Chain of Silver Loops

A shallow ceramic dish held dozens of steel paperclips. Stillness. Absolute... cold quiet. I froze instantly. Rigid as petrified wood. Four slow beats of waiting. Then—an abrupt twitch of my wrists. I caught one looped wire between my thumbs, threading its curved horn through the hollow of another. Snap. A second link. Then a third. My elbow joints clicked with mechanical cadence as the silver spine lengthened, slithering across the dark grain. Seven links joined. I dragged the chain to the beveled desk edge and let the tip dangle into empty space. Heavy pause... then a sudden flick. Clatter! The metal tail plunged over the cliff, whispering down into the shadow of the wastebasket.