The Lost Hour

[Otis McNutt 395]

No one really knows how it happened, some doubt it even exists. It is seen as a myth right up there with Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. But I assure you it is indeed real, you see I'm the keeper of the Lost Hour.

Once upon a time I was just plain old Benjamin Hawkes, College junior without a care in the world. Little did I know that my world would get a hell of a lot bigger.

Ten Days Ago...

I could feel the blood rushing to my head as I chugged down a funnel of beer. I looked up and saw my best friend Troy Williams holding my ankles. "Chug, chug, chug!" Troy shouted in an annoying chant. The guys around cheered as I held my thumb up signalling I was finished.

"Why do I let you talk me into these things Troy?" I askrd him.

"Hey bro, there's more to college than studying Benji!" he said.

"Like Keg stands?" I asked him.

"You bet 'Like Keg stands' man!" Troy said.

"These are the best years of our lives and we need to experience them or watch as they slip away forever."

I walked with Troy and grabbed his sholder as I started to tumble.

"Wow I guess you really don't drink." Troy said.

"Not remotely, you wanna help me get back to the dorm?" I asked him.

"Yeah let's go, this party's turning into a real sausage fest. Troy said.

Troy opened the door to our dorm and tossed me onto my bunk.

"Hey easy!" I mumbled into my pillow.

"I hauled your drunk ass back here, isn't that enough?" Troy said walking to the fridge.

"Little hair O' the dog?" he asked holding a can of Budweiser."

"Groan!" I said rolling over.

"This your mom?" Troy asked.

"Yeah."

"Hum...she's hot." he said.

"That picture was taken 15 years ago." I said.

"Nothing more recent?" he asked.

"No, she died not long after that picture was taken." I said.

"If it wasn't for that picture I wouldn't even know what she looked like."

"So who raised you, your dad?" He asked.

"My dad bailed when I was a baby, the only thing I have from him is this!" I said opening my wallet.

"It's him and my mother in a photobooth, she said it was a whirlwind romance and she knew he wouldn't stick around he being a free spirit and all."

Meanwhile across town...

A man wearing dark sunglasses and a black coat emerges from a gas station bathroom. But behind him is not a bathroom but a room bathed in white light.

"Right on time!" he said flipping open a gold pocket watch.

The mysterious figure walked away from the door and stopped.

"Right on time Felix." he said turning to face a man, his face worn and wrinkled his eyes grey and old.

"You're looking sick Felix." he added.

"No thanks to you Thomas, you could've helped me at any time." Felix said.

"You know we can't use the Hour for our own purposes Felix, that's why you were punished." Thomas said.

"You know what happens now don't you Thomas?" Felix asked.

"Yes I do you shoot me..."

"And take it?" Felix asked

"No you shoot me..." Thomas stopped as a loud bang rang out.

"And I take it!" Felix said reaching for the watch.

"No, no you don't!" Thomas said as he vanished.

I woke to the sound of thumping on my door, at first I thought it was Troy trying to get in while in a drunken stupor, but I noticed he was sleeping soundly in his bunk.

"Hold on I'm coming!" I whispered walking over.

I opened the door and saw a guy lying there, blood pouring out of his gut.

"Troy help!" I shouted.

"I'm up!" Troy said shooting up.

"Holy crap!" he said rushing over.

"He's been shot, help me drag him in!" I said.

Troy and I dragged him in and closed the door behind us.

"Check him for ID, I'll call the Campus Police. I said flipping on a lamp.

"No way!" Troy said looking at the guy.

"Benji, it's your father!" Troy said.

Sure enough it was my long lost father, looking up at me a pool of blood in the corner of his mouth.

"He hasn't aged at all, he looks exactly the same as his picture!" Troy said.

[Otis McNutt 395]

"Benny!" he said holding his hand up to my face.

"I had hoped to keep you from my world, I can see now that you can't keep destiny at bay." he reached into his pocket and retrieved the pocket watch.

"Upon my death I proclaim you the Keeper of the Lost Hour." he said pressing the watch into my hand.

As the light vanished from his eyes, his skin turned white like chalk and blew away like dust.

"What the heck was that!" Troy shouted.

"He died..."

"Yeah I'll say, and his turned to dust that stuff's not possible man!" Troy shouted.

I sat on the floor looking at the dust, rubbing the gold dodad in my hand with quiet fury.

"What'd he give you?" Troy asked.

"A watch!?" I said

"Maybe it's a family keepsake." he said.

"There's an inscription." I said looking at the back.

Had I not spoke those words aloud my life woulda turned out quite differently.

"Time is a river, and I am it's Keeper?"

"What does that mean?" I asked looking to Troy

Troy stood there unmoving and silent, it took me a minute to discover that not only was it Troy but the entire world.

"What's going on?" I asked myself.

"I can answer that son."

I turned around and saw my dad standing there.

"Dad but you just..."

"Died yeah sorry about that kiddo." he said.

"Death is tricky, especially for us Keepers." he said.

"What do you mean Keepers?" I asked.

"For untold centuries, our family has protected a power. A power beyond all. The power of the lost hour." he said.

"Lost hour what's that?" I asked.

He told me a fantastic story which began in the early 1800's. There was a watchmaker named Silas Boone, one day he accepted as payment a sack of gold dust, Realising the gold dust was worthless he smelted the grains and made a watch. But this was no ordinary dust, it was created by an alchemist in a process which imbuned it with strange properties.