Tick Tock

Note: I was inspired to write a short horror story after reading my first Stephen King novel. I hope you enjoy!

                                       Tick Tock

  The day had started out simply enough for Jared MacNeil. He was your Average Joe. Worked a 9-5 job at an office, drank coffee every morning before work, lived by himself in a suburban neighborhood. He drank, he smoked, he watched sports on TV, he enjoyed the latest trends in entertainment. Nothing set him apart from the crowd, so one has to wonder why the demon Valak would choose to kill him.

  It was All Hallow’s Eve, or, as it was better known, Halloween night. Several of the nearby houses had decorations up of skeletons, or spiders, or ghosts. No sign of a demonic decoration anywhere; most likely their brains chose to not think in such dark terms. Kids could be heard up and down the street, chatting with their friends and ringing doorbells. Again, none of them were dressed up as a demon, for they did not fathom the true meaning of October 31st. Jared MacNeil sat inside his house, not caring for the festivities outside. He was sitting in his living room, a beer in his hand, watching The Exorcist on TV.  An antique clock, a gift that had been passed down through several generations, hung on the wall, constantly issuing forth noise. Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  As was stated before, Jared was watching The Exorcist, one of the scariest movies of all time. He was little fazed by it, for he was hardly ever scared by a movie. He had laughed many times while watching Friday the 13th, and sometimes he watched The Conjuring to make himself sleepy before bed.

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  The power went out. Instantly Jared was enveloped in blackness. Unfortunately for him, he had no extra candles or lights with him. He had meant to buy some the other day, but had gotten sidetracked and forgotten about. Now he would have no light for who knows how long. “Well, might as well go to bed now.” he thought to himself. “Too bad I don’t have any candles though.” Suddenly he jumped in fright. All around him candles were lit, casting an eerie glow around the house. It would have been nice, maybe even a bit romantic, were it not for the fact that those candles weren’t there a minute ago.

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  Jared was shaking all over. Where had those candles come from? He had to be dreaming; there was no other explanation. He pinched his arm, but he remained where he was. He pinched harder, and still nothing. He looked around again, seeing only the candles in the darkness. His leg became mysteriously itchy; he bent down to scratch it, and his heart lept out of his throat. All around him, a big star was painted on the floor in what seemed to be blood.

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  Hastily he scrambled away from the star and, using the bit of candlelight that was there, ran towards the stairs. He heard a shrieking noise from behind him, and felt his legs slip. Jared crashed to the floor, and with his hands desperately grabbed onto the first step. The monster behind him tried to pull him away, and his legs felt on fire. With a last burst of energy he escaped from its grip and clambered up the stairs. There were several rooms upstairs, so he thought he had a chance of hiding in one of them.

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  He ran to the end of the hall and quickly got into his bedroom. He locked the door behind him and started barricading himself in. Pillows, his desk, whatever he could move he put in front of the door. After a minute Jared had done all he could. Hands trembling, he drew his phone out of his pocket and called 911. After a few seconds a voice answered him. “Everything all right, Jared?” a horrible rasping voice teased him from the other side of the phone. Quickly, he threw the phone across the room, where it landed and broke.

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  Thankfully, there was a window in Jared’s room. It meant safety, and safety was something he desired extremely right now. He ran over to it and undid the latch. It was stuck. From behind the door, he could hear pounding and noises to terrible to describe.

Tick, Tock. Tick, Tock.

  That noise, where was it coming from? Surely the clock couldn’t follow him, yet it sounded like it was all around him. It was like he was inside the thing. The door began to slowly break, and the ticking of the clock increased in volume.

TICK, TOCK. TICK, TOCK.

  Jared attempted to break open the glass and jump out, but nothing was working. The door broke open, and in that moment he knew he was lost. He turned around, ready to face his death bravely. Yet, nothing was there. The door wasn’t broken, it had just swung open. And… all the lights were on too. Weren’t they always on? And he couldn’t hear the clock either.

  Cautiously he stepped out into the hallway. Everything was normal. No candles, no blood on the floor. He laughed nervously. “Well,” he said out loud, “I think that was just the movie getting to me. Just a bad dream. There’s no such thing as demons. I’m perfectly fine. It’s just that-”

  His voice was cut off, and as it was, a new sound took its place.

TICK, TOCK. TICK, TOCK.

A 5-9 job? Sounds like a brutal workload.

Not 9-5?

Oh whoops, I mean 9-5 XD. Let me fix that

Thanks!

This is the exact opposite of the song tick tock XD

Interesting you got me hooked. I am reading to much I feel  with all the fan fics on here and reading LOTR as well

Ikr

You can't ever read too much

+1 problem is I don't want to see a tiki on an orcs shoulder doing business with an Ink demon. while Thor is trying to blast superman out of the sky while everyone wonders what the weird ticking is in the background.

Ah, I see. Well this wasn't going to be part of the TOGOT canon. This was just a side story

So? It's still written by a TOGOTian. and I am reading it.

That's true

Anyway when is the next chapter?

This isn't a multi-chapter story. This was just a once-off thing. It's just a short story

And since you kick with both you come to a dead stop on me and then fall on your not so metal head break your skull open.

Can I get a movie for this?

Interesting