The sun beat down on Lloyds forehead, but the ocean's breeze cooled it. The salt in the air slowly turning his hair into beach hair. His hair absorbed the heat and warmed his scalp, it was a pleasant feeling. he tuned out the murmur of everyone on deck, beginning to listen to the wind whip around chairs and tree's on deck, mesmerized by the gentle crashing of the waves against the hull of the ship.
Gradually the crashing waves became more rhythmic, and less wet sounding.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick.
He felt something cold against his index finger. His eyes snapped open. His finger was curled around the trigger of a .38 revolver. He knew the gun was loaded. Underneath his leather shoes was old oaken flooring, much of it stained and rotting, the varnish worn off decades prior. Termite holes pock-marked the floors.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick.
Lloyd turned round, realizing what he had been leaning on, a very old, very loud grandfather clock. Upon closer inspection it appeared to be almost ten feet high, it was supported by eight feet, gnarled knuckles and serrated claws. He looked farther up the clock, it was obvious hundreds of hours of fine craftsmanship was put into carving the wood, Cherry, by his reckoning, stained a dark, dark red. The thin crevices in it were black, from close to 200 years of grime. Grotesque images were etched into the face of the wood; a gargoyle ; a minotaur holding a disembodied heart in his clawed fist; a crested sea serpent eating a group of sailors; a monstrous whale like creature with set of fins after set of fins after set of fins, covered in barnacle-like growths, its wide set mouth engulfing a hapless galleon.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick.
His gaze continued to wander upwards, the casing of the clock face was asymmetrical, a tangle of seaweed hiding beasts of the sea circled up one side, the other a large anchor and chain wound its way around the face of the clock. At the top a gruesome image, a head seeming half human, half cuttle-fish leered, a blackish looking sap oozed slightly between one of the tendrils that formed on its face. Underneath the mass of grabbers a sharp looking beak posed, half open.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick.
He looked at the clock face, the mother-of-pearl backing was yellowing from age. He saw the cast iron hands on the clock moving, becoming arms. The numbers danced and became illegible, they were effigies of an epoch to come, but Lloyd could not comprehend them. The face began to spin becoming a dark swirl. Like watching a horror movie on late night TV, he tried to avert his eyes, but couldn't help but become fixated. He remembered a quote from Nietzsche;
and when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you
He felt an overwhelming sense of fear. A droplet of water hit his face. The spinning hands of the clock were now a whirlpool, black angry waters, they spat in his face. A vast sea gushed out of the face of the clock towards him. The heart of the clock opened, revealing the flooded clockwork inside. He was engulfed instantly. He could see through the water, the cogs turn, and the pendulum swing.
BWONG....BWONG....BWONG....BWONG....
He opened his eyes. Through several feet of water he could see a great shining orb. Chlorine stung at his corneas. He closed his eyes, exhaling, letting himself sink. The soles of his leather shoes were flat on the blue and green tile lining the pool. He let his knee's bend slightly. Then he pushed. He shot to the surface of the water. A young man in red swim trunks scooped him up farther out of the water, draping him over the edge of the pool. Lloyd spat a mouthful of water out, gasped, filling his lungs with cool air and hoisted himself up and out.
"Was I sleep walking?" He queried after a few more breaths. The lifeguard was already examining him for any injuries, fingering through his hair looking for any lesions.
"No," He said hesitantly. "A rogue wave hit the ship, it hit us pretty hard. How's your vision? Do you know what day it is?" He held a hand in front of Lloyds face, two fingers and a thumb extended.
"Three fingers? And unless I slept out here an entire night, its still the first day of the cruise." Lloyd said. With that the lifeguard darted off to check on the rest of the people milling about the back deck.
Lloyd stood; water poured from the holes in his prosthesis. He glanced towards the bottom of the pool, looking for hi sunglasses. No where in sight. They'll find them. Might as well go change and go to the bar. He took a towel from one of the over-turned deck chairs, draped it around himself, and began to drip back to his suite. He stripped down, and jumped in the shower. Washing the chlorine out of his hair with the warm water. He hung up his wet clothes on the towel rack in the bathroom, called room service to get some rice delivered to put his phone in, hoping it wasn't completely ruined. He fished in his pants pocket for his wallet, which was stuffed into a pocket in his dry pants. His hand slipped into the other pocket, feeling for his lucky coin, which he found, along with something more. He opened his hand, bull's-head side of the coin facing upwards. Along with something else, a strange token he'd never seen before.
Hello. And where might you be from?
OOC: This is what I imagine the clock sounding like
