64 Hours

22 H0urs

~the twenty second hour~

"Time limits are fictional. Losing all sense of time is actually the way to reality. We use clocks and calendars for convenience sake, not because that kind of time is real." -Leslie Marmon Silko

"Excuse me, sir, but you're not allowed to be here," A hushed voice appeared from behind me. 

I leapt to my feet and spun around with bloodshot eyes. I thought that his voice was just my imagination over the sound of ubiquitous ticking clocks, but there was a man. He was wearing the customer service t-shirt and looked like one of the staff people back in the library. 

Surely this couldn't be Unknown. Right?

Nevertheless, I staggered backwards, bumping into a grandfather clock. I whirled around to face the wall of clocks once again. There were different styles, some metal and modern, some old and wooden, some small and some big, and some digital and some not. Their ticks were overwhelming me, and it was impossible to not know the time. 

For one hour - one god damn hour - I was locked in this hellhole, brooding in the middle of all those ticking clocks. Just think for a second, metally, what it does to a human to listen to a cacophony of the same sounds. Right until this person somehow unlocked this place. 

"You...why...who are you?" I gasped, my back pressing against the wall of clocks. However harmless he looked, I revealed my gun out nonetheless and held it up eye-height. It was pointed at the man's chest, who now cowered in the corner with his hands flying up. His eyes were stretched out with fear, and his clearly hairy arms were prickling. The trepidation in his stance was clear; yet I still didn't trust him.

"How did you unlock the door?" I demanded, sounding stronger than I felt. I kept the gun pointed at his direction.

"The-the key was in the hole...and it wasn't supposed to be locked," The man stammered, and for a second I felt bad for him. But the second passed. 

"Who locked it? Did you push me in here?" I growled, waiting for an honest reply. I swear, if he did-

"No, sir, please don't shoot." He begged, putting his hands behind his head as if he was trying to blot out the sounds. 

"Why does this room even exist?" I began to shout, unable to control myself. The sounds of the clocks seemingly became louder, but I could no longer tell the difference between volumes at this stage. 

"It's a back-up room, we keep storages here! Someone donated us all those clocks."

"Who? Who donated them?"

"I don't know, sir," he whimpered imploringly. 

"Ugh!" I snarled in frustration, putting my hands over my ears. When the man saw me snap away my gun, he wasted no time standing there. With one quick move he spun around the corner of the door. I yelled at him and stood outside the door, finally out of that wretched room, but the man was already hastily sprinting out of the door, shutting it with a thud. 

If someone locked it now, I was going to commit suicide. I ran faster than I ever did before down the floor, my gun and phone in my hands, and stopped so abruptly that I crashed into the door. I felt relief flood through me when the door opened, and I risked a glance over my shoulder to look at the empty hallway. 

I just broke Unknown's game rules. What if Bella was still there? 

Suddenly the ticking sound of the clock's ran through my head, and I dashed out the door within seconds and slammed it shut. Then, once again, I was back from the nightmarish world and back in the library. 

Thankfully it was empty, otherwise I would've been reported for how bedraggled I looked. I had a vital gun poised in my grasp, red eyes, dark eye bags and crimson ears. I quickly stuffed the gun down my huge pocket and looked around for no reason. 

I walked down the row of books while checking my phone, absorbing the silence. It was extraordinary, the quiet. I felt like I could finally breath in the open.

No new messages from Unknown. 

"Mom, I just need the last book, Light, to complete the collection! Please, it's totally worth the forty dollars. Please please please!" 

My body jerked in response to the sudden wail that rose and interrupted the silence. I blinked rapidly, looking around from where the voice came from. It couldn't be, could it? 

"Bella! Bella? Aria!" I screamed, ignoring the glares and hushes from people around me. I felt sweat run over my skin, and the hairs at the back of my neck began to tingle - but in a good way.

"Addie?" Her voice came again, and in an instant I felt a weight on my shoulders. I twisted around to see it was actually Bella Cara hanging on my shoulder blades, clinging on to me determinedly. 

What the hell? 

"Bella, God, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?" I gasped, running my hands through her hair after I set her down and checking her body for wounds. However, Bella looked the same as usual in her plain black gothic outfit, jade eyes and vibrant glowing brown hair. 

She giggled uneasily. "Why wouldn't I be? I could be better if you can get me this book that Mom isn't letting me get."

"Where's your mother, Bells?" I asked hurriedly, my words jumbling up so quickly that I had to repeat it for her. Just that second Aria came from behind a stack of books, holding a whole tower of thick novels in both hands. 

"Adam? Where the hell were you?" Aria gaped at me from behind the pile of books. She set them down and joined Bella and I. "You were gone for more than three hours!" 

"And you stayed here for three hours? Where you here all along?" I caught hold of my sister's thin wrist and stared deeply into her eyes, hoping to get the answer that I wanted. 

"What do you mean? We were waiting for you. I got Bella some food and we came back. What are you playing at, Adam? How could you leave us here for this long?" 

I almost fainted from relief. Unknown was a filthy liar all along, and I should've known. He never tortured Bella. He didn't even come close to her. That picture was probably a fake, or a zoom, but he had been here. He tortured me with lies, trapped me in rooms, almost made me want to go deaf...and he had crossed the line, as usual. 

I almost cried tears of relief, but I held it in. "Why didn't you answer my calls?"

"I left my phone in the car to charge. Now do you mind telling me where you went?"

I swallowed and didn't quite meet her eyes. It's the same cycle. Do something secretive, and spout out lies. And when the lies aren't convincing, lie even more. 

"Let's just get out of here."