The Clockmaker’s Promise

A young woman named Elira owned a clock repair business in a sleepy seaside village where the sea whispered secrets to the stones. It was no ordinary store. Time itself was the cause of the clocks she worked on breaking, not dust or rust. A few gave a backward tick. Like stones over water, others skipped moments. Some of them exhibited human-like heartbeats.

A stranger entered one rainy evening, drenched, silent, and carrying what appeared to be a birdcage-shaped clock. It contained a little, golden-beaked, ticking mechanical bird with a faintly red light blinking in its heart.

He introduced himself as Cael. "All I have left of someone I loved is this clock."

Curious, Elira investigated it. "What took place?"

She disappeared. Many years ago. However, the bird's heartbeat continues to beat inside this clock. It is decelerating.

It was unlike anything Elira had ever seen. It would take more than just gears to fix this clock; it would require comprehension.

Days went by. While Cael waited, Elira labored and told her stories about Liora, a dreamer who thought love could bend time, the woman who previously owned the clock. Once, she had crafted the bird-clock as a present for Cael, ensuring that her love would endure within it even if time separated them.

Elira found herself gradually pulled to Cael as she listened, not because of his melancholy but rather because of his faith. He gently illuminated the path ahead by carrying loss like a lamp. As she listened, she began to notice an odd phenomenon: the other clocks in the store slowed down, as if they were also listening, when Cael spoke about love.

"If you could bring her back, would you?" she questioned one evening.

Cael hesitated. "If I could get her to come back... And — certainly, if she were still waiting. However, I would let her go if she moved on.

Elira fixed the bird-clock that evening. With her own heartbeat, not with tools. The place where gears used to revolve was filled with her warmth as she cradled it to her bosom and murmured into it. The bird sang a sweet, crystalline note after blinking once. Silence swelled throughout the store. In perfect unison, all of the clocks paused and then resumed.

He started to fade, too, Cael.

"I believe you mended more than just the clock," he remarked quietly.

Elira's gaze expanded. “You’re—”

"The day she disappeared, I passed away. However, my love continued to tick. You provided closure.

He grinned as he glanced at her. "I appreciate you listening. For loving even a man's ghost.

With a heartbeat, he disappeared, leaving the bird-clock in his wake. Elira's heartbeat, not Liora's, was now heard singing every morning at sunrise.

And as a reminder that sometimes love is not about clinging, she put it on her desk.

It is about freeing up time sometimes.