Tick. Tock.
Time
Tick. Tock.
Kim Namjoo cried in pain.
Her body was burning up and her long nails clung onto the ivory white bed sheets. She opened her eyes a crack and winced at the pain. On her right arm, there were thousands, millions, billions, of black, parasite like bugs crawling out of a bump on her forearm. She began furiously scratching her arm, attempting to swat them off.
"Stop! Go away!" she screamed, her cries of help echoing throughout the wooden house in the middle of the forest.
Kim Sunggyu burst through the rotting, wooden door and held her down. He eyed her right arm, which was now red with scratch marks, and not a single bug, nor bump was seen. "Namjoo-ah, it's okay. There's nothing there."
The young female eyed her right arm yet again, to find nothing there but skin. She sighed in relief before her eyes involuntarily closed and she yet again fell into a deep slumber.
The male sighed loudly, covering his face with his pale hands. His hair was like a birds nest and his clothes were wrinkled as if he had slept in them. He had immediately woken up when he heard the screaming of Namjoo, and it wasn't the first time he had.
He took a quick glance at the clock. It was three o' clock, and judging by the amount of light outside, it was early in the morning. After covering the younger girl in two blankets, he made his way outside the small cottage and sat on the wooden stairs leading up to the door.
The stars were shining brightly, as if mocking his and Namjoo's misfortune. He just wished Namjoo hadn't been so curious. But things were meant to happen, it was fate. He suddenly wished that wishes were to be granted, so that her clock could be going at a steady rate, and so that they could live together, forever.
Tick. Tock.
It was black. Everything was black. All she saw was black, and truthfully, it didn't scare her. Everything was black and white for her, she had lost the ability to see color and taste things already. Hearing was next.
She could hear the sound of her clock ticking inside her head. The ticking had become slower than ever, and she was sure it was about to stop. It was close to the end for her. And soon, she would have the say goodbye.
Clocks appeared around her, and light shone from each one, blinding the girl. She winced in pain. Tick. Tock.
The clocks ticked at a normal pace, mocking her for her sin. She had sinned, and now, she was to atone for that sin. The clock collector was coming to get her, she knew it. It was only a matter of time, because her clock was to be taken away after stopping.
She had known the clock collector since young, they were best friends. They were born and raised before time even existed to them. They were born before night and day was explained, or before time had begun to become limited.
Namjoo feared it had come close to her time. She had sinned by measuring time, her own curiosity had brought it upon her. She had started with a branch that had fallen upon her head, and then began using ceramic bowls and water. Kim Namjoo had been the first to measure time, and that, was the greatest sin of all.
Tick. Tock.
Without the measure of time, Namjoo realized all too late, people wouldn't be in a rush. Without the measure of time, people wouldn't want time to be elongated just for them. Without the measure of time, the world would have been easier.
She had been punished by the Gods themselves, for measuring time. They had made her atone for her sin by imprisoning her in her own home and slowly, but surely, slowing down her clock. Her home, a wooden old cottage, itself was a clock, telling the time. It had reminded her of what she had done.
She was like Pandora. The tale of Pandora's Jar. Curiosity had gotten the better of both of them, leading them to their own demise. Now, Namjoo could do nothing to stop it, and she found that maybe, just maybe, it would be easier to die than be imprisoned in the hell hole known as her home for the rest of eternity.
Tick. Tock.
Kim Sunggyu put his right hand to his chest. He felt the steady beat of his heart.
Badump. Badump. Badump. Badump.
It was beating at a constant speed. He looked around cautiously, keeping guard, hoping the clock collector had not arrived yet. If he had arrived, he would not just stand for him taking away his beloved's clock.
Sunggyu was unique. In all of this world, he was the only one that had a heart. His heart beat constantly, and drummed against his rib cage. Unlike the other inhabitants, who had clocks in place of their hearts, he had a beating heart that pumped blood throughout his body.
"Kim Namjoo, my Alice of this Wonderland. Please, stay alive." Tears trailed down his cheeks as he wished upon a shooting star.
Tick. Tock.
Namjoo heard the clock ticking slower. It was probably her last two days, and she would soon have to say goodbye to Sunggyu.
"Kim Namjoo, long time no see." A voice echoed throughout the dark, slightly startling the said woman.
She had recognized the voice immediately and did not fail to show hostility. "Nam Woohyun. I didn't miss you at all." She said, almost mockingly.
