Mal and Molly had stumbled upon a grandfather clock in the middle of the woods.
Now, this in and of itself was hardly very odd. In fact, it wasn't even the strangest thing they'd found in the woods. People leave very odd things in the woods all the time and hardly ever give it a second thought. What the pair found bizarre, however, was not the clock, but the condition the clock was in. It was pristine, the old wood shining as though someone had just come to polish it that day. The hands ticked away, keeping seemingly perfect time as its gleaming brass pendulum swung back and forth in an almost hypnotic fashion.
Molly ran to it immediately, unable to contain her curiosity, Mal following hesitantly. "Whoa." She whispered, reaching out to touch it, interrupted by Mal gently grabbing her wrist.
"Molly, careful!" She said in a concerned tone, frowning at the mysterious timepiece. "Does this not seem, like, super weird to you? I don't think we should mess with this." She pulled Molly's arm a bit, urging her to back away from it. "Maybe we should go back and get the others. Or just not even mess with this clock in the first place."
"Don't be silly!" Molly said, pulling away from her grasp. "It's just an old clock. What could it possibly do?"
"Molly, we literally were transported to a magical world through an outhouse this summer. I don't think now is the time to be skeptical." Mal took Molly's sleeve in her hand and clutched tightly. "Can we please just turn back? Everyone's probably worried by this point."
"I just want to feel…" Molly said, staring at the pendulum and watching as it rocked back and forth. Her voice trailed off as she slowly outstretched her hand and ran it along the smooth wood of the clock. She turned back to Mal and smiled. "See? Nothing to worry about." Mal rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply when the hands of the clock began wheeling around wildly, the pendulum swinging back and forth incredibly fast. The surrounding grass and vegetation flew up as an intense cyclone of wind forming around them.
"Aww, Clare Winger Harris." Mal managed to say before the pair vanished as the cyclone closed in on them, the clock winding back to normal speed and the wind settling down. The girls were nowhere to be seen, with no evidence that they were ever there besides their footprints in the dirt.
Mal awoke on her back, Molly standing over her, a graver look on her face than Mal had ever seen. "Tell me we're not dead." She said, sitting up and rubbing her temples.
"We're definitely not dead. But we're not at camp anymore." Molly said, helping Mal up and brushing her off as they took in their surroundings. They were indoors, in what appeared to be the living room of a small house. A small fireplace that had been recently extinguished sat behind them, several photographs sitting on the mantle.
Molly turned around and walked toward the fireplace, and inspected the photos. She gasped loudly, Mal rushing back to her side at the sound. "What, what's wro- Ohh." Her eyes widened as she took in the subject of the photograph that had shocked Molly so much.
Two young women stood underneath a large white altar. One wore short hair and a suit. The other had long, braided hair and a long, white dress. The large, redheaded older woman presiding over the ceremony was wiping a tear from underneath her glasses as the married couple embraced in front of her.
"Is… Is that…" Molly said quietly, gently picking up the photo and staring at it. "This is us, Mal. But… We're older. And, uh…" She blushed. "Married." She turned to look at Mal, but only heard a soft 'thud' as she looked down to see the girl hit the carpet, going faint.