Tale 45- The Day Time Stopped

 Reaching one final shop, the Traveler felt her knees go weak once more. She hadn’t slept since the nightmare, and tried to waft it away. Both Marcielle and the hatred of her family weighed on her mind, making the young girl incredibly depressed and hindering her search for 100 tales, due to her demotivation and exhaustion getting the better of her. As she walked inside, a bell rang and startled her, the elderly shopkeeper approaching her and giving a warm smile. “Welcome home.” he whispered, the Traveler looking at him, puzzled. The old man chuckled. “Well, I say that to all my guests. Since this is not only my shop, but my home, I want my customers to feel the same way. Now, what can I do for you?” He spoke, the Traveler averting her eyes and feeling her gaze being drawn toward the clocks all over the walls. He gave a smile, pointing at them as they all chimed to mark the hour, each one opening with an intricate display of colour and charm. Some held small, spinning figures, others would change shape or play music, but all of them had been handcrafted by this old gentleman. He continued to smile at her, the Traveler staring at everything in awe despite how sleepy she was. The old man chuckled, before sitting behind the counter and offering to tell her a tale, the tale of ‘the Day Time Stopped.’

‘One evening, an old clockmaker retired from his desk after a long, hard day. The ticking of his clocks was almost the same rhythm as his heartbeat, each day passing the same as usual. As he shut up shop for the night and prepared to go upstairs to bed, his ears were filled with the clockwork sounds… until they all stopped. The man didn’t notice it at first, but soon he realized just how silent the world had become. Every single clock…he was confused, taking them down off the wall and trying to rewind them, but nothing happened. The man became worried, stepping outside to see if anyone else was experiencing the same thing, but to his dismay, there was nobody about. He entered a friend’s shop…only to discover that his friend was frozen, just like his clocks. The man was in awe…time had stopped. Curious as to what he could do, he began to experiment, moving things around at first and deciding to play little jokes on his friends. But…due to time having stopped, he slowly began to realize just how lonely it made him, and wondered why he hadn’t been frozen alongside everyone else. Perhaps there was something he was meant to do…? Eventually, he ended up spending what felt like two weeks in his workshop, tinkering with his clocks until they finally started ticking again. And piece by piece, the world began to move. And when he finished his final clock, the man immediately went to bed, now being able to tell how much time was passing and cherishing each moment.’

The clocks chimed once more, the Traveler staring at the floor. If she could stop time, what would she do? …Use it to get as far from Marcielle as possible. A wave of nausea passed over her and her lower body began to throb, the girl gasping in pain as the clockmaker rushed to catch her before she collapsed. Now she was a hindrance. It felt like a thousand sharp knives had been pressed into her, each one penetrating her skin and leaving her scarred. Tears began to blur in her eyes as she quietly thanked the man, before running away.

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