The Clock

I don’t know what’s my name. I don’t know where I am from. I don’t know if I have a home, if I have a family, if I have parents/siblings/pets/spouses/kids. What I do know is what’s going to happen tomorrow. And it's not something I look forward to.

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I woke up in the middle of a monotonous white room. I was sprawled upon the cold wooden floor and it felt like elephants were dancing in my head. My hands forcefully pressed upon my forehead, trying to soothe its pain, as I carefully observed my surroundings, nothing gave me a pang of familiarity. “What am I doing here?” I ask myself, slowly getting up and trying to find a door. After five minutes of searching, I spot a sliding door, cleverly camouflaged to look like a fake wall. My hands apply pressure on the wall, my face filled with surprise upon how easy it opened. The door led to a hallway that was completely opposite to the room- it was far from boring.

The hallway was beige in color, the same cold hardwood covering the floor. However, the hallway was far from bare. It was filled with tables that had candles of different sizes, shapes, and colors. The hallway was also decked with

photographs and pictures. Before I could stop myself, my body steered itself towards the pictures - my eyes raking over them - trying to search for a familiar face amongst the crowd- but I saw no one.

Disappointed,

I kept trudging forward in that endless hallway. As I reached the end, I heard a faint ticking noise coming from the right. Turning right, I found myself in another large room. It has a digital clock that read “9:50 P.M - 12/08/2120".

My headache became worse; I let out a low guttural, closed my eyes, and ended up curling on the floor. When the parade of elephants had left my head, I opened my eyes to see dozens of people around me. Light music was playing in the room and people were laughing and chattering. I lifted me from the floor and reached out to someone - asking him for an explanation about how a completely empty room became a party area in less than five minutes.

"Excuse me -" I started, tapping on the shoulder of a man- or rather I should say- trying to tap on the shoulder of the man. My hand just passed through his shoulder. Aghast, I tried reaching out to someone else just to realize that my hand had passed through him as well. I started panicking. My eyes flicker once more to the digital clock that now read “9:50 P.M - 13/08/2120"

"Huh?"

I said, remembering that the clock had read 13/08 just a minute back. I felt the headache return and within a blink of an eye, I found myself sprawled upon the floor in the same white room.

I started pacing the length of the room. My brain decided that this was the perfect time to criticize my misfortune.

"Great!" It taunts, "I ended up in a strange mysterious room with no memory whatsoever. On top of that, I might be a ghost who can time travel! Awesome!"

"You are not helping!" I muttered to my brain.

"You know who is not helping! You, Mr.-" my brain and me both halted. At this

point, I realized that I had forgotten my name as well.

My hands gripped my short hair, pulling them not quite gently, as I released another frustrated scream. Deciding that there was no point in being hoarse while trapped in a small room, I decided to venture again in the hallway. The hallway looked dimmer than my last visit, and the silence was deafening. Except, now there was a small analog black clock that showed me that it was

9:50. I expected that headache to come back, but nothing happened. Nothing except for the pin-drop silence breaking. That obnoxious ticking noise was back. Before I could stop myself, my body moved towards the ticking noise. I turned right when I realized that this time the clock had moved a bit further,

I needn't walk inside the room to see it, I could see it from the hallway itself. The clock, this time, read "9:50 12/08/2120" and again I felt that sucking of the vacuum. I found myself sucked into the future, in the middle of a partying crowd. Again, I make my way through the crowd, completely ignored by all. My eyes flicker to the clock that again read “9:50 P.M -13/08/2120".

Seconds later, I again found myself in the empty room. By now I somehow had a thesis, an idea about what was happening to me. As lunatic as it sounds, I was definitely a time traveler.

I did not know my name, my identity, my origins, or anything about my personal life, but I knew two things.

First and foremost, I was a believer in the paranormal. I might not be able to remember the details of my life, but I could feel it in my

bones and in every vein of my body. Second, if I wanted answers regarding my life and to what was happening, I had to time travel again.

