Tick Tock
Tick Tock is a short story about a college student called Frank. He has been plagued by forces unseen and the harsh grips of family troubles.
The road seemed to have been twisting and turning around the hills of
California, for what seemed like ages. Traversing these commonly used roads was
an abundance of cars of all shapes, sizes and colors. From large red Hummers,
to small white Priuses. There was one car in particular that was special, a
black 2010 Honda Civic. Inside were two people; a young blonde Latino woman
around her twenties, and a young Latino man who looked around 19 or so. The
young man was Frank Restan, a student at the Southern California Institute of Law. He was a fit man, having a well toned, muscular figure, jet black hair with crimson red highlights mixed in. The woman was Frank’s sister, Maria Jestrada; a married woman who worked in the medical world as a hepatologists, a doctor specialized in liver diseases. The two were on their way to the Los Angeles International Airport to pick up their father, who was coming from his retirement villa in Mexico City.
“Isn’t this exciting Frank?” Maria asked, as she turned down the radio that was playing Harry Belefonte. “We haven’t seen dad for like what, 2 years?” she added as they entered Los Angeles County.
“Yeah.” Frank said with a sigh. “Why do I have to go anyway? It’ll be the same as the last time he came along. He praises you and Rey for all your accomplishments and only asks me a total of two questions in the span of 4 weeks.” he added on as he looked out the window of the car at the tall buildings of LA.
“I know, Frank. I keep telling you that when you become a prosecutor dad will change his opinion of you.” his sister said as she parked in the pick-up area at the front of the airport. She looked around and saw her father, who was heading towards the car with a small chest of clothes. “Hey dad!” Maria said as she exited the car with Frank to greet their father with smiles.
“Hey pops.” Frank said smiling softly at his father who was paying more attention to Maria.
“Hello my beautiful children! Maria how are you and Rey doing? Hello Frank, how's your defense attorney degree coming along?” their father asked, showing more excitement for Maria’s question.
“My career choice is a prosecutor, dad.” Frank said correcting his father.
“Bah, it’s the same thing.” his father said laughing a little. Their father was an average middle-aged to elderly man who had a full head of grey hair. Frank then put his father’s chest into the trunk of his sister’s car, and got into the back seat.
“How was the flight?” Maria asked, as her father got into the car.
“It was alright.” he answered, as Maria got into the driver’s seat and began the long drive home.
By the time they all arrived at Maria’s apartment, it was 6:43 pm, as Maria parked her car in the parking lot, and Frank carried in the chest, upon his father’s orders. The night went on as any normal night; Nick ate dinner with his father, sister and brother-in-law, studied for a while, and turned on the TV in his room. His favorite shows were Doctor Who, Supernatural, and many others that were imaginative, yet compelling. He just happened to be in luck as his favorite episode of Doctor Who came on, “Night Terrors”. It was about a boy who was scared of everything and locked it away in a cupboard, and it was up to The Doctor to help him. What Frank truly loved about the episode was the creepy nursery rhyme that was introduced, and played in the episode as it sounded like it was sung by school children. By the time the episode was over, Frank turned his TV off, went to bed, and fell asleep.
Frank woke up at around 2:30 to use the bathroom; he slid out of bed and walked almost at a zombie-like pace to the bathroom. He entered the cold room, and turned the light on. After closing the door behind him, Frank when about his business, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see out the window towards the forest area behind the apartment, and saw what he thought was a tall slim man with long arms, a white, featureless face. The man was wearing a finely tailored suit, and he seemed to just stand there and stare at Frank, who just stared back. But with the blink of an eye the thin man was gone. Frank shuddered and quickly went back to bed to forget about the whole thing.
Within a few hours, Frank is awakened again, by the sound of a car’s engine revving, before it grew eerily silent. He sat up and got washed up and dressed. Frank checked his schedule and saw that he had no classes today; he smiled and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. He made himself some toast and a bowl of cereal, he sat down at the kitchen counter and began eating, he then turned the TV on as a news report of a doctor being sent to prison for malpractice on his patients.
