On a bleak night in a small town, a young man hurried down an empty street. The man had on a patchy coat, worn out shoes, and it seemed that the only possession he had of value was a small pocket watch which he took out every so often for the comfort of its ticking. He was headed towards a run down shack, or a building that looked like a shack from the outside, but when he entered, his eyes were enamored with shades of orange and purple.
“Welcome friend! How can we assist you?” The barkeep shouted across the tables, drawing the eyes of those lounging around to the young man at the door.
He fiddled nervously with the chain of his watch and spoke, “I’m here for a favor.”
The barkeep made a face of recognition and nodded towards a narrow door tucked away in the corner.
“Thank you kindly.” The man quickly shuffled to the door, only stopping when the barkeep called for him.
“Just a warning, lad. Once ye open that door, tis awfully hard to close it,” and with a pitiful smile, he went back to his tasks.
Strange, the man thought as he opened the door with caution. That caution was quickly abandoned when his eyes took in the sight before him. The room was small and every inch of it was covered with elaborate cloths and quilts that had intricate designs on each. It would have been a complete eye sore to anyone with any sense of how colors or patterns worked. In the middle of the chaos, there looked to be a small table with pillows for chairs surrounded by little candles and a light hung overhead. And, sitting cross legged on one of the lilac cushions, was a man with long hair pulled into braids with closed eyes.
“Hello stranger,” he spoke with his eyes still shut. “How can I assist you?”
The young man, who was previously wondering whether or not he should take off his shoes so as not to track mud on the many rugs, quickly repeated the same words he had said to the barkeep earlier.
“I need a favor.” The sitting man finally opened his eyes and ushered for the stranger to sit across from him. The young man did as he was told, and as he sat, he noticed the man across from him had bent fingers. Now, this would have been fine by him if they weren’t bent backwards towards the sky instead of curling in like a normal hand.
“What is your name if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Jonah.” He shifted uncomfortably while his acquaintance set up an elaborate puzzle of cups and bowls filled with shiny black liquid that resembled oil without the smell, lighting a few in what could only be described as at random.
When he was finished, the man with his curly fingers spoke again. “So, Jonah. What is this favor that you wish for?”
“I wish for more time.” The man raised his brows. He was suspecting Jonah to ask for riches, given his appearance and tatery coat. He continued to stare at him, studying his face and his mannerisms. Jonah’s face was quite pale, his tired eyes searching around the room while his hands fidgeted impatiently with his pocket watch.
Leaning away from the table, the man with the backwards fingers asked, “Why do you need more time?” Jonah’s mouth twitched, not really wishing to continue a conversation with a strange man that he just met with strange hands that he did not want to look at.
“I do not want to speak about it with someone I don’t know.” The man smiled a smile that could have matched his curly fingers.
“Then let us become friends. Then you can answer my question and I’ll grant you your favor.” Jonah did not seem to like this one bit. He shifted nervously as he continued to fiddle with his watch.
“I have been recently diagnosed with an illness that I can not afford to cure. Now, will you give me more time?” The curling smile fell from the man’s face. He placed his hands on the table, much to Jonah’s disgust, and adding to Jonah’s discomfort, stared unblinking for what felt like ages.
Finally, having had enough of this one sided staring contest, Jonah spoke impatiently, “If you wanted to waste my time you have succeeded. Are you going to grant me my wish or not? I’ve told you what you wanted! Now it’s your turn to keep up your end of the bargain!”
“Oh?” The man said. “This was a bargain for you, Mister Jonah? You ask for more time and yet you are unable to give some back for a nice conversation with a stranger offering to help you.” Jonah’s face went red in shame. He looked down at his watch which filled up the silence with its quiet ticking.
“If you don’t have the funds to pay for your illness then why not ask for riches? Why time?” Jonah looked back up at the man, whose face was eerily calm.
“Because money is corrupt. It can make even the best of men into power hungry bastards. But time? Time is continuous like a circle. Time is forgiving.”
The man with the curling fingers nodded his head in understanding. “So you believe that time won’t betray you the way riches would?”
Jonah shrugged, “it will probably betray me in a different way. Now will you give me more time or are you going to continue to waste it?” The man sighed whilst turning his head to the side.
“Alright since you’re so eager to leave I’ll name my price and then you can go on your merry way.” Jonah mimicked the man’s head tilt.
“Price? What price? I told you I haven’t any money!” The man brought his backwards hands to his mouth and chuckled.
“Nothing is free, Mister Jonah. Not even time. But don’t worry, the price is not money.” Suddenly, a solemn expression flashed across Jonah’s face.
“I’m going to have to give you my watch, aren’t I?” Again, the man surprisingly laughed, but this time he didn’t hide his smile.
“Dear Heavens, no! I have no use for such things. Besides, it seems that that watch is very dear to you.” He stood up, taking one of the bowls and began to pour it in a circle around Jonah and the table, silently chuckling to himself.
“But then what’s, wait what are you doing?” The man sat back down and placed the now empty bowl back in its specific position.
“Making a time circle. This is how your price will be paid.” Jonah shuddered. He knew that when he came here, this was going to be an unpleasant experience but now it began to feel like something more sinister.
“What exactly is the price?” The man smiled his curly smile which made Jonah shudder again.
“You want more time which means you need to take time from somewhere else, or more specifically from someone else. The best way to do that is to take their life away. Any living thing will do. Once you do that, their lifetime will be added to yours, thus giving you what you want. More time.” Jonah stared blankly at the man. Did he hear him right?
“I have to take another person’s life?” The man nodded and began to set the circle ablaze with light.
“Time and Death are twin soldiers walking hand in hand. To have time is to gain death. You cannot get one without the other. You want more time then you must bring death.” Suddenly the room was engulfed by flames. Jonah blocked his face and tried to yell out for the man, hoping that by some miracle he could put the fire out.
