Clock Tower 3
Chapter Two: Fantaisie Impromptu
For a few minutes, Alyssa remained where she was, giving her clothes time to dry a bit. Having been gone for three years, it was nice to sit on this sofa in the common room like she had done before, but right now wasn't the best time for reminiscing. After all, her mother was still missing, and that dark man was still lurking around somewhere… but what could she do about any of that on her own? Without heading back into the main area of the house, her only options were her own room, her mother's room, and her grandfather's room.
Alyssa's own room would be a waste of time, and she didn't have a key to her grandfather's room, leaving only one choice. So she got off the sofa, and walked through the nearby door into her mother's room. It was possible that her mother had left a note or something for her there in case she came home, since it was one of the only places where certain creepy lodgers couldn't get to, but there was nothing. The room was immaculately clean, but there was no waiting piece of paper on the dressers, or anywhere else in plain sight.
There was a phone, however, sitting on the nightstand next to the bed, but as if some kind of cruel cliché was playing out, there was no dial tone when she picked up the receiver. Figuring that the storm must've knocked out the telephone line or something, she hung up the receiver, and realized two very important things when she sat on the bed. The first was that even if the phone was working, she had no idea who to call. Her mother didn't have a mobile, not that there was even service for one in this area, and who else could she call, the Police? The dark man hadn't actually done anything to hurt her, and unfortunately… being creepy was not a crime.
The second thing that Alyssa realized was that she had sat down on something hard. It was flat, but nothing like what a mattress should've felt like, so she stood up and pulled back the blankets, revealing that there was a book underneath. It looked pretty old, and she was just starting to open it to a page where something large had been used for a bookmark, when a sudden sound of music made her jump. It was loud and clear, the classical kind of piano music that her mother listened to… but if she could hear it, then so could the dark man, and the girl didn't want him to know where she was.
Gasping as she dropped the book onto the floor, Alyssa rushed over to her mother's stereo, but when she opened the CD player, the disc wasn't spinning. The music was louder now, and seeming to come right through the walls, as if someone were playing as loud as they could, and that would've been fine… if there had been a piano in the house… which there wasn't.
"Where is that coming from?!" She yelled, hands over her ears as it became louder. "Who's doing that?! Please… please stop!"
The only thing she could think so do was retreat back into the common room, where there would be an extra set of walls between her and the music. It probably wouldn't drown it out completely, but it would at least give her a bit of a break, so she ran back through the door… and quickly realized that something was wrong. The good news was that the music had stopped, but the bad news was that she had not re-entered the common room.
Somehow the girl had made it outside of the house, and it was dark already… no, wait… this wasn't her family's property. There were buildings around, and the ground was covered in stone… it was a street… a city street, complete with a parked double-decker bus. The buildings were dark, as were the light poles, but thankfully the full moon allowed her to see the area around her. There were no people around to ask for help, and aside from a small canal that ran along the street, the only thing that caught her eye was a large poster that had been hung on a nearby wall, which read:
SOUTH LONDON CONCERT HALL PRESENTS
15th ANNUAL PIANO CONCOURS
CHRISTMAS EVE, 1942
"Nineteen Forty-Two?" Alyssa whispered as she looked at the shiny, almost reflective surface. "South London?"
Nothing about this made any sense. How had she gotten to this city from her mother's bedroom? Why was this city dark? Where was everybody? These questions sprinted through her mind, but then they were interrupted when a new sound reached her ears. It started quietly, but grew until she realized that it was an old air-raid siren going off. But those things hadn't been used for decades, so was it some kind of mandatory test like with the fire alarms at school? Alyssa was about to dismiss it as nothing, when she froze as another sound joined in with the siren.
Looking up into the sky, the girl could just barely make out the dark silhouettes of airplanes, but not just any airplanes. Old ones, a dozen of them slowly flying directly overhead, and now there was a strange kind of whistling sound as…
BOOM! Alyssa's thoughts were brought to a screeching halt as part of the nearby street exploded in a flash of orange light, and although it was a good distance from her, the force and surprise of it happening was enough to knock her off her feet. And it wasn't alone… soon the whole world seemed to shake to the sound of 'BOOM…BOOM…BOOM!', causing more flashes of light as the buildings and street around her were pulverized by this… bombing run?
