic ringing signaled the end of the shift and lunch break. Lunch, possibly my favorite time of day.



The office quieted down quickly. The shuffling of feet and papers quickly died down. Off in the distance a phone rang and rang. After the seventh ring the caller gave up.



Ah, lunch. Finally, some peace and quiet. A loud grumble from my stomach reminded me what this hour was really for.



I dug around in the pocket of my pink checkered skirt and pulled out a smashed piece of mixed-berry pie and a lukewarm glass of tap water.



I took a large bite of the lint covered pie getting a mouth full of over sweetened filling. I choked it down, the sugar dulling and burning my taste buds all at the same time. I took a large gulp of water, swirling it around in my mouth in an attempt to wash away the filling. I regretted it afterwards though, the sugary filling tasted disgusting and medicine-like mixed with the bitter tap water. The after-taste it left in my mouth was disgusting too.



I continued to eat the pie and drink the water, only slowly now, not to over load my taste buds again. I ate the pie taking small bites as the filling seeped into the crust, making it soggy. It began to stick to the roof of my mouth and between my lips and teeth like peanut butter. I drank the last of the tap water, the after taste like a rusty pipe making my cringe.



I wiped my hands on the cushion of the chair I was sitting on. I didn’t care that it was disgusting, rude, or unsanitary, I probably wouldn’t be sitting at that extremely oversized and uncomfortable desk again.



I pushed myself off the chair and landed silently on the ground underneath the desk. I slowly walked around the desk, the cold slate material that the floor was made of sending chills up my legs with every step of my bare feet.



I began to make my way through the cluttered office. When I say cluttered, I really mean cluttered. Large stacks of papers took up most of floor space, reaching up to the grey paneled ceiling high above. All the desks were an absolute mess, with a much as a foot of pure paper sitting on top of them. The floor was littered with them too, many flattened well into the slate from being trampled on by the long precession of feet that patrolled the office.



I went out of the way to step on them, as they were several degrees warmer than the floor. I slowly made my way around the mountains of paper, thinking about how many trees must have been sacrificed to create them, and how they towered the same way now. I padded onward slowly decreasing the distance between me and my goal, the open elevator that was the front entrance.



I was about a cubical corner away from the brown and grey elevator when a shadow fell over me. I froze dead in my tracks, my heart thudding hard in my chest, a cold chill crawling up my spine.



“Going somewhere, Twin?” a machine-like voice sounded behind me. Not a hint of compassion or understanding in his cold metallic voice.



I could barely work up the courage to turn around.