The Clock of Miss Fortune ✔

Chapter - 6

Michael made some coffee for himself. It was 7:30pm. Miley ate some pancakes that Michael made for her. She was feeling better, more clear than she was in the morning. "You doing good, darling?" Michael asked.

"Mm, Hmm." Miley nodded with her mouth full.

"Like the pancakes?"

"Mm, Hmm. Yeah." She nodded once again.

"More than mom's?"

"Nooo..." Miley said with a laugh.

"Mom makes good pancakes."

"And good bacon too." Miley added.

Michael tilted his head a little to the right. "Hannah?" He called her name. Nothing. He thought he saw someone walk by. "You home, honey?" Again there was no response. He stood up, finished his coffee, brushed Miley's hair, "Stay here kiddo." He said and walked outside the kitchen. He looked at the front door. It was closed. He looked at the hallway and saw no one. "Hmph." He gestured and turned back. There was a soft giggle. "Was that you?" He asked Miley.

"Was that what?" Miley asked.

Michael looked back at the hallway. A shadow passed by. It went upstairs. I must be seeing things, Michael thought. He told Miley to stay in the kitchen and call him if she needs anything. She nodded.

Michael headed upstairs. He turned on the light. The stairs lit up bright. He glanced up then started climbing up. Step by step he slowly and carefully placed his feet down. As soon as he reached the top the same shadow passed in front of him making him jolt back a little. That slight jolt made him trip and fall backwards. His eyes fixated on the roof as his brain started to accumulate the situation. And before his body had the chance to react his back touched the ground and he sunk in as if he fell into the water. His body kept sinking further in. The little light hanging from the roof became smaller and farther from reach and it eventually was swallowed by the darkness that surrounded him. A kind of darkness that calmed his mind, his body, and rendered him motionless. There was no pain, no emotions felt, just the feeling of being free embraced him. Darkness has that tendency. You fear it but you also embrace it. Death is darkness. And death is what makes one free. Am I dead? Michael wondered for the time being. Eventually he let go of it. And then he hit the ground and every sensation, emotion felt rushing in. He was still surrounded by darkness, and it felt more real than reality itself. A source of a different energy than light. A source that didn't give or take anything. Just whispered his own emotions and thoughts back to him.

"Do you believe her?" His voice spoke. It wasn't Michael but the voice was his own. "Do you? Did you forget? Didn't you decide to abandon her? Kill her?"

"I never thought of killing anyone." It was Michael that responded to his voice coming within the darkness.

"You did! I know that."

"What... Who are you?"

"That is an interesting question. Didn't you ask the same thing to her? I am not her. I am neither him. I am just an emotion. Just a concept."

"A concept does not talk back. And I do not fully understand what you mean by being a concept. Is it related to something that I am or must do? Or something different altogether?"

The voice was quiet for a while. "I am not related to you. I exit in you. Do you understand that?" To this Michael nodded. "Then you need to understand that those thoughts were real. You always wanted to kill her. Do you remember that day?"

A flash of white washed inside his head bringing back those images playing like a movie. "I was drunk, Michael. I wasn't in my right mind. Please understand." Hannah said. Her voice was distant and static played behind her voice.

"That doesn't change the truth." Michael responded in anger. "You did cheat on me."

"Nothing happened. I swear. It was just a kiss."

"Just a kiss?!" Michael retorted. "You stood naked in front of him. NAKED! That doesn't change the fact that you did sleep with him."

"I did not!" Hannah screamed. "I swear." Her voice was weak and tears strolled down her cheeks. "I didn't."

"Why tell me now?" Michael asked. "You could have kept this whole thing separate. Why tell me all of this now?"

"I wanted to..."

"Is Miley my daughter even?" Michael asked. "If I am correct then the date matches from your pregnancy reports."

"She is yours." Hannah spoke. "Don't turn this around. I told you we didn't..."

"What?" Michael interrupted and held wrist tightly.

"She is our daughter. We had sex that night."

"To wash your sins? You came back to me to wash away your sins."

"We didn't have sex!" She jerked her hand out of his. "Miley is our daughter and that is the TRUTH!"

"I'll trust you for now. I will take you on your words. I won't do any DNA test either. I can trust you right?" Michael asked. Hannah nodded. "If one day, god forbids, I find out that she isn't my daughter then I will kill her. And you will be there to see that."

And another flash of white washed inside his head bringing Michael back into that darkness.

"Those are your words." The voice spoke.

"Those words were meaningless. I love Miley. She is my daughter. And nothing will change that fact." Michael said. His voice was sharp and determined.

The voice didn't respond. And Michael woke up. His eyes gazing at the ceiling. His head hurt. He was disoriented and couldn't sit straight. The back of his head was bleeding a little. He could hear Hannah's voice in the distance and Miley's crying. He grunted and placed his head behind his head. There definitely was blood. But it was little he concluded. He forced himself up. The first thing he saw was the stairs he fell from. Beyond that was darkness. A soft giggle escaped the darkness and faded within it leaving Michael in disarray.