The Cursed Cuckoo Clock

Junie just turned eighteen. She has decided to move out of her family home and into her first apartment. As she’s packing up her bedroom, her mother knocks on the door, opens it a crack and peeks her head inside.

“Need some help packing Junie?”

“No thanks, I’m just about done!”

“You haven’t forgotten about the most important thing, have you?”

“What? I didn’t forget anything?”

“The Cuckoo clock that is downstairs in the foyer. You have to bring it with you.

Junie stomps her foot. “But I don’t want to bring great, great grandfather’s Cuckoo Clock! It’s hideous and the sound of it pierces my ears every time it goes off!

“You have to! It’s an important family tradition. This clock has been passed down every generation to the eldest child when they leave the family home. If you do not bring it with you, you will bring a curse on this family!”

“Curses aren’t real!”

“Yes, they are Junie. This clock is a curse itself. It is alive and full of evil magic. The story goes that this clock was given to your great, great grandfather as punishment for betraying his former lover. He cheated on her with great, great grandmother. As a wedding present, they received the Cuckoo Clock from his former lover, which she cursed with black magic. The clock came with only a card that read three rules. Rule number one: When the clock strikes midnight, you must be in bed and stay there until dawn. Rule number two: Once you place the clock on the wall, it must stay there until it is handed down to the eldest child. And rule number three: Never turn it off.”

“How do you know anything will happen if one of the rules are broken?”

“Well at first, great, great grandfather believed it to be a hoax too. Until his wife broke rule number one.”

I thought great, great grandma died of Alzheimer’s!”

“Alzheimer’s doesn’t run in our family! The Cuckoo Clock gave it to her! The very next day of breaking rule number one, she forgot who everyone was and had to live in a nursing home until she died just two weeks later! After that, great, great grandfather believed in the curse and made sure everyone in our family believed too. He taught my father the rules, and my father taught my sister and I.”

“You have a sister?”

“I had a sister Junie! She broke rule number two when she was only five years old! She didn’t know any better. She wanted to show her friend next door the Cuckoo Clock, so she hopped up on a chair that she dragged from the kitchen, reached up on her tiny tippy toes and grabbed the clock off of the wall. As soon as she skipped out the front doorway, she disappeared without a trace. The clock appeared back on the wall as if it were never touched, with an empty chair in front of it.”

Junie sat on her bed in silence. She always thought her mother was just being strict when she wanted to stay out past midnight. Or as a child, Junie recalled herself almost reaching for the cuckoo clock, but mother screamed and scolded her before she got ahold of it. Junie has no choice but to take the cursed cuckoo clock with her to her new place.

For the first few weeks, Junie was terrified to leave her apartment. She was too worried she would accidently break one of the three rules. Some days she would sit on the floor across from the cuckoo clock and just stare at the time pass by.

Today Junie starts her new job as an assistant to a photographer. She’s scared to leave her apartment, but she’s running out of money and has to pay rent soon. She walks in the photographer’s studio, dressed to impress, wearing navy-blue dress pants, a matching blazer with a plain black t shirt underneath. Her hair is up in a slick bun, and she brought her mom’s old briefcase, which she now thinks is a tad too much. When Junie approaches her desk, she notices a second desk right beside hers with a young man behind it, slouching in his chair. He’s wearing some casual green khakis and an open button down with a t shirt underneath. He looks up from his desk and eyes Junie up and down. He smirks and says, “What’s with the try-hard get up? You already got the job.”

Junie looks down at her outfit, silently agreeing with him but too stubborn to let him know.

“Shut up it’s my first day! I wanted to look professional!”

“Don’t worry, I’m only messing with you. But really, Cyrus lets us wear what we want here.”

He gets up from his desk chair and puts his hand out, “I’m Wren. Cyrus’s first assistant.”

“Mr. Zayne lets you call him by his first name?”

“Yeah, he can be a pain in the ass to work for, but he hates the thought of being a grumpy old boss.”

