The Clock's Midnight

          The night was cold. The coldest so far, in fact. I was laying in bed, clutching onto the sheets, desperate for heat to help me sleep. My boyfriend was at work, so the only body heat I had was my own; it's on nights like this when I miss his big, clumsy body holding mine. About to drift off to sleep, the window burst open, sending a breeze of ice-cold air blasting through my apartment. I screeched, climbing out of bed and slamming the window shut. It was then, when the curtains were still recovering from the sudden blow of wind, I realised that there was someone in the clock tower, which was almost directly in front of my window. Through the clock face, I could see the shadow of a figure, walking around.            Pulling on a pair of jeans and a jacket over the top of my pyjama top, I grabbed my phone and called the office. There was always someone there.            "Yes?" A voice said from the other side of the phone.           "Thank god you're there." I said, running out of my apartment, slamming the door shut. "There's someone in the clock tower after hours, I thought that someone should go check it out."            "Rose?" They said, slightly confused.           "Oh, yes, sorry, Diane."            "Okay, thank you, Rose. I'll send someone down there with you. Wait by the entrance, and make sure to have your radio on at all times." Diane said, putting down the phone.            I followed her instructions, and soon enough, a police car came tumbling down the snow-coated streets. It was strange; during the day, the streets are covered with people, admiring the tourist attractions. But now, in the night, the streets were deserted, apart from us and a few other people stumbling home after a night out, clutching their coats and jackets, shivering from the cold. It was the first snow of the year, and the person in the clock tower had to ruin it for me.           Three people climbed out of the car. An officer, named Mark, got out of the drivers seat and started demanding orders to assure everyone's well-being. A detective got out of the passenger seat and headed straight for me, asking what I had seen. Someone in the watch tower after hours didn't sound like a huge deal, but this only happened once before and it ended up being a huge crime scene.           Little did I know that this one was too.           The last person got out of the back of the car, and, again, ran straight for me. It was my boyfriend. When he was close enough to reach me, he clutched my face in his gloved hands, and planted a kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes, and wrapped my hands around his.            "Oh my god, Rose," He said, almost breathless. "Are you okay? When they told me that it was you who had sent in the alert, I was worried sick."            I opened my eyes and laughed. I could always count on James to worry. "I'm alright, really, Just maybe freezing to death." I laughed again, and he joined in.           "Good." He smiled.           "Sorry to disrupt this lovely cuddle session, but we have to go in and check what's happened." The other detective said. Her brown hair fell behind her shoulder as she turned to face the clock tower. "You never know what goes through a criminals mind, he could've done anything."           Mark rolled his eyes and looked at her. "Julie, stop being so heartless," He said, jokingly. James and I both laughed, as I laced my fingers with his and stepped into the entrance.                                                                                   +++              The stairs up to the top were long and steep. James and I walked side by side up them, with him whispering stupid things in my ear and me laughing quietly. If we spoke and laughed any louder, Julie would have our heads. Mark stepped cautiously up the steps first, with a torch pointed out in front of his body. One the first step, he misjudged how steep it was, and almost fell over. All of us, including Julie, laughed at him. She made sure she didn't make the same mistake as him though. I didn't mind if I did, because I knew James would catch me if I fell.           We finally got to the top of the tower, and Mark crashed open the door, dropping his torch but pulling his gun out.            Walking around the corner, he yelled, "Police! Show yourself!"            But, nobody came.            James followed Mark, pushing me behind him, still holding my hand. Then, he stumbled backwards, causing me to stagger back too. He was shocked, and his mouth was wide open. I stepped forward to go and look, but he pushed me back, shaking his head. Mark walked in front, gasping.            "It's..." He stuttered. "Not a figure. It's a body."            Julie stepped forwards, rolling her eyes and saying, "Oh my god, you're an officer, you've seen plenty of bodies in your career," But then, when she saw it, she screamed, an ear-piecing scream.           I pushed James' arm away and stepped forwards. When I saw the body, I didn't step back, or scream, I just closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath, pushing it back out after a few seconds. Even though my eyes were closed, the picture of the body, laying in it's own pool of blood, stayed imprinted on my eyelids. Yes, it's true - I have seen plenty of bodies before, but this time... The angle the body lays, the way there was a chain wrapped around it's neck, making it's face slightly greyish from lack of blood, and the way the knife handle stuck out of it's chest... it was hideous.            And, the fact it was a teenage girl made it worse. Her limbs stuck out a weird angles, like they all broke, and her blonde hair was fanned around her head. Her eyes were still wide open, and her mouth was covered by a gag. I covered my face with my hands and laughed. But, the laugh turned into a sob. Trying to stifle the sob, it sounded more like a groan. I pulled my hands away from my face and opened my eyes, turning to face everyone else so I didn't have to look at the poor girl, and lifted the radio up to my mouth and spoke.            "Send more police. There has been what looks more like a murder than any other murder I have seen before." I mumbled, with black-tinted tears now streaming down my cheeks.           James came close to me and pulled me into his chest. Another sob rose within my throat, and this time I let it out, muffled by his shirt. He knew I wasn't crying about the girl - yes, it was sad seeing her, but that wasn't what I was crying about. Seeing her, dead on the clock tower floor, had brought back some painful memories that I will never be over. Now I know why he didn't want me to see her.                                                                                    +++