The Clockmaker’s Secret

STORY ABOUT A BETRAYAL GIRL It started with a dare. "Stay one night in the Ashwood House," they said. "Just till sunrise. If you’re brave enough." Lena, 22 and never one to back down, smirked as she stepped through the rotting gates of the abandoned manor. Her friends waited outside, too scared to follow. That was fine — she liked her thrill personal. Inside, the air was cold and still. Furniture was draped in sheets. Dust hung like fog in the dim glow of her flashlight. But what caught her eye immediately... were the paintings . Dozens of portraits lined the hall, every one of them featuring the same woman : dark hair, pale skin, ruby-red lips... and eyes that never seemed to close. Ever. Each painting showed her in a different pose — lying on a chaise, brushing her hair, even asleep — but her eyes were always open . Lena shivered. She explored further, finding the bedroom with the largest portrait of the woman above the fireplace. In this one, the eyes w...

 In the quiet village of Willowmere, nestled between the hills and the misty forest, lived an old clockmaker named Eliot Grey. His shop, "Timeless Whispers" , was filled with clocks of every kind — tall grandfather clocks that echoed through the night, tiny pocket watches that shimmered like stars, and peculiar ones that ticked backwards. Eliot was a mystery to most. He rarely spoke, but when he did, his words seemed to know more than time itself. One rainy afternoon, a curious girl named Lina , aged 14, stepped into Eliot’s shop. Her eyes sparkled with wonder as she watched the gears turn and pendulums swing. "Why do your clocks tick backward?" she asked. Eliot smiled faintly and handed her a strange-looking watch. “This one doesn’t count time,” he said. “It finds moments you’ve lost .” That night, Lina tucked the watch under her pillow, and as the rain tapped gently against her window, she dreamed. But this was no ordinary dream — she was back in a memory, o...