Time

6:00 AM
It all started the day I died. Like any other morning, I woke up to a world full of routine
and morning breath. Especially morning breath.
Your breath smells sooo bad, I told my sister, rolling over to my other side, Why
couldnt you just sleep in your own bed?
But I get scared when it rains at night, she whined, except she cant pronounce her Rs
so it sounded more like, But I get scawed when it wains at night.
You bettew be scawed wight now! I yelled, as I grabbed her by the stomach and started
tickling her. Her laugh sounded like the happiest thing I never heard. She cackled and shrieked
her way out of my hands as she slid down the floor, enveloping herself in the mass of dirty
clothes. Those clothes hadnt been washed in a week; shed probably get some diseases from
them or something.
I didnt feel like showering, so I just put on my clothes from the day before and walked
into the kitchen. A glass cup was lying in pieces on the floor, remnants from my fathers drunken
night. He had gotten home around an hour before and was sitting in a broken chair, completely
passed out. I didnt blame him, and maybe I shouldve joined him; he seemed to have more fun
than I did. He had two kids to look after though and an empty fridge with nothing to eat for
breakfast. He might be a sorry excuse for a man, but I was sorrier.
6:30 AM
I got out of the house, not even brushing my hair first. I kind of wish Id put more effort
into that day; you dont want to look like shit the day you die. The problem is that you never
know which day youre gonna die.

I walked past the place where the homeless man always sat, the little nook underneath the
main bridge, right next to the bus station where a bus had never come. He always ended up with
some money at the end of the day, I dont know how, I was the only person that ever walked by
that little nook. It was depressing as hell that it was that easy. That you could just sit underneath
a bridge all day and have some money by the end of it. He wasnt there that day, though, and in
his place there lay a watch, one that had stopped ticking. It read 8:00. That was the first thing.
6:45 AM
When I got to school I went to the nurses office right away, to take my meds. Having
depression is something that you dont want your friends to know about or else they start
pretending to care. I knew a guy who had it and told all of his friends, who told everyone else,
and pretty soon the whole school was pretending to care. The guy almost killed himself as a
result of all the caring.
Good morning! the nurse said cheerfully. She gave me my pill bottles, along with a big,
stupid smile. She did that every morning, like it would make it go away. I took a few extra pills,
just for the hell of it. I took the whole bottle with me, just for the hell of it. The nurse didnt
notice a thing.
6:55 AM
When I was walking down the hallway I bumped into this girl I used to get around with,
before she turned into a smart ass. Shes too smart for her own good; I cant stand people like
that. You gotta just be stupid once in a while, if that makes any sense. I tended to be stupid more
than once in a while.
You know where I can get this clock fixed? she asked, Mr. Hollens dropped it on the
floor and he asked me to go find someone to fix it. She was beaming with pride, as if Mr.

Hollenss approval was the only thing she needed in this life. The arrows were frozen right at
8:00. I ignored her and kept walking. That was the second thing.
7:00 AM
My first class was always math, and I always skipped my first class. Math is just
something that never came to me, just like everything else. Who wants to go to class at seven in
the morning anyway? Instead, I went to the diner across from the school and ordered breakfast. I
always sat at this one booth in the corner, where I could look around and nobody would bother
me. Everyone seemed to be having a much better time than I was; from the nauseatingly sick
couples to the lonesome guys looking at their phone screens. I finished up and went back to
school, because this place was making me feel worse than any numbers on a worksheet could.
7:30 AM
I had a doctors appointment, I mumbled on my way into the classroom. I dont think
Id been in that class for about a week. The teacher didnt say anything, though, just continued to
sprout nonsense before a class full of sleeping students. There was not one student in that class
who was awake; all around me was the sound of snoring teenagers. Who could blame them, this
teacher guy was definitely over 70 years old. His old voice could put a crying baby right to sleep.
And anyway, why would you want to be awake and present when you could simply close your
eyes and be gone? I just wanted to be gone.
I took some more pills, and I was a goner.
8:00 AM
This old teacher had a grandfather clock that stood in his room. Some artifact from some
war or something. Every time the hour changed the clock made the loudest noise I ever heard,
like someone was hitting me in the head with a hammer. Besides that, the clock always made

creaky noises whenever the pendulum swung. When the clock struck at 8:00, the entire class
woke up. So did the class next door, Im willing to bet. I only had one hour of that class left.
I sat there with one eye opened and one eye closed for the next half hour. Maybe I should
have stayed in that damn diner. I wanted time to go faster, I wanted it to speed up when I wanted
and slow down when I didnt. I wished I had a remote control for life, so that I could just press
fast-forward. I dont think I would ever have pressed rewind.
I tipped my head back and I swallowed pills. One, two, three pills, ten pills.
8:00 AM
I took a glance at the clock again, but what the..? The clock read 8:00, same as it did
when I walked into the classroom. It was frozen, just like all the other clocks. I shook my head
like a dog; I was probably dreaming. A kid next to me was playing some sort of game on his
phone. I tapped him on the shoulder but he didnt hear through his earphones.
Hey, what time is it? I asked him. He didnt hear me. I tried asking another kid, but she
gave me the same treatment. Strange though, she wasnt wearing headphones, she should have
heard me. I was sick of all the kids ignoring me, so I yelled up at the teacher to ask the time.
HEY! COULD YA TELL ME WHAT TIME IT IS? He didnt even flinch. That was
the third thing.
8:00 AM
Staggering, I ran out into the hallway. Why would nobody in the damn school answer
me? Things like that really pissed me off sometimes. All I wanted was to know the time. Some
kid was walking by me, so I asked him. I swear to god he was looking straight at me, but he
didnt even blink. Maybe he was looking straight through me? He waved to his friend in my

math class, even though I was leaning against the closed door. He couldnt have possibly seen
me.
8:00 AM
I started to panic. Maybe it had finally happened; maybe Id finally gone crazy. It was
bound to happen one day. I couldnt stand still so I started running. I opened doors and yelled
and yelled and yelled.
WHATS THE TIME?
8:00 AM
Nobody moved a muscle. Nobody even looked out of the door. And all of the clocks read
8:00.
8:00 AM
Slowly, I sat down, right in the middle of the hallway and I started to cry. Then I stopped
though, you dont want to look like a wimp when it all goes down. All the clocks were frozen, as
if my 1
st
period math class would never end.
8:00 AM
I finished the pills.
8:00 AM
Then it hit me. It didnt hit me all at once, it took some time. But time is exactly what I
didnt have. My. Time. Had. Stopped.
8:01 AM
And it all ended the day I died.