The Alcove - Chapter 3 -

# #twitterfiction The Alcove - Chapter 3 -
# His first memory was of his Grandfather, he was a very wild child and everyone commented on how much they were alike. Two peas in a pod.
# The estate was sprawling and Stephen would spend most of his time just adventuring about, catching frogs or crickets and building forts.
# His Grandpa would always encourage him to be more adventurous than either of his parents wanted him to be. Grandpa had a secret.
# Stephen and his "Gramps" would spend all afternoon staring at the clouds, naming the pictures the sky drew. These memories were fond.
# The first time Stephen had noticed there was something "different" about Gramps was when he was 10, memorable as it was on his birthday.
# When trying to figure out the riddle of how much older Gramps was, Stephen noticed that he looked a fair bit older than his Grandmother.
# Ever one to be mannerly he didn't mention it at the time, but stored the thought for later, he solved the riddle and blew out the candles.
# Stephen had asked Gramps thousands of questions as they would wander the grounds, but there was one growing question he dared not ask.
# His father away on business more than half the year, his grandparents were as much in charge as mom, and this sat well with Stephen.
# He liked the recklessness his Grandfather had in his eyes and his gentle way. Father was the polar opposite, focusing the business of life.
# One week before graduation, he received a very special gift from his Grandfather, not wrapped in a box, but simply folded in a handkerchief.
# How can the best day of your life also be the worst?
# Stephen held the pocket watch in his hands and had thanked Gramps with a huge hug. "A good watch is the mark of a good man" Gramps said.
# Gramps had taken Stephen aside to explain the new responsibilities that accompanied the timepiece, they seemed fantastical.
# "The first thing to note" said Gramps as if it were rehearsed, "is the hands move opposite of common watches, this is no common watch."
# Stephen had already noticed, but played along and pretended to rediscover the movement, looking to his Grandfather to continue.
# He had thought it a gag or a watchmaker's mistake! Why would anyone create a watch that ran backward? He sensed Gramps holding back a story.
# "Secondly" Gramps continued "Is that this watch never needs to be wound!" the look on Stephen's face was priceless.
# "Never?" Stephen examined the watch and moved to test the theory.
# Gramps snatched it out of his hand before he could blink and looked into his eyes with a somber glare. "let me finish!" he blurted out.
# Stephen was taken aback and felt sheepish. Gramps instantly gave him a smile that let him know everything was good, but he needed to listen.
# Holding up the timepiece, he looked Stephen in the eye and pointed "To wind this watch press this button."he blinked "then the hands stop."
# He leaned in "If the hands of this watch stop, Time will stand still for all but you."
# Stephen laughed, then caught the gaze of his elder. He must be joking! The gaze was steady. He flashed back to his birthday and the candles.
# "What are you saying Gramps? That this watch can stop time?" The fire in his eyes now glowed red hot as he raised an eyebrow. "Yes" he said.
# "There is one catch" his tone now deathly serious "for each moment you stop time for others you must live it twice!"
# "Is that what happened to you?" Stephen only realized after he had said it that he shouldn't have. He needed to know.
# "Yes, that is why I am passing this on to you, I have traveled the world, touched the pyramids, I have seen all I have ever wanted to see."
# "You have been to the pyramids? How? When?" Stephen's mind raced as a wave of a thousand questions spilled out.
# "I will answer those later" Gramps calmed him "There is a consequence for stopping time. You must live it twice over." what did that mean?
# "Twice over?" Stephen was unable to fathom what was being said, his mind still wandering to exotic locals with scorpions and sphinx.
# "If you stop the watch you find all those around you frozen. you are alone with your thoughts, for the better or for the worse."
# Gramps continued "You will have run of the earth, go where you will, eat what you wish, borrow what you need, then reset the watch..."
# He paused "...once the watch is reset you see a vision of your life. if the watch was stopped for an hour your vision will last an hour..."
# He swallowed hard "...your vision will be of the last hour of your life as it would have been had you not stopped time."