The Clock Shop (ORIGINAL VERSION)

15

I was standing in my school auditorium on the stage. I was in front of all the other kids in my school, even those I'd never seen or talked to.

     I was standing in front of a podium with a piece of paper full of words and a microphone attached. When I tried to move my legs to leave, I couldn't. My body felt tense and like it was glued to the floor.

     I looked around next to me, and I could see people watching me from the side of the stage, while on the other side was a door. When I looked at the crowd, not a single person was looking away at something else. They all sat silently, looking lifeless. It felt like they were staring into my soul, waiting for me to mess up so they could laugh or yell in disappointment.

     I reached for the paper, thinking that if I read it and faced my fear of stage fright I might be able to move away and get to the door. Maybe that door leads back to Uncle Robert's clock shop.

     I held the paper in my shaking hands, my heart was pounding and I felt like I might pass out. I read the words carefully out loud to avoid being laughed at.

     I avoided looking at the people watching me, I turned all my attention to the paper.

     My hands were sweating and the paper was sticking to my fingers whenever I tried to flip to the next page.

     My voice was quiet and I knew I was stuttering, which made me feel more embarrassed.

     The sentences and words on the pages were getting harder to read, they didn't even make sense. There were tongue twisters and sentences that sounded like nonsense. People would laugh when I messed up on a tongue twister and whisper to the people next to them.

     I kept reading, knowing I would be able to leave if I did. As I read the last sentences, I could feel my body not feel as tense.

     I read the last word and was able to walk away. Everyone was laughing and booing me as I ran towards the door.

I opened the door and shut it as quickly as I could, I was in yet another dark room. I started to walk forward and then I started to fall again.

***

I slowly opened my eyes again and I was at the edge of a very tall building. I looked around and saw nobody in sight; nobody to help me get down. I wasn't even wearing safety gear that hooked me onto the building.

     I stood over nothing, this was the only building, it was just a desert, even though the temperature was not warm or hot.

     I cautiously looked around for a door, trying to ignore how high up I was from the ground. It wasn't easy to ignore it, because heights were one of my biggest fears.

     I couldn't find a way out besides down, but I knew I would die if I just jumped off. I looked down while holding on as tight as I could to the building.

     I was so scared, my whole body was shaking, it felt like the floor under me was going to collapse and I would fall to my death with no other choice. I ended up vomiting off the side of the building which wasn't fun.

     I crawled around the building looking down to see if there was somewhere to land, and I saw a door in the middle of the sky laying horizontally.

     Since a door was the way I got out last time, I figured this would be the next way out. Hopefully, this one leads back to The Clock Shop, and not another place with my fears.

     I stood up, my legs shaking still with the feeling the building would collapse. I lined myself up with the door as best as I possibly could, took a deep breath, then started to cry.

     Then, I closed my eyes and jumped.

     I fell with no way to control where I was going, I had to hope I would land on the door.

     Once I landed on the door, I realized I would have to figure out how to get it open. What if the door swings towards me and won't open?

     I tried the door handle and it opened so quickly that I had no idea what happened. Gravity was pulling me down very quickly into another dark room and I kept falling.