Short+story+-+Taylor+and+Emma

"My dad’s dead and my mum’s in rehab," the young boy explained to the teacher on the last day of term. The only good thing to come out of holidays was that he was going to the fairground tomorrow, the best fairground in the world according to the other boys in the class. It was Alexander Bob Pakwood-Omokantong’s birthday tomorrow and his mum had given him money so that he could go to the fair. The fairground had been deserted for 263 years but this year a new owner had bought it and revamped all the rides and stalls. He was very excited. The next morning Alex woke up in a great mood, as he half fell, half pounded down the stairs he couldn’t help smiling to himself. It was his birthday and he was going to the fairground, it would be one of the best days of his life! As he reached the kitchen he thought about what he should eat. He ended up deciding on Coco Pops mixed up with Rice bubbles for the perfect chocolate but not chocolate mix. He quickly ate his breakfast, raced up the stairs, shouted good morning to his mum who was still in bed and set off for the carnival. Dressed in his favourite pair of jeans, red converse shoes and an old t-shirt he was sure that something amazing would happen that day. And it did.

Approaching the fairground Alex saw the old man who sat on the park bench every morning near the fairground. For some strange reason he seemed different today than on any other. As Alexander walked past him he said in a deep croaky voice: //The grounds are haunted by the ticking, // //You can never escape its ring, // //It pulls you closer towards the end… // //Make sure it STOPS. // //Tick tock, tick tock… // //263. //

No matter how hard he tried to forget he could not erase the old man’s words from his mind. It was like they were etched into his mind. As he approached the enormous rusting gates, he kept thinking about what the old man had told him… 263… where had he heard that before… When Alex finally reached the gate, he temporarily forgot about what the old man had told him and began to get very excited about the day ahead. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Alexander was nearly finished completing the full circuit of the fair by mid-morning. He had screamed all the way down on the Big Drop, gotten so dizzy he nearly vomited on the Vomitron and done a whole bunch of other things that had left him feeling giddy, sick and terrified all at the same time. But something was not right. He could feel it, right in the pit of his stomach… the feeling that something terrible was going to happen. As he looked at the sun setting towards the horizon he remembered the creepy old man’s words. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The grounds are haunted by the ticking, // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">You can never escape its ring, // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">It pulls you closer towards the end… // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Make sure it STOPS. // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Tick tock, tick tock… // <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">263. //

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">As he thought about these words to himself a horrific scene arose in his mind. He was in the fairground but it was old, really old. In fact he remembered that he had found out it was 263 years old from that research project he did last year. In the back of his mind he could hear a distant ticking which was slowly getting louder. And as the ticking got louder a dark shape rose into the sky. It was black as coal; it covered the stars and the moon. The sky was pitch black like a blanket had been draped right over the top, blocking any light that could possibly get through. That was when the things of nightmares started happening. The old wooden merry go round was covered in children when it got faster and faster. And faster and faster until it was going so fast he couldn’t make out the children’s little faces. The Ferris wheel started to creak and he watched in horror as it slowly rolled off of its hinges and started moving towards the bay with everyone inside the capsules screaming for help. But things got even worse. And as this was happening the deep croaky voice of the creepy old man rang through his head; don’t let this happen again, 263! 263! <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">And then as instantly as he was gone he was back in the present day, and everything was back to how it was when he had the vision but he knew that he had to STOP that ticking.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Alex started pulling the lines apart trying to find some meaning to the numbers 263. //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">The grounds are haunted by the ticking //. Well that’s obvious he thought to himself. Alexander listened closely and felt shivers slide down his spine as he heard a slow tick, tick, tick in the back of his head. Alexander looked to the sky and was horrified to realize the moon was nearly covered just like in the vision. Skipping the rest of the lines he focused on the end of the verse of the weird horror riddle the old man told him, 263. What does that mean? He started making a mental list of all the things with 263 that he could think of and he started getting really scared. His postcode was 0263, his birthday was on the 26th of the third month, his house was no. 2 on Sixth Ave and he was in the third house on that street. His name was 26 letters long and his middle name was 3 letters long. 263, 263. His whole life consisted of the numbers 263.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10px; line-height: 115%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Alexander finally realised… the ticking was him, it was his heart. He was the next time bomb just waiting for the right minute to explode. How could he stop it and stop it from killing him and all the other people at the fair? Alexander Bob Omokantong had to the stop the time bomb that was his heart. And there was only one way to do that…