One Life for Another
One Life for Another
Click, click, click. Seconds turned into minutes, as minutes became hours. A bead of sweat formed on his zit-covered oily skin and slowly inched down towards his chin, despite the chilled temperature of the room in which he sat. His thoughts followed the disorientated pattern of the flickering office tube lights above him, scattering as an old light burnt out. Now with uneven lighting, the room was still. It didn’t help that the room was completely sound proof, destroying Marcus’s hope of finding a distraction to ease his broken state of mind. He gazed upon the white paneled office ceiling and noticed the brown stains that disrupted the ceiling’s symmetry. For a second Marcus questioned how they could have arrived there, but the thought passed with a flinch.
The thick office door slowly creaked open, disturbing the once silent room. In rolled a small, colourful, gumdrop sized ball which came to a rest at Marcus’s ratty, worn down shoes that eagerly twitch up and down. Before Marcus could process the situation, the heavy, metal office door slammed shut with much more force that was used to open it. Marcus, now puzzled and disoriented from the twist of events, suddenly felt an icy chill shoot up his spine, putting pressure on the back of his neck. Horror struck his face when Marcus realized that his has happened before. Instinctively, his deep blue eyes darted down at the little ball of colours. Before his very eyes, the ball grew exponentially. The ball could now fit hundreds of balls the original size in it, if it weren’t solid. Before Marcus could think, the ball grew a second time, making a loud explosion type sound, followed by distant yelling of a creature that he could not make out. For a third time the ball grew, but occupying the majority of the office space. Now close to fifteen feet in diameter, Marcus knew he would be surely in grave danger if the ball grew a fourth and final time. The sound increased as the size did, and now he
Click, click, click. Seconds turned into minutes, as minutes became hours. A bead of sweat formed on his zit-covered oily skin and slowly inched down towards his chin, despite the chilled temperature of the room in which he sat. His thoughts followed the disorientated pattern of the flickering office tube lights above him, scattering as an old light burnt out. Now with uneven lighting, the room was still. It didn’t help that the room was completely sound proof, destroying Marcus’s hope of finding a distraction to ease his broken state of mind. He gazed upon the white paneled office ceiling and noticed the brown stains that disrupted the ceiling’s symmetry. For a second Marcus questioned how they could have arrived there, but the thought passed with a flinch.
The thick office door slowly creaked open, disturbing the once silent room. In rolled a small, colourful, gumdrop sized ball which came to a rest at Marcus’s ratty, worn down shoes that eagerly twitch up and down. Before Marcus could process the situation, the heavy, metal office door slammed shut with much more force that was used to open it. Marcus, now puzzled and disoriented from the twist of events, suddenly felt an icy chill shoot up his spine, putting pressure on the back of his neck. Horror struck his face when Marcus realized that his has happened before. Instinctively, his deep blue eyes darted down at the little ball of colours. Before his very eyes, the ball grew exponentially. The ball could now fit hundreds of balls the original size in it, if it weren’t solid. Before Marcus could think, the ball grew a second time, making a loud explosion type sound, followed by distant yelling of a creature that he could not make out. For a third time the ball grew, but occupying the majority of the office space. Now close to fifteen feet in diameter, Marcus knew he would be surely in grave danger if the ball grew a fourth and final time. The sound increased as the size did, and now he