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.


on Dec. 21 2011 at 2:18 pm
Alechcim SILVER, Plano, Texas
6 articles 2 photos 28 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There's no such thing as impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" -Audrey Hepburn
"Be the change you wish to see in the world.- Ganhdi
"I have no failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." -Thomas Edison

............ok

Nip Nip Man said...
on Dec. 20 2011 at 2:37 pm
Hehe i pooped

on Dec. 16 2011 at 2:14 pm
Alechcim SILVER, Plano, Texas
6 articles 2 photos 28 comments

Favorite Quote:
"There's no such thing as impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!" -Audrey Hepburn
"Be the change you wish to see in the world.- Ganhdi
"I have no failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work." -Thomas Edison

I love this! This type of writing is just amazing to me. Good job:)

Naman BRONZE said...
on Dec. 16 2011 at 12:53 pm
Naman BRONZE, Ghaziabad, Other
3 articles 0 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
What you believe is what you become!!

It took 2 minutes to read and 5 minutes to reread it!
Great Writing!

on Dec. 11 2011 at 3:20 pm
DarkMountain BRONZE, Portland, Oregon
4 articles 0 photos 39 comments

Favorite Quote:
My eyes feel so heavy when the stars are calling me
- Join with us eternally -
I'm falling in deep trance and my powers are weakening
I'm falling in a world between dreams and reality
... I'm sailing away to undiscovered seas...
Oh time...

Really made me think! Loved it!

JakeDamon GOLD said...
on Dec. 8 2011 at 10:42 pm
JakeDamon GOLD, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
10 articles 4 photos 14 comments
Good. Try to make the ending just a little less abrupt next time...

Lletya BRONZE said...
on Dec. 8 2011 at 7:42 pm
Lletya BRONZE, Aurora, Colorado
2 articles 1 photo 21 comments

Favorite Quote:
All we ever wanted you to be, is to be yourself! If everyone leaves the show that night feeling better about themselves, then we did our job. Its a social experiment, slash art project. We're trying to change the world and help alot of people. MCR

I loved the story, but I don't really get the ending...

Odyesseus said...
on Dec. 8 2011 at 2:22 pm

he killed the dog and the boss

and police is knocking on the door


on Dec. 8 2011 at 11:00 am
MarissaWhitecloud SILVER, Oskaloosa, Iowa
7 articles 0 photos 84 comments
This was really good! I thought it was interesting and then the end really caught my attention! Loved it!

on Dec. 8 2011 at 6:24 am
Refugemywords BRONZE, Chengdu, Other
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"It is very good advice to believe only what an artist does, rather then what he says about his work."~David Hockney

Kept me on the edge of my seat though so short and snappy. Nice numbers...

Tatri J. said...
on Nov. 16 2011 at 10:45 pm
it was incredibly good but i am somewaht confused...where's his dog? did he kill it? did he kill someone at his job thus it being closed???? please explain! :(

ing.to SILVER said...
on Nov. 16 2011 at 7:21 pm
ing.to SILVER, San Jose, Other
5 articles 0 photos 6 comments
The numbers got me stressed out. :P but I really enjoyed reading this.. To be honest, without those numbers, the story would lose its flow entirely. So yay! Great job!

on Nov. 16 2011 at 4:34 pm
clumsyteardropper SILVER, Roslyn, Pennsylvania
8 articles 0 photos 87 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You can't help others, if you yourself need help" -my sister ;) love it!

*jaw drops and eyes widen for 3.5 minutes*... *then falls off chair becuz someone start knocking on MY door* :O AHH!!!!

on Nov. 16 2011 at 4:33 pm
teresa221 BRONZE, Maywood, New Jersey
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
Wow, this was really good! I was drawn in immediately and hooked until the end. I'd love to know what happens next, though, if you plan to continue this =)

Maegan789 said...
on Nov. 15 2011 at 8:23 am
I really want to know what happens where is the blood coming from and where is her dog????? Who is knocking at the door??

tejas007 said...
on Nov. 2 2011 at 11:35 am

what happens at the last???

after knocking..................... wat??

 


on Oct. 26 2011 at 8:03 pm
TheWriterGolfer BRONZE, Arcadia, California
1 article 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is merely a shell. It's what you do with it that cracks it.

I really enjoyed this piece. I like the tone of your writing; you express your annoyance and sarcasim really well. The way you make all the times so precise also helps express your point in your writing. Good job!

on Oct. 25 2011 at 9:20 pm
Potterlover925 BRONZE, San Jose, California
1 article 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"Some geniuses were dropped on their head as babies...... you must have been thrown at the wall."

I wasn't caught until the end, but it definetly recived my attention then!  

MrGetBuff said...
on Oct. 25 2011 at 10:58 am
OMG! I LIVE IN WEST BEND, YOU LIVE LIKE 2 MIN AWAY

on Oct. 3 2011 at 4:54 pm
sevandlilly BRONZE, Arlington, Virginia
4 articles 2 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what other people say you cannot do" -Walter Bagenot

Oh my goodness. Everybody else has pretty much said it all, but really, this is so powerful! Check out my work and tell me if your heart beat up a frenzy the way mine did while I was reading yours...:)