Tiny dots of heaven.

That's what they were. Tiny dots of heaven.

Cats had always been the protectors of the gods, their defenders. It was why cats were so often walking abroad during the day; there was no time to spend in the home when one was on protection duty.

Some took their duty more seriously than others, but those cats would be punished.

They would not be given these tiny dots of heaven - a reward from above, a thank you from the Masters.

Of course, you had to put up with stupid names from the earthly ones, but...

"What is a pension, anyway?"

She stared at him. "How do you not know what a pension is?"

He shuffled his feet, not looking at her. He mumbled something indistinct about not really having to worry about that sort of thing, what with his family, and the fortune (the fortune was probably now lining the public purse, or possibly a lawyer's office, depending on the outcome of the court case)

There were times when she felt the gap between them more than others. She took his hand - now wasn't the time to start comforting, there was no time for...

It was my day.

Walking down that aisle, feeling the silence of everyone around me - surprised, shocked, the girl scrubs up well. She's beautiful, and we barely realised. We barely noticed.

Well, he did. And that is what matters.

The whispers began when I got to the front, taking up my rightful place, smiling out at everyone from beneath the veil. I wasn't wearing white - well, it wasn't white anymore - but does that really matter these days? Who marries innocent? Who's really pure these days? Impossible.

Of course she was there. Her. That one.

She was wearing...

It was twenty to eight.

"Actually, it's almost quarter-to."

He was such a pedant.

"I can see what you're writing, and I'm not, I just like to be precise about these things."

Once again, his obsessive compulsive need for exact timekeeping

"I don't have OCD."

He had completely missed the fact that he hadn't been diagnosed with any kind of disorder, just displayed some obsessive compulsive behaviour. It was more of his paranoid ideation, presuming that an innocent

'You haven't interrupted me.'

"You're being boring. It's just bitching now. Although now it looks like you're the paranoid one."

'I'm not...

everything flows

Time lay scattered everywhere. In the depths of the forest he could hear the 1700s exploring; somewhere to his left there were the ancient druids.

everything is meant to flow

The watches had stopped. All of them. Then again, everything was happening all at once, and there is only so much that clockwork can stand. Mechanisms are man-made and they can be broken, just as man can.

time is meant to flow

He was aware that this couldn't last - not that there was really a concept of lasting now (not a meaningful one, anyway). The universe would...

It approached.

It was too bright. Light wasn't meant to be frightening, but this one was - it was too bright, and there was too much there, it meant too much.

Easier to turn away. But that wasn't an option anymore; there were other powers at work here. There was no escape route.

Everything was happening too quickly. No time to work out what to do, no time to even begin to create other options.

Just the light. The light and the fear. And the horror that was approaching.

In a rush, in a horrific scream, bathed in terrifying light,...

The sweetest honey was the one they daubed on his lips.

This wasn't really torture; not in the traditional sense. Instead of pain, he was given touches of pleasure.

Simple pleasures - gentle whispers, the smell of bread, the touch of soft wool against his cheek.

After a few days, he wondered if they really wanted him to talk, or if they wanted him to stay. If they wanted him to remain there, relying on them, content to be with them until the end of his days.

To call him a pet would be too extreme, but the principle was...

They gathered in the woods.

The circle wasn't complete. It probably wouldn't be - they were a dying breed, a dying art.

None of them were sure if the ceremony did anything - if it ever had. The elder members of the group - the ones who were dying out, the ones who were disappearing before they could share enough information to perpetuate them - claimed that it had worked, that it still worked, but the magic was dying with the belief.

The youngest walked the path of the circle, her bare feet already dirty, her old dress (torn, ruined,...

It was the moment she'd been waiting for her whole life - she just hadn't known it.

She hadn't known she'd wanted to disappear until she could.

On the one side of her was the crashed train, the people screaming, the police trying to keep control, ambulances - so much chaos and pain. Explanations and stories.

And on the other...just sky.

It wasn't as if she had anything she needed to escape from, but that was the point. There was nothing in her life that meant that much to her. She was trapped by her own monotony. Changing her life...