The Timepiece Paradox Caused By Misery

A rough draft of a story, about what really goes on when your see random things in the corner of your eye.

“Tick tick goes the clock, ticking away through our life. Never stopping always the same beat. A mechanism designed to never stop. What if a clock was to stop? What if the never ending beat came to its final click? What if I was to tell you this did happen. Something defying the rules of reality. And it happened very recently. In front of my very own eyes,” I say.

I begin to stare at the golden pocket watch the doctor holds to record our sessions, as I’m making the speech. He seems to notice this, as his wrinkled hands fumbled awkwardly with the golden contraption.

"Come on Thomas there is no reason whatsoever in what you're speaking!" the doctor interrupts. "And I am really tired of your nonsense". He turns his hand over blocking my view to watch.

"Doctor just hear me out," I plead. "Stuff happens all the time through reality, that we just put in the back of our minds. Things we want to forget, things that we see in the corner of our eyes. A glimpse into our darkest fear,” my voice begins to raise in anger.. “Reality tells us it never happened so we go about our day believing it wasn't real. It's how we cope, how we survive. That's why we forget things doctor. To protect us. The human race has adapted to living with these nightmares in our world. Simply by making ourselves believe it's not possible!!!” My face is flushed with heat, as the doctor stares with pondering eyes.

"What are you saying Thomas?" asked the doctor.

"I'm saying to be careful, watch your daily life very closely and you'll see what I'm talking about. It happens all the time if you would just focus!” I demand smacking my hand against the wooden arm rest.

The room suddenly falls silent. Not the kind of silence that takes over when all the voices stop, but a kind of silence that takes over when something happens that can’t quite be explained. The silence that’s caused by the unknown.

"Like just now".

"What"? He questions again.

"Just know doctor you saw it," I say.

"Thomas I saw nothing, you speak of nonsense,” he brushes off. Soon after I notice him make the ever so slightest glance. A glance that would have usually gone unnoticed, but not to me. He looked directly in the corner of his eye.

"Really doctor, then why did you just look to your left".

"Thomas I just...". Again his eyes make the same slight motion, before returning to look at me. His eyes are afraid. They’ve seen something now that the brain can’t process, so it’s left on them to figure it out.

"You see it now don't you doctor. You're trying to forget it now but you can't. It's in reality now doctor no longer a nightmare. It is real now because you're thinking about it. It's feeding off your thoughts and becoming real. Because of you doctor.” I notice a shadow swiftly pass over me, and a slight instinct feeling you get at the sign of danger.  “Now It's behind me isn't it, and you know it. Your body isn't allowing you to see it but you know it's there doctor don't you!” I’m definitely screaming now.

"Thomas stop". He forcefully looks straight ahead and beads of sweat begin to stream,

“Look at it doctor you know it's there, you brought it to life now look at it.”

"Thomas please please just stop"!

“Not so crazy after all doctor am I!

"Thomas help please".

“Sorry doctor but I don't know what your talking about I just speak nonsense remember, there is no reason in what I say right doctor "

“THOMAS NO"!!! His head swiftly turns to the left, as he sees what he’s been hiding from. I know not that he caught a glimpse of, but for him, it was his greatest fear. The poor doc begins to thrash in pain and fury. “It's in my thoughts. Thomas help please I can't can't..." His hands lose it, as he begins to hit himself furiously in the head over and over, trying to forget what he saw. His rage takes over before it’s too much for him to handle, and the room falls silent once again.

The doctor takes a deep gasp of his final breath, breaking the silence and slumps over. His face goes blank.

The mental hospital staff must of overheard his screech and blue uniforms begin to flood the room. The last person to run in wasn’t wearing a uniform. As she was dressed up to nice to plan on visiting a patient. She must of had plans elsewhere.

"Dad,dad wake up please," she cries. She shakes him back in forth, but his mind is gone.

Sorta reminds me of when I was a child. Watching my mom slowly drain from existence. The sudden burst of nostalgia makes a small chuckle escape my mouth. Too think, me of all people getting sentimental at a random time like this. The doctor's daughter starts to call the paramedics as the others all end up doing the same. Poor doctor was to caring to handle his nightmares.

The overly distracted crowd gives me plenty of time to stand up and head for the door. While on the way out, my head makes a slight shift at the light reflecting off the shimmering gold pocket watch. Which now lies motionless in the doctor's cold dead hands. And in this last glimpse I can swear, for a second, it stopped ticking.

Author's Note

This is just a rough draft! I will gladly take any comments or ideas on tweaking it. Feel free to comment!

Reviews

[Deason]

This piece has a very ominous and intense atmosphere that leaves many unanswered questions in the air for the reader to mull over. Reflecting on the story's concept instills the true terror behind the innocent occurrences in one's everyday life. I myself am a huge fan of these stories that can be interpreted in many different manners! I am curious to see if a continuation of this story will come from you or if you plan on leaving the reader filling in the blanks for themselves because both options have great potential. I think that perhaps a little buildup of setting before the initial dialogue would assist in creating a more defined picture of the events unfolding. Other than that, however, a little fine tuning on grammatical aspects is all I see that stands between this rough draft and a clever, finalized work of horror! I will surely be keeping an eye out for future edits of this work and I hope that you are benefitted by my suggestion!

[Jared Payne]

Thanks for the advice, I'll definitely take it into consideration.

[Jared Payne]

I will post a final draft in the future.