Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries - 141. "It's Just a Game." The Timekeeper Ep. 1

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

17-year-old Charlie (JUDAH LEWIS) shows up to his job at Funland to find his co-worker, Blake, dead and the building on fire with an ominous message scratched into the break room door: Tick Tock. Believing the message may be connected to the 13 Keys video game Blake was playing, Charlie tries to learn more about Jacob Fairchild, the game’s creator. He and Gama (Arjun Athalye) discover a copy of 13 Keys on Blake’s computer. Charlie chooses to play, against Gama’s wishes, starting the clock and giving him 24 hours to find the 13 keys hidden in the game. If he fails? The Timekeeper comes. The Timekeeper, Episode one features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe, and Arjun Athalye as Gama The Timekeeper was created, written, and directed by Matthew A Brown Sound Design, Scoring and Mix by Jeff Schmidt Original Score composed by Joshua Zimmerman Additional dialog editing by Marika Perlmutter Executive Produced by Matthew A Brown, Kaelyn Moore, and Judah Lewis The Timekeeper is a production from Heart Starts Pounding For more from Heart Starts Pounding: Subscribe on⁠ Patreon⁠ to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society and enjoy ad-free listening, monthly bonus content, merch discounts and more. Members of our High Council on Patreon also have access to our weekly after-show, Footnotes, where I share my case file with our producer, Matt. You can also enjoy many of these same perks, including ad-free listening and bonus content when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts . Follow on⁠ Tik Tok⁠ and⁠ Instagram⁠ for a daily dose of horror. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Don't miss out. Free access ends August 24th. Visit Ancestry.ca for more details. Terms apply. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero. See you tomorrow, folks, and remember, it's always a fun time at Funland. Fun time at Funland is a fun time at fun... Hey, Blake, did you lock up the go-karts?

Come on, Storm's almost here, I've got to go. I'm taking out the trash, then I'm done. It wasn't always a fun time at Funland. That's something I'd learned since starting work there two summers ago. Not that work is supposed to be fun. My dad always reminded me of that, but most of the time it didn't look like anyone was having fun. Not the kids yelling at the crane machine that

didn't give them the toy they wanted. Are my classmates eating cold fries and waiting to sneak free refills of off-brand Coca-Cola? And definitely not the parents digging through their pockets for quarters every 45 seconds, hoping it would be the last time. I don't think anyone even pretended they were there for fun anymore. They were just there.

Like everyone else in this town, including me, for one more year anyway. Blake, are you still playing? I've literally never seen you play a game for more than 10 minutes. Blake, hello? At least give me the keys. Charlie, chill. I think I've almost got this key.

I just have to win at the stupid slot machine. The keys, dude. I want the keys to lock up the go-karts. Bro, those are manager keys. Blake was 22. The youngest manager in Funland's history. At least that's what he told everyone. No one really cared enough to investigate.

Blake, I'm not going to take your weed. I don't have weed here. How many times do I have to tell you? He did have weed here. kept it in the go-kart shed, which is why they were manager keys. Great, you hear that? That's my life ticking away. Are you happy?

Want me to die, Charlie? Is that it? Want the timekeeper to come for me? Just pause it. Man, it's about to start pouring, and my window's busted. I don't want to get soaked on the way home. Bro, there is no pause. There is play or do not play.

I stop playing. Clock starts ticking. So turn it off. No, I'm telling you. Once you start, you can't stop. I turn it off, turn it back on. Doesn't matter. So, what? You have to play until you beat it?

Exactly, which I didn't know when Tim sent it to me. Asshole. Guy says, hey, whoever wins gets a six-pack, but doesn't tell me the rules. Look! What am I looking at? Is that a leaderboard? Yeah. Who's S. Graham? No idea. I think Tim shared it with a Discord or something, but she sucks ass.

I've been playing for days and has zero keys. Well, it looks like Tim's winning. Yeah, well, some of us had to work today. What's it called? You ever heard about Shady Pines? No. Well, it was this mental hospital, right, out in the middle of nowhere by Borden? Got shut down in the 80s.

Then this tech company takes it over like 10 years ago, starts using it for research. A tech company in Borden? Researching what? Nobody knows. That's the thing. But after a couple of years, the guy running it, it goes insane, locks everyone inside, sets the whole place on fire, burns them all alive. Cool. What does that have to do with the game?