(AfterTen rather unsuccessful repetitions)

"Back to square one," I thought to myself as I found myself trapped in the room. It's hard to tell how many times I ended back in the room, definitely more than three times by now. I had made enough trips to realize that the digital clock that changed its position every time, sends me 24 hours into the future for a short period, and then sends me back to the white room. The clock

sends me forward only in multiples of 10. Furthermore, today’s time never increases, rather it resets. If I was gone at 9:50, I will be in front of the clock by 9:50. All these past attempts helped me figure out how it works, but this time I had a plan.

I walked outside and into the hallways, standing in front of the analog clock that lacked this magical property. Precisely at 9:49, the ticking noise started. However, this time, I waited for ten minutes in the hallways, before finally making my way towards the digital clock. This time it was in the hallway

itself. One glance at the time and I found myself in a deserted hallway. The hallway might be deserted but it definitely was not silent. Muffled noises of

music and chattering could be heard from the rooms. I find myself moving past the room on the right and towards what I presumed as the entrance. I was still

surprised to see no one in these hallways, but their presence made no difference to me. They still cannot see or hear me. Lost in my thoughts, I did not realize that I had reached the door until I heard an unfamiliar click sound. I jumped slightly, my eyes flitting towards the door. Inside came a guy dressed from head to toe in black, his face downwards, a hood covering almost half of his face, leaving his cheekbones and mouth visible. He looked up, and shivers ran down my spine. Half of his face was completely dark, but his blue eyes were sparkling like topazes, looking me straight in the eye. He gave me a lopsided smile, a smile that caused my blood to freeze and my heart to miss a beat. I was so used to being ignored until now, I couldn't believe that someone had made eye contact with me since there was no one around here. I opened my

mouth to ask him something but felt the sucking vacuum feeling again and found myself back in the room.

I immediately got up and opened my door, not wasting a single second. My feet rushed up to the analog clock, the time being 9:49. Again, at 9:50 the ticking started, and I realized that the ticking was coming from right behind me. Careful not to turn behind, I waited for the clock to strike 9:59, desperate to know who that man was and how could he see me. Granted that he gave the vibes of every stereotypical villain but I was desperate. After what seemed like infinity, the clock struck 9:59. I braced myself knowing that I

need to wait for a few more seconds before I would get my answers. As the second hand came nearer to the 12 o clock marking, I grew more anxious. At exactly 10:00 PM I spun 180 degrees and looked at the clock and was immediately

transported to tomorrow.

Black that's all I could see. I found myself on the floor, except this time I was trapped under some heavy objects but I could see the starry night sky. Struggling a bit and using all the strength I had, I managed to lift those heavy boulders from my chest and sat up. I could see soot rising up all around

me. The house was completely abolished. There were ruins all around me and no sight of life. No sight of life except that guy. His black coat fluttered behind him as he walked past the ruins with grains, as though he is a swan gliding in a pool. Time seemed to freeze as I continued to stare at him, confused. He turned around, his sapphire eyes dazzling dangerously, giving

another one of those blood-freezing smiles. I tried getting up, getting to him, except I slipped and felt my hand cut a shiny piece of glass. I looked down and saw the analogue clock blinking, to scratches or any other physical damages on

it, showing me "10:00 PM 13/08/2120". Before I could realize what was happening I found myself in the white room again.

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I half sat up, gasping for breath. Sweat trickled down my forehead as I clutched my hair. I realized that the mysterious man, the only guy who can save me, is a murderer.

"He is gonna kill them all," I told myself, "I have only 24 hours to save their lives, but how? How can I do that? Police won't believe me, nor would anyone else. I don't even know whether I can leave this building! I don't know the identity of the guy! God, I don't even know my -" my thoughts were cut by a ticking noise. This one is coming from inside the room. Lost in my thoughts I had not realized that my room was now changed. It had a mirror and the clock. I stood in front of the mirror, looking at the clock via the mirror. I saw as the digits went from 9:49 to 9:50. Looking back at the mirror, I gasped at my reflection. My reflection, covered head to toe in black, gave me a blood-curling lopsided smile.