The Clock of Miss Fortune ✔

Chapter - 19

Hannah regained her consciousness. By the time she woke up Miley had come back home. It was already dark outside. Michael was beside her. He seemed confused and was profoundly sweating. "What?" Hannah tried to speak.

"Stay still." Michael said. "Hannah..." He held her hand. "What the hell is that clock?"

"I..." Hannah spoke. Michael gave her a glass of water. She quickly drank it. "I do not understand either." And then she told him everything that had happened so far with her. The dreams, the reality shifting into dreams, about Howard and Balentine Fortune, O'lim, and everything else that has been going on. Michael told her as well. He even told her about Baron which was something she had never experienced before. Then, Miley's scream woke them up completely from their faraway illusions. Her scream only lasted for a second and completely disappeared abruptly.

Miley was not in her room. Everything was as it is. Her bag, shoes, hairclip; everything was the way Miley had left behind. Hannah and Michael were in panic and searched the entire house. Hannah stood by the clock and tried to move it. She wanted to throw it out. Ever since she bought the clock things have been wrong. Wrong was not even enough to describe what she felt. That is when she noticed it. The half erected wooden doll was now complete and the merry-go-round had started to spin.

Hannah's phone rang. She received a message from Cristal. "O'lim is coming. Please hurry." It said.

"Michael." Hannah called him. "We have to go."

"Go where?"

"To see a man who can help us find Miley."

"O'lim?" Michael asked as if he always knew that name.

Hannah nodded and they left the house.

Hannah was lost in thought while Michael was being impatient to find Miley. "What?" Michael looked at the confused Hannah.

"I don't understand." Hannah said.

"Understand what?" He glanced at her and then back in front of the car.

"Do you remember the dark room with the bed? The one where we saw or felt those other presence?" Michael nodded. "The three unborn children were the only ones resting on the bed. Others were, which seemed to me like they were being punished or consumed. A woman with no limbs and eyes. She was nailed to the floor. Her face, I think I saw it. It was hazy as if fog had covered it entirely. But she looked like the maid who always helped Balentine Fortune. A man without his head. His penis was abnormally erected. I remember the mole on his chest. He had the same mole as Howard Fortune."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

Hannah didn't hear him and continued speaking. "A woman with her vulva stitched shut. The same hazy face but I remember the body. It was Balentine Fortune's. A man without his penis. He had the same hazy face but I remember his ragged body. It was the man from the hospital. His name... I can't remember. Balentine had sex with him while she was lost in her thoughts. She wanted a daughter, I think. Then a boy and a girl holding hands. Howard and Balentine from before they were broken apart. This seems similar."

"Wait..." Michael looked at her only for a moment and then in front. "The helper with no limbs is the maid, The man with an erected penis who longed for his wife's pleasure is Howard. A woman with her vulva shut who cheated on his husband is Balentine. A man without the penis who had sex with Balentine is the crazy man from the hospital. And the boy and girl who wanted to have such a life were Howard and Balentine from the past. This..." He looked at Hannah. "This awfully sounds similar to our life?"

"What?"

"The helper here is Cristal. The man who wants her wife's pure pleasure is me, Michael. The woman who cheated on me is you, Hannah. The man who you slept with is Henry. And us from the past holding hands."

"I did not cheat." Hannah said with a louder voice. "I told you already. This is not true." "Wait..." Hannah thought and removed every single thought of her head. "If the past influences the future, then the future can also influence the past."

"What?" Michael asked softly. He didn't hear her words.

"I think we are somehow involved with Howard and Balentine's tragedy. We not only entered the past, we also influenced everything that happened to them. If Howard sacrificed her unborn daughters and wife's soul to Alvarez, then who sold ours? Or Miley's?" She looked at Michael.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Michael said. "I would never."

"You would." Hannah said. "You always believed that Miley was not your daughter. It makes sense."

"Is she not?" Michael asked. "Did you really fuck that asshole Henry? Is she his?"

"For God's sake Michael!" Hannah screamed. "She is not-" And a memory flashed before her eyes.

The car hit something in front of them and rolled over. The only voice Hannah and Michael heard was Baron's, "He is waiting." He said.