Friends

Someone calls his name, so he turns around and looks for who could know him up here, not that it makes much difference. He is still blinded by the sun, eyes watering uncontrollably in the blazing sun. The light is never-ending, constant, nonstop. He staggers into sets of legs, tangling himself in amongst them and they kick out, winding him.

He falls to the ground and finds a blessed darkness in the mud of the pavement. That is until someone grabs his shirt and pulls him back into burning pain. He is dragged, back first, deeper into the new world. His trousers rip on the uneven cobbles and he can feel cool mud slowly cover his arse. It’s a pleasant distraction from the heat and the light.

Then, it is dimmer, an almost bearable state, and just safe enough to open his eyes in. He doesn’t even try, they still burn and he can’t bear to see whatever has brought him here. Something presses against his eyelids before yanking them open with one pull.

Mandibles resolve themselves into teeth, chittering legs into free fingers, single eyes into compound ones.

“Hello.”

“Hi?”