Author: Hemakshi Khanchandani, Class X C
As I stepped out of the old clockmaker’s shop, everything stopped. People stood like statues all around me. People in cars, men on bicycles, babies in prams, all lifeless, frozen in time. I felt a shiver run down my spine.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows. He wore a chain whose appearance resembled that of a pocket watch.
”You’ve been chosen,” he whispered.
Chosen for what? I wanted to ask. But my voice was trapped in my throat, a result of grave fear. The mysterious figure handed me a pocket watch. “Wind it”, he instructed me, his voice distorted.
I then turned the dial, and everything around me began to unfreeze. I looked down, but there was no sign of the unknown shadow. People walked past me, running their errands, going on about their day, as if they weren’t frozen completely just moments ago. As if the world suddenly hadn’t tilted on its axis. I heard a voice whisper, “You’re the keeper,” its origin unknown. But I knew, deep down, what the truth was.
Time couldn’t be manoeuvred, yet I was now its master. I looked down at the pocket watch, its back engraved with an eerie message. ‘Time is now yours to control.’
