Beware the Clock

Chapter 1
Beware the clock

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Chapter Description: Thomas Bellows brings home a strange clock that begins to affect his family in weird ways.

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Beware the clock

by Steven

It was the day before Halloween at the Bellow’s house. They lived in an average neighborhood, and in a better than average sized house. Mr. Bellows, 38 years old, was the senior manager for a manufacturing company, who had the strange hobby of collecting old antique clocks. Their house was filled with many types of old clocks, ranging from grandfather to wall mounted. Mrs. Bellows, 35 years old, was the mother of three children and worked at home doing medical transcribing. The Bellows children were Lora, age 13, Ashley, age 7, and the youngest Daniel, age 3.

Sara Bellows was cleaning up the house while her two older children were at school. The front door opened and Thomas Bellows came walking in carrying a package.

“You wouldn’t believe what I found at the antique shop today”, smiled Thomas.

“Another clock, I guess”, replied Sara, knowing her husband.

“Not just any clock. There isn’t one like this that I know of. It’s unique.”

“You’ve said that before, so what’s new”, sighed Sara.

“This time it’s different”, opening the package and lifting out the clock. Thomas was pleased with his find.

Once Thomas placed it on the mantel, Sara walked up to look at it. The clock had a large round face surrounded by brass figures. The letters on the face were of old style script of roman numerals. What surprised her was the fact that it had the correct month day and year on the face. She looked at the figures more closely. Starting at the 12 of clock position were two figures, one of a grim reaper and the other a pregnant woman. As she went around the outside of the face clockwise, the figures were of a boy and girl from infants to toddlers to children both growing older as she went around. The boy and girl figures changed to adults and elderly as she pasted the bottom of the clock face. It was a circle of life of depicted in the figures, starting from the beginning to the end. Holding up the clock face were two hourglasses on either side, hinged at their center so they could turn, causing the sand in them to fall. The hourglasses were mounted on a marble base with a Latin inscription imbedded in it. The pendulum came from inside the clock face and hung between the two hourglasses. The bottom of the pendulum was an infinity symbol that swung back and forth.

“What does that inscription say?”, asked Sara.

“The shop owner said that it means, ?Time is an illusion’ ”, answered Thomas pleased with his find.

“This clock sort of creeps me out.”

“Why?”

“The figures seemed to be staring at me”, said Sara as she back away from the clock.

“That’s normal, you’ll get used to it.”, said Thomas as he walked up and kissed his wife.

While they were kissing, they did not notice that the eyes of all the figures started to glow an eerie green then stopped. A noise from the other room interrupted their kissing.

“Daniel must be up from his nap.”, said Sara walking toward the playroom.

Thomas turned back toward the clock and smiled. “The best find yet. I need to call John and tell him.”

Thomas left the room and headed to his study. The clock was slowly ticking away in living room.

“Mommy me wet”, cried Daniel patting his wet training pants. He had wet himself during his nap.

“Let’s clean you up”, smiled Sara picking up Daniel and carrying him to the baby supplies.

She laid Daniel on the changing table and pulled off his training pants. Sara grabbed some baby wipes and began to clean up Daniel. Back in the other room the clock started to glow again. This time one of the adult woman figures was glowing and one of the baby boy figures were glowing. Sara’s name appeared on one of the hourglasses and Daniel’s on the other. The hands of the clock started to spin in the counterclockwise direction. Sand in the hourglasses started to flow upwards. The year indicator was slowly turning back. Now it showed one year back and still going.

“I can’t wait to start potty training you,”, said Sara now 34 years old.

“Me wike dipees”, squealed 2 year old Daniel.

The glowing moved from the boy toddler to the boy infant. The hands continued to move in reverse.

“There all nice and dry”, smiled Sara, holding up her 1 year old baby boy.

Daniel was hungry and grabbed one of Sara’s breasts.

“You hungry?” said Sara lifting up her shirt and exposing one of her breasts.

Little 10 month old Daniel started to nurse milk from his mommy. Sara sang a nursery tune as her baby suckled. The glowing moved from the infant boy moved to the pregnant woman and at the same time, Daniel’s name vanished from the other hourglass.

“Did my baby just kick me?”, smiled Sara holding onto her 8 month belly.

The hands on the clock stopped turning in reverse and continued their normal direction. The date moved back to the current year and Sara’s name was gone from the other hourglass as the sand fell back down.

