The Timekeeper

Chapter Twenty-Five

Two days had passed since my Timekeeper had malfunctioned. Two days, and still nothing had changed. The red line still stuck prominently on my wrist, and every time I saw it, I would have a mini freak out. I wasn’t quite used to seeing the dreaded line, even though it meant nothing to me. I had called Jase almost every hour of every day since; just to make sure he was still alive and breathing. I know it sounds stupid, but I couldn’t help it. The longer I’d go without speaking to him or hearing from him, the worse my paranoia would get. I hated it, and knew I was being extremely annoying, but I just couldn’t help it.

I sat on the couch, eating some toast and flicking through television shows. There was never anything on before school, only a bunch of educational children shows. This one in particular seemed extremely old, and involved Count Dracula singing about numbers and playing the piano. Sighing, I got off the couch and strode into the kitchen, finishing the last few mouthfuls of toast and washing the crumbs off of the plate.

The house was relatively empty now. Jacob had left for work already, and Patricia had a business meeting on the other side of the city so she left last night and stayed at a nearby hotel. I wasn’t sure where my mother was, seeing as she would usually be up by now. Maybe she was outside in the garden, or upstairs taking a shower. I knew she’d pop up sooner or later to remind me that I have school today, as she does every school morning, just in case I may have forgotten.

I took the stairs two at a time, almost tripping on the last step and falling flat on my face. But I managed to keep my balance, and walked into my bedroom. I flopped down onto my bed, which isn’t the most graceful thing to do when you’re wearing a skirt, even with tights underneath. I grabbed my phone from underneath my pillow, and frowned slightly seeing I had no messages. My fingers padded across the screen, pushing numbers and doing so without a moment’s hesitation; I now knew Jase’s number off by heart. It wasn’t an extremely difficult number to remember, seeing as a lot of the numbers were the same. The phone began ringing as I gazed down at my wrist, a habit I had begun doing long before a red line cut through the metal strip.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end was deep and groggy, making it obvious that I had just woken him up. A rush of relief flew through my body as soon as he spoke, and I was reminded yet again that he was healthy and alive.

“Did I wake you?” I laughed as a yawn slips from his mouth.

“Candice? What time is it?” Jase asked, clearly irritated from being woken up.

“Around half past eight,” I smiled, just happy to hear his voice.

“And you decided to wake me up at this ungodly hour because?” he asked with a sigh.

“You can’t sleep the day away, Jase,” I laughed, though feeling slightly guilty for waking him up. It’s not like he had to be up this early, he didn’t have school and had finished his community service last week. I knew he was applying for jobs around the city, but he’d been unsuccessful so far.

“There are twenty-four hours in a day, I think I’m allowed to sleep for more than eight of them.” I laughed, ready to reply, when I heard my mother calling my name downstairs. She’s probably just making sure I’m up and ready for school, like every other morning.

“Yes, Mum, I’m awake,” I yelled, before trying to turn my attention back to Jase. But I could still hear my mother’s voice calling me from the stairs, and her tone was starting to sound more urgent. I got up off my bed, almost falling back down again as my body tried to adjust itself to the sudden change of position, before walking out of my bedroom and down the stairs.

“Candice, you can’t just wake me up and then not talk to me.” Jase’s voice drifted through the phone that still sat by my ear.

“Sorry, Jase. I-“ I stop mid-sentence, unable to force another noise out of my mouth. My mother is standing in the living room, TV remote in hand, the volume on the TV turned up so high I am surprised I couldn’t hear it earlier.