The next time Jonah opened his eyes, he found himself standing on the very road in which he was walking on just an hour earlier. He knew this was true because the small shack that he was once in was burning to the ground, the shouting people still inside.
Unable to watch the guests being burned alive, Jonah looked down and in his hand was his small pocket watch, but it was not the same. It had a picture of an hourglass instead of the normal clock and the sand was quickly depleting.
Suddenly, the barkeep, who was out to get more beer for the guests, saw the shack and shouted out, dropping the bottles he was carrying, and ran towards the burning building. Jonah watched as he dug through the rubble, not sure of what he was hoping to find.
Eventually the barkeep turned towards Jonah, a white rage in his eyes. “What did ye do? What rott’n deal did that witch make f’r ye!?” He was running up to Jonah with a piece of rubble in hand.
“What did he promise ye!? What favor warranted this!?” He gestured to the remains of the shack, waving the sharp piece of wood madly in the air.
“I, I didn’t think that this would happen. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” The barkeep huffed and shoved the rubble into Jonah’s hands.
“I hope it twas worth it, what’ver ye asked f’r,” and while he turned away, the small watch made a ding noise, causing Jonah to look down. The sand was almost gone. And the barkeep was heading back towards the still burning shack.
Jonah, realizing what needed to be done, gripped the piece of wood so that the sharp side was pointing out and quietly approached the sullen barkeep.
“Y’know, that favor he granted me, it came with a price.” The barkeep looked up from his crouching position, tears in his eyes.
“Was it this?” He spoke softly like a child, looking into the orange flames.
“Nah, I asked for more time. And he told me the only way to get it is to take it from other people.”
“How’d you mean?” Jonah inhaled. Just close your eyes, he thought. Close your eyes and then it’ll be over.
The next time Jonah saw the man with the curled fingers was many years later, when he was exploring a cavern near a local vacation hotspot. It was a grueling hot day and he was in need of some shade to cool off from a long spree of time collecting, as he liked to call it.
Whilst relaxing on a stone, listening to the happy ticking of his beloved pocket watch, Jonah felt a sudden change in the wind and a sinister feeling sent a shudder through his spine.
“How goes the killing?” He stood up quickly, frantically looking for the familiar voice. To his astonishment, there stood at the entrance of the cavern was the man who granted this horrid favor upon his shoulders, curled fingers and all. Jonah stared blankly at him, unable to think of what to say. Luckily the man spoke again.
“I suppose it’s going well, seeing as how you are still among the living.” Jonah didn’t move from his position. How is it that this man is alive? He saw the shack go up in flames and he himself made sure there were no survivors.
The man leaned on the side of the entrance and asked, “Well? Aren’t you going to ask how I survived?”
“It did cross my mind. I assumed you burned to a crisp with the rest of the guests!” The man chuckled, bringing a backwards hand to his lips.
“I survived the same way you did. And we both know that not all the guests died from the fire.” Looking down in what felt like shame, Jonah broke into his old habit of fiddling with his watch.
Suddenly his head snapped up. “Wait, I wasn’t the one who caused the fire! That was you!”
Raising an eyebrow, the man stated, “Didn’t you? It was, after all, your favor.” Jonah huffed. Unbelievable, he thought.
“Favor? This is a curse! I’m a murderer now because of your so called favor! Now if you don’t want anything I suggest you bugger off! I’ve found that no good comes from talking to strange men like you.” The man scoffed, obviously unimpressed with Jonah’s behavior.
Glaring, he spoke again, “You know what, I’ll save you the energy.” He began to head towards the entrance, making sure to show his blatant disgust towards the man.
“Always so impatient. Always so eager to leave.” Jonah, stopping in his tracks, was about to protest, but the man lifted a backwards hand to silence him.
“Do not fret, after this you will not see me again. I’ll leave you with these last words, Mister Jonah. Time is cruel. Everything succumbs to it, birds, trees, people. Like I said when we first met; time and death are twin soldiers walking hand and hand. Time leads while death follows behind, decimating everything in its path. Then the cycle starts again, a continuous loop that will never end. Isn’t that fascinating? But now you are on borrowed time. You’ve upset the balance and used your ability to cause death to get more and more of what isn’t yours.”
Interrupting, Jonah exclaimed, “You told me to do so! That was your price!” The man with the curled fingers gave his matching smile, but this time it had a hint of sadness.
“No, Mister Jonah. That was the test. And now this is your lesson. You thought that money is what makes someone corrupt, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Time is your favor. Death is your gift. It takes time to create a monster and now you’ve become one. Goodbye, Mister Jonah. Enjoy your time and enjoy your death.”
And with a wave of his curling fingers, the cave entrance collapsed, trapping Jonah and his screams inside…
“Are we all clear to blow this thing up!?” The young bomber called out. The expedition leader gave the go ahead for the explosion. The government recently found this mountain sight and believed it to have once been a cavern sealed over a decade ago, with many hidden secrets inside. Miles Shudnought, a young archaeologist well on his way to fame, was specifically chosen to extract whatever his team found and bring it back to Washington. He and his team stood back while they blasted the entrance open.
“Did it work?” The group approached cautiously. The cave entrance stood agape, ready to be explored.
“We did it boys!” The group cheered while Shudnought moved into the cave, using his flashlight to show the way. But he stopped suddenly, nearly causing one of his teammates to bump into him.
“What’s wrong-”
“Shh shh! You hear that?” The group fell silent, waiting for Shudnought to give them the ok to go on. Suddenly, a man covered in soot carrying a small pocket watch appeared looking deadly thin.
“Who’s there?” Shudnought called out, causing the man to stop walking. It was quiet again except for a small ding sound that came from the watch.
“Ah, thank goodness! I was almost out of time.”