Five month pregnant Sara, now 32 years old, walked to the kitchen to grab something to eat, she was craving pickles. If someone had looked, Sara’s birth certificate now showed three years later than it had. Pictures of Daniel around the house vanished as he was not born yet. Memories changed and a new reality was established.

“Mom, I’m home” announced Lora as she entered the front door.

“Welcome home honey, how was school?”, asked Sara.

“Same old same old. I’m going to my room now.”, answered Lora and headed to her room.

“Teenagers”, mumbled Sara going back to eating her pickle.

Minutes later, Ashley came walking into the house.

“Mommy!”, she squealed and rushed up to Sara.

“Hi sweety, did you have fun at school?”, Sara asked while hugging her youngest daughter.

“Yep, I had lots of fun. We drew pictures of scary monsters for Halloween. Can I feel the baby mommy?”, asked Ashley.

“Sure you can”, smiled Sara pulling up her shirt to expose her belly.

Ashley put her hand on her mother’s stomach and felt a kick to her hand.

“He kicked me”, giggled Ashley.

Loud music started coming from upstairs. Sara knew where it came from.

“Lora turn that music down now!”, screamed Sara trying to talk over the music.

“Fine!” yelled Lora back.

The music level dropped but still could be heard from the living room. Ashley ran off to her room to put her school supplies away. Around this time, Thomas came back from the study.

“I see Lora is home”, said Thomas.

“You heard huh. What are we going to do with her? She tries my patience all the time.”

“She’s turning into the typical teenager. They think they know everything and their parents get in the way of their fun.”

“It was happier around here when she was younger. Too bad those days are gone.”, sighed Sara.

“Well not to burst you bubble or anything, but Ashley will be becoming a teenager not too many years from now.”

“Please, I don’t want to think about that. One is trouble enough for now”

“So, have you thought of a name for the baby?”, asked Thomas placing his hand on his wife’s belly.

“You know for some strange reason the name Daniel keeps popping into my head”, replied Sara.

“Daniel, sounds like a great name”, smiled Thomas as he kissed Sara.

Thomas and Sara continued kissing each other. Thomas tasted pickles as he kissed Sara.

“Eww”, Ashley said as she saw her parents kissing.

Thomas and Sara smiled broke their kiss.

“Mommy when’s dinner?”, Ashley asked.

“Soon sweety, you can go watch some TV while you wait.”, said Sara. “Later, when we’re alone”, wink Sara to Thomas.

Ashley went into the living room and turned on the TV.

“I’ll just go back to the study for a bit”, said Thomas walking back towards the study.

Sara went into the kitchen and started making dinner. During that time, Lora decided to come out of her room and head downstairs. Just as Sara was finished making dinner, Ashley came running into the kitchen.

“Mommy, Lora doesn’t want to take me trick or treating”, cried Ashley.

“Trick or treating is for babies”, said Lora following her younger sister.

Sighing, Sara turned to her oldest child, “Lora you went with Ashley last year what’s changed?”

“I’m more mature now, not some baby”, replied Lora.

“Lora, I need you to take Ashley. I would but I’m carrying extra weight right now.”

“FINE!, but I’m not dressing up”, stormed Lora out of the room.

“Mommy can you help me with my costume?”, asked Ashley

“After dinner okay”

“Okay”

“Now go wash” said Sara while placing some dishes down.

Ashley went to the bathroom to clean her hands. That night dinner was quiet. Lora looked like she was ready to burst out in anger, but held it in. After dinner, Lora stormed off back to her room with out saying a word. Sara went to Ashley’s room to help her with her witch costume. Hours later, Sara tucked Ashley into bed and gave her a good night kiss.

“Night sweety, Lora should’ve cooled down by tomorrow.”, mentioned Sara as she closed the bedroom door.

“Tom, I don’t remember being like Lora when I was a teenager”, said Sara as she undressed.

“Hopefully this is just a phase she’s going through and be over with quickly”

Thomas and Sara cuddled and got into some foreplay before turning in for the night. Downstairs in the living room the clock started to glow again. It filled the dark living room with a ghostly green light. The teenager figure was glowing and Lora’s name appeared on one of the hourglasses. And just like last time, the hands were spinning counterclockwise. Sand began to flow upwards in the hourglass.

