Time's Soft Embrace

The day was unseasonably warm for early October. The sky was a bright blue shade, filled with white clouds. 

Our protagonist - Amelia, stopped her stride, in between steps. 

Her eyes darted towards a shop in front of her, it's shadow completely engulfing her skin tone. 

The shop stood out more than any other to Amelia. Unlike the other shops, it smelt like brand new paint with shining gold and brass inside. She knew it must have had to be a new shop - she was fascinated by the fact that her small town finally had some 'action', she thought. 

To us, a new shop is probably something normal. We see them everyday. However, Amelia;'s town was a desert, practically. No shops, barely any citizens, and no 'action'. 

Anyways, the window display was equally as fascinating as the inside seemed to her, showing a variety of pocket watches encased in castings of every shape and size imaginable to the human mind. She felt as though she had come across a giant treasure chest. 

Her curiosity piqued.

As she approached the shop, the faint ticking of hundreds of tiny watches filled her ears, each tick reverberating in her legs - sort of like a heartbeat. The door was unassuming, adorned with a simple brass plate that read "Timekeeper's Emporium." She hesitated for a moment, gathering her courage, before finally pushing the door open and stepping inside.

The interior was every bit as breathtaking as the exterior had made her think it was. The walls were lined with shelves of pocket watches, each one different from the other. Her family was no stranger to poverty - she'd never seen anything like this before. The counter at the back of the shop was filled with a column of tools and gears, and behind it stood an elderly man with long, white hair and a proud but kind smile. He looked up from his work as she entered, his eyes twinkling behind a pair of spectacles that sat on his nose.

"Welcome to the Timekeeper's Emporium, my dear. I am the Timekeeper, and this is my humble establishment. I trust you find it to your liking?" His voice was soft and gentle, his accent hinting at a time long past.

Amelia stammered a reply, feeling more than a little awestruck by the man before her. "Y-yes, it's... it's quite lovely. I've never seen anything like it." She gestured around the shop, taking in the countless pocket watches on display.

The Timekeeper chuckled softly. "Thank you, my dear. This place has been my home for many years now. Some call me a madman, you know, for what I do. They say I play God, toying with time as if it were nothing more than a toy." He sighed before turning his attention back to his work, polishing a particularly pretty pocket watch with a soft cloth. "But to me, these watches are more than just pieces of time - they are paths to our past, future and present! They are responsible for anything that has happened, is happening or will happen, and they always will be."

Amelia felt a shiver run down her spine as she listened to the Timekeeper speak. Something about the way he said it, the passion in his voice combined with the gentle fatherly-like personality, that comforted her with a feeling of warmth whenever she was around him... She found herself drawn towards him, to the mysterious personality he seemed to have.

"May I... may I see one?" she asked hesitantly, gesturing toward a pocket watch on a purple pillow behind the counter. It was covered in gold ornaments, its face surrounded with mother-of-pearl and delicate sapphires. "The one with the... the butterfly?"

The Timekeeper smiled, his eyes shining with delight. "Of course, my dear," he said, carefully removing the pocket watch from its display. He placed it in her hands, and she felt a strange sense move through her veins and capillaries as she touched it. "This is a special one, you know. A timepiece from a bygone era, from a time when butterflies were said to carry the souls of the departed."

Amelia traced the delicate filigree work on the case with her finger, astounded by it's extreme precision. "It's... it's beautiful," she breathed. "What does it do?"

The Timekeeper chuckled softly. "Ah, now that is the question, isn't it? What does it do? Well, that is up to you to discover, my dear. You see, each pocket watch in this shop has its own secrets. And the way to unlocking these secrets, you may ask? There is no key, it lies within your heart." He paused, looking deep into her eyes. "Do you understand what I am saying, Amelia?"

She nodded, feeling a weight settle into her chest. "I... I think so," she managed to say. "But... but how do I find out? How do I unlock its secrets?"

The Timekeeper patted her hand gently. "That, my dear, is the true expedition. The journey itself is the reward. All you need to do is follow your heart, and the answers will come to you." He smiled reassuringly. "Now, why don't you take the watch for a spin? See where it leads you?"

With trembling hands, Amelia slipped the pocket watch back onto its chain and fastened it around her neck. It felt warm against her skin, almost as if it were alive. She took a deep breath, then turned and walked out of the shop.

The rest of the day passed in a jiffy. She found herself drawn to the pocket watch, just like she was drawn to the old man, constantly checking the time, as if it held some sort of "message" just for her. By the end of the day, she knew she could no longer put it off. She had to find out what the pocket watch was trying to tell her. With a shaky hand, she pulled out a pen and paper and began to write down her thoughts, her memories, anything that came to mind.

As she wrote that strange sense that went through her veins again felt over her. It was as though the pocket watch was guiding her hand somewhere, taking her deeper into her own past. She didn't know where the journey would take her, but she knew one thing for certain: from now on, her life would never be the same.