The Man Who Sold Time
Part Four: The Rules of Time
Aryan ran into the hallway.
"Wait!"
His voice echoed through the empty corridor.
But the man in the black suit had disappeared.
It was as if he had never been there.
Breathing heavily, Aryan searched every floor of the hospital.
Nothing.
No cameras had recorded the stranger.
No one remembered seeing him.
It was impossible.
---
That evening, Aryan returned to his apartment.
Everything looked familiar...
Yet something felt terribly wrong.
He opened a family photo album.
Every photograph had changed.
Pictures that once showed him beside Aisha now showed only Aisha.
It was as though he had been erased from her life.
His childhood room still existed.
His clothes were still there.
His documents still carried his name.
The world remembered him...
But the people he loved were slowly forgetting he had ever existed.
---
Suddenly...
Tick...
Tick...
Tick...
The sound of a clock echoed through the apartment.
Aryan turned around.
The antique silver pocket watch was lying on his table.
He was certain it hadn't been there a second ago.
As he picked it up, the watch opened by itself.
Inside was a folded piece of black paper.
With shaking hands, he unfolded it.
Only three sentences were written.
Rule One: Time can be sold... but never stolen.
Rule Two: Every year you sell erases a part of your existence.
Rule Three: Once the final memory disappears... so do you.
Aryan's heart pounded.
He looked at the last line again.
"Once the final memory disappears... so do you."
Before he could think, another sentence slowly appeared beneath the others.
Years Remaining: 9
His eyes widened.
"I sold fifteen years..."
"So why do I only have nine left?"
Just then...
A cold voice spoke behind him.
"Because someone else has already started buying the rest."
Aryan slowly turned around.
Standing in the darkness...
Was the man in the black suit.
This time...
He wasn't smiling.
To Be Continued...
