I woke up lying on a bed listening to the sound of ticking. It wasn’t just from one clock, but hundreds of them. Apart from lying on a bed, I had no idea where I was or why so many clocks were there in the room with me.

My head still felt dizzy, and my vision was blurred. I wanted to shut my eyes again and rest against the soft pillow. I must have fallen asleep or passed out again, because I was suddenly wakened by the cacophony of a hundred chiming time pieces. If I didn’t have a headache before, I was having one now. I placed my hands over my ears waiting for the chiming to stop. Once I was confident that the last of the chimes had finished, I unplugged my ears.

“So, you’re awake?” came a dismembered voice.

There was someone in the room with me. I quickly sat up in the bed. Maybe a little too quick as my head started to spin again. I now saw that I was not in a bedroom, but in what could be described as a ‘study’ and the bed was in fact a large red velvet couch with the softest of cushions.

I looked across the room and saw ahead of me sitting behind a very tall, slim, darkwood, writing desk, the person who I took to be the one who carried me in to the Hall off the porch.

That person, a woman, got out from behind the desk and walked towards me. She was tall and slim, like the desk, her skin was pale and her hair was short and black.

She wore a long white leather trench coat. The coat was fastened at her waist allowing the bottom half to flap around her legs. Occasionally, I would catch glimpses of coats red lining as she walked towards me in her...