There’s an old antique shop curiously positioned just off the town square. A large window with bobbles and bits enticed visitors to visit Timeless Curios, though no one ever seemed to go inside. That is, no one except Young Lily, with her bright red wellington boots and a knack for finding the peculiar. She often visited after school, loving the faint scent of dust, believing it was the remnants of forgotten dreams.
One gloomy October afternoon, as she perused the old cases full of hidden treasures, a glint in a shadowed display case caught her eye. It was a wristwatch, unlike any she’d ever seen. Its face was a deep, swirling indigo, and the hands were slender, silver, adorned with crescent moons. The shopkeeper, a stooped woman named Mrs. Eldridge, who looked as though she’d been born alongside the antiques, simply smiled when Lily asked about it. “Ah, the Midnight Watch,” she whispered, her voice like rustling parchment. “It finds its owner, it does.” The watch felt strangely warm against Lily’s palm. Her eyes widened and with little hesitation she blurted out, “I’ll take it!” Lily enthusiastically finagled her saved allowance from 3 of her 6 polka dot pockets. With a pile of wrinkled bills and shiny change on the counter and her new watch in tow, she was off.
That evening, as she wore it, she noticed something odd. The watch ticked not forward, but… backward. And with each backward tick, the shadows in her room seemed to deepen, stretch, and whisper. It was almost as if the watch wasn’t just telling time, but unraveling it. Believing she was a bit over tired and ready for bed, she placed her new found yet peculiar treasure on her nightstand and laid down to sleep.
The next day at school, during a rather uninteresting history lecture, Lily pulled the Midnight Watch from her pocket and placed it on her wrist. She immediately noticed it was pulsing faintly, almost as if it had a heartbeat. She leaned in a little closer, turned her head a bit and placed her ear on the watch. Just as she did, she was distracted by a loud, strange sound from across the room. She looked up and to her surprise, the hands on the clock of that old classroom’s wall started spinning wildly backward for a moment then they abruptly stopped, snapping to exactly 12:00. Lily wasn’t the only one to notice. The teacher, Mr. Harrison, chuckled, “Looks like time stood still for a moment!” But Lily knew better.
Later, during art, her carefully drawn pumpkin started to un-draw itself, its cheerful orange fading to a faint pencil outline. A shiver ran down her spine. She couldn’t help to think the Midnight Watch had something to do with the day’s shenanigans. The watch wasn’t just whimsical; it was mischievous, unraveling the very fabric of the present. She quickly unbuckled the strap and placed the watch in her pocket. “That’s enough of that,” she murmured, trying to regain her composure. She tried to draw in a deep, calming breath, but the air around her felt suddenly thick and stale. Then, a foul, metallic stench, like old rust and ozone, wafted through the air. She looked around the classroom, and her blood ran cold: everyone was frozen. Mr. Harrison’s mouth was open mid-sentence, a drop of drool suspended in the air. Time hadn’t just gone backward; it had stopped. Panic clawed at her throat. Was this a dream? She screamed, “Wake up!” The sound was instantly muffled by the thick air, a wet gasp that went nowhere.
Suddenly, the metallic stench vanished. The thick air cleared as if a window had been thrown open, and the silence was instantly broken by the sound of the teacher’s voice. “Lily, are you alright?” Lily looked at him, puzzled, then glanced frantically around the room. Everything was back to normal. The drop of drool was gone, the class was stirring, and the history lecture was moving on. How could this be? She took another deep breath—the air was normal now. “Yes, everything is fine. I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” she softly stated. There were a few giggles and a bevy of inquisitive stares, but the classroom soon settled down.
Mr. Harrison returned to his usual monotone drone, and almost like a metronome, Lily began to hear the tick tock, tick tock again. It was getting louder and louder, a rhythmic beat coming from her pocket. She frantically looked around the room, yet no one seemed to hear it. Everyone was carrying on just as they had been, as if the ticking wasn’t real. Puzzled, she pulled the watch from her pocket. At first she didn’t notice anything different but the ticking kept getting louder. Suddenly the dial started pulsing, and she felt the heartbeat again. Like magic, the dial began to change, as if engulfed by colorful smoke. Chaotically spinning and changing from black to indigo.
As she stared deeper into the face she noticed letters start to appear on the dial: a C, an H, an R, an O, an N, another O and finally an S. She thought about it for a minute. Hmmm, Chronos? And without thinking she faintly uttered the word “Chronos.” The room began to spin and then suddenly, everything went black. Lily briefly panicked, unsure as to what was happening. A dark purple light appeared, as if the darkness started to illuminate from within. Her panic started to wane but her curiosity peaked. She then yelled the word “Chronos!” Instantly, as if it had been there the whole time a figure emerged from the smoke.
