The Madness Within ✓

III.

Tick. Tock.

I sprinted through the forest, my legs giving up under me more each passing second. The clock wouldn't stop ticking no matter where I ran. It was always there. Always in my head. Behind mr. Next to me. Ticking off each and every second of my life.
My heart wouldn't stop pounding along to the rhythm of the ticking. Where was the sound coming from? Where was I even going?

Tick. Tock.

I stumbled across an old stone well and decided to stop and take a break there. But of course, the ticking still followed. The longer I focused on the endless sound of ticking, the more it felt like the ticking has fastened its pace. Instead of ticking once every second, it began ticking twice. I turned around and peeked inside the well to check if there was water inside. And surely enough, there was, along with a bucket that could be pulled out using the rope connected to the bucket that laid nearby the well.
I grabbed the rope from the well and began pulling it out of the well. The bucket slowly started rising from the water towards the surface. When it was within my range, I took out the bucket full of water, holding it with my both hands so I wouldn't drop it and put it on top of the well. Then, I took a handful of water and splashed it all over my face. Cold water washed off all the sweat off my face and dropped down from my face to the ground.

Tick. Tock.

The ticking continued, not stopping even once.
„Stop it," I mumbled nervously and splashed my face one more time. The ticking raced towards me, continuously getting faster and more powerful.
I sat down on the well next to the bucket and looked down at the ground, then let out a long sigh.

Tick. Tock.

The ticking prevailed. Stronger, louder, faster each second. Eventually, from only ticking once each second, the ticking sped up to two ticks each second. Then into three. Then four.
That was when I realized - it's after me. The longer I stood still, the easier it was for the ticking to catch up to me. The easier it was to get inside my head and never leave. I never should've stopped.

Tick. Tock.

„Stop it!" I yelled out into the air and looked around the forest, then grabbed the bucket of water and spilled the water all over me, then everywhere around me. The ticking still didn't stop.
I was beginning to lose my mind. My mind shut down and I stopped thinking. I was unable to come up with anything else I could do to get out of this situation. The only thing that filled up my thoughts was the ticking. It caught up to me.
I put the rope back by the well where I found it, then picked up the bucket and walked closer to the well to drop the bucket down. But as I was about to let the bucket fall back inside the well..

Something pulled the rope down instead.

Along with the bucket, it also pulled me inside the well with it. I tried to hold onto anything near me to stop falling, but I couldn't.
The ticking still kept going. Whatever was the source if the ticking, it followed me and fell in with me.

Along with the ticking, an irritating buzzing sound chased me down the well now too. I was unable to stop myself from falling no matter what I tried. I dropped the bucket to check how far down the bottom of the well is. I reached my hands out to the walls of the well to try and catch myself and slow down, but it wasn't working. Yet all the sounds still followed me. The buzzing, too began catching up with the ticking, as it got louder each second.
After a few second, I heard the bucket hit the bottom through the terrible sounds of buzzing and ticking. The bottom was still too far down. Just how deep is this well??
The skin on my fingers slowly began tearing off as I kept trying my best to stop myself, or at least lessen the impact of the fall once I reach the bottom. But my attempts made no difference to the speed of the fall and only brought me more pain.
I let out a sob as the pain got worse and worse the more I tried. I wanted to pull my hands away, but I also didn't want to give up. I tried holding onto the walls with my nails, fingers, both hands, I did everything I could think of, anything: yet nothing worked.

The buzzing was louder, this time even more so than the ticking itself. Each ticking sound slowly began fading into the distance as the buzzing took over. The buzzing was not only taking over the ticking, but my mind as well. It was now all I could hear. And it didn't stop getting louder after that. The unbearable, almost deafening sound caused pain to my ears. I felt blood drip off of both sides of my face. I screamed, yet I couldn't even hear my own voice. I pulled my hands away from the walls and quickly covered my ears. I shut my eyes for a few seconds, but opened them again shortly after.
And there I finally saw the end of the well. This was the end.
I shut my eyes and prepared to fall to my death. And then I-

•

I flinched and shot up from the chair that I was sitting on. I was back in the kitchen, where I fell asleep after seeing strange movement by the window. I was sweating and breathing uncontrollably. The clock in the kitchen ticked after each second.

Tick. Tock.

I wiped off the sweat from my forehead and walked over to the sink.

Was all of that just a dream?

I flicked the tap handle up and cold water emerged from the tap into the porcelain sink. I washed my hands first, then splashed some water onto my face.

That's when I heard the doorbell ring. The buzzing sound of the doorbell echoed through the whole house right to the kitchen. I turned to look towards the source of the sound, my eyebrows slightly rose out of curiosity.
The buzzing sounded exactly the same like in the dream I just had. Is that why I heard the buzzing in my dream? Or did they arrive here only after I woke up?

I turned the tap water off and wiped the water off my hands and face with a paper tower, that I then crumpled up and threw in the bin near the sink. Then I slightly fixed my hair and walked towards the entrance door.
Once I was by the door, I peeped outside through the peephole to check who came to visit me.

Outside were three strangers. They were all older women in their 70s. All three were staring at me through the peephole, giving me disgusted looks. My eyes widened out of shock and I quickly backed away from the peephole, to which they responded with another ring on the doorbell, this time more aggressive than the one before. I took a deep breath, opened the door and forced myself to politely smile, even after these ladies almost scared me to death.
They all turned their gaze at me instead of the peephole as I opened the door, their expressions not changing whatsoever. While they didn't seem disgusted anymore, their expressions were still.. blank. They weren't mad, yet they weren't happy or pleased to see me either.

„Hello, how may I help you?" I asked the three women and made a few steps closer towards them.
„Are you Meggie's daughter?" the woman on the left asked, fixing her dark brown jacket that covered her elegant floral dress, with a pattern similar to my grandma's bed sheets. Her pink glasses reminded me of the glasses my grandma used to wear. Maybe they even belonged to her and this lady took them after my grandma passed away. Or maybe grandma just gave them to her.
„Oh, no! I'm her granddaughter. Nice to meet you, I'm Clara Moore," I responded and gave them yet another smile. The three women didn't say anything and just stared at me for a few seconds.
I felt extremely uncomfortable in their presence, but tried to stay calm.
I took a step back and let out an awkward laugh.
„So, um.. do you wish to come inside?" I asked, letting them walk through the door. All three women, still without a word, walked inside and took off their shoes by the entrance. As they were walking inside, one of the women stopped me by the door.

„Clara," she whispered.
„Yes?"
The lady got closer to me and swiftly grabbed me by my wrist, to which I flinched. I tried pulling away, but she wouldn't let go of me.
„Don't ever make the same mistake as your grandma did."

I stood still, turned my head to the side and thought for a while before responding: „Excuse me? What mistake?"
The lady scoffed and pulled me even closer to her, then whispered: „Don't you dare ask someone this question ever again. Since you're new here, I'll let it slide this time. You're extremely lucky, miss Moore."
The lady then let go off my hand and grabbed her purse. I had no idea what she was talking about. What mistake? What did my grandma do? Are they blaming her for her own death? Is this a threat of some sort?

Or is there something I'm not aware of?

„And one more thing. Don't ever go to the basement. I'm warning you, so listen to me and just don't.. ever go there," she emphasized on the word 'ever' and glared at me for a few seconds, then walked towards the rest of the women that were now sitting and chatting together in the living room, leaving me by the doorway with many more questions than the ones I've had before our encounter.