The Burning Future
by: Dave Belas
In Transylvania, there was an old peddler with white hair. William was his name. He had a ragged face and wore dirty, baggy clothing. He lived in a one room apartment out in the middle of the woods. He was once a wealthy businessman until he went crazy one day at work. He was getting ready to finish his taxes, when suddenly he smashed a paperweight into his colleagues head. He was then arrested for murder and he served his time. When he got out of jail, he was 45, and he figured he would do something productive with his life. He chose to make clocks. He spent years mastering the art of making clocks. He made all different types of clocks, from tall slender clocks, to short, wide clocks. When he was 50, he thought that he had just about maximized his skills.
A year later, he left his shack in the woods and moved to an apartment just above a shop. He rented out the whole building. He then opened the shop where he would sell his clocks. His business was at first slow, but then the town had begun to marvel at his work. With the newly acquired fame, William figured he would have to better his clocks. So, he began to make clocks out of different materials. He made some out of metal, some out of plastic, and some out of silver. The new clocks then became a fad. People could not get enough of them. This worried William because he would have to work harder to make his clocks better.
On the 13th of July, a rich woman walked into his shop. She had flowing blonde hair and the face of a goddess. William stared in awe as she walked towards him. Suddenly, her facial expression became very stern. She went up to William and she scowled at him saying how his clocks were terrible and that he was a fake. "You bought all these clocks, you don't even know how to make a clock!" said the woman. "I am going to tell the whole town that you are a fake! You will be put out of business forever!" she scowled. William became enraged with anger. Then suddenly, a force came over him and he attacked the woman. He began to beat her with his bare hands. With each intense blow, her face slowly began to cave in. After twenty minutes of non-stop beating, William finally stopped. He then realized what he had done and that he must get rid of the body.
He knew that people were going to come looking for her because he figured she had family in the town. He picked up the shattered remains of her and brought them in the back of his shop. He stared at them for about forty minutes when he had an idea. "I've got the most ingenious idea" he said. "I will take this body and make it into a clock!" William then propped the body up on a table and began to shear the skin off the body. He then proceeded to cut the body into pieces. He then sorted the pieces according to size.
He then took the skinless torso of the body and used that for the frame. He then took two fingers and used them for the hands on a clock. He used the hair of the woman for the numbers. To complete the clock, he installed gears and a motor to make the clock work.
Having finished making the clock, he marveled at what he just created. He became completely obsessed with the clock. He came to the conclusion that he must start to make more of these clocks.
The next day, he prepared himself to make another clock. Under the counter, he hid an axe. His plan was to attack a person who was alone. About noon the next day, a middle aged man came walking in. He approached William and said "My lord, you make such marvelous clocks!" "Thank you" William replied. "Want to see my latest work?" William asked. "Of course" the gentleman said. "It's right here" William said. He then reached under the counter and grabbed the axe. He suddenly plunged the axe into the mans head. Blood splattered all over Williams face and over the walls.
William then took the body into the back room and began his clock making process. This clock was a grandfather clock with human parts on it. He took the remainder of the face and put it on the face of the clock. He then put the arms where they belong and the legs where they belong. He then came to the realization that he just made a man out of a clock. William then became adventurous.
For a year, William experimented with many different types of clocks. He made over 300 clocks that year. After gaining experience with his new "craft" he decided it was time for his final project, the human clock.
William found a clock about the size of an apple and he thought he would try to implant this clock into his body and wire it to his heart. This way, when his heart would beat, the second hand would move and thus give him the time. A very sick idea but William was after all…crazy.
On the 31st of October, William decided it was time to perform the surgery. He gave himself morphine to assure himself he wouldn't feel all the pain. He took a rusty knife and cut a hole in the center of his chest. He removed the chunk of flesh he just cut out and threw it on the floor. He then took the probes on the end of the clock and wired them to his heart. He then placed the clock in the hole and stitched himself up. As simple as it sounds, it worked! His surgery was complete as of 11:30 a.m.
William was amazed at the fact that his surgery was a success. At 11:45 he ran to the center of town to tell everyone. He started shouting how he has achieved a medical mystery and that he was going to be famous. Of course, no one believed him because he was known to be a crazy peddler. He ranted for about ten minutes trying to convince everyone, and then went home after no one believed him.
Doing more research on his procedure, William realized a major flaw in his operation. After attaching the clock, his heart would stop beating after the 24 hour cycle. That meant he would die at 11:30 a.m. on November 1st.
For twelve hours he labored away trying to find a way to fix his error. This brought the time to 11: 55 p.m. on October 31st. To his demise, he couldn't find a way to reverse the process. If he took the probes off, he would cause a murmur in his heart and he would die. He then fell asleep for six hours. This brought the time to 5:55 a.m. on November 1st. He awoke with much fear. There had to be a way, he thought to himself.
Again, William labored trying to find a way to fix his error. Still, he couldn't find a way. The time on the clock became 11:10 a.m. William began to grow very nervous. He stared at the clock for a minute or two then he made a daring move out of desperation. He wound the hands on the clock back. After he let go of the clock, the hands on the clock began to spiral backwards.
The time became 11:30 and William found himself still alive. He figured he had just made an error and that he wouldn't die. He then got ready to leave his shop to go and find something to eat. He got his coat and hat and put them on. He then opened the door and proceeded outside. When he went outside he noticed something most bizarre.
William was in the middle ages. "What the devil?" William asked. "This can't be, I discovered a Time travel method?!?" "I must tell someone!" he said. William then ran all over trying to find a place to tell someone. He then found a small village.
He approached the village and told someone that he invented a way to travel through time. Everyone in the village stared at him blankly. They then summoned the knights to come take him away. William was then taken to the castle of the king.
"You have been brought before me because I have received complaints of your menacing behavior" the King said. "I invented a time travel method. I can prove it" William said. "TAKE HIM AWAY!" the King said. William was then thrown into a jail cell.
Later that night he was approached by a man and was read his last rights. "At dawn, you are to be hung by the neck until dead" the man said. "I didn't do anything wrong I tell you, I didn't!" William said. "I have to find a way back!" William thought to himself. The first thing he tried to do was move the hands on the clock in his chest. He did so……nothing happened. He then repeated that…..nothing happened.
Dawn slowly approached. The executioner came and took William out of his cell and brought him to the gallows.
The noose was then placed over William's neck and he was asked if he had anything else to say. "One day, you will all see the mistake you are making" he said. The executioner then pulled the lever and the floor dropped beneath William's feet. He thrashed for a few minutes then became still.
When he was taken down, the executioner brought his body to a field to be buried. When he was going to put the body in the hole, he noticed a lump in William's chest. He opened his shirt and saw that there was a clock in his chest. "Oh my, what have we done?" the man said. He then stared at the clock in William's chest. The clock stopped at 11:30, on November 2nd.
