Time Warps

"The Wristwatch"

It's a dark afternoon in late April of 2007. I'm on my way to work in Manhattan for an office building on statistics and mechanics. I'm a healty man in his early 20's, with a skinny build and neat cut hair. Dark brown eyes and a trimmed goutee. I wore a suit and dress pants and carried a briefcase

I was walking down the street as it started to drizzle and then I noticed the bus left without me. "Curse my damn luck!" I whisper to myself and as I am about to hail a taxi I hear a voice say to me "wait...sit and talk for a while." I turn around and see a vagabond lying against a dumpster. In attire of tattered patches and a filthy ski cap with a long grey beard wrought with knots and grime.

"I'm sorry sir, I'm really in a rush." I politely say to him. He then laughs to himself softly and pulls himself up. "I don't think you understand the predicament I'm in. You see I, my temporal friend, am from the past!" I stare in silence for a brief moment thinking that this man must have some mental instabilitites. I then say "Aren't we all?"

He gives me an annoyed look and then rolls up his sleeve. Underneath is a silver watch with the hands not moving and it appears to be a pokcetknife jammed into the watch mechanisms. I grin and say "I think I know why your watch is broken, sir." He then growls "good then, its better that way. I will not die by this thing!"

He then takes a seat again on the wet ground as a newspaper rolls by. He looked at me with grey eyes and said "do you mind if I tell you a story, son?" Seeing how feeble he was I complied and sat down next to him. He covered his eyes with his hands and said "no matter what, never remove the knife from the watch".

''See, when I was young child my father was a watchmaker. He'd make the grandest watches and repair them to pristine condition. He was a stout, small man with a bulkly build and a beard spanning down his neck. He always wore overalls and plaid shirts with unwashed jeans. When he wasn't in his workshop he was enthusing about the different watches with the customers. We owned a small shop over in Brooklyn. ''

''One day a man in a gray overcoat and fedora, with grey eyes and wrinkled skin, walks in and puts a silver lined watch on the counter asking for repairs. He says that the watch is of great value to him and he'd appreciate it if it is done with haste. My father appeared perplexed by this watch. "Why, this is craftmanship I have never even heard of." The stranger smiles and says "it is of my own design, very unqiue". ''

''I was immediatly entraced by the way it glimmered in the flickering light, how the silver was addorned so flawlessly upon the watch. The stranger must have noticed me staring because he frowned and said "please refrain from letting the boy touch this". My father assures him that it would remain untouched and then he begins to walk off. "Wait!" My father calls. What is your name? So I can refer back to you when the repair is completed." He gives a grim smile and simply says "Kronos" before walking off. ''

I begin to chuckle and say "as in the titan?" "From Greek myth"? He removes his hands from his eyes and looks at me and says "I still believe it was simply an alias to this day. Some persona made up to humanize a darker design. I notice the morbid tone in his voice an quietly say back to him "continue". He covers up his eyes once again as the rain pours on both of us and begins.

''It was late at night. My father was asleep in a rocking chair and he was snoring and rocking back and forth. The only light was from the moon and yet on the workbench the watch seemed to emit its own light. I went over to it and began to rub it as the cold material pressed against my palm. It was freezing everywhere except for the dial where it had a warm touch to it. ''

''The hands were still and I tapped the crystal and still the hands remained motionless. I wrapped the band around my wrist and then the most peculiar thing happened. At the time I believed I must have been seeing things as the watch tailored itself to my wrist. Then I felt something jab my wrist coming from the back of the watch. I removed the watch and saw a twig jammed between the gears. ''

''I thought to myself "I don't need father for this". I smile and remove the twig and then look up and it appears as if the ground begun to evaporate. The world turned into a spiral and for a slit second I saw nothing but blackness. Then I looked around and noticed I was in a broken down shop with boarded off windows and cobwebs and dust addoring the room.''

''I look down an the watch is still on and then I notice a piece of yellowed paper, waterstained and torn on the counter. It was a list of orders for a watchmaker. There was one crossed off in black ink and it described my watch. "Silver adorned wristwatch, product missing". I look down at my wrist and say "damn."''

''And then I jump back in shock at my own voice. It was deep, but shrill. Like a boy just entering puberty. Then I look in a cracked mirror and brush away the dust and see myself in the body of an at least 13 year old boy. That isn't right...I was only 7 when I first put on the watch.''

''Then I notice that dust seemed to have clogged up the gears so they couldn't move. I climb out through a window and then in horror realize that the shop I was in was mine. It was foreclosed it says...two years ago. I then begin to run off and start asking locals about the man who worked there. An elderly gentelmen directed me towards the homeless shelter where he was last spotted. ''

''Then a strong gust came in and begun to dust off the watche's gears and in horror I see the world begin to transmorgify again into the spiral motion. It came in and night passed to day and day to night faster than I could possibly imagine. Then it eventually stopped. ''

''I was in a dark street with and saw a light coming. It was the headlight of a car and a dodged it by seconds and they swerved and hurled profanity at me. I remembered the directions and careful to avoid any open streets made my way to the homeless shelter where I asked for my fathers name. They directed me to a man with a long, grey beard and shallow empty eyes. He looked at me and said "dear god...it couldn't be." ''

''I hugged my father and he patted me on the back and then noticed the watch. He sighed and said "it all makes sense now". He weakly pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out his coat pocket and put it in my hand and then told me words I would never forget. "Your time is so precious and so few, I'm afraid to repent this sin, you must sin again". I never understood what that meant. Until now. ''

"Until now"? I said to the man. You mean by meeting me you had some brilliant revelation? He said "no, but I don't want to harm you and I want to make things very easy". "Are you threatening me"? I said as I got up. He then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed me his watch. "Put it on, son". I assumed he was insane so I complied out of curiosity.

It was a list of it seemed to be rules and laws. "You will travel forward if the watch is allowed to run". "You will die if the watch passes 24 hours". "You may only rid the watch if someone willingly accepts it and puts it on". "You will go back if the new holder dies before you".

I look at him in horror and he looks at me sadly and says "I'm sorry...but I don't deserve this". He pulls out the knife and jams his finger into the gear and stabs me through the chest. Then he says the last words I'll ever hear. "Don't ever trifle in things you could never comprehend".

He releases his finger.