People thought our town was normal, but I’d have to say otherwise. 

It all started on a normal day in my normal little town or from the outside it was a so-called “normal little town”. It was a small town, and there were few people or tourists, no one left or came, at least not often. Our town was special, however. There was a big clock tower in the center of the town. No one dared to enter. It was there for many years and was said to be haunted because the few who went in were never the same again. The only reason people entered was because it was law that one person had to go up and clean the tower’s clock. It was once a year and it was a random pull. The people who did come to see our town didn't believe in the tale, and I didn't either. My sister on that normal day was chosen for the job. I loved my sister, but the day she went up there she never came back. Or however “she” did come back, but not my sister.

As my sister went off, she looked as happy as always. She was always smiling. But a day later when she came back there was no smile. No emotion. Like a living zombie. 

That is not my sister, I thought. When she just went upstairs to her room, not even eating or explaining in detail how her day went like she did every day. Life didn't feel normal after that, like having a random stranger in our house. My parents didn't mind, acting as if everything was normal. I didn't talk to my sister anymore, or what I thought was my sister. But there was something different I found on my sister. It was a small crest of a clock hidden by her hair on the back of her neck. I wondered what had happened then.

That was last year, this year one of my neighbors got chosen. She, also like my sister, was a lively person though she was elderly. As soon as I heard her come back I rushed over to her house, curious if the same thing had happened to her that had happened to my sister. As I approached her house, I noticed she did not turn on the lights though she was at home. I quickly ran to her door and rang her doorbell. Almost instantly the door swung open and there standing in front of me was an old lady. But not the same one I remembered, like my sister, she looked like a living zombie, saying in a monotone voice “What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing Miss, sorry for disturbing you,” I responded, as she turned around closing the door. I saw it, the crest, just like my sister’s. It had to mean something. As I headed home, my curiosity sparked. The town that I thought was normal, was not. There was something off about that clock tower, something that made people into hollows of what they used to be or that's what I thought. I knew that I had to investigate further.

My first thought was going straight to the town and going into the clock tower. But I realized that it was too straightforward and being caught was something I could not let happen. I needed to find someone to vouch and watch my back for me. I thought back on my sister then, she’s who I would have chosen, but I decided to go see my friend who lived down the street. We had been friends for so many years. Once I arrived at her house, I pulled her to her room trying to tell her my discovery as soon as possible. After I got her and sat down on her bed, I saw it hidden by her hair. It just got blown out of the way as I was dragging her around. I knew immediately there was no trust in her. I stared in silence thinking back on everything we did together, once I came to my senses after she started shouting my name a few times. I told her “Oh sorry, I uhh… just remembered I left my glasses at home.” That was a lie because they were actually on my face, I was pretty sure she gave a weird look. But now knowing if I told her a secret there was no telling who she would have told it to. I quickly ran out of her house to my home. I barged through the door. As my mother turned and her hair blew out of the way, as I saw it I got a flash of realization, I turned around and noticed people walking down the street, driving their cars, like how it was before, except everyone had the crest. Everyone. 

 I touched the back of my neck, and as I ran my hand down the back of my head I felt a bump, in the shape of a circle. Fear stuck in my heart as I ran upstairs to see in the mirror the now-found bump on the back of my neck. I turned my head around in a quite uncomfortable position trying to see what it was, as I swept my hair out of the way and there it was, a very faded clock mark. As my mind rushed, trying to piece together what was happening. Fear took hold of my stomach and chills ran down my spine. That night I didn't say another word.

At the dining table the next day, my mother asked me “You were very quiet today, what happened?”

“Oh it's nothing don't worry” I responded not wanting to draw attention to whatever was happening. I didn't sleep that night or the next in fear of being found out, or maybe I was just too scared to keep going. That third night I brought up the courage to search further on what was happening. I decided to head straight to the clock tower, not knowing how long I had. 

As I reached the big doors of the clock tower I could not think about anything but what was happening in this town. I pushed open the door of the clocktower and felt a cold breeze of air coming from within, how? I entered, as goose bumps crawled up my arm. From the inside of the clocktower, it looked different than I thought it would, there was no staircase going up, but there was one going down, and an eerie feeling of impending doom flashed through me. I descended the staircase. It was a long staircase, I could not see the bottom, it was made of steel. I don't know how long it took to reach the bottom, a while I guess. But at the bottom, there was only one door. Worried about what could be on the other side, I put my ear to the door. I could only hear faint mumbling. As quietly as possible, I opened the door just a little bit. But, what I saw and heard in that room, well, let's just say I was never the same again.

Huge machinery like nothing I had ever seen, but it was not the machinery that startled me the most, it was what it was producing. My eyes widened as I stared. People or what I thought were people, I studied the faces of the things hanging from the big machine and saw my face, my sister's face and everyone in the town just hanging there. Suddenly I focused on the sound of what the people were saying. “We chose 987465 for the next reboot, right?”

“Oh you mean that one up there, right?” The other person there said, pointing up to my clone. “Yes, I think it is getting too close to the truth, I think it's one of our best works yet! Almost like a real person!” Now in utter shock, I ran up those staircases as fast as I could, still trying to accept the truth I just found out.

November 18th, 1942, I am writing this to whoever can find this. #987456 aka Natasha Parks

“Hmm, what an interesting story, it is such a strange coincidence that our town too has a clock tower. But wow, this story is OLD, it's from like 80-ish years ago” she said, not knowing what was going on. #987456, a robot who had no idea what she just read and had no idea of what was going on in her town, the story of which she had read many times before, of her handwriting before she was wiped. Almost becoming sentient but it was never enough for those scientists who researched the “normal” town she lived in.