Destiny

3 Maldrid

Back in the autumn little-town, life continued normally. A thousand watches surged three days forward, one turned another three days back. The nights were drawing in darker and the town park was empty, except for two dark shadows braving the wind: Time Skipper and Sarah Campton, sitting, but not swinging, on the deserted leaf-blown swings.

Tom was unusually quiet.

Sarah was quietly thoughtful.

For a long time, the night remained silent, then...

"Tom, what's wrong?"

Tom shuddered. "Uhm... what?"

"What?" Sarah sat up so sharply the chains clanked. "For the past three days you've been wandering around town like you've got a toothache during exam week!"

Tome remained silent. Sarah bit her lip: it was four years to the month since Tom's parents had been killed. Sometimes Sarah lay in bed wondering what that must feel like.

"October blues, huh?" Sarah asked, gently.

"Just a little bored." Tom shrugged away the truth. How could he expect Sarah to believe him if he did tell her? He hardly believed it himself!

Somewhere, deeper in the dark, a much darker shadow moved. Sniffing the air like a hound on a scent.

Searching.

Getting closer.

Closer...

"Bored, huh?" said Sarah, kicking out at a pebble that lay almost in her path. They'd given up the park for some warmer time when the wind wasn't blowing so strong and the clouds didn't threaten to spoil the night with rain. Tom nodded.

"Oh, I know!" Sarah exclaimed, perking up. "We could go to the church!"

"The church?" Tom stopped. Somehow that seemed important.

"Yeah," said Sarah. "Hallowsby Church. They're pulling it down because someone important said it as unsafe. Bad foundations or something like that. There's trucks and tractors everywhere."

"Oh yeah," they continued to walk down a narrow and leaf covered path. "I think I remember hearing something about that. How long has that church been there anyway?" Tom asked, as they turned down a wider path. Sarah furrowed her brows.

"You know what, I'm not sure. I never checked out the date it was built. It's always just sort of... been there. I hear it's-"she stopped midsentence as she felt Tom's firm grip on her shoulder.

"Tom?" she looked at his face in surprise. "Tom, what's wrong?"

Tom's eyes hovered over the darkness beside them in the trees. Nothing but shadows and the sound of the wind caressing the leaves surrounded the pair. His grip on her shoulder loosened.

"Nothing." he muttered. "Just thought I saw something."

Sarah sighed before playfully punching his shoulder. "Stop trying to scare me, Tom!" she giggled. "Gosh, I feel like we're six again." A warm memory flooded Tom's mind, and for the first time in a while he smiled again. He even forgot about the watch, the old man and the strange land as they began to reminisce over childhood pranks and stories of messy school cooking lessons.

Sarah's jaw was hurting from the extensive laughter she was now unable to control. She hadn't seen Tom this relaxed in such a long time. His laughter was a rich and husky sound which seemed to resonate inside her heart, rather than her head. She laughed at herself.