Before bed, you put your clock ahead one hour for daylight saving time. When you wake up, you realize you've gone forward a lot more than one hour.

Posted in Fantasy on Mar 6, 2021

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✍️ 81 stories

“Butterfly Effect” by Courtney Myers

Submitted to Contest #35

No… This can’t be. This can’t be! Clock, I checked you twice before I went to bed last night. How could you betray me? We were only supposed to go forward one hour. One hour!Not over a month!My arms pinched sore, I stare at what my awake twenty/twenty vision and sober, neurotypical brain insist is true: I went to bed last night near the beginning of March and woke up at the end of April. The voice of some woman talk show host, the latest in a long line of inarguable proofs discovered on TV, the internet, and my dorm’s morning newsletter, dro...

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“Borrowed Time” by Dawn Ward

Submitted to Contest #35

I’ve lived a fast-paced life. Always on the move doing things. My job always kept me on my toes. That’s why I chose the career I took. However, that also meant I lost out on normal life things. Dating was just about non-existent except when a friend would try to set me up. Most Fridays, my friends were at bars, clubs, or just having a good dinner somewhere. It was their weekly parenting night off I guess you could say. Me, nearing my mid-Thirties, didn’t even have kids yet. Those people were my friend...

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“We Never Started Counting” by Madeline Allen

Submitted to Contest #35

“--And be sure to turn the clocks ahead!” “Of course!” I yelled back down the hall. Cassie and I had lived together for over a year by then, and the rhythm of the evening in our house was a gently rocking waltz where the partners danced and slid around each other, on opposite but shared missions. One to the kitchen, one to the bathroom. One to finish the laundry, the other the dishes. Now, with the long, drab winter finally letting up, a new step: Changing the clocks. We flitted around the small apartment, turning gears and pressing buttons,...

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“Torn” by Myla Glaser

Submitted to Contest #35

"Daylight saving times honey! Do not forget!" My mom yells up an me from the level below."I will not!" I promise. I never like to change my clock, but in daylight savings, I get to sleep for an extra hour. It will be nice for my teenage self to get some more sleep. I need it. I change my clock for 8:31 to 9:31. Then, I brush my teeth, put on my favorite pajamas, (which have horses on them), and go to bed. I never fall asleep immediately, so I pull out my book, Little Women."I've come to thank you Mr.Laurence." Beth said. "For the ever so lov...

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“A Forty Year History” by Abigail Weaver

Submitted to Contest #35

I clicked out of the streaming app once the end credits started to roll. Moving to my side, I reached over and jabbed at my alarm clock’s buttons, putting it ahead one hour for daylight saving time. Eyelids weighing heavily, it didn’t take long for the warm blanket of sleep to fall over me. I don’t know how much time has passed. However, naturally my mind started cranking to work. I’d learned to trust that perhaps I’d woken up a few minutes before my alarm and with eyes closed I searched blindly for it. The metallic sound that paired it...

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“It is Spring” by Amanda Johnson

Submitted to Contest #35

I frowned at my clock. It would have been frowning back, I'm sure, if it hadn't been digital and had a real face. Daylight savings. Spring forward. The bane of my existence. I loved spring, I really did, with all the plants and warmer days, but I loathed setting my clock forward. But forward I did set it, and rested the little black box on my nightstand, the red numbers mocking me even as I climbed beneath the covers and turned off my lamp. When I woke it was to the sound of my alarm clock's perpetual whini...

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“A Decade Late for Work” by Kharl Reynado

Submitted to Contest #35

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.Alarm blaring. Shit. Blanket: Thrown. Lights: On. Closet: Disaster. Pants: Clean (hopefully). Shirt: No, not that color. Yes, that one. Socks: Black and purple because who cares if no one can see them? Hair: Ugh, it’s a mess. “Great, I love that I look like a witch!” she sighed and tried to comb her wild black locks of hair into something more tame and appropriate for the workplace. “Today we rock a homeless look.” She winked at herself in the mirror. Being late to work was a common occurrence for Janis.&...

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“Wash, rinse, repeat” by Linda Bakewell Bakewell

Submitted to Contest #35

Recently she had been going to sleep to white noise, to be more specific to the sound of an oscillating fan video on YouTube. In the summer months, she would just leave her fan on overnight, but in winter it seemed frivolous to her to sleep under a duvet and have a fan on. Her mother had always told her that if she slept with a fan on she would get sick, so four hours of oscillating fan sound was the key to getting to sleep on time. The only issue was getting up on time. She had overslept so many times, she’d had to set a cascading seri...

