He pulled out the pocket watch and looked at it again. He whispered to the clock but nothing happened. He paced it beside his bed on a bedside table and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.
He had another lucid dream one that was so real that when he woke up the following morning he could still recall it clearly. In the dream, he was approaching the same mansion where he had found the pocket watch. Outside the mansion were three cars, long abandoned and rusting. The street was also deserted and that was strange as it was a Saturday.
He decided to explore the creepy house and he approached the steps leading to the door. They creaked mournfully under his weight. As he neared the door it swung itself open silently. He took a tentative step inside and waited. When nothing happened he silently walked down the hallway expecting the door to slam shut but it didn't. Pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming he walked up the old rickety stairs lightly touching the aged and dusty wooden bannister.
He landed in the upper hallway and walked past the open doors silently as the floor was covered in a dark red carpet. Up ahead he saw another smaller flight of stairs and he approached them. He went up to them and stopped at the trapdoor. He slowly pushed it open and it swung up silently.
Howard crept into the old deserted attic. The early morning sun streaming into the attic through the slits in the wooden roof gave it a surreal look. He glanced around looking for a specific item.
His eyes settled on a dull grey metallic container and they lit up. Just as old father goose had told him. Now, with this item, he could pay off his debt and go enjoy a cold beer or two down at the pub. He lifted it off the dusty shelf blowing away the film of dust on it.
A peek though, couldn't hurt as his fingers traced the edge of the container. He slowly opened the box and gazed at the red velvet lining that was smooth to the touch.
He then turned his attention to the item in it. It was a dull grey timepiece, the same colour as the container.
The pocket watch fit snugly in his hand, its chain dangling. It had three buttons at the top. The clock face was transparent. Instead of it showing numbers it showed the internal workings of the clock. All the gears, cogs and wheels were visible. There were three hands and they were intricately designed. They all had what looked like shiny jewelled tips.
He flipped it over and was surprised to see an arch drawn on the back cover. It looked exactly like a Torii gate. Something clicked in his mind that this item was more valuable than he thought it was.
Even as that thought entered his mind, he felt the watch warm up slightly in his palm. The sound of a tick sprung forth from the watch itself. The gears started moving on their own accord. He watched in awe and surprise as he hadn't pressed any button.
He gasped as he saw a figure enter the attic. The figure looked around the attic and settled on the dusty shelf. It approached the shelf and slowly raised the metallic box from it, blowing away the dust.
Howard watched as the figure traced its hand along the edges of the box before opening it. It then hit him, he was watching himself replay the last few minutes.
The figure flipped over the watch and Howard gasped. Instead of there being a Torii gate he instead three Torii gates equidistant to each other in front of a cave. Howard stretched out his hand to take a closer look but his hand went through his former self.
The figure then vanished into thin air, leaving Howard alone. His heart was beating fast and he took a deep breath. He realised why he didn't recognise himself at first.
He looked way older and much haggard than now. About twenty years older. If he was right, then twenty years from now he would return to this exact time and spot to get the pocket watch.
Does that mean that he kept the watch? If yes, why did he hide it again? Why did he return for it? What were those Torii gates and what is their significance?
All these questions ran through his brain. However, if there was one thing, he now knew, he would keep the watch. He wasn't going to hand it to the old man.
"Howard, your friend is here!"
He woke up with a start, his heart palpitating wildly. He looked at his watch and saw it was just past nine in the morning. He sat up on the bed still dazed from the dream he just had. He felt around his neck expecting to feel a timepiece but nothing.
He slapped himself and gave out a painful grunt. Guaranteed that he was truly awake and not experiencing the earworm version of a dream he gingerly got to his feet.
After a quick shower and change of clothes he went downstairs to see Lynx biting a croissant that his mother had just baked. He acknowledged her presence and grabbed a teabag to brew himself a cup of earl grey tea.
"Where are you headed off to today?" Howard's mother asked Lynx.
Lynx swallowed the piece in her mouth and washed it down with apple juice, "I was thinking of showing him The Glades."
The Glades was an abandoned housing project that was towards the city limits, a few kilometres away. It was supposed to be a high-class estate catering to the upper-middle class and wealthy of the city. Elaborate townhouses and mansions had been built up in a few phases but the construction had reached a halt when a pocket of poisonous gas had infiltrated the estate and killed many workers before the cause had been discovered.
