Chapter 1

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It seemed like an eternity before the minute hand moved downwards as if mocking the dreading watcher. With each passing day, the ticking sound of the clock seems to get louder and tonight it was torturous. The humidity in the room only contributed to the already depressing atmosphere.

Everyone but our clock watcher was occupied with something to keep their mind off the sweaty state they were in. Occasionally, she'd wipe off the sweat that had already formed on her forehead before they could touch her thick brows. Other than that, her dark green eyes remained on the clock and her sitting position remains unchanged.

Half an hour passed since her countdown and she barely blinked even when she heard the engine of his pick up truck tone down to a soft whistle. Everything around her was so still that she could hear the gravel outside crunch under his boots like chips. She stopped counting the moment he entered the house.

"9:32 pm," she utters.

The next few minutes upon the arrival of her husband, Betsey Johnson started shouting and hitting her husband while their oldest child, Max, coo his trembling sister, Marie to sleep in their bedroom. The clock watcher only moved when she heard Betsey demand that her husband gets out of her sight and not to return to bed until he didn't reek of card box and alcohol anymore.

The moment she heard the bathroom door close, she took her queue and left the kitchen and out of the house. She took a seat at the steps of the front porch and waited for the drunken being. After what felt like an eternity, he joined her.

"You're late, again."

"I'm very well, thank you for asking," Joe teased. When he saw her deadpan he chuckled and raised both hands up.

"You didn't start without me, did you?" He asks.

"She damn near took it away from me."

"Don't say damn."

"Ma says it all the time and so does Max."

"When your Ma says it, it's different and I'll have a word with Max. Why don't you take your book so that we can start reading?" 

She hated whenever Joe didn't give her a convincing answer but they were already late and she didn't want to waste any more time arguing. She came back with Harper Lee's classic, To Kill A Mockingbird, brought her knees to her chest, rested her chin on them and they spent the next half an hour reading.

"Joe, doesn't Boo Radley remind you of someone?" She asks when she realized his eyelids were starting to droop.

"There's no one I can think of, no." He says, yawning and stretching in the process. She puts the book down, cups the sides of her mouth and whispers into his ear. Her answer awakened Joe for that split second.

"How many times do I have to tell you, stop bothering-" She covers his mouth with her small cold palms. To say that he wasn't amused by the clock watcher's ability to make such a comparison would be a lie. However, he didn't want her to be encouraged by a character from a book and get into trouble for it.

"Don't say his name out loud Joe! He'll hear you." Her eyes lit up with excitement and mischief. She started scanning the premises and exhaled loudly when she was sure nobody was around.

"Alright, that's enough reading for tonight. Time for bed." He gives her a piggy-back until she is in bed, settles and tucks her underneath the beige sheet. 

He stayed around for a while. She took his ring finger and started to fiddle with his wedding ring. It was just a plain and simple silver band that meant the whole world to Joe but he just didn't understand why the 8-year-old in front of him was always so absorbed by it. Her brows eventually met and it didn't take long for him to know what it meant. If there was anyone in the Johnson household who could read her like an open book, it would be Joe.

"What is it this time?" His question startled her. Her green eyes glanced at the door. She contemplated asking the question on her mind but she knew that curiosity would eat her up and thus she wouldn't be able to get a decent sleep. It took her about 2 minutes before she decided to ask.

"Why don't you just tell her the truth, Joe? That you're just faking to be damn drunk all the time."

"Don't say damn. I would answer your question but it is way past your bedtime." He kept pulling the comforter over her until it touched her chin as if it would do anything to put the clock watcher to sleep immediately.

"You said lying was bad. Maybe if you tell Ma the truth, she wouldn't say all those things."

He clicked his tongue, reached for the table lamp and switched it off.

"Your Ma was just tired. She didn't mean what she said." He kissed her forehead and reassured her once more that everything was alright.

Just as he was about to leave, she called out to him and he walked back over to her bed. That was one of the many things the clock watcher liked about Joe. He never said things like bloody-hell or what is it now damn it whenever she calls for him.

"What is it?" He knelt beside the bed so that his blue eyes were levelled with her dark green ones. She smiles, exposing the faint dimples on both sides of her cheek and pulls out Joe's wedding ring from underneath her pillow. She cuts him off before he could ask how?

"I just want you to know that I'm still mad at you, I think. But I don't hate you." The last few words came out in a whisper. He knew that the last four words had nothing to do with coming home late but before he could even respond, the clock watcher was already sleeping.

"Sleep well Tyler."

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