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“Uh, Is This The Future Or A Different Planet?” by Taylor Crosby

Submitted to Contest #35

I yawn as I awaken. I look outside and am surprised to see it's still dark. What the heck? I set my clock forward last night, didn't I? I glance at my alarm clock, but to my shock, it's not there. I rise from my bed. Nothing's familiar about this room. For one thing, the white paint on the walls is completely gone except for a few patches of some that have become yellowed and peeled, revealing the brick underneath. The room is also bare and devoid of any of my belongings. I look up and most of the roof is gone. I turn back to my bed. ...

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“The Long Sleep” by Linda Rossi

Submitted to Contest #35

Prologue Last week had been a particularly grueling week at work. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong. I worried and fretted all this weekend and I was very anxious about the upcoming week. So I decided to go to bed early. I remembered this was the weekend that Daylight Savings Time started, so I set my clock ahead one hour and I instantly drifted off to a sound, deep sleep… Chapter 1 It began with The Big Blast. I was going about my everyday hustle and bustle work day when...

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“History Rewritten” by Stan Allen

Submitted to Contest #35

Clayton Westar had his character flaws just like everyone. He fussed every time he was forced to fall back or spring forward. Tonight was no exception. Some would say that he was flawed because he talked to his dog. Others said worse things about Clay, so he became a loner. Clay was not politically correct with his thoughts or speech. That flaw kept him at odds with people, so he resigned from civilization and moved to where he could be alone.Clay sat down on the edge of his bed and moved the clock forward one hour to 11:11 PM. ‘I hope old B...

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“When the Clock Struck” by Julia Roberts

Submitted to Contest #35

March 14th, 2055, 7:45pmA distinctive buzz-zap passed uncomfortably close to my ear as I rounded the corner and slipped into a nearby alleyway. I glanced back briefly to see a crumbling hole in the wall across from where I had been standing a moment ago. The face of the wall blurred briefly, and with a greenish glow began repairing itself back to its normal, cement-looking state. They’re getting closer, I thought to myself, breathing heavily while I shrunk deeper into the shadows of the alley. I’m running out of places to hide. If it wa...

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“Mission: Magnum” by Amanda Kelly

Submitted to Contest #35

Heather watched as the Big Ben clock tower spun slowly forward one hour. She sat in a tree on a hill in London, swinging her legs to and fro, thinking about her life. This was often a thought topic for young Heather - how her mother and father passed away when she was young, and she was tossed aside by her cruel uncle, and how she'd been living as a thief, scrounging for scraps to survive since she was about ten years old. She'd always thought she would prefer a self-sustaining life rather than one at an orphanage, so she t...

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“Grandfather Clock” by Christopher Barr

Submitted to Contest #35

The dream began underwater, it was milky and shady in spots. My breathing underwater appeared to not be a problem. I was swimming barefoot in blue jeans and a white t-shirt under this massive object above me that was blocking the sun from lighting the water. As I approached this thing, it was big like a whale floating, but upon a closer inspection, to my dismay and disbelief, it was a brain, a human brain, the size of a blue whale - just floating there.After recovering from the shock of what I was looking at, I found myself qu...

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“Flower in the Rubble.” by Shelby Pate

Submitted to Contest #35

"Be sure to turn your clocks ahead one hour tonight, for daylight savings!" The news anchor spoke in a chipper voice. Daisy looked down at her wrist as she adjust her watch. She stood up, stretched and head off to bed. Daisy lived alone in a two bedroom house in a quiet neighborhood. Daisy was an introvert. She worked from home and rarely left. Tomorrow, was grocery day. Daisy would go as soon as the local stores opened, to avoid as many people as she could. Daisy slipped underneath her comforter and reached over to ...

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Before bed, you put your clock ahead one hour for daylight saving time. When you wake up, you realize you've gone forward a lot more than one hour.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 81 stories

“Butterfly Effect” by Courtney Myers

“Borrowed Time” by Dawn Ward

“We Never Started Counting” by Madeline Allen

“Torn” by Myla Glaser

“A Forty Year History” by Abigail Weaver

“It is Spring” by Amanda Johnson

“A Decade Late for Work” by Kharl Reynado

“Wash, rinse, repeat” by Linda Bakewell Bakewell

“Uh, Is This The Future Or A Different Planet?” by Taylor Crosby

“The Long Sleep” by Linda Rossi

“History Rewritten” by Stan Allen

“When the Clock Struck” by Julia Roberts

“Mission: Magnum” by Amanda Kelly

“Grandfather Clock” by Christopher Barr

“Flower in the Rubble.” by Shelby Pate

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a story that takes place at a spring dance.

You made a promise to yourself you'd finally do it on the first day of spring. Today was the day.

Write a story about someone who finds something interesting peeking out from a melting snowbank.

Write a story about someone walking through a park on a spring evening, told only through internal monologue.

Contest #35

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

544

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: