The UnOrdinary Clock

The Clock

'The clock keeps ticking...'

Isen stirred in his sleep. His mouth hung open, and one of his legs was dangling dangerously off the bed. His dreams were filled with several mini versions of Arlo's face floating around with his ever-present scowl. But each of the mini-Arlos was chanting Isen's name or singing praises for the latest front-page article he had written. The boy giggled in his sleep, mumbling "Take that Arlo" to the company that was his pillow.

'The clock keeps ticking...'

Isen awoke with a start, the mini-Arlo in his dreams disappearing into clouds and floating away. Panting, he held a hand over his chest. One moment he was dreaming of Arlo appreciating him for once, the next he was hearing a whisper so close to his ear that someone could have been in his room. Isen swallowed thickly before looking around his room, the shadows on his wall forming silhouettes with his wild imagination. Cursing, Isen leaned over and turned on his lamp before he could scare himself anymore. 'The hell was that," he thought while wiping at his eyes. The desktop clock on his dresser read 6:35 in bright letters causing Isen to deflate. Isen groaned before tossing the covers back over his head, 'I've still got plenty of time.' Just when the mini-Arlos began to flood Isen's mind once again, the ticking sound of a clock invaded his ears.

'The clock keeps ticking...'

"Yeah, I get that!" Isen shouted while glaring at his digital clock, the ticking sound still filling the air. 'I thought digital clocks didn't make that noise,' Isen grumbled before chucking his pillow at the clock and knocking it to the floor. To his dismay, the ticking continued. "Oh my...STOP!" He covered both of his ears and shouted at the clock lying on the floor.

And the ticking stopped.

With an annoyed groan, he pulled himself out of bed. "Well, I'm up now," he mumbled to himself leaving the room. With a yawn, Isen made his way to his fridge, pulled out the milk, and quickly made himself some cereal. Leaning on the counter he started to fall asleep again until he heard the ticking again. The boy jumped, looking around the room until his eyes landed on the clock up by the door. 'Shut up,' He whimpered before deciding his cereal wasn't worth listening to the tickling clock and went back to his room to change. Wasting no time, he threw his clothes on, grabbed his back, and left his dorm. "Finally nice and quiet," he sighed as the morning air hit his face. There weren't many people out, it was still pretty early.

Isen sighed, now what was he supposed to do? 'Guess I'll take a walk, channel my inner Blyke and get my exercise on.' Laughing to himself, Isen began to aimlessly walk around the area. While walking, he allowed his thoughts to drift back to his dream. 'It would be pretty nice if Arlo would actually thank me for once. Maybe next time he comes to ask me for something I'll make him say pretty please. Alas, I value my life and will do no such thing." Isen continued to muse over his dream, pointedly ignoring the strange whispers that had accompanied it.

"Isen?"

"Agh-!"

Isen jumped and whirled around with his hands clasped together, "I swear I did everything you asked me to Arlo please don't throw a fork at me!" When he didn't find himself impaled with a kitchen utensil, Isen dared to look up and just found Keene looking at him with a strange face, probably in pity. "Well," Keene began, "I'm not Arlo and I'm definitely not going to throw a fork at you." Isen nodded, face burning a bright red as he straightened back out and tried to regain his dignity. "Heh...sorry Mr. Keene, I'm just a little jumpy this morning." The older man simply shook his head and took a bite of his apple. "I don't usually see you this early in the morning. In fact, I almost count on seeing you amongst the rush of students trying not to be late."