Time | Teen Ink

Time MAG

November 7, 2007
By Anonymous

Every morning I wake up to the normal sun shooting through the left window, blinding me as I try to open my eyes. My dog, Donald, barks up a storm. He insists that every morning at exactly 7:04, he has to go outside. It really is starting to push my buttons. Can’t that damn dog just take a rest?

After I go outside for exactly 2.5 minutes, I realize I have to deal with my boss in exactly 48.6 minutes. I sit and moan for two minutes. Any more I would be late and any less I would be early: it has to be exactly two minutes. Afterward, I do my normal six-minute shower, three-minute shave, two-minute brush of my teeth – just like the dentist told me – and five minutes to figure out what I am going to wear ­today. That leaves me 4.5 minutes to sit and read The New York Times and moan about having to drive 20 minutes to a job that I can’t stand. Once I arrive, it takes 2.1 minutes to hear the lame story about what Ron, the guy two cubicles down, did last night and four minutes ’til I get to hear my boss complain that I never do anything right.

Spending 9.34 hours at my job, driving 26 minutes home (I hate traffic), taking two minutes to take Donald out and only getting 24.7 minutes to myself before lying down in my hard, cold bed and not falling asleep for another 12.5 minutes can really drive someone crazy. At least that is what my therapist tells me. But in fact it does not make you crazy; it makes everyone else crazy for not wanting to know how much time they actually have.

The thing that will make you crazy is if something goes wrong. Something that has been happening the same way for exactly 12.56 years. When that one thing goes wrong, all hell breaks loose. For instance, if you wake 45.8 minutes late because there is no damn dog barking for you to take him out. Which causes you to be late to work, because you have a 20-minute drive and only 2.4 minutes to get there. Then you ­decide in exactly 24 seconds that you have to call in to work saying you came down with something. But after the phone rings for eight seconds, the secretary tells you that something bad has happened and there will be no work today. You wonder for only one minute what could have happened, but then go and take a shower.

The shower is much longer than the normal six minutes. It takes two more minutes to wonder what is the red goop dripping from your body. Then it takes you two more minutes to realize that you probably just cut yourself shaving.

After 45.8 minutes of watching TV, you wonder where Donald is and what really happened today to call off work. You ponder this for 12 minutes, scratching your chin, noticing the red goop is also under your nails. You find that disgusting, so you walk steps, which takes you three seconds, to go wash your hands, for two minutes, in the bathroom that you never use. You look around for four minutes, noticing there is also red goop all over the walls. You quickly – so fast you can’t count the time – open the shower curtain.

In about seven minutes you realize you have to clean up. But suddenly there is a knock on the front door lasting for about four seconds. But you have to ignore it, you don’t have time, you have to clean up in six minutes. But wait, six minutes is too long. You need 4.5 minutes, but that’s too short. The knocking is getting louder and faster, every three seconds, it just won’t stop. You can’t stop either; you have to clean up, but the knocking ….



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This article has 332 comments.


Isaac99 said...
on Mar. 27 2012 at 2:26 pm
I agree but this is slightly more vague and that basically says what happens.

Isaac99 said...
on Mar. 27 2012 at 2:23 pm
I really like how every thing is exactly timed instead of two and a half minutes it's 2.45 minutes i think that really add realism. I also like that at the end it (atleast for me) it makes you read faster and faster then BAM! the story ends. I also like how it makes you paranoid and connects with the audience

emmpps16 said...
on Mar. 16 2012 at 11:02 am
emmpps16, Hardwick, New Jersey
0 articles 9 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
I'm the one that has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to. -Jimi Hendrix

wow.. thatw as intense. good:)

james14 BRONZE said...
on Mar. 5 2012 at 2:17 pm
james14 BRONZE, Charlotte, North Carolina
1 article 0 photos 25 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Worst excuse for not turning in homework: 'I couldn't find anyone to copy it from'".

very nice!!!!! i really enjoyed this!!!!!!!!!!

on Mar. 5 2012 at 1:28 pm
silentcries BRONZE, Lakeland, Minnesota
4 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will.


