The Universe's Loving Children

As T stomped towards the exit sign, D screamed "Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"

T spun around to retort, "Well, maybe it would if you ever fixed the door!"

"You're the one with the tools! You make it happen! You fix it! You have the time to fix it!"

"Well, maybe I would if you ever told me to. But, 'it's not my plan'" T mocked.

As the door slammed, D broke down sobbing. The tears fell off of D's cheeks; the rain poured down below.

The clocks had all gone dark, as usual for when T left, but this time (no pun intended) there was a vacant eeriness about them. Rather than the usual blank nothingness that came from the empty clocks, they all were starring deep into D's soul and judging over what was said. And what was felt. Never had the clocks looked so mean and disheartening to D but this time they were foreboding. D knew that T needed to be called and welcomed back but D thought,

"No, not this time. I've done so too many times and now T needs to learn that while they control the age of the universe, I run the story. I get to be my own person and individual"

As D screamed the volcanos below bellowed and stirred; the thunder deeply boomed above the insects' heads. The ground shook, the faults split, and the fault slowly found its way into D's soul and heart. (The clocks on the walls shook and threw fits as they squirmed in pain.)

What am I doing? I've done this before and it never ends well. Every time I act for myself, I act out; react instead of act, I harm them. I gave them life. I give them life. I tell them what to do. Where to go. Everything. When I recoil, they get punished. I love them too much to hurt them. Pull yourself together.

The ground shook; the bodies flew; time passed.

There was a knock at the door. The clocks had begun to look up once again; their faces began to spin again. But there was something different about their motion. They almost seemed robotic and stiff without a hint of the normal personality. The knock continued with the feeling of unease being pushed aside. D breathed a sigh of relief because they knew there would be no need to face the universe alone.

When the door opened it was the Cosmic Owl. They had a hat in their hands but it wasn't their own. It was T's. D would recognize it anywhere.

As D looked up into the Cosmic Owl's eyes, D saw them shake their head. The somber tune of a fast car that never stopped in the street played in D's head. D knew that T wouldn't be coming back. Not this time. D closed the door thanking the Cosmic Owl for their time.

D walked back into the family room and looked at the clocks. What was mistaken as joy and reaction to the return of T was really the flash pain of death. They all lay still now. They couldn't move, they were all blank and D knew they would never open and light up for a long time into the future.

D walked to the window and looked down, through the clouds. While their pets were still there, they were all still. They couldn't move. D saw all of the ones that he had raised from beginning to end. They looked so peaceful without their normal expectations of momentum.

The world lay still as D realized that now might be a good time to go to sleep and wait.