Chapter Text
The pocket watch was already ticking when Eloise found it.
It rested inside a porcelain teacup painted with tiny roses, part of a crooked, mismatched set arranged like a tea party no one had finished. One chair sat slightly pulled back, as if someone had just stood up or had been taken from it mid-conversation.
The air felt wrong.
Too still.
Too expectant.
Like the room had been holding its breath long before she walked in—and refused to let it go.
“Don’t touch that unless you like riddles,” the shopkeeper muttered.
“Riddles?” Eloise asked, her voice quieter than she meant it to be.
But when she turned, she was alone.
Not just alone.
Left.
Something in her chest tightened, sharp and sudden—like she’d been abandoned in a moment she didn’t remember living through.
Her gaze drifted back to the teacup.
To the watch.
—Tick—
It sounded louder now.
Closer.
Almost… impatient.
Eloise reached out.
Her fingers hovered just above it—and for a second, she swore she felt something reach back.
Not a touch.
A recognition.
Like whatever this was had been waiting specifically for her.
She should have stopped...she didn’t. She picked it up anyway.
—Tick—