The Clock

Part 3

One Two Three Four!

My clock won't be ticking anymore!

Five, Six, Seven, Eight!

I'm on time, but it's too late!

Franklin G. Harlcore threw open the front door to his house, stumbled inside, dropped to the floor, and started sobbing. He had kept it bottled up for the duration of his surprisingly easy escape, but he could not keep it in any longer. Megala was dead, and he felt he was the cause. She had been ready to submit which would have meant he would have lost her to them, but they could have healed her, and she would have been much happier. Franklin had been greedy because he didn't want to lose his friend and felt it would have hurt even worse to see her walking around brainwashed and not recognizing him. He wasn't so sure now. How could anything hurt worse than this?

He punched the leg of his couch so hard that he could hear several cracks. At least one of them, he was sure, was his hand carapace, but he didn't even give it a second thought. The tears continued to flow as he remembered how she always smiled at him even when he said something stupid. Never once did she look at him as something less than an equal.

Tiiiiiiiiiiickk Tiiiiiiiiiiickk.

It was his clock! It was still running, but barely. Instinctively, he jumped up and gave the owl a couple of good cranks. The ticking resumed to normal.

"The clock?" he wondered aloud. "I could talk to her and explain how sorry I am that she is dead. She would understand."

He grabbed the left candle and lit it. As always, it's formerly copper body began transforming into what appeared to be an actual owl. The feathers, blossoming into vibrant brown orange and white, once again gave off that life-like appearance. Franklin G. Harlcore looked at it and hesitated, antennae twitching.

"What if she is mad? What if she thinks I let her down? She had me come because she trusted me to be there for her, yet all I could do was send her a signal not to join, which got her killed. I could have, should have, jumped down and sacrificed myself. I know I'm not a fighter, but maybe I could have gotten in the way enough for her to get away."

"Who?" The Owl asked.

"Who? What do you mean who? Who else. . ." Then he remembered his mother. She would know what to do, but she would also be furious with him for what he had done. He had trusted a human and nearly gotten himself killed. Humans will always betray you in the end. Megala didn't betray him though. She always believed in him, and it was he that let her down.

"Who?" The Owl asked again.

"I should apologize." I'm a dirty little roach of a man, and I should tell her, so she knows I didn't mean for her to die, but she did die. She wouldn't have been happy, though. It should have been her decision. She took me along for a reason. I'm pretty sure the reason wasn't for me to get her killed. I didn't want to get her killed, she was my friend."

"Who?"

"I should tell Mother she was right. I should never go out. Every time I go out, look at what happens. This was my chance to prove to her that humans can be good. Megala was good. Maybe she'll only scream at me for nearly dying and not because I had a friend" Again, his mind wandered to the vision of Megala's body practically eroding in front of him, and him being paralyzed before it.

"Run." Someone, a guard perhaps, had shouted.

Franklin had run after that and gotten away. Had the guard willingly sacrificed himself to save Franklin? Did he believe in him for some reason? Surely that guard was dead now. Perhaps. . ."

"Who?"

"Be quiet. I'm thinking." He snapped at the clock. He didn't mean to, but he was sad and angry and didn't know what to do. He could talk to all of them, but Mother wouldn't like that because she wanted to be the only one, Megala wouldn't like that because she would want Franklin to experience the world and not waste his time in front of a magic item, and the guard wouldn't like that because he did what he did because he believed in Franklin and Megala, not because he would want praise or questions in the afterlife.

"Who?"

It was so tiring watching and worrying about the clock, part of him had always wanted his life back. There was a reason he never wanted to figure out the pattern, and it wasn't because he was stupid. It was because part of him had hoped it would stop, he just didn't have the guts to willfully do it.

"Mother will be angry." he thought, but thanks to the clock, he knew there was an afterlife, and he would see her again.

"Megala won't get her apology." He'd see her when he died, and he could apologize and tell her all about his adventures then. 

And the guard. Well, his brave actions spoke louder than words ever could.

"Who?" The Owl asked one final time, and Franklin blew out the candle, picked the clock up, and smashed it on the ground.