In a quiet alley of Warsaw, nestled between a forgotten bookstore and a café that never seemed to close, stood Józef’s Watch Shop. The old man behind the counter, Józef, had been there for as long as anyone could remember. His hands were steady, his eyes sharp despite his age, and his knowledge of timepieces unmatched.
But there was one watch in his collection that he never sold.
It sat in a locked glass case, its gold surface untarnished, its gears ticking with a rhythm different from any other. Those who listened closely swore they could hear whispers in its ticking. Józef dismissed such claims with a wave of his hand. "Superstition," he would say. "A clock is just a machine."
But Józef knew better.
He had received the watch decades ago from a mysterious traveler. The man had entered his shop on a stormy night, dripping wet, his eyes wild with something between excitement and terror. He had placed the watch on the counter and whispered, “It doesn’t tell time. It tells… possibilities.”
Józef, intrigued but skeptical, had examined the timepiece. At first glance, it was an ordinary pocket watch. But when he turned the dial, something strange happened—the shop changed around him.
One moment, it was as it had always been. The next, the shelves were in different places, the furniture was new, and the newspapers on the counter displayed dates that hadn’t yet arrived. Turning the dial again, everything reverted. It was as if the watch was a window into alternate timelines.
Józef had spent years testing its limits, trying to understand its purpose. He saw wars that never happened, inventions that had yet to be made, and versions of himself who had made different choices. But one day, he saw something he wished he hadn't.
A future where his shop was gone. Where Warsaw itself was nothing but ruins.
Terrified, Józef stopped using the watch. He locked it away, hoping that if he never turned the dial again, that future would never come to pass.
But tonight, as the city outside hummed with life, Józef noticed something strange—the watch was ticking faster than before. As if it was winding itself.
