Killing Time

Billy could not tear his eyes off the clock. “Tik...Tok....Tik...Tok...” The sound filled the dark cold room with an insistent resonance. When rain slashed against the window with sudden force, Billy jumped. His brain shifted into overdrive, thoughts rushing through his mind faster than the speed of light. Where are my parents, he thought to himself. He had been waiting in the empty house for over an hour trapped by the sudden storm that had swepted in from the west. The house was beggining to feel like a prison and his nerves were stretched to the breaking point. When he had agreed to housesit for his mother's friend to make a few extra bucks, he hadn't realized just how close the house was to the asylum for the criminally insane. He looked out the window through the pounding rain and shivered at the bleak grey wall of the asylum with its coiled razor wired top. It may have looked inescapable but somehow the infamous Five-o'clock Killer had slipped right through its defenses and had been on the loose for two days. Billy took a deep breath trying to calm his nerves. “Tik, tok,” the hands on the face of the old grandfather clock shifted ever closer to five. “I’ve got to stop staring at that clock”, he told himself. He walked into the foyer to clear his head. “CREAK,” a small, barely audible noise came from the floor above. Billy froze, his ears strained. Was someone there, Should he check it out?  What if it was that escaped killer? He shook himself and told himself to get a grip. He turned to face the stairs. His foot hesitated above the first tread. “Tik ...Tok, Tik ...Tok,” the ticking seemed to intensify, the sound swelling to fill the house. “Is anyone there?” he called. Only the ticking clock answered. A flash of light cut through the window blinding Billy as he cried with relief bolting out the door sprinting to his parent's car. He felt like he had just escaped a madhouse. Inside the clock struck five. Upstairs in a tight prison jumpsuit a hand let the curtain drop as the car speed off. "Next time, "rasped the five-O'Clock Killer with a smile.