Junie puts her hand out and shakes Wren’s hand.

“I’m Junie.”

Cyrus struts into the studio.

“Oh, good. I see you two met. Junie, good to be working with you. Please, call me Cyrus.”

“Thank you, Cyrus. Good to be here.”

           Three weeks go by. Junie and Wren have grown closer each day they work together. Every Friday so far, Wren asks Junie if she wants to hang out with him after work. But because of the cuckoo clock’s first rule, she has to decline. She’s too afraid to be out past midnight.

Friday comes around again. As the two assistants pack up to leave for the day, Wren asks Junie out for a fourth time.

“I’m sure I know the answer, but are you doing anything tonight? This really great sushi place opened up downtown. Would you want to come with me?”

Junie sulks in silence for a second before she answers.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“What is it? Are you a werewolf or something? Can’t be out in the moonlight? Or do you just not like me?”

“I just can’t stay out late. It’s very important to my family that I’m in bed before midnight.”

“Strict family?”

“I guess you can say that…Do you believe in curses?”

“Curses? No. Any type of magic, myth, curse, or witchcraft I find to be a bunch of bullshit. Why?”

“No reason, I guess.”

Wren rolls his desk chair closer to hers.

“If you go out with me tonight, I promise I will get you home early and you won’t get cursed.”

Junie cracks a smile. She really likes Wren. She thinks he’s sweet and goofy. She’s worried about the curse, but she trusts him.

“Promise we’ll be back before eleven o’clock?”

“Promise.”

           It’s now seven-thirty in the evening. Junie is at her apartment looking for something to wear for her date with Wren. She calls her mom on the phone.

“Hi Junie. Is everything okay?”

“Yes mother, I finally decided to go out on a date with Wren!”

“But it’s getting late!”

“He promised me that I will be home before midnight!”

“Junie this is very risky.”

“You think I don’t know that?! We’re just going out for dinner! I will be home hours before that wretched cuckoo clock goes off at midnight. I promise.”

“Okay. I trust you. Have fun.”

Junie hangs up the phone and picks an outfit for her date. She goes with a silk purple dress that goes down to her knees, white strappy wedges, and a black clutch handbag. She ties back her long brown hair into a low ponytail. She hears a knock on her front door. Wren is here to pick her up. She hurries to the door and swings it open. Wren is standing there wearing a closed black button down with beige khakis. His hair looks like he tried to slick it back, but it didn’t take too well. He gazes at Junie.

“Wow. You look beautiful for a werewolf.”

Junie playfully smacks Wren’s chest with her handbag.

“You don’t look so bad yourself!”

“Are you ready to go?”

Junie nods and steps one foot out the door. She stops abruptly and spins her head towards the cuckoo clock to take one last look at it before she leaves. She takes a deep breath and whispers to herself,” I’ll be back before midnight.,” then follows Wren out the door.

           Junie and Wren found a booth in the back of the sushi restaurant. They’ve been sharing the food they ordered and laughing back and forth as they learn more about each other. They showed each other their own photography and talked about their dream goals. They both love movies and sleeping in late. They both want a dog someday, and both hate cats. Junie was having such a wonderful time, she almost forgot how fast it was passing by.

She notices a clock up on the wall above their table. It reads ten-thirty. Junie’s smile falls off her face.

“We have to get going. It’s late.”

“Oh, right. Your curse!” Wren says sarcastically.

They go pay the bill, then leave the restaurant.

           Wren and Junie make it back to her place. Wren gets out of his car and walks her to the front door. Junie turns towards him.

“Thank you for getting me home before midnight.”

“Anytime.”

Junie looks at him giddy with butterflies in her stomach, “Do you want to come inside? I have a TV in my room. We can watch a movie in bed.” She says with rosy cheeks and a shy smirk on her face. Wren smiles.

“I’d love to.”

The two make their way into Junie’s apartment and shut the door. The first thing Junie does is look at the cuckoo clock. It’s eleven o ‘clock.

