The Clock of Miss Fortune ✔

Chapter - 12

Michael was home alone. He took a day off to clear out some forms for his house. Miley was in school and Hannah had left the house an hour ago. He felt relaxed from everything. And everything was mind-calming around without anyone bothering him. He didn't mind this time. He pulled out a cup and poured him some coffee. A container filled with cookies grabbed his attention and he took it.

Coffee cup in one hand and the cookie container in another he headed for the living room. Michael searched for the remote for a while and found it hidden under the couch. "Miley." He chuckled and turned on the TV. There was a movie which he immediately got interested in.

"You never loved me." The male character said.

"That is not true." The female character said and held his hands. "I always loved you."

"Then why did you go with him?"

"That was a mistake."

"Mistakes like that don't happen on a whim."

"Nothing happened." She cried. "I went to see him to finally say goodbye. So I never see him ever again. I went there to tell him who I truly love."

"Excuses!"

Michael's eyes were tired all of a sudden. He felt a slight headache making its way. His so-called calm day wouldn't be calm any longer if this headache creeps in completely. He finished his coffee and stood up for another cup. He stumbled a bit near the doorway. A second later he found himself confused and angry. There was no motion in his body. Just the dialogues of those characters crawled like spiders inside his head. He remembers the same argument he had with Hannah. The same questions following up with the same answers. He felt as if the movie was his life now following him everywhere he went.

The door to the kitchen seemed far from reach. His head played its own tunes and a lullaby formed which he didn't like. This lullaby led him astray in his own house, in his own mind, eventually making him fall in a spell. He looked up and found himself standing in the middle of a corridor. Alone. The corridor itself looked new. He was himself. Yet his thoughts shifted the image in front of him.

A low grunt disturbed his thoughts and he looked back. At first he didn't recognize the person standing in the corner. The door behind the person disappeared as if it never existed. "Balentine?" Michael spoke and somehow knew her name and that didn't surprise him.

While Balentine looked at him in confusion. "Howard?" Balentine spoke.

The corridor seemed new but the gloominess morphed it into something grotesque. It was a gut wrenching smell which soon subsided. Sound ceased to exist. And the door behind had disappeared. Rusty pipes made loud noises from the rats running amok and scratching behind the walls resonated closer inside her head.

Mr. Fortune stood still facing her.

"Balentine?" Howard spoke.

"Howard?" Hannah spoke in confusion.

"You are drenched, my love." Howard said.

"I..." She looked down. "I suppose." She pulled her gown stuck to her body.

"Come. Let's get you changed."

"Yes." She nodded and walked behind him. Again, this played like a memory and in reality she felt like she was Balentine. She didn't have to behave like her. Balentine. I am Balentine.

Michael couldn't think and he didn't feel like. He knew things that he wasn't supposed to earlier. Now that didn't matter. These things were inviting him. Inviting Howard. He was Howard. I am Howard.

As they walked down the empty and silent corridor; their steps echoing, clanking like metal on metal and from a distance the sound of a bell resonates from a shrine. It was silent a moment ago. Now the sound of a bell was something which felt inside their head, banging constantly. Something crawled behind them yet they both decided to ignore it. They feared that if they turn back, something, anything, behind them will pull them away and devour them. Like spiders crawling slowly and cautiously waiting for its prey to enter its web and realize their fate the sound drove them to look behind. Yet, they gulped, closed their eyes and continued walking while the hundred footsteps crawling behind them.

The corridor came to an end. Howard opened the door on the right and stepped in. There was another door. Balentine stood in front of it. Her hand moved on its own and opened it. The door opened halfway and didn't budge further. Something was obstructing it. She pushed it a bit, "This is not your room." A voice whispered and a face was peeking from the darkness which shut the door with a loud bang. She stumbled back and gasped for air. The face looked twisted like a spiral. It had no eyes, no nose, no ears or hair; just a mouth with all the teeth black and rotten and dripping black goo on the floor. She tried to open the door again. It was locked.

"That door has been locked for a long time." Howard said. He came back to check on Balentine. She got to take a closer look at his face. He was young, and has a ring on his finger. She looked at her ring and smiled without realizing it. "Have you still not adjusted with the house? It looks old but-"

"No." She interrupted and looked back at the door again. It was still closed. "I was just lost in thoughts. This house is beautiful. Like old and beautiful in its own way."

There was a little hesitation in Balentine's voice. Howard felt the same and it was his house that he walked around. Something felt odd. Out of time even, Balentine thought. Like a passing time the building was falling out of proportions. Distorted even whenever she blinked. As if time was flowing differently. At an uneven pace. Each blink brought in a different time separated from theirs. She'd look at Howards and see a different person from a different place and a different time. Her body itself felt growing old and someone else's. She looked at her hand. It was still the same. Young and beautiful.

Howard looked back at Balentine. Wondering what her thoughts were that made her seem far away. He stood right at the door. One hand on his side and the other on the wall. His vision portrayed a different image of her and every time he saw her with those eyes, she'd seem like a different person from a different place and a different time.

The door in front of her was a dark brown wooden door with artistic carvings. Someone of such a caliber was difficult to find even in this age. Light falling on it changed the perspective which eventually made the door look heavenly leading to a different realm. If you look closely there is a story in those cravings of a male and female elf finding their love from the bottom and eventually reaching the top where they held each others beloved's hand and walked down the flowers field. And in the middle of the door of their journey was an hourglass. Their journey revolved around it. On the left was the male elf and on the right was the female elf. It was a journey of time of many difficulties forming different memories.

Balentine took her first step. And a sudden surge of gravity pulled her down for a mere second changing what was in front of her and once again time was changing in front of her. She looked at Howard. He was wearing a different set of clothes. He was looking at himself, confused. "Huh?" Balentine looked at herself. "I'm... Pregnant."