Midnight and Noon

The deep bellow of chimes echoed through the night. Birds that had been pecking at the floor for loose morsels fluttered away in shock, and I stood below the clock tower wondering what would be in Store for me next. 

My vision blurred. The scent of roses tickled the nostrils while the air grabbed at my hands. It pulled me into the past, where the sun was creeping into the sky and the morning dew still ice-like on the pavement. 

"Yesterday is my today and today is tomorrow, but all is revealed at the close of day for none of it has happened" 

"Sorry dear, what was that?" Said an old lady sitting on the bench, who'd been feeding the pigeons.

"A nursery rhyme my mother told me when I was... someplace else." 

It had been years, or months, maybe just days since I thought about my mother. Her long golden locks tickled my face, a smile hiding her pain and eyes the colour of viridian. I remember the rhymes and songs that flowed from her lips like they were stories spoken by angels. 

"It must be nice to remember your mother." The old lady fumbled inside her trolley and yanked out a picture.

Inside the frame a nameless face stared out.

"What day is it?" 

"Why it's monday, sweet child." 

At that I ran and ran, until I was breath heavy and wet. This was the day when everything had changed, where clouds had ripped themselves from the sky and dirt had embedded itself into the earth. The day of the great experiment. Only I couldn't remember the year. Maybe it had been on another Monday months before. My head was a jumble and my senses spoke lies. Still I smelt the roses. Always roses. 

“It's about time you turned up Nina.” stated Mr Mackowski, of ‘Mac and Nina News’, passing me the proto-print of the newspaper's front page…  

‘RIPPLIE AND SONS BIG DAY. 

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Mr Ripplie. His two sons aim to make him proud with their scientific genius and ask that anyone who wants to witness the breakthrough to attend the shindig at noon.’

…It read, showing a picture of the venue where the event was to take place. 

“Open invite, why not.”

“So that's a go ahead to print and get them out?” He was already hollering orders at the interns and print team.

“We've got half an hour people, make this happen”

It was an amazing speed at which they worked. Before long the newspaper was out on the street, and in every shop counter.

“Here's the pass you'll need for VIP access, and here's the number of the cab company, because we both know you'll be late.”

“Late for what?” I frowned.

“The shindig!”

“Wait, you want me to go to that.” Something niggled at the back of my mind. Something I was supposed to remember. 

“You've been asking for days to go.”

“I have?”

“Stop falling around and get out of here.” 

“Okay, okay, I'm going.” He ushered me out of the door, with barely any time to grab my coat. I don't know what I was expecting; rain maybe, but it seemed important to take it with me.

The venue was adorned with flowers and ribbons. The grass underfoot compressed, while the roar of conversation reverberated to the fence line. Trees that reached for the vast blueness and lined the parks edges were motionless and silent. They wanted to hear about the breakthrough too.

A truck rolled into the clearing, and on the temporary stage twin brothers dinged the microphone. 

“Welcome, one and all”

“Behold the future comes” they said like a rehearsed stage performance. It might have been because the words sounded familiar.

An assistant lifted the cloth from the object on the back of the truck to reveal a cold metal cone and a box full of dials and switches. 

“This is the Kesalek 2000”

“The biggest and most significant machine of the twenty-first century.”

The brothers went on. They spoke about its function and design specs, and bored the audience. I was shown to the stage, as were the other three VIP guests. 

“And our volunteers will be the first to witness.”

“If you could step back behind the ribbons, it would be most appreciated.” 

The gathered did as they were told. Even the assistant stepped past a barrier and out of sight.

Nerves shuddered with apprehension. My heart thumped with anticipation. There was something I should have remembered, but my mind was as black as the void. 

“After three…”

“...two”

“...one.” they said switching and turning dials in unison. 

It's hard to describe what happened next but as the last dial was turned and the last switch was flipped, the whole world paused. Down came the rain, up flew the flowers. Cloudless sky and broken earth, all in that instant. 

I watched as buildings tore themselves apart, and the ground imploded on itself. All the while the VIPs were unharmed. The brothers' faces had melted into unrecognizable expressions, they knew something had gone wrong. 

Time returned, but it was the next day going in reverse. I saw myself go to bed, then eat my dinner alone in my flat, then as I worked at the newspaper. This headline being ‘RIPPLIES AND SONS BIG BUST’, the following text telling how nothing had happened at all, and everyone went home laughing at the dumbfounded twins. But that's not what I remembered. 

My coat was soaked with the rain, my face dirtied with the earth and my fellow VIP guest next to me, went out of their minds. Ear piercing screeches that echoed the call of an eagle. Soon they were gone and the day had begun. Yesterday, tomorrow, maybe today, I couldn't tell, but the clock struck twelve. I was pulled into the future.

The deep chimes echoed through the night. Birds that had pecked at the morsels on the ground fluttered away.

I was sitting on the bench looking at a picture frame, my trolley beside me. 

There was a young lady standing below the clock tower, curious and confused.

“What day is it?” She asked. 

“Look, this is my mother. Isn't she pretty” I said, as I stared at the face in the frame with her golden locks, a smile that hid pain, and eyes of viridian. 

“Nina?” The young lady asked, as she approached to see our mother, handing me some roses wrapped with ribbon.

Now I remembered.