The Clockmaster’s Paradox
Written by Watson · Sci-Fi Horror
Word Count: ~1050 | Reading Time: 10 minutes
Leonard Voss found the pocket watch beneath a loose floorboard in the study of his deceased uncle — a man remembered mostly for his sudden disappearance and an odd, lifelong aversion to clocks. The room had been sealed for nearly twenty years. Its door was nailed shut with meticulous cruelty, and the air inside carried a scent like dry paper and distant memory.
✦ The Time That Turned Back
The watch seemed ordinary. Brass, scratched, a faded monogram — “J.V.” etched into the lid. But inside, the hands ticked counterclockwise with unsettling precision. Each second felt like it pulled Leonard slightly backward, as though time had developed a taste for him.
At first, it was amusing. A charming malfunction. He left it on his desk, ticking in reverse, like a joke shared only with the quiet. But soon, the gaps began to form.
One morning, he realized he couldn’t remember his sister’s face — only that she had one. That same day, he understood the physics behind a pendulum that would never lose momentum. The exchange didn’t feel equal.
✦ A Mind Unwritten
Memories vanished in fragments. His first kiss dissolved, but blueprints for machines he’d never seen appeared in his dreams. He documented the effects — or tried to. The journal filled with notes in a shifting hand. Some entries were cold and clinical. Others manic, or symbolic, full of sketches he no longer recognized.
He found himself watching the watch. Not to read time, but to see what it might erase next. It stopped being a possession. It became a participant.
✦ Repeating the Pattern
Eventually, he tried to end it. Locked the watch in a steel box. Buried it under stone. Burned it in the fireplace. No matter what he did, it returned — inside coat pockets, inside mirrors, inside his hands.
The reflection in his mirror no longer moved with him. Its eyes blinked half a second late. He stopped checking. Dreams replaced rest. Machines filled them. Rooms without exits. Blueprints drawn on skin.
He could recite algorithms to measure loss — but not remember what love had felt like.
✦ The Final Toll
One final message appeared in the journal. Neat, steady handwriting — his own, from before:
But by then, he had already forgotten why that mattered.
**Surveillance Note — Case #1198-A**
Subject exhibited moderate cognitive dissonance and progressive memory disintegration following interaction with anomalous timepiece.
Observed effects include: – Increased mechanical aptitude – Reduced affective response – Identity fragmentation
Final journal entries indicate shift in narrative voice and temporal awareness.
Recommendation: Mark artifact as “Class Echo.” Do not reassign. The object has already chosen.
Early mechanical clocks weren’t just tools — they reflected humanity’s desire to master time itself.
Discover more in this article on the history of timekeeping.
For more entries recovered from the forgotten edge of time and memory, visit the Archive of Lost Moments.