Andy's Apple Farm: Oneshots/short-stories

Tick Tock On The Clock.

Disclaimer: I don't own Andy's Apple Farm (Video Game). I don't own the picture (cover). Or the song.

(qwertuno and SilentReadersMatter)

(The title is not a reference to Kesha's song tik tok. Don't even say it.)

(Hope you enjoy.)

The clocks in the walls decorated his home. A personal choice he decided that would best for the mess that inhabited his quarters. He hanged them all over the place and they soothed them ticking within with their own tick tocks drowning out the internal with their external existence.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

It's the only sounds he hears. Day in, day out.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

The sound the idea clicks haunts his every movements. Each steps he takes results in that damn sound arising out his one head. He is a humanoid clock.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

Walking is basically a nightmares as it triggers it. The ticking that's become his constant source of hearing with it without his friends around to keep him company. They only offered to be there certain hours of the day. Apparently they found him annoying.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

He heard it more than once in conversation.

"I love him, but he's annoying. His clocks tick and he speaks like an old fashioned Englishman who sales along the rivers."

-Melody.

Once he'd seen Felix eyeing him as he murmured:

"I know he dislikes me. The comments and insults aren't hard to pick up on. Even an idiot such as myself knows the subtly of sarcasm."

-Felix.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

And finally:

"Why? Why do you put with him, Andy?! He's nothing but a waste a space. Just kick him 'outta your house. It's not that hard kick 'im out!"

-Margret.

Those words from her in particular saddened Claus. He always felt a special...pull. As if they had knocks each other in the past and something trapped them apart in the present.

It was torture.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

The clocks on his face indicated it was time to leave. If not that, the voice whispering in his head insisted he leave now or suffer from its hands.

Your fault.
You don't deserve to be with them.
You should've been there.
Always be on time.

The voices in his head never shut up no matter how late or on time he came to please them all in the back of his head. They watched. They observed. They just knew.

He couldn't escape their opinions.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

He couldn't help himself leaving the room. He suddenly wanted to be in that room. Where it started. Where it finished. Where he saw the body burn.

Why am I getting these images?

A soft giggled echoed through the room. Feminine, yet so much like a young woman's. A little immature, but not innocent. They knew their limits and status.

"What do you want?" Claus muttered. "I don't need you anymore. Please, just leave."

Tik. Tik. Tik.

He didn't know if his mind creatures this image is her ghost to cope with the mental abuse. His friends hadn't known their words affected him the way they did.

Not like he'd tell the group.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

His clocks greeted him warmly. Soon as his door shut they sounded throughout the house which drowned any voices or unwelcome thoughts they seemed not necessary.

He was a clock. He understood the noise.

Maybe they knew best.

***

"You weren't there to save me."

Six words by the woman he loved. They once had an affair which Thomas could never find out about them both seeing each other. She still felt loyal to the man.

The true father of her children. She slept with him, raised them with him, grown with them with him. He had no place intruding what was left of the broken family. She still tried holding them all together by the bonds still available to the others and her husband.

"He wouldn't let me save you."

A hand caressed his cheek. Pausing a second in the middle, the thumb circled around the middle just above the corner of his lips. The woman he once loved stood in front just feet away.

She purposely toyed with him.

"You watched me BURN!"

She slapped his cheek and shoved the man into the darkness. Several like tentacles grabbed his wrist and lifted his face meeting the eyes of someone he'd rather not let him.

"You should've been on time."

***

The clocks in the walls chimed loud.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

His own hands chimed. Anyone else would've broken by the constant sounds by now. Not Claus. He enjoyed the sounds of ticking. It reminded him to be not too late.

Late for what?

Events flickered in his gaze. He couldn't paint a picture for the constant urges to be everywhere for everything for everyone.

Probably just met ups.

What else did he have forward to look to?

Tik. Tik. Tik.

Something urged to omen the door. Another ticking set turned into words of go to the door, go to door, go to the door, go to the door-

He grabbed the handle and opened it. The ticking were satisfied. He had to he in time for everything-

Unlike your lateness for rescuing HER-

The tickings hissed in his mind. He flinched under their gaze. More ticking meant more madness. He had no idea what they meant.

Tik. Tik. Tik.

He closed the door and returned to his living room sofa. Opening the note, Claus read the chicken scratch writing he assumed only belonged to Andy.

Even Felix straightens his curves.

Hey, Claus!

The others are meeting for some games later and we wondered if you wanted to show up! You don't usually participate, but they said it's a special OccAsiON.

From Andy.

He tossed the note in the bin. Breathing into his hands which now rubbed over his face, Claus faces an internal struggle.

One hand he didn't want to see his. On the other hand, did he even have much of a face?

Tik. Tik. Tik.

Those damn sounds reinforced their point. It translated into the three words always said in his mind. He just never interpreted them until now.

The clocks banged slightly during their tickings to remind him of his past failures.

Don't. Be. Late.