Another nearby explosion caused her to dive over a fallen metal drum, and now the buildings were starting to burn, making her decide that it was time to leave. Quickly turning back the way she came, Alyssa's mind only had an instant to notice that the door she had come through was gone, before the bombing resumed. The force from the next explosion threw her backwards, and now the girl's ears were ringing too loudly to even hear herself scream as she scrambled to get away.
Crawling on her stomach, Alyssa rolled underneath the double-decker bus, getting into a fetal position, and not being at all ashamed of the tears coming from her eyes as the bombing continued. Scared to death that one of the bombs would hit the bus, she closed her eyes and covered her ears… but then it stopped. There were no more explosions as the airplanes could be heard moving further away, and soon the siren stopped as well, returning the city to the silent state in which she had found it.
The crackling of burning fires could still be heard when she finally found the courage to come out of hiding, and now most of the street had been decimated. There was, however, a small building that had remained untouched, and even though the curtains were drawn, Alyssa could see that there was a light on inside. The painted sign above the door read: NORTON'S TAYLOR, with the words CHRISTMAS SALE above some of the suit jackets that were sitting in the darkened display area, but the girl didn't care about any of that, just as long as someone was inside who could help her.
Not wanting to stay outside in case the bombers came back, she ran across the street, and tried the door. It was unlocked, so Alyssa pulled it open, and ran inside, shutting and locking it again just as quickly. Realizing how awkward it was for some strange girl to come barging into someone's place of business, especially after hours, she turned around while trying to come up with some kind of explanation, but didn't have to once she saw that once again… no one was there.
"Hello?" She called out. "I'm sorry to barge in like this, but… is… is anyone there?"
There was no response, but she still needed both answers and help, so Alyssa stepped further into the room. It was clearly a Taylor's shop; display mannequins were placed around the main area, and behind the counter were racks of suits and dresses that were ready to be picked up. It was no longer shocking to find that all of them were old fashioned, like everything else in this city, and as much as it hurt her sanity to suggest… it was like she had been somehow been transported back to World War II.
But that was impossible. Regardless of German bombing runs, and old style… everything, she could just not accept that she had somehow discovered time travel. Now what she needed was some proof that she was still in her own time, and that proof came in the form of something that she spotted on the counter next to the till. It was a newspaper, which of course would have a recent date on it, so Alyssa walked up to the counter, and looked at the front page.
LONDON EVENING POST. Friday, December 25th, 1942
CHRISTMAS TRAGEDY: YOUNG PIANIST BRUTALLY MURDERED
May Norton, age 12, was found murdered in the Norton's Taylor shop. Store Manager, Jane Stride, discovered the victim when she came in to open the store for business, finding the young girl on the stairs, unconscious and bleeding from the head. A preliminary autopsy has revealed that it was an instantaneous death, caused by a blow to the skull with a heavy, blunt object. No suspects have been named.
The victim had taken part in the 15th Annual Piano Concourse at the Victoria Hall just the previous evening. A consummate pianist, Miss Norton was widely tipped for first prize, but an unfortunate error in the final part of her performance prevented her from taking the crown. May had been living at home alone, since her father, Lieutenant William Norton of His Majesty's Home Guard, returned to the front in July.
"Oh, how dreadful." Alyssa commented as she finished reading the article. "The poor girl… what kind of monster would do such a thing?"
Suddenly a scream rang out from upstairs, followed by the sound of objects and furniture being thrown around and smashed. It sounded like a little girl who was screaming, and mixed in with it, was the sound of laughter. Deep, enraged laughter that almost drowned out the little girl's screams, and although frightened by the commotion, Alyssa wasn't about to just leave whoever that was to her fate. So she ran back across the main area of the shop, and had just reached the bottom of the stairs, when the first door at the top was thrown open as a little girl came reeling backwards through it.
She hit the wall, only to bounce off, leaving a splattering of blood as she stumbled backwards toward the stairs, and then she fell, leaving more blood as she slid to a stop about halfway down. Alyssa was frozen by the sight of this, and even more so when she got a good look at the girl's face. She looked just like May Norton… a wound to the head… found on the stairs… killed instantly.
Was this May Norton? Had she just witnessed the murder that was in the newspaper? No, that couldn't be… could it? Either way, this girl on the stairs was dead for certain, but there was no more time to react or even think, as another figure stepped through the upstairs door. The much bigger form of a man… a man wearing a kind of makeshift executioner's hood over his head… and carrying a blood-soaked sledgehammer.
"That's right… I killed her." He laughed, pointing to the girl with his hammer. "Now she is mine forever… and so are you… Alyssa."
