short fiction · 2026-10-26

The Clock That Counts Backwards

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

The kitchen clock ticks backwards at 3:47 AM. Not broken — just honest. Each second returns to the minute before, each minute to the hour, each hour to the night that held them. She watches the hands unspool time like thread from a spool, the ghost of tomorrow retreating into the solid dark of now. The refrigerator hums its single note. Her tea steeps in silence, darkening. She does not need to catch the hours. They are already here, whole and unbroken, waiting in the cup.