Time Away , Establishment of Terror

The Magician pt.2

Marty returned to his apartment. It was a run down place on the corner of Ricida street and Ives. He got it pretty inexpensively after helping the old woman who owned the Chinese restaurant below with a local street outfit trying to take advantage of her. He wasn't a buy guy, but down on his luck. Anyone would tell you that who met him. Getting to his apartment he rubbed the soles of his shoes against the doormat before opening the door. The lock hadn't worked for a while, he had been meaning to fix it, but he didn't have the money. Stepping inside he quickly kicked the door closed behind him. He flicked the light on bathing the small place in a dingy yellow light. Heaving a sigh he stepped into his living room, shrugging off his coat. The man didn't remember how he even got home, or buying the pocket watch that laid heavy against the palm of his hand. Plopping down in his favorite chair he settled in for a moment. Unfolding his fingers he gazed down at the pocket watch in his hand, hearing the soft ticking like a heart beat against the veins under his skin. The conversation between himself and the shopkeeper, Aleister Corviston was all a blur to his recollection. It was as if someone was playing a audio recording, the sound low and distorted, the words barely there. Marty didn't know how much he spent on it, but here he was sitting with his new prize. The face of the copper pocket watch shone in the din light. The image carved into the top was a face of a woman with her eyes closed, a hood framing her delicate face. A strange symbol rested on her forehead, a vertical line with an X over it. Corviston had called the pocket watch something, but he couldn't quite remember what it was. He sat there with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair, watery eyes fixed on the object wracking his brain on the answer. It was a strange name he recalled.

“Strange name...what was it?” he grumbled shutting his eyes tightly, exhaling deeply pressing himself to remember what was said. It was something old sounding like out of a book. He frowned deeply, brow knitted in focus.

“Krono's folly...” he cried and opened his eyes, looking at the pocket watch. Gingerly his thumb rolled over the top with a click,popping the front to reveal the time piece within. “Hmmm” he muttered and shut it slowly. “At least it tells the time correctly.”he muttered closing it. What he saw almost sent him shooting out his chair, instead he was frozen in place looking down at his palm. The front of the watch with the etched image had changed before his eyes. The hooded woman had her eyes opened, staring up at him with a silently question in her expression. Marty told himself over and over he must have been overtired and through the eyes had been closed. Pulling himself out of his chair he ran his free hand through his hair and exhaled deeply.

“I'm losing it.” he whispered to himself since there was no one else in the apartment. Going to the door he had entered earlier he left his apartment, thinking that perhaps food would straighten his thoughts. He descended the stairs. The clattering of pots and pans filled his ears as he came to a slender hall that led to the kitchen of the restaurant, a single door was to his right, the mailboxes to his left side. The scent of food filled his nostrils and made his stomach cramp up. A noise of ache filled his throat as he slipped into the kitchen, for a moment watching the people cooking. “Don't mind me.” he told them loudly not wanting to be mistaken for an intruder before his identity realized. To his surprise no one looked up at him as he stood there awkwardly. It was incredibly loud in the kitchen so that it made sense why he wouldn't be heard. Shrugging his shoulders he walked from the kitchen into the restaurant, finding Mrs. Chin was on the register, in her seventies and still on her feet. She immigrated to the states long ago, chasing the American dream.

“Mrs. Chin. I'm sorry. I will find a seat. I don't want to get in your way.” He said awkwardly, it being common for him to come down and celebrate his joys, and drown his sorrows when wallows in his failures. Strangely the older woman didn't even look up from the cash register. She had a customer, a man in a green jacket, holding the receipt in hand.

“Listen, lady. The food was cold and dry. I am not paying this bill. I tried to tell the waitress, but god damn it she didn't seem to understand me.” the man's face was turning red from anger as he shook the receipt in his hand.

“I'm sorry sir. You were asking for all lot of changes to the food. We accommodated you.” Mrs. Chin tried to explain to him, running her hands along her flowered dress, looking nervously at the screaming man before her.

“Hey! You can't talk to her like that. She tried to help give you what you wanted.” Marty yelled angrily standing a few feet from the man, but once again he found himself ignored. Frustrated he reached to touch the man, placing his hand on the other man's shoulders. The man glared down at the woman behind the counter and turned almost knocking Marty over, dropping his wallet as he marched out of the restaurant. Marty reached own and scooped it up, still holding the pocket watch in hand. He placed it in his pocket and studied the wallet. Feeling angry at the man's rudeness he placed the wallet infront of Mrs. Chin. Mrs. Chin who was almost in tears stared at the wallet, seeming baffled on how it got there. Gingerly she reached out and picked it up.

“H..How?” she asked in confusion, opening it to find that the wallet had belonged to the disgruntled man.

It was then it hit Marty that somehow he was unseen like he was wearing a coat of invisibility. Quickly he shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out the pocket watch, coming eye to eye with the woman carved into the front staring back at him.

(Author's Note: I know this was a short chapter. I realize that this story is going to take more then two chapters to tell. I haven't been feeling well lately so I took a pause from writing. I'm doing it off and on and trying to turn this anthology into a web comic.)