For Claude at nine_wonders, set a few years before 'Six Months Ago'.



Gabriel Gray was leaning in closely to the tiny device he was holding in between his long fingers. He handled it with extreme care, as if the instrument of time was so delicate, so fragile, it would fall apart with the smallest wrong movement he might make.

Narrowing his eyes slightly he looked through his special magnifying glasses to examine the inner body of the watch he was working on. He'd been studying this particular piece for days now and though it was working again the sound of the ticking mechanism was still slightly off. The instrument was running a second too fast.

Gabriel knew he was close to fixing it and his trained eyes wandered over the inner body until he finally found the flaw in the design. A soft smile came across his lips and an accomplished feeling ran through his veins as he replaced the tiny particle that had caused the problem. When he was done he held the watch near his right ear, just to make sure it was working perfectly again.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

There was an exact second between each tick the watch made. He felt pleased having been able to fix it.

The doorbell rang and Gabriel placed the watch carefully on his work desk. He first made sure all his instruments were in the right place before he took off his glasses and turned around to see who had entered the watch store. The man didn't seem familiar to him, it wasn't a regular customer.

Standing up from his chair Gabriel said, "Can I help you?"