Well, the game is Shady Pines. Sort of. I mean, Tim said the building is a little different, but he said that you can. could still see all the dents in the doors where the people had tried to get out. Pounding, pounding, pounding, pounding while the fire cooked them, and scratched into the backs of all the doors, the same two words. Tick, talk. Yeah, whatever.

No, seriously, he went in with his crew to clean it out. Cool. Uh, well, good luck. I'm leaving. Wait, wait. Play for me. I don't want to play. Literally just sit here and do the slot machine until I get back.

Why is it ticking so fast? It speeds up every time you get a key, so it's like double time now. Fine, but just hurry up, okay? Don't stop, but I still have five minutes left when I get back. I swear, Charlie, if I die, it's your fault. I understood why Blake was so obsessed. He didn't care about games, but he definitely cared about beer. I clicked to try and play the slot, but nothing happened.

So I tried moving the character, nothing. Yo, Blake, it's frozen. The slot machine took up most of the POV, but it looked like a basic first-person horror game. Dark room, flickering lights, no one else around. There were two counters at the top. One was ticking down, and the other showed how much money he'd earned. I wasn't sure how you earn money or why,

but there was a slot machine, so it made sense there was some kind of in-game currency. I kept trying to play, but nothing I did worked. It was bricked. Oh shit. No, no, no, no, no, no. It was too late. I'd taken down my trash bag window to avoid the embarrassment of having a trash bag window,

which meant everything was soaked. By the time I pulled into our driveway, I'd forgotten about the game. All I could think about was how much I hated myself knowing I was going to wake up at 6 a.m. tomorrow to go to Funland and do all of Blake's work again while he hung out in the manager's shed. Hey, son, how's work? Roads pretty bad out there? No, they were fine. Oh, window, huh? I haven't even thought about that.

It's been so long since we had in your rain. Now I'll grab you a towel. It's fine, Dad. There's food there on the counter if you're hungry. Just got back a few minutes ago, she should still be warm. My dad had been at Tasty Burger three years now. A temporary gig he'd taken after my mom died that had turned permanent by accident. He'd made manager because he'd be done.

because he'd worked hard, which was probably the worst thing that could happen. It was just enough money to lose savings so slowly he could calculate how many years he had left until he'd die. And judging by the number of cigarettes, he'd started smoking after the promotion, I figured the math wasn't quite working out. I'm good, thanks, though. You sure? Yeah, I'm not really hungry. Well, did you eat?

Died some popcorn. Oh, come on, I got your favorite. Dad, I don't have a favorite. I haven't had a favorite tasty burger menu item since I was 11. Well, do you want me to take you in the morning? I've got to be in at six, but I can drop you on the way. No, it's fine. I taped another trash back up.

I'm just going to go to sleep. Everything all right? I'm just, I'm just tired. Good night, Dad. Good night, son. I was tired of everything. I didn't want to think about it. Funland and its youngest manager or Tasty Burger and its oldest manager.

I didn't want to think about anything at all. I turned my brain back on nine months once I was out of this place. It was still raining when I woke up. And it was still dark when I got to Funland. So I hadn't seen the smoke. Just the lights from every fire truck and police car we had in town. More cars than I'd seen in the Funland parking lot all summer. One of them was Blake's, still parked by the dumpsters.

The firemen were walking around fully geared, but they weren't in a hurry. The fire was out. It looked like most of the building was still intact. I figured the rain had helped. And considering Blake probably started the fire, he would have been able to call it in pretty quickly. Hey, excuse me? Excuse me, officer? What happened?

You work here? Yes, sir. Do you know the boy working here last night? Yeah, Blake Wilkinson. He's still here? Son, I'm afraid he didn't make it. The rest of the morning was blur. They asked a bunch of questions. Were you having any problems with the power last night?

No, sir. Any fire hazards in that room you were aware of? They tried to give some answers. Probably he fell asleep and, Something shorted out from the storm or left a cigarette or something burning. The father starts and it comes too, too late to get out. They said the break room door had swelled shut. There were marks on the inside where Blake had tried to break it down.

