Living Time

Crunch. The bug bit into its snack once more, covering yet keeping in time with the ticking of the clock it was captured in. It gleefully eyed the nearing death of the minute spider. Whenever the spider died, a new snack appeared out of nowhere and it would start its 60-bite meal

I stood back and admired my handiwork. No one had ever successfully invented a living clock before... That is, not until just now. I wanted something more charming- maybe fuzzy- but bugs were the only thing precise enough to work.

The clicking of their many hard-shelled feet on the face was, to me, more satisfying than the ticking of mechanical clockwork. It thrilled my cold heart.

"Yes, iron ants!", I squealed, "take momma's sugar, you mechanical marvels!"

Nearby, unbeknownst to all involved was a tiny microphone, carefully hidden and channelling every sound, every word that was spoken, to a huge PA system networked across the entire city of Buenos Aires. "..YOU MECHANICAL MARVELS!" it boomed, echoing around the long-empty city

for far too long. The ghosts in the top floor of the tallest apartment building in Buenos Aires shook their heads. "The echo of the living," the wisest ghost murmured. "Why do we hear it now?"

“The veil is thin,” replied another ghost. “The moon is full and we are at the equinox. The voices of the living are bleeding into our world.” A shadow flickered across the room. The wisest ghost stepped toward it. “I think the image of them is coming through as well.” Suddenly,

the walls seemed to melt around them and in their place was a vast, foggy wilderness with rolling, mossy hills and craggy trees that seemed to reach out like fingers. The wisest ghost began to laugh maniacally. “It is just as I thought!” The ghost said. “Now all of you must

place your trust in us and leave this land. You've been living an illusion—it's time to inhabit a new, spooky diaspora." The ghosts then turned their backs and meandered through the emerald hills. The humans followed, walking at first, then floating, slowly becoming transparent.