the Book of Twist

❦❧Four - Tick Tock❦❧

The next thing I was aware of was a strange tickling in my nose. I tried to ignore it, to go back to sleep- exhaustion was leaking from my body- but the tickling was persistent and annoying. I forced my heavy eyelids up about half-way to find a dust bunny at the end of it. Succumbing to the tickle, I sneezed.

Immediate sharp stabs of pain shot through my head as if it'd been slammed with a hammer and ringing pierced the silence. I cried out and tried to move, to grip my head as if to still the throbbing, but I couldn't feel the rest of me. My skull was like lead and my fingertips and limbs were almost nonexistent. Panic clawed it's way up my throat.

My eyes were slightly blurry. They darted around wildly, searching for something, anything. Slowly, the world came into focus. Dust particles like that stupid dust bunny hovered in the air like suspended snow flakes, captured in early sunlight. Wooden beams criss-crossed above me, and a certain ticking noise and methodic rumbling persisted as the ringing in my ears died. The sunlight was coming from somewhere, and floated above my head, just beyond my reach.

I can't say how long I lied there, the throbbing in my head as constant as the uneven beats of my heart. Weariness replaced the panic, and eventually feeling came back to me. The start of which came with a twitch of my fingers.

Finally, I could sit up, and I did so with caution in case my head was still sore, but it was now just a splitting headache- only bearable. A strange tightness clung to my midriff.

Oh my God. I looked around, taking in the scene as one might when finding oneself sprawled in an unfamiliar front lawn with a pounding hangover, wondering what you missed last night.

I was in some sort of clock tower, that much I could tell from movies. The floor beneath me was makeshift from various wooden planks, dust swam through the air, and all around were crates and an odd repertoire of junk; broken lamps, a ripped old settee, a case of strange looking vials, even a goldenrod lightbulb shattered on the floor. Now that I was sitting up I'd found the source of that incessant ticking- giant metal cogs and gears shifted and whirled a few feet away, the enormity of it sinking down to even more wheels and gears below on lower floors. The window sheering in the sunlight was framed and starred with metal bars- the face of a clock. It had to be.

As if this weren't weird enough, when I looked down, I realized I wasn't wearing the black funeral dress I'd passed out in. I was wearing some sort of dress, but this one was much longer, pooling around me in a puddle of white satin and a lace finish around the neckline and trim. Oddly enough, the dress seemed a bit dusty too. My hand gripped my stomach to find a bodice fit snuggly around my stomach. So that was where the tightness was coming from.

What the hell? The thought of someone unknown changing my clothes sent shuddering chills down my spine.

Then I reprimanded myself. This is a dream. A nightmare. Just focus on waking up.

Unfortunately, I couldn't. I pinched my self, held my breath until I thought I might pass out, slapped my cheeks, shook my head, screamed at myself to wake up.

But I was still in the damned clocktower, and it all.o.ly.served to worsen the thrumming pain in my head. Shit.

If this was a nightmare, I should've been waking up.

When I felt the panic rising above me like a high tide, I pressed the palms of my hands against my eyelids and took a deep breath, ignoring the hum of pain in my temples. Gathering my wits about me, I stood and brushed off the skirt. It felt surprisingly light, considering the material and bodice. That was when I noticed I was barefoot.

This slightly annoyed me. They had the time to change my clothes, but they couldn't be bothered to give me shoes?

I made a sound somewhere between a groan and a huff. No sooner had it escaped my lips, when a great shadow drew over the room. I spun around to the clock-face window (wincing at the stabs of pain this sent my skull through) only to find a giant figure obscuring my view. What the-