The Clock

00:01:22h

I sat on the roof and looked down at all the people below me. The building was higher than I

expected, higher than anyone would’ve ever expected. It was huge, I realised when the air circled through my hair, the clock ticking through my ears.

00:01:03h

The sound of cars, of sirens and of people walking through the streets were too loud but not

so loud they stopped the ticking. It was the only thing I could hear, the only thing that could comfort me. I am reaching the end, aren’t I? Was the clock I saw real, was it my mind faking it?

00:00:42h

I am running out of time, I am running out so quickly… Why is no one there to make it stop?

Tick tack, tick tack.

I am begging for help, I am begging for someone to make me stop, begging for the clock to

stop.

Stop the ticking, stop the ticking.

00:00:35h

My feet automatically stood up and pointed my toes to the emptiness, to the air. One step

and I flee, I would fly as a bird. A bird to freedom? A trip to happiness? Or to emptiness, a

place filled with darkness and pain?

00:00:24h

Please help me, someone. The clock is ticking. I don’t know what I am doing. The clock

keeps ticking. Tell me it’s my mind messing with me, tell me someone does cares. Tell me I

don’t want this, tell me I am making a mistake.

Tell me the clock is my imagination.

00:00:11h

It’s almost time. No one is there, no one will be there. No one will ever be there. The clock,

it’s telling me something. Give up, move on. This is not your time, here it will never be your

time. It is not right, it is never right. The clock, real or imagination? Or was my neediness imagination? All a fantasy, this world, my thoughts.

The clock.

00:00:05h

My arms spread as the clock was ticking its last second. Why did it feel even slower? My eyes closed, my body embracing the wind and air.

Tick tack, tick tack...

00:00:03h

I raised my head and smiled at myself. No one is here, you are the only one. You’re free to

go, you need to go.

The clock is telling you to go.

It will be fine, it will be better, it will change as soon as you go. Don’t worry, the clock is

telling you something. It’s fine, it’s fine.

00:00:01h

I set a step forward and felt how I lost my balance, wind stroking through my hair. The wind

whispering in my hair, the last tick hearable. My heart pumping like crazy, everything around

me not even mattering.

The clock.

00:00:00h

The clock tells me my time is up.