Madness At Noon {COMPLETED}

Hello! My Name Is 1/4

A chilled summer breeze whipped up tumbleweeds of soiled newspapers and church flyers across the Royal Square. The recent bombing of a wealthy condominium last month spooked many of the city's inhabitants; the streets were barren. Stores, restaurants, and clubs had closed down due to emergency safety regulations enacted by a desperate Prince. The cold neon signs flashed their lights like cybernetic peacocks but no one was around to be enticed by the display. The M in the Moonbucks across the street flickered, sputtering for a few last breaths, and finally winked out as a low roll of thunder growled through the dark clouds.

Restless.

Quiet spilled onto the deserted streets like cold ice against a desert storm; it hit the pavement in a firm hush before dissolving into liquid silence; the air was too stretched, the summer night too hot and humid, the stench in the air bitter and stagnant. A bolt of lightning slit open the sky's neck, but it made no sound. The dark soon swallowed the light whole.

I stood in the heart of the Square and looked up as the great Royal Obelisk tolled the four o'clock hour. Both of the clock's long, metal hands were missing. The resounding booms from the several dozen bronze bells clanged through the air like a cheerful war band.

The smaller hour hand laid buried in the asphalt at my feet, the fake gemstones glittering darkly in the light of electronic billboards selling condoms and colas and fine furs.

A minuscule speck of light glinted five hundred fifty meters above my head. At the very peak, the tip of Obelisk's needle, the hour hand's minute twin – my minute hand – waved frantically like an excited child greeting a long, lost relative.

And the hand holding the metal spear...

Hello, Princess. Invisible fingers ran down the secret places of my mind, sending shivers through my body. Like drips of cold water on my bones, the voice which I had not heard in over ten years chilled my unfeeling skin.

I took one look at the shadow atop the needlepoint

and stuck my middle finger into the air.

"You want it?" I shouted at the creature. "Come and get it."

The darkness stared. I almost laughed at the stupor. News flash: I am not the little princess this madman remembered. I had grown up.

The moment of surprise only lasted an instant.

He he he. The sound was quiet, a whisper. Ooooh, hahaha. It grew louder and louder, more powerful. PAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!!! The skyscrapers shook and began to buckle. Glass windows warped and shattered, raining a thousand feet to the ground. The sound of the Madman's screeching laugh trembled through the earth, horrible, wretched, cruel thing that it was. A drop of blood dribbled from my eardrums.

It was a good thing that I could not feel pain. I calmly reached into a pocket of my borrowed coat and pulled out an umbrella, raising it against the shards of falling glass.

His voice surrounded me, a ghost riding the winds. You never fail to disappoint, my Noon. I've missed you so very, very much.

I take it you liked my present? I knew it had to be special since we haven't exchanged anything in such a long time. So, I gave you exactly what you wanted, what you always wanted. You may now say, 'Thank you, great Lord and Master Shinji.'

"You have offended me." The whispering voice recoiled as if I had struck it. "You have stolen my toy and ruined my game."

The laughter was gone like a flash of lightning. This was never your chessboard, little Princess. It has always been mine.