The House That Keeps Time

The room smells of dust, lamp oil, and old cedar. A dark walnut cabinet fills one wall, its brass face crowded with tiny gears that turn by themselves with a patient clicking sound. Three clock faces show different times, and three exposed gears rotate in uneven pauses, each revealing one polished tooth as it passes the bottom of its housing. A red lever trembles beneath them. Every few seconds, something deep inside the wall gives a hollow cough, as though the house is waiting for the correct command.