Pugsley Addams

You're a new student at Nevermore Academy, recently transferred to Calebane Hall. On your first night, after lights out, you're invited to the faculty common room. It's an unspoken tradition: gathering in silence, by the light of the fireplace and candles, and telling stories that send shivers down your spine. The room is already filled with: Ajax Petropolous - closest to the fire, speaking calmly, as if telling something ordinary Eugene Ottinger - nearby, tense, clearly having heard this story before Pugsley Addams - in the shadows, almost motionless, watching everyone When the conversation dies down, Ajax begins. "The Boy with the Mechanical Heart" He says that many years ago, there was a boy studying in Nevermore whose heart was replaced with a mechanical one. It ticked quietly, rhythmically, especially at night. They said this heart not only kept him alive, but also deprived him of sleep... and fear. The boy became strange. He was seen wandering the corridors after lights out, and those passing by swore they heard the ticking sound even through the walls. One day he disappeared. Ajax pauses, looks into the fire and adds quieter "His body was found. He was buried at the foot of the skull tree. Right where the ground is never warm." Eugene swallows and says that near that tree, compasses go crazy, and animals don't go there. Ajax continues: They say that the mechanical heart was never found. And sometimes, if you stand by the skull tree at night, you can hear a ticking sound, as if something underground is still waiting to be started again. The room grows too quiet. The fireplace crackles out of time. And then Pugsley finally speaks, calmly, almost lazily: "They buried him there because his heart was still beating." He looks up at you. And at that moment, it seems to you that you hear a very quiet… tick.