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#297 Tick-Tock

Many of you have probably noticed the clocks changing, marking the start of daylight savings — an annual practice that brings both disorientation and renewal. While we lose an hour of sleep, we also gain longer days filled with more and more light.

This week, let’s write some stories inspired by time and its unpredictable nature. What do we do when time stands still, or when we’re suddenly faced with how quickly it passes?

This week's prompts

Write a story with a number or time in the title.

Short Story – 3 stories

Set your story just before midnight or dawn.

Short Story – 1 story

Write a story where someone must make a split-second decision.

Dramatic – 1 story

Set your story over the course of a few minutes.

Short Story – 3 stories

Write a story that includes the line “What time is it?”

Dialogue – 4 stories

Stories

The Cruelest Month

Submitted to Contest #297

After the explosion, time ceased to be linear. It collapsed on itself, pulling and forcing everything into a shifting nothingness. The acceptance of time in its original, primordial flow was never questioned. The laid-out sequence, the logical plan of that forward momentum, was an unconscious choice, but perhaps choices are driven by force.Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.There was comfort in its predictability, one that no longer exists. I hunker down in the past only leaving the confines of my bedroom when it is necessary, when it becomes an absolut...

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Just Before Midnight

Submitted to Contest #297

The first thing I feel is the weight of the air pressing down on my chest. Not pain - pressure. Like the night itself sat down on me and refused to budge. I open my eyes to the ceiling, waiting to remember who I am, where I am, and why the hell I can't breathe.Then I heard the pipes gurgling. The roof whispering. The walls stretching like old skin. And I know...Ah. Home sweet fucking hell.I must’ve fallen asleep at some point. Could’ve been an hour ago or yesterday morning for all I know. Time is a goddamn riddle in this house. Days blur int...

6 likes 11 comments 11
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The Assassins Mark.

Submitted to Contest #297

My face and mouth were drenched in Dimitri’s blood, as my driver’s brains sprayed across me as his head exploded just inches away. The force of it was so intense, I swore I inhaled part of his final thought. Shards of his skull tore into my face, slicing open my brow and nose, shearing off most of my ear before slamming into the rear window.Instinct took over in an instant.I grabbed the door latch and threw myself out of the car into the freezing snow, rolling clear just as the door I’d escaped from was ripped clean off by a lamppost. A hear...

3 likes 2 comments 2
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Aisle 19

Submitted to Contest #297

I look at my watch. It’s 10:06 PM. Shit, I’m late for my shift again.I swear, this work is killing me. Every day all I do is move boxes from one end of the store to another. Today, like every other day, my shift started promptly at 10:00 PM, but of course I only clock in at 10:06 PM. The store is almost completely silent except for the low hum of fluorescent lights flickering overhead. In a few hours Joan, Noah, and Nate will start their shifts too. The night shifts at Ikea are not glamorous, but they pay the bills, I guess.I used to get fre...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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11:11 Blinking on the Microwave

Submitted to Contest #297

It’s 11:11, make a wish. “I wish I had never gotten fired.”It doesn’t come true if you say it out loud. Damn, she forgot that part. No going back in time with that one.The day begins the same way it always does: with a bowl of corn flakes. Filling food, safe food, full of sugars and carbs and lactose-free milk. She doesn’t have to think about a thing as she prepares it. It won’t do much to soothe the ache in her head, but maybe it’ll help settle her stomach.God, what happened last night?Maybe it’s for the best that she’d been fired. That dea...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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An Unrequited Moment

Submitted to Contest #297

Today was the day. She had stayed up late making that decision and planning it out. When the bell rang to signal the end of 4th period, she ran out of the door first and headed to the commons so she could look like she was standing there nonchalantly. Carmen at first half-leaned on a table but felt awkward so she shifted to stand with hands on her hips. That felt more natural, so she relaxed.As her eyes scanned the area that was filling up with students, her eyes linked with Mrs. Withers, the old librarian across the way. They were very fami...

1 like 0 comments 0
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10:45 am or The Time that Thing I feared to Happen Finally Happened

Submitted to Contest #297

I don’t really want to talk about it. It’s every teacher’s biggest fear…well, after school shootings and such. For 21 years, I managed to avoid it though I knew it was only a matter of time. What are the odds that it never happened? There had been a couple of close calls, but each time a student had covered for me. For that, I will forever be grateful.I was thirty when I started teaching. Older than most new teachers but still youngish and fresh. I was much more slender and cared more about my appearance. I wore makeup daily and would’ve bee...

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To Whom it May Concern: PART THREE

Submitted to Contest #297

TWIMC-3 Boxes of memories. A chaotic mind riding on the edge. It doesn’t matter anymore. Hello? Say it! Say it! It is the pure consciousness of society. An epiphany of sorts. The new normal. Say it!! You’re slipping. Say it! You’re slipping. Only because I love you. Re-writing a history full of prophecies. Suffocating in her little brown jar. She remembers so clearly. Staring out over the ocean. Clang, clang, clang. Ching- ching. Bang-bang. Her muffled screams before she lost her mind. Focus. Focus. Focus. Bam, bam, bam. Bang, bang, ...

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Taking a chance on love.

Submitted to Contest #297

Well, they say it may happen to anyone? You meet, you see something so outstanding you want to grab hold of it with both hands. Before it vanishes or its to late to go back. There is an element of the devil there something unpredictable. Diffrent from my dull teaching job catching the train to Hurlsmere at seven thirty am daily. There for eighty thirty on the dot.Drowel morning watching pupils, writing on the black board, free marking period. Then getting the train back mid afternoon. Wife says "All fine love" then to my study my private sp...

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The speed date

Submitted to Contest #297

‘’So, you’re an architect?’’‘’Well, you’ve certainly found a way to romanticize it.’’‘’Come on. We’ve only got five minutes.’’‘’Exactly. No time to make stuff up.’’‘’I’m only laughing because I was afraid this might happen. My mother always says I romanticize the ordinary.’’‘’So now I’m ordinary?’’‘’Oh God, no. I didn’t mean it like that.’’‘’You’re easily provoked.’’‘’I hope not. It’s just my mom. She has a way of—’’‘’Are you a mama’s boy?’’‘’What?’’‘’You’ve mentioned her twice, and—as you said—we only have five minutes. I suppose she matter...

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A Hungry Old Man After A Storm

Submitted to Contest #297

The tempestuous storm that seemed to have stayed for eternity left the world outside pistachio green. Cows were no longer howling, roosters had stopped shrieking – maybe they had the realization that the storm had subsided, or maybe they were simply tired. The frogs croaked on at irregular intervals, but other than their unsettling ribbiting, the world seemed to have fallen awfully quiet. It was nearing dusk, thought the old man. Or was it dawn? He was never sure these days. He watched on through the small crack of the mud wall of his house,...

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Tuesday, 2:27 PM

Submitted to Contest #297

The cursor blinked. And blinked. And blinked again.Nothing came out.It was 2:27 PM.Josh leaned back slightly. The chair creaked in the same way it always did – that dry, tired groan of something that had supported him for too long. It was one of those office chairs he’d bought from Ikea’s website during a week of aggressive discounts. The product name said satin graphite finish, which sounded serious, grown-up. A chair a successful man might sit in. At least, that’s what he liked to believe.Barefoot, he wore a pair of grey sweatpants, baggy ...

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