Dents in the metal. I remembered Blake's story about the people at Shady Pines pounding on the doors as they burned. The firemen let me walk back to look. The inside was a charred mess. so hot the microwave had melted but somehow the laptop was sitting there on the desk flashing zeros I remember the last words Blake said to me

if I die it's your fault the smell was so intense it stung every time I breathed in I'd smelled something like it once when I was nine on a field trip to a cattle ranch a horse had died snapped its neck coyotes had chased it into a pipe fence

they were burning it in a hole full of tires the rubber the hair that metallic taste on the roof of my mouth it was the same smell now I looked at the back of the door dented like they said but there was something else something keyed in black paint that hadn't been there before two words tick talk with amex platinum access to exclusive amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside so being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime that's the powerful backing of amex pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race terms and conditions apply learn more at mx.ca.com.com. Hi guys, it's caylin. Are you looking for even more spooky vibes this season beyond what we have planned for you here at Heart Starts Pounding. Well, I'm here to tell you about the return

of a very cozy, creepy horror podcast called Rattled and Shook. Rattled and Shook is brought to you by Tenderfoot TV. They're the creators of the hit horror podcast Radio Rental. Maybe you've heard me talk about that show, but I love it. This show is an ode to radio programs of the past with old-timey music and a slightly retro feel. Rattled and Shook is back for its third season with host Meredith Stedman, who will read and react to haunting tales that are sent in by real people. And this month, I'm actually featured in one of their episodes. We had a really great and scary chat, so definitely check it out. We advise you to keep the lights on for these immersive sound designed tales of horror. Emersersers yourself in spooky season with

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It was just an act. I know, but that doesn't mean it's any easier. You know, Blake's parents were really good to us when your mother passed. Brought a lot of meals over. Yeah, I remember. Do you have their number? I don't think I have it since they moved. No. All right, well, I'm sure someone at work will.

Just can't imagine what they're going through. You're going back in? Yeah, I have a double today. Charlene needed to go. Charlene needed to go into the city for something, so I'm covering for her. Oh. Just call if you need anything, all right? I doubt we'll be that busy with the weather like this. I don't know why I expected anything different.

The day after Mom's funeral, he was dropping off resumes around town. I don't think he'd taken a day off since. If he did have a day off, he'd try and cover someone else's shift, and if that didn't work, he'd start on the never-ending list of repairs around the house. Oh, and Zoe called the house. Said she'd been trying to text you? Thanks. I'd seen her text.

I'd seen the text from everyone. Nothing ever happens here, so when something does, everyone wants to touch it. Just to feel a little bit of anything. It was the first time I'd seen her name on my phone all summer. I knew where to find her. I opened Twitch on my phone and went to her channel. She was streaming Eldon Ring. She was six hours into her stream, and she was going until she beat the game.

One sitting. That's the only way she ever played. Seriously? Seriously, who are you attacking? You're attacking a wall. There's no one there, you dumb, piece of shit. I needed to laugh, but I was still thinking about Blake's last words. If I die, it's your fault.

And the words he'd scratched into the back of the door. Tick-top. Why would he waste his last few seconds leaving that message? Was he leaving it for me? Maybe he'd done it as a joke after I left. after I left before the fire. I didn't remember ever hearing about Shady Pines, but I would have been too young to pay attention.

The only thing that came up when I searched it was an old article from the Borden County Gazette. January 10th, 2011, tragedy strikes at Shady Pines. Shady Pines, a research facility owned by Silicon Valley-based next-level technologies caught fire resulting in the deaths of the facility's head of research, Jacob Fairchild, as well as the study participants who were were trapped on the lower level. The cause of the fire is still unknown.

I wanted to find an article from later, one that said what happened, but nothing was coming up. It was like someone had scrubbed all those results. So I tried a different browser, one that was harder to hide things on. Night of horror at Shady Pines. There were a lot of articles, and they said basically the same thing. The cause of the fire was Jacob Fairchild.

According to the reports, he'd waited until the other employees were gone, or sleep, upstairs. stairs and then he chained the doors to the lower level. Soaked the halls and gasoline and lit the place on fire. They found him locked in the server room. His burned body wrapped around one of the stacks. What's up, Kama? Dude, I just woke up and my dad told me about Blake. Read there, what happened? Uh, is it still cool if I come over? Yeah, for sure. If you want to.