"I assume you know what I'm here for." Namjoo read Woohyun's lips after suddenly losing the ability to hear. Namjoo merely grunted and smirked.
Kim Sunggyu stomped throughout the house and arrived in the room, right behind Nam Woohyun. "Namu." He whispered, recalling the clock collector's nickname throughout the land, meaning 'tree', for he was as stubborn and old as one.
The clock collector smirked, showing no sign of surprise. "It's nice to see you again, hamster, but I'm here to take your beloved's clock." He coldly replied, showing no signs of remorse.
The other man stared at him in betrayal. He was Namjoo's friend long ago, and now, he was her foe.
Namjoo grinned, reading their lips. "Then take my clock. Take it, Nam Woohyun. I dare you." She taunted, knowing he couldn't. Their years together had made him grow an attachment to the woman, and Namjoo knew that all too well.
The clock collector stared at her, and then looked back at Sunggyu. The man stomped away, leaving a trail of muddy footprints on the wooden floor.
Tick.
The next day, Namjoo woke to darkness. She opened her eyes slowly, but everything was still black. Her hands wandered to her eyes, feeling the lashes and eyeballs, they were open, yet everything was still black. Namjoo sighed. There were only a few senses left before she was gone for good.
"Sunggyu?" she called wearily, feeling around the bed for the said man.
There was nothing. No body resting next to her or vibrations of his steps along the floors. Everything was still, and it seemed awfully empty. "Sunggyu!" she called again, and now she was sure. He was gone, and she knew exactly where he was going.
Tock.
Sunggyu breathed heavily, the branches crunching and breaking as he ran along the floor of the forest. The large clock tower was far off into the distance, but Sunggyu wasn't going to give up just yet.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
He continued running despite the sound of people following him. Running. Running. Running.
"I suppose you're here," a voice said abruptly, making Sunggyu stop in his tracks to listen.
"... to see the clock collector?" another voice finished.
The twins stepped out of the shadows, smirking at the pitiful, dirty man. They clicked their tongues simultaneously, showing their distaste for a dirty man to enter their master's clock tower.
"Should when take him to Master Woohyun, Dongwoo?" one of them finally spoke and turned to the other.
The other, who was a spitting image of the one who spoke, replied, "I think we should, Hoya."
Then, Kim Sunggyu met the darkness.
Tick.
Kim Namjoo would have panicked if it weren't for her inability to see the emptiness, and being used to being alone. Many, many years before, Namjoo had been alone, sitting in her old wooden cottage, staring at the cracking walls. Until Sunggyu came along.
He was the only one in the country that had an actual beating heart, not a clock. Namjoo was fascinated, for everybody else had clocks. Their clocks were set to tick for a certain amount of years, and then slow down to a stop, and that was when the person disappeared.
The man needed a place to stay, and Namjoo offered him one. The two had lived together for the longest time, and yet Namjoo felt like it wasn't enough. She wanted more. More time with him. She wanted to be with him forever. And that was when her clock began drastically slowing down.
Tock.
He clicked his tongue loudly and stared at the dirty man, standing before him. "I suppose you're here to ask for me not to take her clock. I supposed you want to keep her heart with you forever so that she could be with you forever?"
Sunggyu nodded, keeping his mouth tightly shut and his hands in tight fists.
He scoffed, "What a petty peasant. You're just what I imagined you to be. And I'm sorry, although I truly am not, but it is against the law to do that, Mr. Heart. Now, a person like me, I would definitely not want to lose my position and become a dirty peasant like you."
After a hard hit to the back of his neck, he passed out yet again.
Tick.
She knew of his frequent visits to the clock tower, and she already made a conclusion as to what he was doing there long ago. Although he was doing it for her, she despised what he was doing. It was sickening imagining him bowing in front of the selfish, narcissistic Nam Woohyun.
When she felt the house shake from the door closing, she called out his name, her voice coming out weaker than it was meant to. His footsteps shook the floor, and the door silently opened.
She felt a warm hand on her face and she smiled. Feeling his warm was enough for her, now she could disappear in happiness knowing that her lover was safe and sound. A cold liquid met her cheek and trailed down her face.
"Kim Sunggyu, I love you so much, so much..." she whispered.
Then, she felt nothing. The warmth of his hand was gone, the smell of him was gone, the taste of fresh air was gone, the sight of his face was gone, the sound of his voice was gone, and she smiled.
Tock.
And then, she disappeared into dust, leaving only a small, broken clock behind.
fin.
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