Tick Tick
.Tick Tick
Tick Tick
The incessant racket of the old wall mounted clock offered no respite for the tired teenager. He was unwell and it felt as though there was a war between the forces of good and evil inside his skull. A pseudo - semi-nuclear war at that. If only there were some way to break the tedious monotony. All around him he could see that his companions, hunched over their computers, appeared to fare no better than he did.
Tick Tick
Tick Tick
Tick Tick
Lawsy Lawsy he thought to himself as he struggled to keep his eyes from closing, What a rotten headache.
What he needed was some fresh air to clear his mind. But there was none to be found in the stuffy, claustrophobic office. The air conditioner merely recycled the same, stale, unwholesome oxygen, 'Canned Air' he called it. Finally he relented and succumbed to the wave of lethargy rolling over him. His eyelids drooped and his mind shifted onto autopilot. The clock's steady rhythm seemed to slow down.
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
Something niggled at him in the back of his mind. Something was not quite right.
Tick
Tick
Tick
He looked at the clock. It read quarter past nine. The same as it had read half an hour ago.
Tick
Tick
He looked at the digital readout on his computer screen. It read 10:20
Tick
Tick
So if the clock was broken, what was the source of that ticking noise?
Tick
Tick
His eyes widened and he hit the deck.
Tick
KABOOM!
A whole wall instantly vanished in a ball of flame. The resulting force of the explosion plucked the teacher up and threw to the far end of the room. The floor shuddered and tilted towards the ground. He only just managed to grab a cable attached to the wall to stop himself from falling out of the building and plummeting six stories down. The desk where he'd been working at slid towards him. He rolled aside to avoid getting hit, although it did clip his shoulder on the way down. Summoning hidden reserves of strength, he hauled himself up and further into the room.
He heard a strange hissing sound and noticed a stream of thick green clouds spewing forth from a crack underneath the door. The gas had a sickly sweet odour. It was as though someone had dumped a bottle of perfume all over the carpet. His head swam and his vision went blurry. He looked around and noticed that no one else seemed to be affected by the gas, or had even noticed the explosion for that matter. He closed his eyes for a moment in an attempt to re-orientate himself.
When he opened them, everything was back to normal. The wall was intact, the teacher was alive and all in one piece and the noxious vapours had dissipated. Once again he was sitting in front of his computer, listening to the clock. He needed some fresh air to clear his mind.
Finally he relented and succumbed to the wave of lethargy rolling over him. His eyelids drooped and his mind shifted onto autopilot.
Tick Tick
Tick Tick.