Litany.

There he is again, running up the hallway and back. I heard him the first time he ran, clomping down the hall like that. So when I poke my head out to look for him, I also decided that now would be a good time to go down to get my mail. But there’s nothing to check on. I look down and up the hallway, no Johnny. What a strange thing.

I walk down the hall – careful to watch out for Johnny – and wait for the elevator. I push the button that brings the elevator up. Ding! signals the elevator as it arrives. I step onto the elevator. I am the only one aboard. Ding! the elevator slowly begins to descend the floors. You can hear them whir past if you listen closely enough.

I lean back onto the railings that are mounted on the walls of the elevator. The icy steel is cold to the touch. At first, I’m tempted to pull away. But I don’t. I wonder why.

Down more floors I go, until the elevator makes yet another signalling sound, telling me to exit and go into the lobby. I step off of the elevator and make my way into the lobby. I walk through it.

On my way through the lobby, a man stops me. He looks very sophisticated with his slicked-back hair and wool overcoat. He seems in a hurry. I wonder why.

“What time is it?” Asks the man.

“Why, it's–” I look at my watch, but it seems to have stopped ticking. “Well that’s strange,” I say to myself. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to ask somebody else,” I look up, only to see that the man is gone. What a strange thing.

I warily continue my way towards my mailbox. Another man, though, just like the first stops me.

“What time is it?” Asks the man.

“Why, it's–” I again glance down at my watch, even though I know that there is no ticking to see. What a strange thing. I look up to tell the man, and he is gone. What a strange thing.

Again, I continue my journey towards the mailbox, and I am almost out of the lobby. But again I am stopped, dead in my tracks by another nice-looking man. This one has sweat on his forehead, and eyes like a scared puppy. THe ones that make you want to feel bad for him. And I do.

“Do you have a cigarette?” Asks the man.

“Yes, I do, just a moment,” I reach down into my pocket to find a case of cigarettes, but there is none. Where could it have gone? I could have sworn that I had had one. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to ask–”

I am cut off when the first man to approach me – asking for the time – swoops in to aid the cigarette man. But he has my cigarette case. What a strange thing.

“Here you go,” says the first man to the third man, while handing him a cigarette.

“Thank you,” responds the third man. “Got a light?”

The man asks me. Of course I carry a lighter wherever I go. I reach into my pocket to find a lighter, but there is none. Where could it have gone? I could have sworn that I had had one. I begin to address the third man.

But the first man interrupts me, and reveals my lighter from his pocket. He lights the cigarette.

“And how about the time?” Asks the third man.

“I’m sorry, but it seems that my watch–” and yet again, the first man interrupts me.

“Why, its,” the first man pulls up his sleeve coat to reveal a watch. Wait a minute, that's my watch!

Panicking, I glance at my wrist to find that the watch is not there!

“Excuse me sir,” I ask the first man, “but I do believe that you are in possession of my watch, my cigarettes, and my lighter. Would that be the case?”

The man just looks at my watch and says, “Tick-Tock.”

I scrunch my brow. “Tick-Tock? What on earth does that mean?”

“Coo-coo,” Says the third man who looked more relaxed with the cigarette.

“What?” I say in complete confusion.

“Tick-Tock,” repeats the first man.

Then, the second man that had approached me walked into the group. He looked me dead in the eyes.

“Do you have the time?” He asked.

I was beginning to grow infuriated. “No, for God's sake, I am the last person in this whole lobby who would have the time! Now, please could you three leave me alone?”

They all ignore me.

“Is the runner running?” Asks the first man.

“Running,” responds the second.

“In the hall?”

“In the hall.”

“Up and down?”

“Up and down.”

“Time to go?”

“Time to go.”

The three men stride off, in a certain direction, all striding in synchronization. What a strange thing.

Wait a minute! Running? Johnny! I turn and run to the elevator again, and see it closing, forgetting the mail. I try to reach it before the doors shut, but I am not there in time, the doors seal. I am at a loss.