As Lora slept, the breasts that she was so proud of slowly faded back into her chest. Her underwear changed from lacey to simple cotton. She shrank under her covers inch by inch. Lora’s room was changing from a teenager’s room to a young girl’s room. Posters of rock bands faded into posters of cartoon characters. Younger into childhood went Lora until finally the clock stopped her at five years old. She was now Ashley’s younger sister and going to kindergarten. Little Lora was hugging a teddy bear as she slept. The clock stopped glowing as soon as the glow went from the teenager figure to the small girl figure. The year returned to the current one, having gone back eight years.

Later during the night, Sara was woken up by someone pulling on her arm. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lora with tears in her eyes. Lora was tightly hugging her teddy bear to her chest.

“Mommy, me had bad dream”, cried Lora.

“It’s okay sweety. Here come slept with mommy.”, said Sara picking up Lora and placing her between her and Thomas.

“Mommy me dream me was big and mean to you. The big me was bad. I don’t want to be bad”, whimpered Lora as Sara caressed her.

“It was just a dream, close your eyes and sleep. I’ll keep those bad dreams away”, comforted Sara rubbing Lora’s back.

Eventually Lora went back to sleep and all was quiet for the rest of the night. The next morning, the morning of Halloween, the family got up and the kids got ready for school. Sara helped Lora get dressed for kindergarten. Thomas had to go to work for a bit that morning, but promised to be back before kids showed up for trick or treating.

“Ashley now take good care of your little sister, okay”, said Sara giving them their lunchboxes.

“I will mommy”, smiled Ashley and took one of Lora’s hands.

Lora still held her teddy bear with her as she and Ashley left the house to get to the bus stop. Ashley loved her little sister and wanted to protect her. Sara left the house to go and pick up candy for later that night; she also had a doctor’s appointment for an ultrasound.

“The baby looks good.”, said the nurse.

“Thank you”, said Sara lowering her shirt over her belly.

“Make sure you kept up with your vitamins”, said the doctor as Sara was leaving.

“I will”

On her way home, Sara picked up Lora from kindergarten.

“How was school today?”, asked Sara.

“I had fun, we made masks and eat some candy the teacher brought”, answered Lora.

“So you going to have fun trick or treating with your big sister tonight”

“Uh huh, trick treating fun. More candy”, nodded Lora with a big grin on her face.

“Remember not to eat too much now okay”

“Kay I promise mommy”

When they got home, Lora went to her room to play. Sara opened the bag of candy and poured it into a large bowl. It wasn’t long before Ashley came walking in the front door.

“I’m home mommy”, said Ashley setting down her bag by the coat closet.

“Ashwey!”, squealed Lora as she ran up to her big sister and gave her a hug.

“Hi ya sis, ready to go trick or treating?”, asked Ashley hugging Lora back.

“Yep, gonna get lots of candy”, grinned Lora looking up at Ashley.

“I want both of you to take a bath before dinner. And remember Tracey from next door is going to take you out tonight.”, said Sara as she walked into the room.

“Race ya to the bath”, giggled Ashley.

“No fair”, said Lora running after Ashley.

Sara could here giggling and splashing in the bathroom as Ashley and Lora were taking their bath together.

“I’m glad they get along so well. I would hate to think how their relationship would be if their age difference was greater.”, thought Sara as she started to get dinner ready.

Thomas arrived just in time for dinner, apologizing for being late. Dinner was different from the night before, this time the mood was cheerier and happy. Thomas and Sara talked about getting the baby’s room ready and the two girls talked about school and how much candy they would be getting that night. Lora and Ashley wore only t-shirts and panties, so they had less to take off to get into their costumes. The girls helped Sara clean the table after dinner and Thomas excused himself to the study.

“Can we get into our costumes now mommy?”, asked Ashley.

“Yea”, said Lora following her sister lead.

“Okay okay, I’ll help you though. Tracey should be over in about an hour or so.”, said Sara following her girls to their room.

Lora and Ashley took off their shirts as soon as they entered the room, being Lora and Ashley now slept together in the same room. Lora ran and grabbed her kitty costume. She wanted to be Ashley’s witch kitty. It was a one piece outfit, all covered with fake purple fur. The tummy area was covered in white and the hood had soft fluffy ears and eye holes. It also came with a tail that almost hit the floor with Lora was in it. A rubber nose piece, with whiskers, that went around the head with a rubber band was included. Sara helped Lora step into the leg holes and her arm into the appropriate holes. Once she was in, Sara zipped up the back and put on the rubber nose. The hood was pulled up and over and Lora’s costume was complete.

