Till The Clock Strikes Gone

o6 | moonvale

The town of Lunavale or as it was often referred to as 'Moonvale', didn't have many places to be viewed through the eyes of an architect. It was a simple town, with a clock tower standing as tall as a brave soldier in all his glory. The people of Lunavale were another bunch of simpletons; their daily routine was that of an average man without much social life. They liked to maintain their company amongst themselves, although they considered themselves welcoming to 'Outsiders'. However, they liked to keep their personal life in between their own.

Their social gatherings consisted of backyard get-togethers and weddings. The other gatherings that happened outside these two were thrown by teenagers and young sleuths. The only other time you would find them together sharing a part of each others' life was when they buried one of their own in the Lunavale cemetery. You would almost find the entire population of two thousand gathered to grief for someone they didn't even know the name of because they cried not for the man, but for everything else he had left behind.

Right across the graveyard, was the Fell Forest, named after the first mayor of the town, Andrew Fell. It was a forest filled with every kind of tree, plants, birds, and animals. On underneath, one sycamore tree lied William Ray, unnoticed by the entire town as no-one chose to walk that dark path at night. He lied there, unconscious. His blue shirt was torn along with his trousers and his feet were bare. His dishevelled hair did little justice to his handsome face and though he looked calm and serene in a view like this, he was about to be opposite of that.

William opened his eyes, they were heavy and it took him a lot of struggle but he managed to. The first thing he noticed was the moon shining right above his head. He put his hands to his sides, pressing his palm on either side of his body and the rough patch of grass made him hurtle up to sit straight.

He looked around, breathing fast and heavy, his heart was playing a bewildered tune and he felt like he was about to die from a stroke. He placed a hand on his chest as he tried to calm himself down. He couldn't understand where he was or how he got there; the last thing he remembered was breaking the mason jar with the ridiculous black box.

(Find me!)

He couldn't remember what had happened next.

(Find me!)

The words were echoing in his ear but he struggled to put them into context.

(FIND ME)

He was supposed to find someone, and then suddenly, everything clicked into place. He remembered. He remembered his father-in-law telling him those very words before everything went dark. He got up and struggled to stand straight. His knees were wobbly and he had a headache. A mind-bending headache.

He looked around as he ran a hand through his hair. There was no soul in sight. He was clearly in a forest. He could see that and he tried to focus, to hear something. Anything.

Then he heard. He heard the sound of a truck and the honk of a car. He closed his eyes trying to find the direction from where the sound was coming from. It was near, which meant he wasn't that deep into the forest. He looked to his West from where the sounds were greeting his ears and started walking towards the direction. He tumbled and tripped but he managed to not fall and kept walking. He walked and walked for how long he didn't know but soon he saw a sight which relieved him.

There was a road, a thin trail of the path opened straight into a road. A road where a man with a bald head was standing in front of his truck speaking to another man. William walked briskly towards them, happy at the sight of humans in this unknown place. He reached them, crossing the trail of weeds and stepping onto the side of the road, right behind the men. The rustle of leaves under his feet made them look at him, distracting them from the heated conversation they were having which could be concluded from their expressions. To William's eyes, it appeared as if the man with the car had hit the other man's truck and both were throwing the blame at each other.