“Okay, we need to get into bed and stay in it for the rest of the night! So go to the bathroom and change your clothes now. Here, I have a pair of sweatpants you can wear!” Junie says frantically.

“Do you have OCD or something?”

Junie realizes she sounds crazy and grows embarrassed. But she can’t have any risks.

“Yes! OCD! So if you want to stay over, you have to stay in bed until dawn! Okay?”

“Mam, yes mam!” Wren says with a foolish smirk. They both change into comfier clothes and get under the covers. Junie throws on a movie for them to fall asleep to. Just as they’re dozing off, the midnight screech from the cuckoo clock went off. The sound jolts Wren awake. “What is that?” He asks.

“It’s my cuckoo clock. It goes off every hour. I hope it doesn’t bother you.”

“How do you sleep with that thing going off all the time?!”

“I don’t know, it’s been in my family before I was even born. I’m just used to it, I guess. I’m sorry, I’m sure you will get used to it too as the night goes on.”

Wren and Junie eventually fall asleep. Wren is tossing and turning as Junie remains still. The moon is full; its beaming white light is piercing through the curtains of the bedroom window. The night is mostly quiet; the only sound at all is soothing wind soaring through the night. Wren finally lays still. All is peaceful but only a single moment. Just then, the little wooden doors pop open on the cuckoo clock, letting the tiny wooden bird carving zoom out to sing its foul squawk over and over again. It’s one o’clock.

Wren’s eyes open halfway. He sits up, slightly hunched over. He’s groggy. He slowly pivots towards the edge of the bed and both his feet fall to the floor. Still half asleep, Wren stands up out of bed, swaying back and forth as if he’s about to fall back over. But he doesn’t. He takes one step, then another, barely doing so without tilting over. He makes his way to the cuckoo clock. The sounds of Wren’s stomping feet finally wakes Junie up from her deep slumber. She realizes he’s not in bed with her anymore.

“Wren? Wren!”

Junie bolts out of bed. Wren with eyes half shut, fondles the clock in search of the off switch in the back. She races over to Wren as fast as she can. She reaches her hand out to shake him awake. But it was too late. Wren grabbed ahold of the off switch and flicked it.

It was disturbingly silent. The wooden carved bird was back through the little doors. Wren fully awoke. He looked around. He didn’t know where he was or why he was out of bed. His hand was still holding the cuckoo clock. He gasped. He didn’t want Junie to yell at him, so he flicked the switch back on and hurried back to bed.

“Junie, I’m sorry I think I was sleep walking.”

Wren moves the covers. Junie isn’t there.

“Junie?”

Wren wanders around Junie’s apartment looking for her. He turns on all the lights.

“Junie where’d you go?!”

He looks all over the place, high and low. The kitchen, the bathroom, the closet, under the bed. He goes outside and runs around the whole neighborhood barefoot screaming Junie’s name. He thinks she’s playing a silly joke on him for getting out of bed.

“Okay Junie, I’m sorry! Come out! This isn’t funny anymore!”

Wren slows down. He’s panting from all the running he’s been doing. He trudges back to Junie’s apartment, thinking she’s probably there now, sitting on the couch waiting to scold him for not staying in bed.

Wren gets back to the apartment and creaks open the door. Out of breath, he yells out, “Okay, Junie. You win. I give up.” But she still is nowhere to be found. Wren slouches on the living room couch for a breather. He drops his head onto the arm rest and shuts his eyes for a moment.

“Cuckoo! Help! Cuckoo! Help!”

Wren jumps off the couch. That was Junie’s voice!

He runs around her apartment again, but still no sight of Junie.

“Cuckoo! Help! Cuckoo! Help!”

Wren stops looking around. He slowly turns his head to the cuckoo clock. He hesitantly walks closer with a shake in his step. His heart pounding intensely. He stands with his held together and faces the clock dead on. His eyes widen. His jaw drops.

A little carving of a girl, with long brown hair comes in and out of the little doors on the cuckoo clock.