“Me kitty, meow”, smiled Lora pawing at the air.

“Go show daddy how cute you are.”, smiled Sara .

Lora ran off to go show her daddy. Sara turned to help Ashley with her costume. The witch costume consisted of a reddish yellow dress with a purple cape. The large pointed hat had a purple band at the base above the rim. A white wand covered with glitter came with the outfit. Sara lifted the dress over Ashley’s head and Ashley put her arms into the holes in the sleeves as Sara lowered it. She zipped up the zipper and tied the purple sash around Ashley’s middle. Next came the hat which had a rubber band to hold it on her head so the wind could not blow it off. Ashley slipped on her white lacey anklets and shinny black mary jane shoes. Ashley stood still as her mother tied the cape around her neck.

“My little witch is done”, smiled Sara.

“Can I go show daddy too?”, asked Ashley.

“Sure you can, I’ll be right behind you”

Sara and her little witch walked down the stairs to the living room. They meet Thomas carrying little Lora in his arms. She was giggling as her father was tickling her.

“Who let the cat in?”, said Thomas with a smile.

“It’s me daddy”, giggled Lora.

“And who do we have here, oh a little witch, so this must be your cat huh”, said Thomas.

“Yep she’s my kitty”, smiled Ashley.

Just then there was a knock at the front door. When Sara opened the door, she saw Tracey standing there in jeans and a t-shirt. Tracey is 16 years old and their next door neighbor. She baby sits Lora and Ashley all the time. The girls adore her.

“Tracey come in, the girls just finished getting ready to go.”, greeted Sara.

“Twacey!” ,squealed Lora as she ran up to Tracey and jumped into her arms.

“My my what a cute kitty cat you make Lora”, said Tracey carrying Lora in her arms.

“Me Ashwey’s witch kitty”, giggled Lora.

“Oh, but I thought witches had black cats and not cute purple ones”, pondered Tracey with a grin.

“I’m a good witch”, replied Ashley.

“Me good kitty, meow”, said Lora.

“I see”, Tracey let Lora down and went over to Sara. Lora ran back to her daddy who began to tickle her again.

“So how’s the baby coming? Have you thought of a name yet?”, asked Tracey.

“It baby’s fine, growing all the time. I think we decided with the name Daniel.”, answered Sara.

“I like the name”

“There is some soda in the fridge if you want some. I’m going to take a shower so I might not be here when you leave. Have fun tonight and watch over my girls okay”, explained Sara as she gave Tracey a hug.

“Thanks Mrs Bellows and I will, I’ll treat them like they are were my own.”, said Tracey hugging back.

Sara walked back upstairs and headed to the master bathroom. Thomas greeted Tracey and then walked back to the study. Tracey sat with Lora and Ashley on the sofa and watched some TV before they left to go trick or treating. As they watched TV, the clock behind them started to glow again, this time the teenaged figure was glowing and Tracey’s name appeared on one of the hourglasses. The hourglass flipped over and sand began to flow down. The hands of the clock sped up and the year moved forward. Tracey was growing older, unnoticed by her and others. Older and older grew Tracey as she pasted her teen years and entered her twenties. Her breasts grew one cup size and she lost that childish look for a more mature one. The glowing moved from the female teenager figure to the adult one. The movement of the hands slowed back down to normal speed. The clock had advanced Tracey’s age by ten years; she was now 26 years old and married to a guy named Jeff. There was a gold wedding band on her left index finger. The clock’s date moved back to the current year and Tracey’s name was gone from the hourglass. She now wore a blouse and skirt that went to her knees.

“Time to go girls, if you want to get done before it gets too dark”, said Tracey getting up from the sofa.

“Kay, let’s get candy”, Lora exclaimed gleefully.

Tracey escorted Ashley and Lora out the front door, locking it as she left. The group started to walk down the street heading to the closest house. They meet other kids and joined them in the hunt for candy. Lora and Ashley were having a great time.

Meanwhile back at the Bellows house, the clock started to glow again. The adult male figure was glowing and Thomas’s name slowly appeared on an hourglass. Counterclockwise went the hands of time, as sand flowed upwards from the bottom of the hourglass. The years ticked backwards. No longer was Thomas 38 years old but 36 and still going back. The grey in his hair darkened back to its brown color. Winkles that had appeared recently, faded from his face. Sara came into the study, wearing a bath robe and panties.

