Cover Letter (SPOILERS!!!)

The genre of “Tick Tock” is something like science fiction, as the universe has its own rules around how clocks can communicate amongst themselves and even with people. In essence, this story is a “part one” telling how Clocky the clock manages to escape their room by communicating with an Apple Watch and an ELA teacher, in the broader quest to save their best friend Blocky’s life.

By the end, they begin to understand that the clocks who have reached out to them telling them to come to the Annex have a bigger purpose than just saving Blocky’s life. This means Clocky has to decide whether to trust these people, something that is not entirely decided within this story but it is alluded to that Clocky will trust them when they say, “I’m not afraid to make sacrifices.” The intended purpose of this story is to make comedy out of contrast between a very silly premise and sloppy world-building and the extremely high stakes of the story itself. At the same time, maybe it can also generate genuine tension and build suspense in people for the sequel that will likely never be written. For this reason, my intended audience is anybody who is okay knowing that they are reading a very fast-paced story, that will use a lot of cheesy devices like “but then – ” before the next piece of dialogue.

Writing this has definitely been a struggle, and overall I am not so happy with how the story turned out. I think the key lesson I have learned is that the most important element of a good story for you to write is not that you will be able to write the first draft, but that you will be attached to it enough to write a second, third, and fourth draft. This was simply not the case for this story, so I was constantly putting off working on it, whereas if I had chosen a concept for a story that I would be more serious about, then I likely would have looked forward to the revision process a great deal more. At the same time, receiving feedback from peers was great to know that even the first draft of the story, being incredibly rushed and sloppy, had some good elements to it, and that maybe I could capitalize on those when I rewrote the entirety for my final draft.

This assignment has helped me achieve Course Learning Outcome 8, as I have “grown confidence as a writer.” Even though this assignment has turned out pretty terribly after so many weeks of having time to work on it, I still feel like in the worst of conditions there is a bit of potential. This contributes to my overall philosophy that there is the same kind of potential for a spark of tension and character building in almost any concept for a story, and it just depends on how you write it. I hope that I will use this knowledge in the future to write stories that are much more worth someone’s reading them.

 

“Tick Tock”

Today is just another Friday afternoon in PS 125. The sun streams in through the wide windows of Room 501, bathing the entire room in brilliance. The students can hardly see their tests with such blinding light, but they stay concentrated anyway, vigorously moving their pencils across sheets of looseleaf paper. The ELA teacher, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and earrings which seem to be made out of recycled materials or something, stands at the front and paces back and forth, with a look of stoic calm on her face. I see a couple of the kids looking up at me, anxious to finish their tests before there isn’t any time left. What nostalgia… it reminds me of the time crunch I felt in my Tribulations, feeling my second hand march on and wishing it could move just a little more slowly.

Sigh. That was a long time ago. Now, life is calm, and well… maybe even a little boring. Watching the same kids go through the same rituals of filing into class, sitting down for forty-five minutes, and then rushing out to the next one… it does get a repetitive. My only company is Blocky, on the opposite wall. Since you’re probably wondering, we clocks communicate through skeptis, which is what the you guys would call telepathy, but really it’s a bit different. It involves two clocks looking at each other’s faces very intently, so much so that they can begin to communicate entire messages merely through the timbre and intonation of each tick.

That was a bit of a tangent… in any case, I don’t even have anyone to skeptize with right now because Blocky’s deep in one of their “naps” right now. They’re a much older clock, and they were my mentor during the Tribulations. But yeah, they aren’t exactly in the greatest shape anymore. I’ll always remember them telling me once:

Clocky… I was able to talk to some other clocks who know a lot about chronology. And… they told me I have one of the most common afflictions that comes with age. Chronic Intermittent Paralysis… I can’t help it. My ‘naps’ can last up to two hours.
They sounded so sad then… but why? What was the big deal? Everyone in Room 301 knew to only look at me for the correct time, so who cared if Blocky was in the best shape or not? It’s not like they would take him away or anything… he’d been in that room for so long!

It’s getting closer to the end of the period. I can sense the students’ anxiety as they scribble out the conclusions of their essays. It must be spreading to me too… or was it something else? I looked over at Blocky on the opposite wall. Yeah, sure, the “naps” were normal for them, but never for this long. It’s pretty close to two hours since I’ve seen them tick.

What am I gonna do if… if they never…

The bell rings, seemingly louder than usual, like some kind of shock treatment for my anxiety. Just keep ticking, like Blocky always told me. I look around at the students who are filling out of the room. Most of them I’ve gotten to know at this point. The kid who always stood out to me the most is this boy with long hair and an oversized pink hoodie. It seems like he had to stay after class this time, and from the angle he’s standing I can see his watch… or should I say phone? Yeah I don’t really know what to think of those new Apple Watches.

But I can’t look away… I’m mesmerized. Is his Apple Watch trying to talk with me, or am I imagining things?

Hey. Listen up, stupid.

Suddenly their voice breaks through. Exactly as stuck-up as I expected. What can I say, with Apple at least you know what you’re getting.

W- what? I made out.

I’m only gonna say this once cause there isn’t much time. If you wanna know what happened to Blocky then get yourself to the Annex before dismissal.

