The Clock of Miss Fortune ✔

Chapter - 20

A dream? No. It was reality. Hannah and Michael stood in the middle of Upton Snodsbury. They stood in the middle of the massacre and Baron stood with them. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Baron said. Hannah and Michael couldn't move. They seemed frozen. "You can go back." He said. "To your reality. He is waiting for you. I mean, Mr. Howard." He said. Hannah and Michael's eyes twitched. "O'lim, is it? That is what he is called now? Interesting." He stood in front of them. No eyes, no ears, no nose, just a mouth filled with darkness oozing out as he spoke. "You're thinking who sold your soul. Who can it be? Think... Think well. The answer has always been with your lies."

Baron danced around their frozen body. He'd stop for a moment and whisper pointless words in their ears and dance again.

"The biggest lie is alive." Baron said. "That lie is who sold your soul."

"Who?" Hannah's voice was back. Michael's wasn't. She still couldn't move.

"You've been a naughty woman. A whore even?" Baron said. "I never liked what Gabriella did, what my mother was and Howard's wife," He giggled like a little girl. "Your voice inside her head made her do that. You made her a whore as well. A pitiful woman till the end. Howard is pitiful as well. He also used Balentine. That poor woman. Alvarez like the souls of those tainted like that. The ones who have hatred and sympathy towards everything. Do you know what that really means?" He kissed on her cheek and left a little of his darkness which started consuming her sanity. "Sympathy towards everything is what the heart desires. A human is capable of that. And Balentine is exactly that. And so are you, in a sense. You have warm feelings for your family and you hide your lies to protect them. Sympathy is which comes in many forms and Alvarez likes it pure. But..." He kissed her on the other cheek. "Hatred is the only emotion that a soul carries. Always. The soul also embraces that so-called sympathy from your human days if it ever manifests. And when your sympathy is attached to your soul, the hatred caged within also awakens at the moment of death and that is how the soul becomes a scale of balance for Alvarez to live in this world longer. Understand? I think so." He giggled again.

The screams from the town became more prominent.

"This condition is only true for certain people. That is why Alvarez takes time to choose people. And the fun part for me as his messenger is, excitement. The other thing Alvarez loves to do is mess with the vessel. Ever since his vessel became a clock, the many voices Alvarez gained the ability to control a small amount of time. That small amount of time led to you and your soul from the present influenced the past leading to the Fortune family sacrifice. Howard has his wish as long as he serves Alvarez. Immortality, that is. Your influence, however," He now kissed her on the lips. "Is something which made a big difference. Now, Alvarez has found a new vessel and a source from a soul. That soul needs nothing but revenge. Howard is but a pawn who will soon disappear now since the new source has arrived. I really look forward to more amusement." He said and danced around like a small child. "You might never know who that soul is. Look deep into your lies and you might solve this riddle. But your soul is already Alvarez's." And the woman with no limbs and eyes wearing Cristal's face appeared in front of them. Then the man with no head and erected penis bearing the body of Michael appeared, the woman with stitched shut vulva appeared wearing Hannah's face, a man with no penis appeared wearing Henry's face and eventually the two young Hannah and Michael holding hands appeared. In the middle of them, instead of the three unborn daughters of Howard and Balentine Fortune, stood Miley. Her hands wide open and her mouth filled with the darkness.

Hannah woke up. She was in a hospital. Michael was as well. And along with them were Cristal and O'lim. Or should we call him Howard Fortune? Hannah looked at him. There was a slight delay in her response and adjusting herself after the accident was difficult. Her vision was still hazy. Their injuries were minor. Luck wasn't even a thing. It was something else that tripped their lives upside down.

"Listen." O'lim said. "You might already know who I am. Baron, that bastard must have told you."

"Howard." Hannah said.

Cristal fell into confusion. She stood there with questions even though she wasn't confident about asking them. Her curiosity only rose from there.

"We have to stop him." O'lim said.

"Didn't you start all of this?" Hannah asked. "You wanted to be immortal and you brought him in this world."

"I didn't," O'lim said. "I didn't bring him. It was Baron. My immortality was only a medium to find answers. I was really close but if I had died, then everything would have been for naught. Alvarez has been a curse which has latched itself with the Fortune household. Alvarez took everything from me and I only wanted to kill it."

"Can we?" Hannah asked.

O'lim nodded and pulled out a small statue. "This is where Alvarez resides. Or to be more precise one of his souls does." The statue was really small and carved in a spiral form giving it an illusion of a spiral staircase. Each layer was covered with many eyes which were closed. If you look carefully they were moving as if having a dream. The head was shaped in an oval form with a single big closed eye on one side and unnatural forms bulging on the other. "He is still very much asleep." He added. "We have to find the one who placed a curse on you."

"Wasn't it you?" Hannah asked.

O'lim shook his head. "I cannot do that. I have no power in it. Only a soul that bears hatred and sympathy towards everything can form a bond with Alvarez. I believed it to be you." He looked at Hannah. "But I am wrong. I do not feel such emotions nor I see any distinct marks from Alvarez."

"Marks?"

"Weakness or illness." O'lim said. "It consumes your energy once you bond with him."

"I do not understand it very well, but we have to find our daughter." Hannah said and looked at Michael. "We have to find her." She removed her IV drip, wore her jacket which Cristal brought. Her phone screen was broken but still usable. She wondered where Miley could have disappeared. The only thoughts which led up to her were about the clock and Alvarez. Ever since the clock's first visit and the small piece of wood turning into a girl's statue, it had been a mystery regarding its purpose. Maybe Miley's soul has been taken and it symbolises it. But what about her physical body? Is the physical body a representation of the physical wooden doll which erected the time she disappeared. If the past can influence the future and the future can influence the past as well that only leads up to a single point. That all the little girl's statue were the daughters who were sacrificed and in the middle stood Balentine Fortune since the clock belonged to her and is a vessel of Alvarez. Balentine must be the source to lure souls into disarray. Her thoughts were now a mess of many things but one thing didn't come to light. Who created a bond with Alvarez? "How do we stop him?" She asked O'lim.

"The vessel he possesses is almost at its limits."

"How do you know?"

"If the eight doll has been formed that means he has succeeded in reconstructing all eight of his souls which were destroyed long ago. While he is in the process of building a new physical vessel to enter our world we will have a chance to enter his world and disrupt his souls which will eventually shatter his entire consciousness. For that..." He paused.

"What?"

O'lim gulped in fear. "We need to convince Baron to let us travel with him. He is the only one who can open the gate. If he refuses then there is no chance for us to live." He looked at the statue. "Look here. The statue is still asleep. It means that Alvarez is yet to construct a physical vessel and is asleep for the moment. Once all the eyes open he'd start building his vessel and we will have even less time to stop him."

"When you mean kill it, can we really kill it?"

"Killing Alvarez is not exactly the same as killing any living creature on Earth. Killing Alvarez means killing its consciousness and not the souls themselves. Once we achieve that Baron will, if we even accept to help us, can guard the door to his consciousness from ever escaping."

"And how do we contact him?"

"You can. You both can." O'lim pointed at Hannah and Michael. "And the one who bonded their soul with Alvarez has the higher chance of contacting Baron. However, we don't know who that person is or even if he or she will agree is a different matter."

And then Hannah's phone rang. The caller ID said "Henry Miller."