PART I – The House with the Second Clock

In the quiet town of Santa Emilia, stood a house no one dared to enter.

Not because it was haunted—or so they said—but because of a clock.

A pendulum clock that shouldn’t exist.

In 1993, the owner of the house, Elías Orellana, vanished without a trace. No blood, no note. Just gone.

When the police searched his home, they found an old clock nailed to the wall on the second floor, its hands frozen at 12:00. Locals claimed it chimed only at 2:13 a.m., even without power.

They removed the clock. Burned it, even. But the sounds never stopped.

Years later, a young woman named Julia rented the house. She was new in town, didn’t believe in ghosts, and found the rumors amusing.

Until her first night.

At 2:13 a.m., she woke to a single, hollow DONG echoing through the hallway.

She checked the upstairs.

There it was: a clock she had never seen. Hanging on the same wall.

The pendulum swung slowly… though the hands still read 12:00.

The next night, it chimed again.

On the third, she recorded the hallway with her phone.

What she saw chilled her blood.

At 2:13, a tall man in a coat and wide-brimmed hat stepped into the frame. He touched the clock, looked directly at the camera, and vanished.

Police came. They found a false wall behind the clock, and inside: human remains.

A small, leather-bound journal lay next to the bones.

The final entry read:

“If you hear the chime at 2:13… it’s already too late.”

Julia left the town that same night.

But a week later, the clock appeared next door.

Matteo, a young clockmaker, bought that neighboring house.

He didn’t believe in legends. When he found the old, dusty clock in the attic, he took it as a challenge.

He fixed it.

From the moment it ticked, strange dreams came. He heard whispers in his sleep.

The clock chimed again—2:13 a.m. sharp.

One night, it emitted strange, metallic clicks. Matteo recorded the sounds and analyzed them.

When he slowed it down, a message formed:

“JULIA RIVAS. RUN.”

He tried to contact her, but she was gone. Vanished like Elías.

His research led him to a forgotten monastery in Spain, where he found the origin of Orellana’s clock: a forbidden design meant not to tell time, but to trap it.

Three such clocks were built.

One to keep time.

One to open a passage.

And one to take.

He destroyed the clock with a hammer.

That night, at 2:13, it chimed anyway.

On his bathroom mirror, written in fog:

“One must remain.”

My name is Leo. I’m 14.

I live three houses down from where Julia once stayed.

Last Friday, while gaming online, I got a strange message. No profile picture. Username:

The_Clockman213

They challenged me to a private game called:

Pendulum.exe

The icon was a spinning clock hand.

When I opened it, the screen turned black.

Then, a house.

The house.

I explored the dark hallway. Upstairs, the same clock, frozen at 12:00.

I moved my mouse closer. The pendulum swung.

And suddenly… my webcam turned on.

In the game, I saw my face.

But over my shoulder—someone was standing.

A tall man. Hat. Coat.

Watching.

I jumped from my chair. Spun around. Nothing.

But when I looked at my bedroom wall…

There it was.

A real clock. Same design.

And it was ticking.

2:13 a.m.

I don’t know how it got here.

I don’t know why it picked me.

But I know this:

Julia ran.

Matteo tried to destroy it.

Thanks for your atention

Now the clock plays with me.