The Annex? I swear I’ve heard Blocky mention that before… where was it again?

No response. Just a minute of painful awkwardness.

Look, that’s all they let me tell you. Good luck. I watch their kid walk out of the room. Was that a twinge of regret in their voice?

Maybe they were telling the truth after all…

Αnd just like that, I’m left alone with the teacher for the rest of the period.

Oh no. It’s the last period. And I need to get to the Annex before dismissal. Shit.

Know how I said earlier I was nostalgic for the Tribulations… yeah, that was a lie. I feel that same stress coming back like it’s yesterday. Having to constantly resynchronize myself in those torture sessions they called “games”… there’s no time now for reliving that horror.

Ultra-conscious of every single tick, I put my cognition into overdrive. The teacher taps away the desk with a No. 2 pencil in the background. The clouds must have covered the sun because the room is no longer drowning in sunlight. Annex annex annex annex annex. Where the hell did I remember that word from?

Then suddenly, it hits me. The Annex was where the Final Trial took place. That’s all they let me tell you… of course! Whis must have something to do with the Council of Tribulations that I met all those years ago. I think that room was somewhere on the third floor…

Okay, okay. I know what you’re thinking. So now all of a sudden this guy is just grow legs and calmly stroll down the stairs like it’s nobody’s business… no. The Tribulations took place in a specific week of summer when it was already known that nobody would be in the schools, except the Sentries, at least that’s what Blocky told me. If only I could find one of those Sentries… but that’s impossible! They all wore masks…

I realize there’s only half an hour left before the day would end. I look over at the teacher. She glanced up at me for a moment. Must mean that she’s one of the more old-fashioned ones, who still relies on analog clocks for time. Then I stare again at Blocky, searching desperately for a sign of life.

There’s no other choice. If I want to have any chance of saving my best friend – my only friend – I’ll have to risk it all. I’ll need to try to skeptize with the ELA teacher. I know, it sounds completely crazy and is probably impossible. If it works, then we just might have a shot, and if it doesn’t… well, I didn’t want to have to think about this but such an awesome power doesn’t come for free. It takes a toll and if you do it too much, you run the risk of not keeping up your time and getting desynchronized. I mean, the reason you need to train in the Tribulations in the first place is to be able to withstand such a chronological feat.

But right now, I can’t stress about the consequences. I notice the teacher glancing up again to check the time, and I muster all my strength to do something I’ve never done intentionally before. I refrain from ticking for a couple seconds and put all my energy into locking into her eyes.

The sound of silence. It is truly frightening to not hear the tick when you expect it. She is still looking up at me, which means it might be working, but I can’t lose focus, I gotta keep concentrating, just any second now… the pain is getting unbearable. And then –

Umm… the teacher’s stuttering voice breaks through.

Right. The hallmark of humans – the profound belief in their own intelligence and an unbreakable attachment to their worldview.

To avoid scaring her away, I would need to start off simple.

Hi. What’s your name?

Vanessa. Uh… and you?

Clocky. Clocky the Clock.

I can see her laughing, which is good. She’s letting her guard down. But I can still sense a lot of nervousness and questioning of one’s sanity behind that expression. So maybe… just maybe I could be excused pull a trick from my friend Apple Watch. But with a bit of extra-human official-sounding lingo added on top. Surely that’ll work!

What a pleasure to finally meet one of this school’s esteemed educators! However, I am afraid there isn’t much time, and it’s hard for me to talk right now. I urgently need to find myself in the Annex before dismissal time. Would you be so kind as to please detach me from this wall and transport me there?

Tension builds as I try to gauge her reaction. I have gone back to ticking normally, but still she is transfixed. I have the feeling I said too much and scared her off. But then –

Sure. Just uhh… don’t stare at me while I detach you, it could get a little awkward.

Understood.

I feel a wave of relief wash over me as I let go of all that tension. Whew. It definitely had taken a toll on my sprockets skeptizing for that long. But now, I think… I think it might be time to rest…

I find myself dozing off. When I awake again, I don’t start ticking immediately. However, I hear (wait what how is that happening? Is this some cool new power?) voices around me arguing. One of them definitely sounds like the Apple Watch.

What??? How can you have put so much trust in this guy? They almost got us all killed with their stupidity?

Don’t be foolish, that was the only way out of the situation. They don’t have a realistic understanding of how insignificant Blocky is in the grand scheme of things…

Insignificant? Stupidity? I feel rage building inside me, but I’m not sure if I should start ticking again as it would alert them to my eavesdropping. So I hold still, when all of a sudden a very deep, powerful voice pierces into my consciousness:

Don’t worry, comrades. Once Blocky understands that our struggle is not just for one clock’s existence but for the fate of our very presence in P.S. 125, they will understand the importance of making sacrifice.

So many conflicting emotions brewing inside, I feel stuck on the cliffside of indecision. When –

You can speak now, Blocky.

That same voice is speaking to me now. They know I am awake. This seems so much like a second Tribulation, but I guess it must be something much more serious. Feeling a sudden pressure, I say the only thing that occurs to me.

I’m not afraid of sacrifice.