Trixy14 said...
on Feb. 29 2012 at 12:39 pm
Trixy14, St.pete, Florida
0 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A man who dares to waste one hour of his life, has not discovered the value of life." -Charles R. Darwin (Wicked smart scientist)

Your use of diction and syntax makes your message come across more clearly. You have a unique writing style.

on Feb. 12 2012 at 4:08 pm
Dolly9471 BRONZE, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey
3 articles 0 photos 35 comments

Favorite Quote:
In the end will will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
Martin Luther King Jr.

Very interesting story. The use of math/time makes it a unique story. I enjoyed it!!!

aem312 BRONZE said...
on Feb. 12 2012 at 11:54 am
aem312 BRONZE, Richmond, Massachusetts
4 articles 0 photos 43 comments
This is very suspenseful. I loved the use of time. It's great :)

on Feb. 12 2012 at 1:16 am
TarryMunster BRONZE, Oceanside, New York
2 articles 1 photo 2 comments
Amazing! It really feels like you're in the character's place.

Kaffeine said...
on Feb. 5 2012 at 5:00 pm
Kaffeine, X, Other
0 articles 0 photos 25 comments
I really felt like I was getting into the skin of this character. Great writing!

ChloeE BRONZE said...
on Jan. 29 2012 at 9:51 am
ChloeE BRONZE, Charlotte, North Carolina
4 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
WWJD
Proverbs 3:5- Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.
"I don't mind not being cool." -Chris Martin

wow! This is amazing! Leaves me wanting more! thats great :)

on Jan. 21 2012 at 4:35 pm
Bookworm1997 BRONZE, South Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1 article 0 photos 29 comments

Favorite Quote:
You cannot open a book without learning something. -Confucious

This is really good and suspenseful. I want to know what happens!

on Dec. 31 2011 at 4:52 pm
Pamplemousse SILVER, Gilbert, Arizona
7 articles 1 photo 69 comments

Favorite Quote:
"To be happy, Don't do whatever you like, Like whatever you do" -James Barrie (author of Peter Pan)

Okay, that is so awesome! I love mysteries/thrillers so much and it takes talent to do it just right and you totally nailed it. And I think that the concept of time controlling our lives has real truth in it too. Keep up the good work

on Dec. 30 2011 at 9:20 pm
awensman95 SILVER, Alexandria, Minnesota
7 articles 0 photos 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
"All dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney

Dang I want to know what happens! Nice story!

Ender2 BRONZE said...
on Dec. 30 2011 at 12:11 pm
Ender2 BRONZE, Hemet, California
2 articles 0 photos 24 comments
Poor Donald... Great writing, I loved it; very much like Edgar Allen Poe.

on Dec. 30 2011 at 10:02 am
swcricket98 GOLD, Williamson, Georgia
13 articles 17 photos 102 comments

Favorite Quote:
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

This reminds me way to much of Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart.

on Dec. 30 2011 at 9:18 am
manda315 SILVER, Voorhees, New Jersey
7 articles 1 photo 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Piglet:"How do you spell love?"
Pooh:"You can't spell love. You feel it."

omg killed the dog? wow all those numbers in it were like woahhhhhhh

kristi421 GOLD said...
on Dec. 30 2011 at 3:35 am
kristi421 GOLD, Waverly, Kentucky
10 articles 6 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love isn't about ridiculous little words. Love is about grand gestures.

this is really good. kind of confusing at the end, but that's what makes it so good! keep up the good work!

on Dec. 22 2011 at 5:37 pm
Meeegan PLATINUM, Henderson, Nevada
40 articles 0 photos 6 comments
He was bored with life so he killed his dog and the people at his work thus killing the routine.

on Dec. 21 2011 at 10:27 pm
You no you like it