Tock, Tock...

'The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.'

Mackie sighed, well it was more of a groan. 'Seriously, a cabin in the woods story, I didn't think you'd be so cliched.'

Kira hid her smile, Mackie was so predictable. Kira knew exactly what story she wanted to tell, she had been planning it since they had begun organising this trip, but the story she wanted to share needed exactly the right set up.

'Well,' Kira said slowly, 'I do have another story, a true story, I know the person it happened too.'

Mackie's eyes got halfway through a roll before stopping when they realised Kira was staring pointedly at them.

Kira's smile was wide, 'I know it is probably not to your level, horror lover that you are, but at least give me a chance.'

With a sigh and a smile of defeat Mackie threw another log on the campfire and as the sparks drifted upwards they said, 'You know what, you're right, you're my best friend and I finally got you to agree to come camping with me, so I should give you a shot.'

Kira stared into the dancing flames for a moment, allowing the night and all the sounds of the forest to fill the space around them.

'There had been one constant in her life,' she started softly. 'Well for as long as she could remember. It wasn't her mostly absent father, or the functioning alcoholic mother, who only got worse after they split.

No it was the ticking.

The constant metronome beat, that sounded in her head.

Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick.

Always there, sometimes quiet, sometimes loud.

When she had been younger her parents had had her tested. They found nothing. They sent her to a number of shrinks. Nothing. Eventually she just understood the right words to say to get everyone to leave her alone. The ticking was still there, but at least others weren't nagging constantly about it.

She learnt to lie, to ignore.

But it was always there.

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

It was her companion through school and even into her commencement at university, by which time she thankfully lived alone, less noise to deal with.

One night she woke. It was four in the morning. There was a scratching on the window in between the ticks.

Tick, tock, scratch, tick, tock, scratch.

She knew it was nothing, just the branch in the breeze but she couldn't tune it out, any more than she was able to tune out the ticking.

Sometimes that's how it was. Too persistent to be ignored.

Sighing, she swung her legs out of bed, rubbing her eyes and temples in an effort to ease the ache.

It made no difference. She would not be getting back to sleep, it was one of those nights.

Dressing quickly, she grabbed her keys and stepped outside. It was foolish she knew, walking in the dark by herself but she needed to get out. Sometimes the metronome in her head eased if she did something physical, and right now she would take what she could get.

The sky was studded with a few glittering stars, a crescent moon offering little in the way of illumination. There were a few clouds outlined in silver drifting across the sky. Chilly but otherwise quite pleasant, peaceful.

She just started walking. No destination in mind. Just needing to put one foot in front of the other, one step then the next.

Time passed by and the ticking didn't ease. Rather for the first time in a long time it actually got worse. Louder than it had been in years.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

It got so bad she found she was almost moving her head in time with the monotonous rhythm.

When the sound became almost unbearable she stopped moving. Looking around she realised she was outside the abandoned hospital. Staring at the building the pressure in her head eased. Slightly.

The relief was tangible.

There was a small gap in the fence, that she knew the local kids used to get into the property. There was always something appealing like abandoned hospitals, and what you might find on the grounds.

She went to step towards it but found her feet taking her instead to a small house on the grounds. It had been used for specialist outpatient care, she couldn't remember for what, the sign had been ripped down when the place had been closed.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

With no reasoning to base her decision on, she walked towards the house. A few of the windows were broken, the door was in place but half off its hinges. Green, she remembered it was a green door, not that it was noticeable in the limited light. The wooden porch had holes in parts of it.

Stepping forward a voice from somewhere deep inside said, 'are you nuts, it's bad enough you go out at this time of day, now you plan on going into murder house.'

Tick, tock.

The metronome drowned out the voice.

The door creaked as she pushed at it. She almost fell as a piece of the floor dipped beneath her tread, the carpet shifting to take her weight.

She focused on her breathing. In, tick, out, tock.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she hoped to ease the pain.

It had never been so bad. The volume never so loud, stars flicking in her vision with every...

Tick!

She had to get away from it, or find a way to end it. She knew with utter certainty that this could not go on any longer.

There was something upstairs, a sound other than the ticking. She needed to find that sound.

Carefully making her way up the stairs, staying close to the edge of the stairway, holding onto the railing in case she fell, or the step gave way under her.

The quiet urging came, 'seriously, you never go into the creepy house, have you completely lost your mind?'

She ignored it. There was no going back. At the top of the stairs she looked around, and noticed a flickering light coming from under to door to her right.

Pushing open the door with a rusty creak, she noticed the only thing in the room. An old style tube television, blocky, standing on wooden legs. The screen was covered in snow, and the noise she could hear between the ticking was the hissing of static white noise.

A number flashed on the screen.

7.

Tock.

6.

Tick.

5.

Tock.

She put her hands over her ears.

4.

TICK.

Her knees gave out under her and she crashed to the floor.

3.

TOCK.

She curled up, the pressure in her brain feeling like it was about to...

2.

TICK!

She was unable to pull her eyes away from the screen and the inevitable.

1.

TOCK!

Tears fell down her cheeks, she stared at the screen determined to face her fate head on.

0.

Pain seared through her brain...then nothing.

Silence.

Opening eyes she'd involuntarily shut, she saw the tv was off. All was quiet. Really quiet.

She didn't know how or why, just that it was.'

The only noise in the forest when Kira's voice stopped, was the crackling of the fire, even the animals seemed to have ceased to exist.

A loud tock, echoed through the campsite.

Mackie jumped.

FIN

Credit for this must be given to my daughter who came up with the central idea and gave me permission to make it my own for this competition.