Yeah, give me 20. All right. Don't eat. My mom saved you, please. Crack the gibby. He's one shot, ish, maybe two or three shots. He bubbled. Getting shot in the back. I'm down. We have a cribber on height? No, no, behind us on top of the labs. I think it's the Velk. Uh, all right, Gigi's. I gotta go. Chat, see you tomorrow. I'm going to try and grind some rain until the good players are in scrimms. Peace. You got out of bronze yet? You're talking to a predator? You should tell some respect. Yeah, a rat predator. Was that where you were just running? Charge you car.

on the actual most toxic character in the game? RP is RP. I can't do the grind. Charlie. What? Why are we talking about this? What the hell, bro? Did you find him?

No. Fire trucks were already there. Jesus, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. How did it start? I mean, that whole place was the dead trap, but I never thought anyone would actually die. Lose a finger here, there, maybe a few score fractures,

but, like, Ted? No way. They don't know. Why was he even there that late? He was trying to beat this stupid game. What game? Have you heard of Shady Pines? No?

Research place out by Borden. Burned down like 10 years ago and a lot of people died. Blake said that's where the game was from. Okay, so two questions. One, why would he have a game from a place that burned down 10 years ago? And what do you mean it was from there? Like, they made it or like they had an Atari they kept in the game room and it was in a box of will games?

Dude, I don't know. I think they made the game. Or it's part of what they were doing. Blake said Tim found it when he was doing a cleanup. I was going to ask Tim about it. Well, good luck getting him to text you back. I've been trying all morning. You need to pick something up from him.

Do I want to know what? I didn't want to know. You never really want to know with the Silvas, but if you ever needed something, anything, they were who you called. He's got the beer for the party tomorrow. I took up money from everyone, and he's got the hookup from the distributor,

but he's been MIA. Probably shook over Blake dying. Well, you know where he lives? Yeah, he's by the old middle school, off Chesterfield. Let's go see if he's home. Charlie Dempsey wants to facilitate getting alcohol from minors? What I really wanted was to see if Tim had the game. but I wasn't going to tell Gamma that.

Sure. Why not? I'll get the car. All right, you're lucky the passenger seat's dragged. Bro, the seat is not dry. You want a trash bag? Yeah, thanks. It's Zoe. Tell me you texted her back.

She's streaming. So you watched your stream, but didn't text her back. I don't know. I don't know. She wants to know if I'm with you. Tell her I'm fine. You should tell her you're fine. We haven't talked in a while.

Yeah, because you're both being stubborn. No, because she's dating Buzz. Dude, she's dating Buzz because he has a car and he's fun, and because you spend all your time working at Funland and not having any fun. Which I guess won't be a problem now. Buzz is an idiot. He took senior year three times and then dropped out. And I have a car.

You have a tin can with an engine. Yeah, tin can that drives your fat ass around. My fat, wet ass. Which place is Timbs? The one that looks like no one lives there? Gamma was right. I would have driven past it. The yard was so overgrown, the weeds

that started pulling the chain-like fence onto the ground, and everything looked like it was held together by bailing wire. Do you have the garage code? No, why would I have his garage code? I thought it might be open. Yo, Tim, you here? I'll go around back. I'll check the front.

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Hello? People didn't always lock their doors in town. We didn't until a few years ago, but most people at least closed them. Anyone home? I hate cats. Charlie, any locked? Yeah. Hold on. Coming through now. The second I heard it, I knew.

The second I heard it, I knew. The laptop was sitting on the kitchen counter. The timer was taken fast, and I could see why. Blake had said it sped up every time you got a key, and Tim had 12. But he only had a few minutes left. Charlie, are you gonna let me either one? Good. You see eight cases of beer anywhere?

Yo, you good, your eyes are watering. Cats. Look. But... It's a laptop. That's the game. What game? The one Blake was playing.

Okay, that's great, but this place is giving me the creeps. Every place gives you the creeps. Dude, you're scaring the cats. You hate cats. Why do you care if they're scared? That's weird. What? It's frozen. That's an omen.