“We have the house to ourselves”, smiled Sara.

“Ohh, we do don’t we”, smiled Thomas back.

They went back to kissing, Thomas’s hands roamed over his wife’s body inside the robe. Back with the clock, the adult female started to glow as well and Sara’s name appeared on the other hourglass. Her pregnancy was going in reverse, shrinking down in size. By the time they started making love, Thomas was 25 and Sara was 24. Daniel was now just a future gleam and the clock continued backwards slowly.

“Well girl’s its starting to get dark, we need to head back to the house”, said Tracey looking up at the sky.

“Okay”, sighed Ashley and Lora together, even though their bags were full of candy.

They walked back towards the house. It was not a long trip get to get back to the house, taking only about 10 minutes to do so. Tracey noticed that the bowl of candy was left outside with a note to take one.

“I see your sister didn’t want to hand out candy”, said Tracey opening up the door.

Once they entered, Tracey caught sight of Sara’s head behind the sofa. She also heard some moaning.

“Sara what are you doing!” , said Tracey firmly and with some volume.

Sara’s head turned and had a shocked look on her face, like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Tracey looked down at Lora and Ashley.

“Go up to your room I need to talk with your sister, better close the door”, explained Tracey.

Ashley and Lora followed Tracey’s order and went up the stairs to their room. Meanwhile Sara quickly pulled up her panties and covered herself with her robe. Tracey walked into the living room as caught sight of Thomas covering himself up with his hands.

“You were having sex with your boyfriend, that is very irresponsible of you. I thought you knew better than that. You are only 15 year old and too young to be having sex.”, said Tracey very loudly.

“You’re not my mother and I can do what I want”, shouted Sara back.

“I wish I was your mother, my daughter would never talk back to me like this”

The clock was still turning backwards and the years fell off of Thomas and Sara. By now Thomas had pulled on his pants and trying not to get involved in the argument.

“I was only kissing nothing more”, said 13 year old Sara.

“Still you had a boy over when your mother strictly said no.” said Tracey.

“But he’s my friend and we were watching TV.”, Sara explained in a higher-pitched voice, now only 10.

“I thought you wanted to go Trick or Treating with your sisters. They had a lot of fun.”, said Tracey in a more motherly tone.

“Tommy wanted to watch the Halloween special and asked me to stay”, said 7 year old Sara.

“I’m happy you wanted to stay and keep you sick brother company. Maybe next year we all can go out.”

“Can I be a witch too mommy, next year?”, asked 5 year old Sara.

7 year old Thomas went back to watching cartoons on the TV.

“Sure you can, sweety” smiled Tracey lifting Sara into her arms.

“Mommy, I feel better now”, said Thomas looking up at Tracey.

Tracey put the back of her hand on his forehead to feel how hot it was.

“You do feel cooler, I guess your fever broke”, said Tracey holding onto 2 year old Sara, now wearing a diaper. Sara was sucking on her thumb.

The hands of the clock slowed to a stop and returned to their normal direction. A glow left the toddler boy and infant girl on the clock while Sara’s and Thomas’s name vanished from the hourglasses. The year returned back from where it stopped and now Tracey was nursing a 1 year old Sara while little 2 year old Thomas squirmed on the sofa.

“What’s wrong, Tommy?”, asked Tracey.

“Me dipee stinky and itchy”, said Thomas looking up at Tracey.

“I’ll change you as soon as Sara is done nursing or your father will if he gets here before she’s done.”

Ashley came into the room wearing her PJ’s. She had a smile on her face.

“Mommy, I put Lora to bed like you said.”, explained Ashley proud of herself.

“Oh Ashley dear, can you change you brother’s diaper, I’m kinda busy with your baby sister at the moment.”

“Eww he pooded”, Ashley said pinching her nose.

“There are fresh diapers over there and some baby wipes”, said Tracey pointing to the corner as she moved Sara to her other breast.

“Tick tock pwetty”, squealed Thomas as he spotted the clock on the mantel.

“You need changing, no time to look at the funny clock”, said Ashley picking up Thomas and carrying him to the diapers.

“Hmm, I don’t remember buying that clock, maybe Jeff did. It sort of gives me the chills looking at it.”, pondered Tracey. “That’s strange, why is my name on the hourglass”

The clock started to glow again.

The End????

 

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