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### The Box and the Clock

The nightmare

By Abdul QayyumPublished 21 days ago 5 min read
### The Box and the Clock
Photo by Eric Tuazon on Unsplash

### The Box and the Clock

The room was resplendent, an antique from a bygone period where craftsmanship was an craftsmanship, and each piece told a story. Overlaid backdrop, perplexing crown molding, and rich, velvet wraps surrounded the windows. A fantastic chandelier hung from the ceiling, its gems catching the evening sun and casting rainbows over the dividers. However, in the midst of all this splendor, my eyes were settled on the granddad clock within the corner. Its pendulum swung systematically, and with each swing, a profound, resounding chime reverberated through the room. “Bong, bong, bong.”

I couldn't keep in mind how I had come to be here. It was as if I had woken from a dream, pushed into the center of a scene that felt painfully commonplace however covered in secret. Three considerations crystallized in my intellect:

I knew this house, I had to discover the box, and time was slipping absent.

A surge of energy surged through me, warming my body with a blend of expectation and criticalness. This house, with its overly complex corridors and covered up niches, held insider facts I was ordained to reveal. My fingers brushed the mantelpiece, looking for a covered up lock or button. Doubtlessly, there must be a few concealed components. But the shelf uncovered nothing.

Resolute, I moved to the bookshelf, tipping the edges of the well-worn, overlaid volumes. They, as well, advertised no clues. Disappointment started to bite at the edges of my intellect. I stopped, squeezing my hand to my brow, willing myself to keep in mind. Where have I looked recently? How near had I come? My recollections were a foggy labyrinth, darkened by the tenacious ticking of the clock.

I couldn't stay in the past. The clock's resolute ticking encouraged me forward. I scoured the room, lifting cardboard boxes, peering behind overwhelming window ornaments, and running my fingers along the ivy-covered backdrop, its gold-leaf filigree a confirmation to the house's previous eminence. Each endeavor felt progressively frantic, and I may feel the sands of time slipping through my fingers.

At last, I stood for some time recently, a huge reflection. A sudden motivation struck me. I amplified my hand towards the glass, and to my awe, it undulated like water. Without faltering, I dove my arm through, finding it to be an entry. One room down.

I climbed through the reflection and found myself in another sitting room, similarly amazing and filled with potential stowing away spots. This got to be a design:

room after room, floor after floor, each with its own covered up entryways. I found entries in closets lined with hide coats, behind untrue dividers, and underneath the shadows of staircases. Each disclosure brought me closer, and the house appeared both interminable and limited, a labyrinth with a slippery conclusion.

After what felt like hours, I came to a center at the best of a tall turret. My heart dashed, a wild drumbeat in my chest. I knew, with a certainty that was nearly supernatural, that the box was here. The room was showered in moonlight, the night sky an embroidered artwork of stars surrounded by the angled windows. Ivy crawled along the dividers, and the discussion was sharp and cold.

At the distant conclusion of the room, a window seat called to me. In spite of the fact that I filtered the room out of commitment, my center remained settled on the seat. I drew nearer it, heart in my throat, and ran my fingers along its edges until I found a covered up crease. With shaking hands, I carried the cover.

Within the haziness underneath, the box lay holding up. Its surface was cool, the steel smooth beneath my fingertips. I pulled it free, clutching it to my chest. A triumphant smile spread over my confrontation, but it was rapidly tempered by an interesting realization. I had been here some time recently, holding this exceptional box, however I had no memory of what it contained. How can I not remember?

Deciding to at last reveal its insider facts, I carefully opened the top. The substances were covered in shadow, and as I looked inside, the room around me started to obscure and break down. Freeze seized me. Not once more, I thought. I had to see, had to know.

But some time recently I seem to completely see what lay inside, the scene blurred totally, and I found myself lying in my possessed bed, soaked in sweat. I was awake.

For days, the dream frequented me. Each night I returned to the house, remembering the same arrangement of occasions with expanding edginess. Each time, I came so near, as if it were to be pulled back to reality some time recently I may uncover the box's substance. It got to be a fixation, expending my contemplations and coloring my days with an eager criticalness.

One evening, as I sat by my work area, turning the occasions over in my intellect, I took note of an ancient key among my possessions. It was new, however something around its shape activated a memory. I picked it up, feeling its weight, and turned it over in my hand. Seems this be a clue, an unmistakable association to the dream?

That night, as I floated off to rest, the key was clasped firmly in my hand. I found myself once once more within the lavish room, the granddad clock chiming its tenacious melody. This time, the key was with me, a consoling weight in my stash. I moved through the house with a recharged reason, the steps feeling more certain, the covered up sections more recognizable.

When I at long last came to the center, the moonlight showered the room in its ethereal gleam. I drew nearer the window seat, lifted the cover, and there it was—the box. With trembling hands, I embedded the key into the bolt and turned it. The cover sprang open, uncovering its substance at final.

Interior was a take observer, complicatedly created and still ticking, its hands moving in reverse. Nearby it was a letter, yellowed with age. I unfurled it with care. The words, composed in a sensitive script, examined:

"To open the past, you must begin with grasping the display."

As I held the observer, time appeared to stand still. The haze of overlooked recollections lifted, and I caught on. The box and the clock were one and the same—an update that time's passage is both straight and patterned, a steady stream that can be explored with the proper key.

In that minute, I got up, the key still clutched in my hand. The dream had at long last given up its mystery, and I was free.

Short Story

About the Creator

Abdul Qayyum

I am retired professor of English Language. I am fond of writing articles and short stories . I also wrote books on amazon kdp. My first Language is Urdu and I tried my best to teach my students english language ,

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    Abdul QayyumWritten by Abdul Qayyum

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