Lightning, black cats, games, rogan, don't play it. What more do you want? Uh, the cats aren't black. Whatever, they're cats. All cats are bad luck. It'll hit zero in like 30 seconds. So let's be gone before that. I want to see if it resets. Tim's character was in a dimly lit office.

There were papers scattered on the desk, but his POV was fixed under the combination lock of a safe. He had a notebook out beside the laptop that was filled with numbers and notes that I figured had led to the keys. The last thing written down was the name, Maria Shepard, with a bunch of numbers beside it. Why is it getting louder?

Probably wants to be scary. Well, it's working. Turn it down, or it's going to blow the speakers. I can't turn it down. Let me try. The lights were flickering in the game, and every time a second ticked away, it got louder. There was an empty picture frame above the safe, and in the reflection, a dark figure was coming closer. I thought it was the glare, but then I saw the figure's face was covered in a mask,

and the mask was covered with eyes. As the clock reached 10 seconds, everything that was happening in the game seemed to spill over into the house. Charlie, what's happening to the lights? The lights in the kitchen were flickering, and the laptop screen started to shake like something was going to come out of it. There was a bright flash outside, and then the power went out. And everything went dark. What the hell get off me, stupid cat? What was that? Lightning must have struck the transformer.

That wasn't lightning. I mean, yeah, yes, outside right now is lightning, but that was not lightning doing the... The laptop screen came back to life. The timer flashed zeros over the same screen in the game. Only where there was no first-person POV, no hands, just a locked-off view of the room. And on the locked door of the safe, the words, TikTok, like they'd been written in blood. Gamma saw it too.

TikTok? That's what happens when you lose. How do you know? Because it's what was written on the door of the box. was written on the door of the break room. The break room? In the game or... Wait, the break room in Funland?

Yeah. Blake said it was written on all the doors of Shady Pines. I think Blake did it as a joke, though. As a joke? While he was burning to death, he wrote Tick-Tock on the door. No. No, like when I left, because I left and let him die. Okay, good.

I was scared there for a second with the lightning and the creepy murder ghost game, but now, you know, now I'm good. Let's just leave. Maybe run through the drive-thru, would get a nice cherry lime aid. Gama. Remember when you, Zoe, and I

sneaked into the gym at midnight after the student council ceremony? And there was a storm and the power went out and we swore the ghost of that girl who died on the playground in like 1960 was playing hopscotch right outside? Yeah, because she was. That creepy little ghost girl with her,

tee-hi, tee-hee-he, one, two, three. There was no ghost. Okay, we worked ourselves up because we knew the story. It's just a game. If Tim had been worried, don't you think he would have been here? playing it, not doing whatever it is he's doing?

I don't know, Charlie, Tim collects VHS tapes. There's no way for me to put myself in the head of a 22-year-old who collects VHS tapes. Gama? It's just a game. Is that the leaderboard? The screen flashed between the all-time leaders and the people playing the game right now. The only person playing was still S. Graham. Yeah.

Who's S. Graham? I don't know. She was playing last night. Blake said Tim had shared it with some more. Likes that Tim had shared it with some other people. Wait, only one person has beaten the game. Of the ten names on the leaderboard, only one at 13 keys. Maria Shepard, the name Tim had written down.

Looks that way. I'd already seen the leaderboard. I wanted to see the game. So I clicked and it loaded a screen full of text. Welcome to Shady Pines. We thank you for your willingness to participate in our study as we look to achieve the next phase in human evolution. Your contributions may hold the key to unlocking our full potential.

full potential. Yeah. Nothing weird about this. In this study, you'll be playing the timekeeper's game. To win the timekeeper's game, you must find the 13 keys that allow you to beat all 13 levels. You'll earn one cent for every second you play, but if you lose the game, you also lose your reward. And beware, the timekeeper is always watching. As long as you're playing, the timekeeper is happy, but if you don't play, he takes your time.

Once he's taken 24 hours, you lose. So this isn't a game. This isn't a game. This is like actually signing up for an experiment for whatever they were doing out there. It must be. I guess they were paying people to play it. Wait, there's no way. What? The leaderboard showed Maria earned like 30 grand. So?

