Timeless (Enoch O Connor x OC)

28: The Clock Tower

Feet pounded up the stairs and Grace appeared in front of me.

"Miss Chough told me that if this were to happen you have to leave," she panted.

"What?! Why? I'm not going to abandon all of you," I said panicked.

"Listen, June, you have to," she said, her hand grabbing hold of my wrist, "they're here for you."

"But you'll all die," I said, my eyes filled with pain.

"It's okay, June, some of us will make it out of here," she said, "but if we don't there are still people out there, peculiars, and if you get caught now there's no chance for them."

"I won't leave, this is all my fault," I said, tears running down my face.

"June..." she said, "it's all going to be okay. It's time for you to go."

With that, she shoved me into my room and locked the door from the outside.

"Through the window," she whispered before ran down the hallway and started screaming for the hollows.

She was trying to keep them away from everyone downstairs.

I slammed my fists into the door and it creaked and bent but wouldn't break. I screamed her name and demanded she let me out. I cried and screamed and kicked but it was too late as I heard a hollow run up the stairs and Grace's scream as she was caught off guard.

I didn't want to hear any more.

I pulled open the window and slid down onto the tiled roof.

The sun glared down at me and the tree branches blew serenely in the air however the peaceful scene did not make anything better. The people I had just met, who had given me a place to stay were being attacked by hollows and there was nothing I could do. I know Grace had been right, even if I had stayed in the house I wouldn't have contributed. In fact they probably would have captured me and whatever they needed me for would have been done.

I stopped my self at the edge of the roof with my feet, carefully to not fly off with the momentum. Very pathetically I clung and slid down the drain pipe and landed on the ground with a thump. Inside I could still hear the commotion but I turned my head away and walked away.

It felt like walking in honey, every step slow and difficult. My gut told me to turn around and help but my brain knew better.

I was headed for the clock tower.

It was time.

My dream was going to take place.

Looking up at the skyline I followed the streets till I reached the familiar dreaded red bricked tower looming over me. It taunted me. I was just a small little human compared to this structure. And even then the building was also just nothing. I mean it got bombed. Life moved on. I was even less than this building though. Who cares if I was gone?

I silenced that train of thought in my head and quietly looked around from behind my hiding spot on a street leading away from the clock towers clearing.

Around the tower were a few people milling about.

A man with a cart filled with fruits and vegetables, heading to a market of sorts presumably.

A woman cradling a baby as its wails filled the bitter morning air.

Three young boys playing with a ball, calling out for one another with cheerful voices.

Other people just passed by through the clearing heading wherever their business took them.

It seemed strangely unguarded for a place the wights knew I would go to. Was it a trap? Why was no one outside the doors?

Also my friends. Where were they? I knew they wouldn't leave this loop without me, or at least I hoped. Did the wights already have them?

How was I meant to save them, the children at Miss Chough's and figure out what was going on and what they wanted me for. Once more I repressed my thoughts and focused on logic.

Most likely the people in the square could be wights. I'd have to get past them secretly. If I went through the streets and around to the other side of the clearing I could enter the clock tower through its joint church. Those were the only doors that I could see anyways.

Very quickly I walked around winding streets and found myself at the opposite side of the clearing facing the old wooden church doors. There were fewer people on this side however still a few people loitering and an occasional passerby.

I began taking cautious steps toward the church doors. With a sharp clap of my hands all the people on this side of the clearing froze in time.

I rushed past them on the cobblestone street, nearing closer and closer to the doors.

There was a sound.

Not from this side of the clearing.

It was the screaming and crying of a baby. The baby from the other side of the church.
Around the side of the church several people appeared.

Their disguises were still up but a cold and twisted smile grew onto their faces, giving away their identities.

They were wights.

And I couldn't freeze them without unfreezing the people on this side of the square which I was sure contained even more wights.

I was close to the doors though.

If I just...

Ran.

I sprinted to the wooden doors and pulled them with all my strength. They creaked open much too slowly for comfort and creaked shut behind me as I stepped into the cold church hall.

Behind the door the wights came running, their footsteps echoing on the cobblestone.

Thanks the birds there was a lock on the church doors which I quickly turned. It wouldn't hold them back for long as the doors were old but it was the best solution for now.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips and I wiped a bead of sweat of my brow.

Feeling nervous but slightly more confident in my abilities I turned around.

At the end of the church hall, in front of all the pews were eleven people.

I recognize them.

I knew exactly who they were.

It was Emma, Jacob, Hugh, Claire, Fiona, Olive, Millard, Bronwyn, Horace and Enoch.

My heart started beating fast.

The last person I recognized.

Was the wight from my dream.

He had a gun.

To Enoch's head.