As usual, the story had been downplayed and a lid put on it except that the next pocket of gas discovered had been explosive. It had destroyed ten houses and the explosion had been loud enough to be felt in a nearby city. No amount of money could have gagged the media and it soon made international news. The developers had been forced to quit the project and now it lay in ruins like a ghost town. Not even the homeless dared spend the night there.
It was rumoured that the ghosts of the dead roamed the street and caused mayhem to any unfortunate soul brave or foolish enough to spend the night.
Howard knew all this but what he didn't know was that the owner of the project was Lynx's grandfather's main competitor. He was also behind the leaking gases scenario. It wasn't hard to transport and dump certain gases in the middle of the night. Neither did Lynx know, she wasn't privy to her grandfather's businesses nor had any interest in them.
Her only interest was animals and she wanted to become a vet when she finished high school. She had already talked to her favourite aunt about it and was promised she would help her along.
The three finished eating and Lynx helped to clear the table. Howard's father was still asleep as he had a late-night project he was overseeing.
The two then left the house and pedalled the few kilometres over to the estate.
"I had a strange dream last night," Lynx began, "That's the reason we are going to The Glades. Do you believe in gods?"
Howard shook his head, "They may exist and they may not exist. Let me play Angel's Defense and say yes they exist, what exactly is their role? Look at the multiple pantheons of gods throughout history, how comes they all have human characteristics? Take Zeus, he raped, drunk, killed, and got angry, wouldn't gods be above such things? I mean the Olympians were generally good gods."
"If those are gods then aren't they just a step above humans on the evolutionary ladder? In the same way to dogs and cats we may look like gods."
"Point of correction, cats are gods we are just their servants," she chuckled as she recalled the antics of Fluff and Bits her cats. Howard also laughed as he had owned two cats back in primary school and he knew the feeling.
"You have thought deeply about gods, well sometimes it is good to have an open mind though." She told him as they approached the black metallic swing gate to the Glades. The name was written in cursive between the bars of the gate.
She led him down the boulevard-style driveway past a few complete houses and several incomplete ones. They stopped outside a mansion and Howard's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Lynx and pinched himself.
"Are you okay?" she asked watching him closely.
"I had a dream last night, two actually and they featured this house or something similar to it." He wanted to continue but stopped and just looked at the building. It was exactly the same as he had dreamt down to the old rickety steps.
She pulled him up the house and he reluctantly followed her. He walked up the rickety steps, his only consolation was the fact that he wasn't alone. The two entered the dusty house. Sunlight filtered in through the large open windows illuminating the dust in the air.
The mansion was one of the complete houses in the area and the only thing that was left was moving in the furniture. However, in his dream he could recall seeing a few cabinets strewn in the living room as well as a bed in one of the rooms upstairs. They walked down the living room and reached the flight of stairs that led to the upper levels.
"I also had a dream about this exact house, but for me, I think I have to go downstairs to the basement. My dream was different though. We both entered the house but you went upstairs and I went down to the basement." She told him, "We'll meet down here when we are done."
She gave him a quick peck on his cheeks and skipped down the stairs. Howard frowned as in his dream the stairs only led up. He was also now curious and wary about everything. From the conversation about gods to how two people could almost have identical dreams.
He gingerly walked up the steps expecting anything to jump out at him. After twenty steps he got to the landing of the upper floor. He quickly paced down the hall not bothering to look at the doors on either side as his destination was the attic. At the end of the hall was a flight of steps leading up to the attic doo that he pushed open.
The late morning sun streamed in through the windows giving the room a warm orange hue. Dead centre of the room was a metallic box that scintillated from the rays of the sun reflecting off its shiny surface.
Something told Howard the sun didn't necessarily have to make the box sparkle. Sure enough, a cloud covered the sun for a few seconds yet the box scintillated. He approached the box warily taking small steps. He stopped directly in front of the box and bent down to pick it up. It felt warm to the touch.
He opened it, to see a red velvet lining inside. A purple linen cloth covered an object that made a bump under it. He knew exactly what it was. He pulled the watch and gasped.
The pocket watch was rustic silver in colour. It had a crow perched on a branch engraved on it.
He opened the lid to see the face had three miniature hands set on a background of what looked like a representation of the solar system. It showed all the planets in the solar system in a linear arrangement.
The hands were resting at midnight. On the side of the pocket watch was a simple button. He turned it over and the bird was staring at him, wings open ready to fly. He quickly flipped the watch to the other side, only to find the bird perched.
"How about we skip the whole charade and get straight to business," Howard told the watch. The engraved crow ruffled its feathers and at that moment several things happened.