GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (9 page)

‘Two tickets, is it then
,
lads?
’ the caretaker nodded jovially to them from behind his dark oak counter.
‘
That’ll be
two pounds.’ Giving Cameron
his
change from the old fashioned cash till
, the man’s
thin
,
white
-
glove
d hands
shook
minutely
.
The boys saw that his hands were extraordinarily large
—
almost as big as shovels!

A slim man
with short, grey cropped hair, the caretaker
stood much taller than
the
teenage
boys
. Although the whites of his
green eyes
were filled
with unsightly
veins that resembled
little red rivulets
, his gaze was keen and alert.
He wore
a dark casual suit, shirt and tie,
and
his evident
care
for
personal appearance
surprised them. Considering
the remoteness and unpopularity of the place
,
it seemed unlikely that he would have
many visitors
. Even at the best of times
, most
people would be almost too scared to enter.

The man chuckled a little
as he
strode
to the front entrance. He turned the sign on the door behind them to ‘closed’ and then said
, ‘No electricity
,
either
,
lads
—
it is a plain
,
old fashioned till.
Well, up you go and I hope you find the place interesting
.
Don’t be too long now
,
it is getting late.’

The boys
darted quickly towards the
corner of the room
and
climbed
the steep
spiral of
stairs
. They were
excited
about
what lay ahead
.
Forgetting the
caretaker
for the moment,
they
ran up
,
around and around,
as quickly
as they could
,
holding onto
the
thick
banister
for assistance
as they leapt two steps at a time.
Laughing and giggling with excitement, they went right past an
open
doorway on the first level
and continued straight
up to the second.
It was
all
a
wonderful
game!
Out of breath
,
they stopped
on the second
landing for a minute before entering
the
large room
that opened off of it
.
What a strange place
this
was!

The room
was dimly lit and very noisy
.
There were several large bookshelves overflowing
with clocks
of all
types
, as well as
watches and other time pieces of all shapes and sizes
.
There were
g
randfather
c
locks,
g
randmother
c
locks and
cuckoo
clocks
,
to name only a few
,
all making their tick-tock sounds
.
The continual mechanical
noise from the oscillation of their pendulums
would
turn
anyone
mad!
A
closed
glass cabinet sat in the middle of the room
and housed
a collection of
small pocket
timepieces. Above it, etched into the stone wall, were the words “
Touch Not Time
”
.

There were numerous old leather-bound
reference books
. Scott glanced at some of the titles, noticing that many were on the subject of ti
me, motion and travel
.
Another smaller glass
cabinet sat in
the far corner of the room
. It could have been
easily
overlooked,
but for some reason it
caught Scott’s attention.
It contained
an
ancient,
yellow
-stained parchment
manuscript that featured
copious symbols arranged in a
curious
and
complex pattern.

The
air
felt oppressively
heavy and moist from the relative humidity within the room.
There was a sense that a thunderstorm might be near.

‘Does that old guy not tidy up?
This place is so dusty!’ Cameron
said, shaking his head in wonder.

‘Yeah,
he’s
supposed to I
guess. What
else could he be doing up here?
’

The boys looked around
again
briefly
, but
soon
grew
bored and once again
bounded
up the spiral
staircase
.
Around
and
around
they went
until they were
dizzy
. They caught
their breath on the third level
,
still boyishly pulling and tugging at each other
; their shared sense of adventure and exploration made them feel closer than ever
.

On the top floor
they found
another room
,
even stranger than the
one on the second level. A
red fluorescent luminosity
radiated
outwards from
the
small doorway
and cast
a
reddish glow
onto the
landing of the
stone staircase where the boys stood.
Bewildered,
they were completely
enclosed within the chillingly
scarlet
-hued
light
that
flowed
from the
pentagon
-shaped
room
.
Entering cautiously, t
hey found an electric
bulb
fitting
on one of the
five equal
ly-
si
z
ed walls
and
switched
it
on
,
instantly
dispersing
the uncanny red
glow.

What kind of place is this
? Scott
wondered.
The walls
were covered with
various panoramic
and ornate murals. Their colours were rich and vibrant
,
yet at the same time
strangely
disquieting.

The
re
were
various Egyptian scrolls and a painting of
a jackal
preying on innocent people
who
ran
about
in great fear
. One scene depicted the great sands of Egypt with its crumbling pyramids and temples.
Another disconcerting scene
seemed to be set in
what looked like Mexico or some
similar
clime
. It presented
a
series
of ancient temples
nestled in
the
dense greenery
of
a jungle
.
Upon the temples, t
here were
images of people involved in
some form of
macabre ceremon
y
.
Some wore
sad
faces
that told of oppression
as they knelt
in front of a great
statue
—
an effigy with a monstrous head and an evil face
.
The entire mural was enclosed within a border of jungle vines.
Some of the small figures were
helplessly entangled,
smothered in
rampant
vegetation.
The
scenes were very unsettling
,
and the
boys stared
at them almost
as if
in a trance
,
inquisitive yet anxious.