Episode 1 – The Curious Visitor

Serial Title: The Clockmaker’s Secret

In a small village in Indonesia, hidden among quiet green hills, there stood a narrow wooden shop filled with wall clocks.

Every single one of them ticked.

Every single one seemed to breathe.

Every single one appeared to listen.

And right in the midst of it all… was Pak Surya.

No one knew exactly how old he was.

All anyone knew was that he had always been there.

---

Bayu had walked past the shop hundreds of times—maybe more. Each time, he slowed just a little, eyes lingering on the dusty window where pendulum shadows swung back and forth like silent metronomes.

“Why not just go inside?” Ika nudged him one afternoon. “You act like the place is haunted.”

Bayu hesitated. “It just feels… strange.”

Ika smirked. “You’re scared.”

“I’m not.”

“Then prove it.”

That was all it took.

Bayu pushed the door open.

The ticking wrapped around him instantly.

Not loud.

Not soft.

Just… everywhere.

Pak Surya slowly lifted his head from his workbench.

“You’ve been watching this place for a long time,” he said, as if continuing a conversation that had never begun.

Bayu stiffened. “How did you—”

“The clocks see,” Pak Surya said gently. “I only listen.”

That should have been enough to make Bayu leave.

It wasn’t.

Curiosity pulled him deeper.

The walls were lined with clocks—polished, rusted, cracked, and… wrong. One ticked off-beat. Another had no hands, yet still kept time.

Then Bayu saw it.

A large carved clock, resting high on a shelf.

Its wood was darker than the others, as if it had absorbed years instead of counting them. A brass key jutted from its side.

“That one,” Bayu said. “Why does it look different?”

Pak Surya didn’t answer immediately.

But the air shifted.

“That,” he said at last, “is not meant to be played with.”

“Does it still work?”

“It always works.”

Bayu stepped closer. “What does it do?”

Silence lingered.

Then—

“It gives back time,” Pak Surya said.

Bayu’s chest tightened. “Back?”

“Moments you wasted. Choices you regret,” the old man continued softly. “It lets you return… and make them better.”

Bayu swallowed.

A memory surfaced—clearer than it should have been.

A week ago.

A broken flower vase.

Ika’s mother’s face, tight with anger.

The apology that hadn’t been enough.

“Can I try?” Bayu asked.

Pak Surya studied him.

Not suspicious.

Not surprised.

Just… certain.

“You already know what you want to change,” he said.

Bayu didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to.

Pak Surya reached up and carefully brought the clock down.

The brass key gleamed faintly.

“Only one turn,” he said.

He placed the key in Bayu’s hand.

It felt heavier than it should have.

Bayu hesitated.

Just curiosity, he told himself.

Nothing more.

He turned the key.

---

The ticking stopped.

Then—

shifted.

---

Bayu stood in front of Ika’s house.

The afternoon light felt softer. The air… lighter.

He looked down.

The vase.

Still intact.

Right where it used to be.

“I didn’t break it yet…” he whispered.

Inside, he heard voices.

Ika laughing.

Her mother speaking calmly.

No anger.

No tension.

Bayu stepped back slowly.

A strange feeling crept into his chest.

Relief.

Mixed with something else.

Something he couldn’t name.

---

When he opened his eyes again—

he was back in front of the shop.

The clock was no longer in his hands.

It was already back on the shelf.

Pak Surya stood behind the counter.

Watching.

“Well?” the old man asked.

Bayu nodded slowly. “I… fixed it.”

Pak Surya’s smile didn’t change.

“Did you?”

---

Later that evening, Bayu walked home.

Everything looked normal.

Almost.

He slowed near the yard.

The large tree beside his house—

was gone.

Not cut.

Not fallen.

Just… gone.

Bayu stopped.

His breath caught.

“What…?”

He ran inside.

“Mother?”

She stepped out from the kitchen, smiling warmly.

“Why are you calling like that?” she asked.

Bayu stared at her.

Something was wrong.

Not obvious.

Not visible.

But wrong.

Her smile felt… unfamiliar.

“I—nothing,” he said quickly.

But his chest tightened.

Something had changed.

Something small.

Something he couldn’t explain.

---

That night, Bayu couldn’t sleep.

The ticking followed him.

Even in silence.

Especially in silence.

Then—

a whisper.

“Just once more.”

Bayu sat up.

The voice wasn’t loud.

It didn’t need to be.

It sounded like his own thoughts.

Only clearer.

“You can fix more.”

The words repeated.

Gentle.

Convincing.

Dangerous.

Bayu stood.

Reached for his flashlight.

“I just need to make it right,” he muttered.

---

The village was quiet when he arrived.

The shop stood still.

Waiting.

He tried the door.

Locked.

Of course.

Bayu hesitated.

Then sat down in front of it.

Thinking.

A week ago.

The vase.

Ika’s mother.

He could fix it properly this time.

Make everything right.

Footsteps behind him.

“What’s up, Kid?”

Bayu spun around.

Pak Surya stood there.

As if he had always been there.

The old man glanced briefly at the door…

then back at Bayu.

“Strange night to come back,” he said softly.

A pause.

Then—

“Tell me,” Pak Surya continued,

his smile barely shifting,

“what did you lose?”

---

To be continued to Episode 2 – The Missing Memory

*

Serial: The Clockmaker’s Secret

Episode 1 – The Curious Visitor
Episode 2 – The Missing Memory
Episode 3 – The Unfamiliar Self
Episode 4 – The Unraveling Village
Episode 5 – The Price of Time
Episode 6 – The Choice That Remains (THE END)

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