Susie checked her watch. 8:30. 30 minutes of class left. Susie adjusted her posture and stared at her teacher’s desk. Her eyes keenly observed the shiny brass clock on the desk, its golden hands glittering in the sunlight. The numbers were too faint to be seen, but she could just barely make out the time: 8:25. The clock was old, but only a few minutes slow. It had been sitting on her teacher’s desk for as long as Susie could remember: worn, delicate, forgotten.

Yet today, something about it felt…different.

The ticking was louder than usual, softly echoing in the quiet classroom. Susie glanced around. Everyone else was intently focused on their work, their pencils scratching on empty paper. No one seemed to notice the clock.

Susie checked her watch again. 8:35. Then, the clock. 8:25.

The hands hadn’t moved.

Susie blinked and looked again. The clock was still there.

And the hands still hadn’t moved.

The ticking continued, steady and unyielding.

Susie shook her head, trying to dismiss the odd feeling creeping up on her. It could just be her imagination.

She glanced down at her wrist and froze. There it was: faint but clear. A circular mark with a pattern of thin lines, rotating like clock hands.

She felt a cold breeze on her neck, even though the classroom windows were shut tight.

Her heart raced as the clock hands twitched- slight, barely perceptible.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

The teacher’s voice glitched, an eerie echo vibrating around the room.

Susie’s breath caught.

Something was very, very wrong.

Every head turned towards her, in perfect silence. No blinks, no breaths. Just the fixed silence of the frozen students’ eyes, hammered into Susie. The ticking was growing louder, pounding inside her like a heartbeat.

Susie backed towards the door, but her legs moved like she was walking through quicksand. Each step felt like an eternity, each breath like a century.

The mark on her wrist was glowing bright. The golden clock hands etched into her skin spun faster and faster until they merged into a golden circle of light.

“Susie,” a haunting voice whispered. But, the voice came from inside Susie, a chilling whisper.

“You missed it,” the raspy voice continued. “You could’ve had them. Your dreams. At the cost of just one day. But you ignored the chance. And this is the price you will pay.”

Susie shuddered and closed her eyes. Time slipped through her fingers like water. The classroom walls melted away, the desks sucked into the deep pit of time.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

That was it. One final, metallic, ringing click.

And then…silence.

When Susie opened her eyes, she was alone.

Dust hung in the air.

No desks. No students. No sound.

Just darkness. The mark on her wrist.

And her.

Standing still.

Too late.

Forever late.