The ticking stopped and a single, solitary word started, “Chronos.” It was all around her, repeating, over and over, as if the figure was everywhere and nowhere. Then, in the middle of the strange purple figure, eyes appeared, as if they were twin pinpricks of icy blue light. As she gazed into its eyes she immediately understood. Chronos wasn’t a creature of flesh and blood, but a creeping, insatiable void that grew stronger with every backward tick of the Midnight Watch. It manifested as a swirling vortex of deep purple and black smoke, always just at the edge of Lily’s vision. It fed on moments that never were, on actions undone, and on memories that slowly faded into nothingness. Chronos wanted the world to be a blank slate, devoid of history, devoid of time itself. She tried to talk but couldn’t speak. She had so many questions, her mind raced with possibilities. She tried again, pulling together everything she could muster and yelled, “What Are You?!?!” The room went eerily silent. The smell vanished. The smoke cleared and almost as a whisper she heard “The Shadow of Lost Time.” And just like that, everything snapped back to the way it was before the darkness engulfed the room. The teacher still talking, the children carrying on as if nothing happened!
Lily didn’t see the swirling figure again in the classroom, but she felt its presence everywhere she went. It was a cold, creeping sensation, like the air itself was thinning. For the next few days, her world started to subtly unravel. A favorite song on the radio would suddenly skip back to the very beginning, replaying the same line over and over. The perfectly formed ice cream cone she held in her hand would slowly lose its shape and reform from a messy puddle before her very eyes. It was a constant, low-level torment, as if Chronos was testing its power, getting closer, and gaining strength with every small, undone moment.
The true torment, however, came at night. Lily would wake up to the ticking of the Midnight Watch, only now it wasn’t just ticking backward—it was counting down. The shadows in her room would twist and writhe, and she’d see glimpses of the swirling, smoky form of Chronos at the very edge of her vision, always just out of reach. The void was getting closer, and she knew the little backward-ticking watch was the only thing connecting it to her world. She felt it on her wrist all the time now, a constant, ominous beat. She tried to hide the watch, to put it away in a drawer, but it would always reappear on her nightstand or even, more terrifyingly, on her wrist, as if it had found its permanent place. The mischievous whispers had become hungry murmurs, and she knew that the time for small disappearances was over. The void wanted something bigger.
One evening, as the full Halloween moon cast long, gnarled shadows, Chronos finally solidified in Lily’s living room. It loomed, a silent, swirling menace. Her favorite photograph of her family began to bleach white, the smiles slowly vanishing. Her childhood teddy bear started to fray and unravel. “It wants to undo everything,” Lily realized, her heart pounding like a drum. The Midnight Watch glowed ominously, its backward ticks growing louder, resonating with Chronos’s hungry presence.
Lily, remembering Mrs. Eldridge’s cryptic words, knew she had to act. “It finds its owner,” she’d said. Lily understood then – the watch wasn’t just an object, it was a responsibility. With a burst of courage, she held the Midnight Watch high, its glowing, indigo face reflecting Chronos’s shadowy form. “You can’t have my time!” she declared, her voice surprisingly steady. Instead of winding the watch backward, as it seemed to compel her to do, she forced her thumb forward, against its natural inclination, trying to push the tiny, silver crescent moon hands forward. It was difficult, like pushing against a strong current.
Chronos roared, a sound like grinding gears and forgotten sighs, recoiling from her defiance. The room flickered, moments of past and present colliding. The watch resisted, but Lily pushed harder, focusing all her will on moving the hands forward. Slowly, agonizingly, the little crescent moon hands began to tick… forward.
With each forward tick, Chronos wavered, its shadowy form shrinking, its icy blue eyes dimming. The photograph regained its color, the teddy bear reformed. The room settled. Finally, with a soft click, the Midnight Watch chimed faintly, and the hands resumed their normal, forward movement. Chronos, with a final, defeated wisp of purple smoke, vanished completely, leaving behind only the lingering scent of old dust and ozone.
Lily collapsed onto the sofa, breathless, clutching the watch. Its indigo face now glowed with a gentle, steady light, and its ticks were strong and clear, moving steadfastly into the future. She knew then that the Midnight Watch wasn’t just a quirky antique; it was a guardian of time, choosing its wielder to protect the precious flow of moments.
That Halloween night, as trick-or-treaters laughed outside, Lily looked at the Midnight Watch. It no longer ticked backward, but occasionally, she’d catch a faint, whimsical glimmer on its indigo face, a tiny silver crescent moon winking at her, reminding her of the spooky adventure and the time she saved. She smiled, ready for whatever new moments the future would bring. And she knew, with a certainty that settled deep in her bones, that some antiques held far more than just history – they held magic.
Happy Halloween Everyone!