“I hope the bastard chokes on the prison food.” Frank said to himself, biting into a spoonful of cereal. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the day went on, so Frank decided to take a walk to the old factory and look around. He loved just looking at the machines. Thinking if he could talk the town into giving him the deed to the land so he could make the old factory his home. He knew that this would’ve been nearly impossible for him to accomplish, even with his education. Frank got dressed in a polo, jeans and boots. “I guess I should bring some water, it is probably safe to say that it’ll get hot as hell today.” He grabbed a couple of water bottles, and heads out.
The young man makes his way to the old factory and looks around for any cops, before he slips through the rusted fence, and heads to his dream home. He knew the place like the back of his hand, from the quick climbs into the rafters, to the trap door that goes down into the guts of the factory. Frank climbed the old, steel ladder to the rafters that loomed over the main level of the factory like the watchful eyes of a parent. The young man could not stop admiring the view of the building, the smallest of creaks from the rafters echoing around the decrepit building.
As Frank walked along the old rusted paths he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, the man from the night before. Terrified, Frank ran towards the stairs to the upper level fire escape. His foot then steps on a weaker point of the structure by mistake. This causes a small section of the rafters to collapse, the young lad was caught by surprise of this and landed back first on one of the tallest machines. He groaned in pain and rolled to his side.
“Step one: Remove the rafters.” he said chuckling a little. “Shit that hurt. Nothing feels broken, so that’s a plus.” Frank said as sat up. “Oh, fuc…” Frank was knocked out cold by a swinging beam.
“This is a good start.” A voice said in the darkness of Frank’s mind.
“Start? Who are you, and what the hell you talking about?” Frank asked rubbing his head.
“My name shall be known in due time. As for this start I’m talking about, let’s just say that there are secrets and sins kept from you, which can only be baptized by blood and death.” The voice said. Frank then felt a burning sensation on his arm and took his shirt off, to investigate. On his inner arm he found a circle with an X slashed through it. “All will be revealed soon, Frank.” It said as Frank bolted awake.
California, for what seemed like ages. Traversing these commonly used roads was
an abundance of cars of all shapes, sizes and colors. From large red Hummers,
to small white Priuses. There was one car in particular that was special, a
black 2010 Honda Civic. Inside were two people; a young blonde Latino woman
around her twenties, and a young Latino man who looked around 19 or so. The
young man was Frank Restan, a student at the Southern California Institute of Law. He was a fit man, having a well toned, muscular figure, jet black hair with crimson red highlights mixed in. The woman was Frank’s sister, Maria Jestrada; a married woman who worked in the medical world as a hepatologists, a doctor specialized in liver diseases. The two were on their way to the Los Angeles International Airport to pick up their father, who was coming from his retirement villa in Mexico City.
“Isn’t this exciting Frank?” Maria asked, as she turned down the radio that was playing Harry Belefonte. “We haven’t seen dad for like what, 2 years?” she added as they entered Los Angeles County.
“Yeah.” Frank said with a sigh. “Why do I have to go anyway? It’ll be the same as the last time he came along. He praises you and Rey for all your accomplishments and only asks me a total of two questions in the span of 4 weeks.” he added on as he looked out the window of the car at the tall buildings of LA.
“I know, Frank. I keep telling you that when you become a prosecutor dad will change his opinion of you.” his sister said as she parked in the pick-up area at the front of the airport. She looked around and saw her father, who was heading towards the car with a small chest of clothes. “Hey dad!” Maria said as she exited the car with Frank to greet their father with smiles.
“Hey pops.” Frank said smiling softly at his father who was paying more attention to Maria.
“Hello my beautiful children! Maria how are you and Rey doing? Hello Frank, how's your defense attorney degree coming along?” their father asked, showing more excitement for Maria’s question.
“My career choice is a prosecutor, dad.” Frank said correcting his father.
