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. 12 2009 at 11:15 am
Hannah52896 BRONZE, Charlotte, North Carolina
2 articles 0 photos 3 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You are never too young or too old to find your true talent."

This is very well written but since I'm not the best in math it made my head hurt with that stuff but the red goop thing... AWESOME! VERY detailed and that is something I enjoy of a good story. Thumbs up.

jmc.13 said...
on Dec. 2 2009 at 10:24 am
jmc.13, Dobbs Ferry, New York
0 articles 0 photos 58 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I'd rather regret what I did than what I didn't do."

This is a grat piece. I love the ease at which you express time as if it is the main component of your day.

Great job!

on Nov. 30 2009 at 8:13 am
dark_roses14 PLATINUM, Mazon, Illinois
20 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
play the music, turn it up loud, dance around, and drown out reality

but people do read the comments to see what everyone else thought of the work. you have to understand where i'm coming from

Matt-JT said...
on Nov. 24 2009 at 3:59 pm
so neither would anyone else... and i think most would like some closure to their confusion... if not they are not forced to read the comments

on Nov. 24 2009 at 8:58 am
dark_roses14 PLATINUM, Mazon, Illinois
20 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
play the music, turn it up loud, dance around, and drown out reality

i was speaking for everyone else. you gotta let the scary mystery go on. not ruin it by posting a comment that says what it actually means. and i dont go straight to the comments unless its one of my own pieces of work

Matt-JT said...
on Nov. 21 2009 at 3:55 am
Even if you were not kidding, how is that ruining it? if you just skip to the comments first then there is something wrong, and im sure that we all imagined the "red goopy stuff" as blood. Look my screen in the eye and say no.

on Nov. 20 2009 at 11:23 pm
ultrabookworm BRONZE, Equestria, Kentucky
2 articles 0 photos 65 comments
Wow. That person must be pretty OCD. :) But this is a really good portrayal of it.

on Nov. 20 2009 at 10:28 pm
twizzlerhero SILVER, Anchorage, Alaska
7 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"He gave her 12 roses 11 were real 1 was fake he told her he would love her till the last one dies" -?

whoa man that s alot of math im rlly proud of you fo rfiguring that ou tlol

on Nov. 20 2009 at 9:19 pm
wow, amazing story I love the cliffhanger ending and the way you used the time for everthing this story is awsome plz finish it! this should soo get published :)

ashley687969 said...
on Nov. 20 2009 at 6:40 pm
ashley687969, Welcome, Maryland
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
love me or hate me its ur loss:d

wow i really like it yu should get dis published

on Nov. 20 2009 at 12:52 pm
Hannah523 SILVER, Winterport, Maine
8 articles 0 photos 11 comments
I agree, it really reminded me of that book as soon as I started to read it.

However, I like the style of writing. Nice work.

on Nov. 20 2009 at 10:40 am
dark_roses14 PLATINUM, Mazon, Illinois
20 articles 0 photos 164 comments

Favorite Quote:
play the music, turn it up loud, dance around, and drown out reality

way to ruin the whole scary part of it loser lol jkjk

Chickie BRONZE said...
on Nov. 20 2009 at 10:18 am
Chickie BRONZE, Lake Oswego, Oregon
4 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Nobody puts Baby in the corner."

I really liked this, it made me think a lot! But now I really want to know what happened- you should write more!

JustLoveLife said...
on Nov. 5 2009 at 4:44 pm
JustLoveLife, Crescent City, California
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
This was one of the most awesome stories I have ever read. WRITE MORE!

on Oct. 26 2009 at 3:46 pm
rain-rain111 PLATINUM, Roselle, Illinois
28 articles 0 photos 43 comments

Favorite Quote:
He offered her the world but she said she had her own.

Wait! nevermind i didn't mean I wanted to find out who's knocking I was just re-thinking over that part and sometimes when I think and write at the same time I wirte what i am thinking. lol.

on Oct. 26 2009 at 3:45 pm
rain-rain111 PLATINUM, Roselle, Illinois
28 articles 0 photos 43 comments

Favorite Quote:
He offered her the world but she said she had her own.

I want to know what was the red goop. Also how was at the door.lol.

CatCave GOLD said...
on Oct. 24 2009 at 12:09 am
CatCave GOLD, Duluth, Georgia
17 articles 14 photos 39 comments

Favorite Quote:
We do not inherit the earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

It made me think. Any story that makes me think long after I've read it is what i consider a superb story. I want so badly to know what happened to Donald and why work was canceled!

BoOkThEif said...
on Sep. 23 2009 at 10:52 am
Wow this is very confusing but very well written good job :D

Matt-JT said...
on Sep. 8 2009 at 6:55 am
I believe that I may be able to shed some light. By the way, fantastic job, with the cool story. Please correct me if I am wrong but the red goop is most likely blood. It says that the protagonist does not use that one bathroom, maybe because he killed his dog? As for the knock at the door, my guess is the police.

I think that confusion among the readers is a good thing when used in correct amounts. It is clear that this is well written and a great piece of writing because it was featured in the monthly magazine. My stories almost always confuse people. It makes me happy.

mj357 said...
on Jun. 30 2009 at 8:48 pm
it took me a while but i get it nice piece of writing