Chaos Under The Clockwork Tower And Further...

Delicane looked up at the clock tower as the clock struck twelve. It was midnight. It was quiet that night, very quiet. There were a few people walking around but they were just the usual wanderer's. 

There was a sudden chill to the air. Delicane looked to her left and then to her right, all seemed normal. Something wasn't quite right, there was a quirkiness to the air. She looked again, and there he was, the strange man. 

Delicane is not normally one to judge but this man had a certain aura about him. Delicane started slowly walking over to him as a compulsion to do so was planted within her. She stopped. To people passing she would almost look as if frozen in time alike the strange gentleman who seemed out of his time. At a closer glance, she noticed she seemed to be the only person who could see this man. 

His eyes bore in to her with ferocity. He tilted his head. 

Delicane was now far more interested and simply had to go over to him.

'I can answer your question for you now, yes you are the only person that can see me' he spoke coldly.

'Why'? she asked. 

'All of that is to come for you but for now, you must remain in the dark' he muttered.

Delicane was about to speak when she heard a commotion. She and the strange man looked over to the scene of a crime. A woman was screaming and wailing whilst embracing this man lying on the floor. One can only assume the man is her husband. One can also assume that the man is dead. Delicane was understandably shocked by the scene and terribly confused.

'How could this happen? I was standing here, in this area, how could somebody be killed right under my nose!' she exclaimed. 

'As I said before, you are best left in the dark at this moment' 

'Well, I don't want to be left in the dark! I want to know what is going on. This only happened when you arrived so it must be you.' she said

'You are eager aren't you' he said

Delicane was beginning to get increasingly distressed by the sounds of the woman's heart breaking because her husband has just died. 

'Okay, I keep calling you strange man in my head and I can't do it anymore so please tell me your name' 

'Strange man, well that's interesting. My name is Valdus' 

She exhaled, content with now knowing the man has a name. Valdus grabs Delicane by the wrist and starts to pull her along with him. She protests.

'Hey! Get off me! Where are you taking me?' she gasped

'Your protests are futile, not a soul but I can hear you or see you for that matter' 

Her head told her to run from Valdus now but her heart told her to go with him. Delicane was always bored and was looking for some excitement and now she had some.

Along the way, he had stopped dragging her along as she was now willingly following him. 

Suddenly, there was a big loud bang and fire shot in to the air. Delicane turned and stood in shock. In the place where they had both been stood, something had exploded and had now left the place in ruins. 

'Valdus, stop. Please explain to me what is going on. Bad things are happening in places I have been. Am I a chaos walking?' 

'Delicane, I'm going to switch the light on now' he said

Delicane was momentarily confused and then she realised what he meant. 

Valdus took the suggestive look from Delicane as the signal to carry on.

'This may be hard for you to believe but I am here to save you-' 

'Save me? From what?' she asked

'Please, let me finish. This will save a lot less time if you just let me finish'

Delicane inhaled as though she was about to speak but thought better of it.

'I am here to save you because people are after you. I am Valdus, a crime fighter of time. I am not from your time, in fact I don't have a place in time anymore. I have been travelling between time periods for five years, I am a crime stopper of time. I stop crimes happening to the time people by the crime creators of time. Delicane, you aren't just a normal girl, you are one of us. You won't remember this because we had to send you back here to your time, and that resulted in your memory being wiped.' 

Valdus stopped speaking as he noticed the look of utter internal combustion going on within Delicane. Valdus knew this was a lot to take in. 

'Valdus, I'm running. We must get back to the marble. Valdus, Valdus'

Valdus' face dropped. 

'You're remembering'

The Stranger At The 4:00pm Bench

Victorian London. It's an odd place, very pleasing to the eye. The thick fog conceals the identity of each passerby. This then creates a sea of enigma. 

I sit on a bench, my bench. It's my bench because I sit here at 4:00pm every single day. As I am a regular visitor of this bench, I begin to become fairly well known amongst the locals. There is Marty, the sweet older gentleman who never fails to tip his hat towards me. I never fail to return the gesture. 

It's Winter at the moment. It gets considerably quieter during the winter. The cold is too much for many people. Personally, I love the cold, especially for this season. 

There is a beautiful building opposite I. It stands tall and proud. Solid iron gates embrace the building like a warm hug. The building is white with black rectangular panels going down and across. I still, in all the times I sit here do not have the faintest idea of what goes on there. I should find out someday. 

'Oh that's odd very odd' I mumble to myself
A peculiar man walks towards my bench. He dons a smart suit, top hat and cane. I assume he must be fairly wealthy. 

'May I take a seat on your bench'? The stranger asks
'Why sir, how could you possibly know this is my bench'? I enquire
The mysterious stranger smirks and proceeds to sit down next to me.
'I see you, always watching, I know how you wonder' 
This man has a very icy tone to his voice. 
Where do you watch myself watching from'?
The stranger's grey eyes pierce my soul like a dagger. After what feels like a good minute, the strangers mouth finally starts to drip a syllable. 
'The beautiful building that is white with black rectangular panels going down and across' he sings
My face drops.
'How, how do you-' I stammer
'Ah, that's for me to know and for you to never find out' 
'Tell me!' Tell me how you know! Who are you?' 

This may seem like an over reaction to this very peculiar stranger but I tell you now, I got a very, very nasty feeling running through my veins. 

'Now now Victor, calm yourself, so many questions' 
'How do you know my name'? I ask sternly
The stranger rose from my bench. 
'You'll never know, it's going to drive you insane' he whispers
The stranger turns so his back is facing myself and silently glides away humming an eerie melody. The stranger completely fades away. 

This bench, is my bench no longer.

^I wrote this short story as a spontaneous moment appeared with an interesting thought and this is what came out of that thought