bell
It was the smell of the room that hit him first. The watch shop had been in his sensory memory since he was a child, the smell of the clock oil, the musty scent which accompanied each old clock and watch case. He wandered to his old workbench, and fingered the abandoned tools which were in dire need of a clean. For a reason he couldn’t quite determine, he sat, and took out a bottle of cleaning fluid and a rag from the drawer. The ammonia smell immediately brought back memories of sitting with his father, who had given Gabriel the job of cleaning his tools to keep him quiet on Saturday afternoons.
As he rubbed the utensils gently with the damp rag Gabriel closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the shop. The ticking remained inside his head, despite the fact that he hadn’t been winding the clocks for more than a year. He realised how different the motion of cleaning was without the constant timekeeping of the clock’s tick. He stood, and went to his favourite, an old French wall clock which hung by the door. He opened the casing and wound it, and soon the old familiar metronome sounded.
Gabriel sat back at the bench, comforted by the sound. The only other thing he would ever hear in the shop would be the jingle of the bell over the door. He had heard it the fateful day that Chandra Suresh had invaded his life, and told him that he could have more, more than this shop, more than his the skills he had honed his entire life.
It had rung when Brian Davis had arrived, and again when Elle Bishop had saved him from taking his own life. A little bell, heralding these huge events, warning him that the next person through his door might change his very existence.
He continued cleaning, laying the finished tools back in their leather wallet and methodically ordering them as they were meant to be. Suddenly, the bell rang, as if it were sad at being forgotten. Gabriel looked up at the visitor.He was one of maybe half a dozen people who would have known where to find him. He guessed that once the bodies of the Petrellis had been found they would all come running, but this one was a surprise.
The visitor stood in front of the work bench. Bold. It was bold to come unarmed. “You have to leave, they’re on their way, and they will kill you without mercy.”
Gabriel looked at him, the ticking of the clock not urging him towards any action, but reminding him that this, like time, would go on and on.
“Hello Mohinder.”
“You have to leave now. I have a car at the back. They’re on their way.”
Gabriel furrowed his brow. “Why so caring all of a sudden?”
Mohinder looked away. “I know what happened. I know why you did it. But the Company don’t, and they are coming here to kill you. Now let’s go.”Mohinder walked out towards the back of the shop, expecting to be followed. Gabriel considered for a second, before grabbing the repair tools and going after him. He had been prepared for a fight, but this was a development he wanted to see unfold.