THE CLOCK THAT FORGOT TOMORROW

On the third floor of a building no one seemed to own, behind a door that changed colours depending on who looked at it, there hung a clock that did not tick. it sighed. Each second passed with a soft exhale, like the breath of something tired of keeping time. Ayo discovered it by accident or perhaps the clock had grown tired of waiting and finally allowed itself to be found. He had been running from a rainstorm that felt too deliberate, each drop landing as if it knew his name. The door appeared between a shuttered tailor shop and a wall that had always been a wall. it was blue when he first saw it, then green when he blinked, and finally settled into a dull grey as though bored with its own indecision. Inside the air smelled like forgotten conversation. There were no shelves, no furniture - just the clock. It was enormous, stretching nearly from floor to ceiling, it's face smooth and pale, with no number. Instead, faint shadows drifted across it like clouds deciding where to go. The hands were thin and trembling, as though unsure of their purpose. Ayo stood there, dripping rain onto a floor that did not seem to mind. "what time is it?"he asked aloud, mostly to hear something human. The clock sighed. Then, to his surprise, it answered, "I don't remember". Ayo froze."clocks are supposed to know that." "I used to,"it said, its voice somewhere between metal and memory."But I forgot tomorrow." "That doesn't make sense". "it used to." the clock replied."Everything does, until it doesn't". Ayo stepped closer. The shadows on the clocks face shifted, and for a moment, he thought he saw something familiar-a Street, a face, a version of himself laughing at something he couldn't recall. " what do you mean you forget tomorrow?" he asked. The clock hesitated, its hands twitching slightly backward. "Tomorrow is a place,"it said." or it was.I kept track of it, guided people towards it. Measured their distance from it.But one day..."it paused, as if the memory were heavy. " one day, no one came asking for it anymore." "That's ridiculous,"Ayo said." Everyone cares about tomorrow." "Do they?" the clock asked gently. Ayo opened his mouth, then closed it . He thought about the past few months -the way people spoke only of surviving the day, of getting through the week,of holding on just long enough. Tomorrow hold become a vague promise, something to distance to trust. I suppose..."he began, then stopped"I suppose people stopped believing in it". The clock's hands quivered,as though that answer hurt. "And so,"it continued,"without belief, tomorrow faded. And without tomorrow, I..."it sighed again, longer this time. "I no lost my place in this world". Ayo felt an unexpected pang of sympathy. "what happens to a clock that can't tell time?"he asked. "it listens,"The clock said."it listens to what remains." "And what remains." The shadows shifted again. This time,Ayo saw something clearer: a woman teaching a child how to tie his shoelaces, a man staring at the sky as if expecting an answer, someone sitting alone but smiling at memory bo one else could see. "moments," the clock said." unmeasured, unplanned small enough to escape the need for tomorrow." Ayo reached out, almost touching the glass of its face. "can you...get back?"he asked."Tomorrow, I mean." The clock was silent for a long time. " I don't know," it finally said."No one has tried." Ayo thought about the rain outside, about the way it had chased him into this strange place About the door that changed colors, as if unsure of its own identity. "Maybe,"he said slowly, " it doesn't come back all at once." The clock's hands stilled. "Maybe tomorrow isn't something you remember," Ayo continued."Maybe it's something you rebuild. One small expectation at a time." "Expectation?" the clock echoed. "yeah.Like ..."He hesitated, feeling slightly foolish."like expecting the rain to stop. or expecting to find something behind a door.or expecting that things can change." The shadows in the clock's face began to move differently in now-not drifting, but gathering. "And if those expectations fail?" the clock asked. "They will," Ayo said simply. " sometimes. But not always. And the not always part... that's where tomorrow lives." For the first time since he had entered the room, the clock did not sigh. Instead, it ticked. Just once. A sharp, clear sound that cut through the quiet like a decision. The hands moved- barely, but unmistakable forward. "I felt that, "the clock whispered. Ayo smiled. "Good, "he said"That's one second closer." The door behind him shifted color again, though he didn't turn to look. " will you stay " the clock asked. Ayo considered it. The room was strange, but not empty. "I can't ", he said." But I can come back." The clock seemed to think about that. "That... sounds like tomorrow,"it said. Ayo laughed softly." yeah, it does. He stepped back, toward the door that might be blue or green or something else entirely, Before learning, he glanced once more at the clock. It stood tall, its face still mostly blank- but now,if you looked closely, you could see something new forming there. Not numbers. Not yet. But the faint outline of possibilities. And as Ayo stepped out into the rain- which, for the first time, felt like it might actually stop. The clock behind him ticked again. This time, it didn't sigh.