The stairs! I turn to the doorway, and tear up the stairs. My feet make thuds as they slam against the concrete steps. Finally, I reached my floor. I burst out of the stairway door and into the hallway. I swivel my head left and right, looking for Johnny. Then, I begin running, looking for Johnny.

I’m running forward when I hear the clomping footsteps behind me, I spin around to see nothing there. Then something runs into my back, and I am flung to the floor.

I turn over to see Johnny at my feet.

“What time is it?” It just falls from my mouth, I don’t even notice until Johnny responds.

“Tick-Tock,” says Johnny, “Tick-Tock.” He stands up, and continues running down the hallway. I decide to follow him.

I stand up from my space and the floor and begin to jog after him.

“Tick-Tock,” I hear Johnny say, “Tick-Tock.”

I wonder what tick-tock means, I glance at the walls of the hallway, looking for a clock to check the time on. Where have all the clocks gone? There is not a single clock in the hallway. I try to think back to remember if there were any clocks in the lobby. Confound it! I remember now, that there were no clocks!

What time is it?

Suddenly, I see a man fully dressed in a nice outfit, I run up to him.

“Do you have the time?” I ask frantically.

“Why it's–” he pauses to look down at his wrist, where his watch should be. “Why that’s strange, I could have sworn I had put it on before I left.”

My eyes widen. “Is there a clock in your room?”

“Why yes, it’s right over–” the man turns around, but suddenly gets a confused look on his face, “now where’s that gone?”

“Dear god…” I whisper to myself, and I dash off after Johnny again as he turns a corner.

I turn the corner after Johnny, he runs down what must be the longest hallway in the world. Then makes another turn. I turn after him. Suddenly, another turn. And another, and another. Now he is making turns that I was sure didn’t exist. Another turn, another turn. Another long corridor, another turn. A final corridor, doors at the end. Doors at the end? Johnny pushes straight through the doors, and I follow. The lights on the other end of the doors start to dim and flicker, and then it is completely black. All autonomous sounds have stopped. It is quiet. But then the lights flicker on again but into a bright strobe.

I see a dim red light at the end of the hall, and begin to become winded from all of the running. The strobe lights are hurting my eyes, and the red light at the end of the hall begins to seem to flicker.

Suddenly, the sound piles inot my ears, tick-tock I hear, tick-tock. The sound begins to grow louder and louder still, until it is blasting uncontrollably in my ears. I am tempted to drop to my knees and cover my ears, but I see Johnny forging on throughout the hallway, and I feel a pressing urge to reach the door and see what lies beyond.

TICK-TOCK!

TICK-TOCK!

TICK-TOCK!

The sounds heap over one another until it is just one continuous drone of both tick and tock. The drone deepens, and the door approaches closer.

Suddenly, the strobing lights shut off, and it is completely dark. But the droning is ever louder, and now I must drop to my knees. And I do, but the noises seep in through my hands as if they are not even there at my ears.

I crawl along the ground on my hands and knees, the door is now there in front of me. I push it open, and inside I find the source of the deep, guttural droning and the incessant noise.

In the middle of a large room there is a glaring red bonfire, in which all of the clocks in the apartment building were. There were all sorts of clocks, piled high. At the base was the giant clock that was mounted at the top of the apartment building. Making up the center of the mound there were clocks such as alarm, digital, analog, the list goes on. At the top of the mound there are piled all kinds of watches; Rolex, Timex, Omega, among others. At the top of the mound I find my watch.

Surrounding the fire, there are concentric circles of chanting men in deep black robes, on their faces are the skulls of goats – I have no doubt that three of them are the three men in the lobby. Running around the campfire, soaked in blood, is none other than Johnny. The men are chanting something and moving in slow swaths around the fire. The chant is low and guttural, and it is repeated. Again and again.

Tick-Tock, the men chant, Tick-Tock.

I now know what the several nonexistent turns, and strobing hallways were; I had found the portal to hell.

I curl up on the floor, submitting to the drone. The sounds of the clocks grow louder than anything else.

Tick-Tock, they whisper, Tick-Tock.