I mean, I know you're not great at math, but that would mean she played for a month. Or I guess that's whatever, but you have to beat the game before the timekeeper takes 24 hours, right? So in an entire month she only didn't play for less than 24 hours? That means she didn't even sleep an hour a day. Is that even possible? You'd have to ask Zoe. She's the queen of no sleep marathons. Type your name and today's date to sign and enter the program.

Charlie Dempsey, August 24th. Charlie, the guy who ran this program went insane and killed everyone, right? Supposedly. So maybe don't play the game? Dude, how many times do I have to tell you? It's just a game. At least three more times. I loaded into what felt like a hospital room.

There was a cot, a small bathroom, and a desk with three drawers. On the desk was a computer monitor. Three of the walls were solid white. The other was mirrored glass and had a door that I soon led to the hallway. I moved the character around the room and watched as I earned a cent a second on the counter. I stopped at the locked door. Here, you want to see what it actually feels like to get paid to play a video game? Shut up. I made $12 in the last tournament.

Only took eight rounds of play-ins. I thought Funland paid bad. I slid over so Gama could use the laptop. Why does it work for you and not for me? I don't know. Maybe it only works for people with a positive KD. You barely have a positive KD in zombie mode. Don't talk to me about KD. It's probably just laggy.

Here, I'll restart it. I quit the game and tried to find the file to reopen it. Wait, what? Is he on a VPN? That Windows desktop is ancient. Gama was right. Tim's laptop wasn't that old, but the operating system was. I guess Tim's laptop. Tim didn't find a copy of the game.

He, like, found a login for the server. I thought the whole place burned down. It did. They found Fairchild in the server room. He'd locked himself in there after he set it on fire. Wait, wait, wait. You're telling me we're playing this game on a server that someone who burned a bunch of people alive

literally burned to death next to. Well, I don't know, but maybe. Charlie, you know I don't do ghosts. I know. Or true crime. Right. Witches or spirits or curses or... Come on, I know, okay?

It may not even be that server. Can you figure out where it is? Can't you, like, look up the IP address or something? I can't, but I know someone who can. Zoe. Mary Mother, Jesus, who has a house phone? Hey, this is Sheriff Patton over here in Morton County. We got a vehicle registered to this address.

Looks like it broke down out here by nine-mile bridge. I think they may have to open the floodgates with this storm, and water's gonna be up over the top. up your truck if that happened. So, uh, I'm having it towed over to Al. Right over at the turnoff. We'll be there whenever you can get it. Uh, call my office if you need to.

I took on my phone and looked for Nine Mile Bridge. Charlie, please tell me Nine Mile Bridge is by Shady Pines and Tim broke down on the way to work and there's nothing weird about getting a call from the sheriff that Tim is missing two minutes after he dies in the game. It's not by Shady Pines. I mean, it is, but if you're going to Shady Pines from here, We're going to shitty pines from here, it's not on the way.

It's like 10 miles in the opposite direction. Okay, well, maybe we just forget we ever found the game. It wouldn't matter. What do you mean? Once you're playing, you're playing. You can't pause. You can't quit. See? Still ticking. Well, whatever we do, let's not do it here.

Good call. Text him and tell him we're borrowing his laptop. And if he wants his truck, it'll be at Al's at the turn off to nine mile bridge. Oh, and we're taking his notebook too. Zoe? Zoe. I didn't really think a game had killed Blake, and I figured Tim was passed out somewhere.

For all I knew, he thought he was the reason Blake was dead since he was up late playing the game because of their stupid bet. But I wanted to know for sure. I wanted Zoe to tell us we were being stupid, that the game was just a game. The Timekeeper, Episode 1 features Judah Lewis as Charlie, Chandler Kinney as Zoe, and Arjun Atelier as Gama. The Timekeeper was created, written, and directed by Matthew A. Brown. Sound design, scoring, and mix by Jeff Schmidt.

original score composed by Joshua Zimmerman Additional Dialogue Editing by Marica Pearlmutter Executive produced by Kaylin Moore, Matthew A. Brown, and Judah Lewis. The Timekeeper is a production from Heart Starts Pounding. Additional cast includes Ian O'Brien as Blake, Hugo Pierre Martin as Stan,

Brian Wiggins as the police officer, and Philip Anthony Rodriguez as the sheriff. life.