Elias still runs the shop, but he no longer repairs clocks for customers. He spends his time building a massive, intricate tower of gears and copper wire on the roof.
Every night, he broadcasts a single, low-frequency hum into the atmosphere. It carries no message, just a pulse. He knows she can't hear it, but in the silence of the shop, he listens to the "tick" of the gear he engraved with her name, waiting for the universe to skip a beat and bring the signal back.