Masters's Son

Five

A man with a purple cloak and light blue skin hovers above the ground. A long staff with a small clock at the tip and a long scar adorns his face floats in front of me. A grandfather clock replaces his chest and stomach. Watches cover his gloved arms. And his pupil-less eyes a vivid red.

I jump back at his sudden presence and strange appearance.

Oh Lord, my wish came true. I really am going to die. "Don't panic." Oh my God, it speaks. "My name is Clockwork. I am the Ghost of Time." Dying at this very moment doesn't sound too bad right now. "I'm here to help." Help? A Ghost of Time wants to help me? Me? So many people with much more potential than me never had a second chance. What's so special about me?

"You don't know yet, but you hold a power only one other person has ever held. You'll help many but only if you go down the right path." Me? Power? As if. I can't even keep an A worth my life and now I have 'a power'? It doesn't add up my guy.

"What kind of path?" I cross my arms. I would rolled my eyes but decide against it. "Come with me to the ghost zone. There, you become my apprentice and I'll teach you how to use your power. Or stay in this dimension and go to the person with the same ability as you. Which do you choose?"

Wow. This all came at me super fast. I just wanted to die, not have a ghost spring up out of nowhere and say, "Come with me if you want to live." If he is even a ghost—scratch that—if he's even real, I could be hallucinating for all I know.

"How do I know you are what you say you are? If you're actually real for that matter?" My suspicion shows on face plain as day. "And what 'power'? Like influence?"

"That, you'll have to figure out yourself." He says simply. His middle aged figure slowly morphs into an older version of himself. A long grey beard replaces his once clean shaven face.

I take a small step back at the change. He seems unfazed by his sudden aging. I trip slightly on my disregarded crutch, making me drop to my butt on the concrete. Something heavy and small hitting my chest at the fall.

Unnoticed before, a grey ribbon is connected to a gold and grey cog with the letters CW in blue. Unique but flashy.

I look back up to him to see he's no longer an old man, but instead a toddler. The large scar still covering his left eye.

It makes me wonder if the bolt-like scar has always been with him.

"I can not make the decision for you, but I can help guide you to where you need to be. Even though the Ancients would disagree with my methods." He states.

I sit there thinking, weighing to pros and cons of which I may choose. I don't want to mess this up. I still have a debt to pay with Jazz. I can't runaway with the guilt of making her worry.

"The stranger..." I begin fiddling with the large medallion, "how far does he live from Amity?"

"Wisconsin." He simply says. I think for a moment, Wisconsin is almost a seven hour drive or an hour's flight. Not across the country but a safe distance from Amity Park.

I slowly nod but it becomes faster when I look up to his floating figure. "The stranger. I want to go to the stranger."

He gives me a firm nod. "Time in." And with a wave of his cloak, he disappears at a turning hand of clock.

Noise I hadn't realize wasn't there before started again. Cars drive past the alley, whooshing sounds echoing in the narrow space. Voices and foot steps against the pavement meet my ears.

I mess with the medallion for a moment more before deciding to tuck it beneath my shirt. I don't want to have stares.

I stand grabbing the crutch at my feet then hop on one foot to the crutch a few feet away.