“Bah, it’s the same thing.” his father said laughing a little. Their father was an average middle-aged to elderly man who had a full head of grey hair. Frank then put his father’s chest into the trunk of his sister’s car, and got into the back seat.
“How was the flight?” Maria asked, as her father got into the car.
“It was alright.” he answered, as Maria got into the driver’s seat and began the long drive home.
By the time they all arrived at Maria’s apartment, it was 6:43 pm, as Maria parked her car in the parking lot, and Frank carried in the chest, upon his father’s orders. The night went on as any normal night; Nick ate dinner with his father, sister and brother-in-law, studied for a while, and turned on the TV in his room. His favorite shows were Doctor Who, Supernatural, and many others that were imaginative, yet compelling. He just happened to be in luck as his favorite episode of Doctor Who came on, “Night Terrors”. It was about a boy who was scared of everything and locked it away in a cupboard, and it was up to The Doctor to help him. What Frank truly loved about the episode was the creepy nursery rhyme that was introduced, and played in the episode as it sounded like it was sung by school children. By the time the episode was over, Frank turned his TV off, went to bed, and fell asleep.
Frank woke up at around 2:30 to use the bathroom; he slid out of bed and walked almost at a zombie-like pace to the bathroom. He entered the cold room, and turned the light on. After closing the door behind him, Frank when about his business, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, he turned to see out the window towards the forest area behind the apartment, and saw what he thought was a tall slim man with long arms, a white, featureless face. The man was wearing a finely tailored suit, and he seemed to just stand there and stare at Frank, who just stared back. But with the blink of an eye the thin man was gone. Frank shuddered and quickly went back to bed to forget about the whole thing.
Within a few hours, Frank is awakened again, by the sound of a car’s engine revving, before it grew eerily silent. He sat up and got washed up and dressed. Frank checked his schedule and saw that he had no classes today; he smiled and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. He made himself some toast and a bowl of cereal, he sat down at the kitchen counter and began eating, he then turned the TV on as a news report of a doctor being sent to prison for malpractice on his patients.
“I hope the bastard chokes on the prison food.” Frank said to himself, biting into a spoonful of cereal. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the day went on, so Frank decided to take a walk to the old factory and look around. He loved just looking at the machines. Thinking if he could talk the town into giving him the deed to the land so he could make the old factory his home. He knew that this would’ve been nearly impossible for him to accomplish, even with his education. Frank got dressed in a polo, jeans and boots. “I guess I should bring some water, it is probably safe to say that it’ll get hot as hell today.” He grabbed a couple of water bottles, and heads out.
The young man makes his way to the old factory and looks around for any cops, before he slips through the rusted fence, and heads to his dream home. He knew the place like the back of his hand, from the quick climbs into the rafters, to the trap door that goes down into the guts of the factory. Frank climbed the old, steel ladder to the rafters that loomed over the main level of the factory like the watchful eyes of a parent. The young man could not stop admiring the view of the building, the smallest of creaks from the rafters echoing around the decrepit building.
As Frank walked along the old rusted paths he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, the man from the night before. Terrified, Frank ran towards the stairs to the upper level fire escape. His foot then steps on a weaker point of the structure by mistake. This causes a small section of the rafters to collapse, the young lad was caught by surprise of this and landed back first on one of the tallest machines. He groaned in pain and rolled to his side.
“Step one: Remove the rafters.” he said chuckling a little. “Shit that hurt. Nothing feels broken, so that’s a plus.” Frank said as sat up. “Oh, fuc…” Frank was knocked out cold by a swinging beam.
“This is a good start.” A voice said in the darkness of Frank’s mind.
“Start? Who are you, and what the hell you talking about?” Frank asked rubbing his head.
“My name shall be known in due time. As for this start I’m talking about, let’s just say that there are secrets and sins kept from you, which can only be baptized by blood and death.” The voice said. Frank then felt a burning sensation on his arm and took his shirt off, to investigate. On his inner arm he found a circle with an X slashed through it. “All will be revealed soon, Frank.” It said as Frank bolted awake.