Clockwork
The mountains and the forestland whirred by at an incredible speed, hardly giving my brain enough time to recognize them. Snowy white clouds melted into a donut glaze smeared across the blue canvas that was the sky. I couldn't keep my body still, tapping my foot or running my fingertips along the strap of my messenger bag. I glanced at my watch with concern.
"How long have we been here Xi? I'm nearly late for the interview." Xi- Xion- was sitting across from me, studying a copy of the Hobbit with an attention that I knew I could never keep on a book that long.
"Chill Roxas. We're nearly there. And you're so not almost late for the interview; it starts at 7:00 and its only 6:45." Xion gave me an exasperated look, one that I returned earnestly.
"Axel will be peeved if I don't get there on the dot, and I've already had more than enough trouble with him this week." I pushed a wayward strand of blond hair behind my ear, sighing in annoyance when it fell free a moment after.
"Like I said; chill. You'll do fine, I know you will." And with that, Xion ended the conversation. Another quirk of hers, getting the last word. You could never beat her at it.
I just sighed. Axel wasn't an unreasonable guy, but the last time I'd been late to an interview, he'd went all ballistic on me about how he didn't want to let me go, but he couldn't afford to have his client lollygagging, and so on and so forth. It had made me want to pull my hair out.
What I had wanted as a photographer was total freedom of how I worked, when I worked and where I worked. Unfortunately, it seemed reality had finally caught up to me. And by reality I mean Axel.
After a few more minutes consisting of staring mindlessly at the blur of landscape out the window, a horrible screech brought my thoughts to a halt. The sight outside the window flipped completely as I was thrown against the ceiling of the train. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and I was vaguely aware of Xion screaming somewhere nearby.
Pain flared through my body as the train continued to fling me about in its decent. My head hurt, and blood was dripping into my eyes, it was getting hard to see straight. I couldn't hear Xion anymore. The world around my seemed to freeze, all I could hear was the beating of my heart and my ragged breaths. The pain went numb.
Sun blared in my face when I was finally exposed to the outside world. Gravel stung against my cheek. I couldn't see very far in front of me. I was still for the longest time, trying to move, trying to breath. My eyes feebly trained on the watch adorning my wrist. The hands ticked to 7:04. A last thought flashed across my mind.
I'm… late…