A matter of time

Catherine Livet from the group Livet Beckrich et alliés regularly offers us challenges, and here is one of them.

Click on each button to be directed to the text.

This writing challenge invited me to create nine stories, each inspired by one assigned word.

A little story from my heroine Miss Rose, using all the words.

Tick-tock, tick-tock! The doors are firmly closed, yet I can still hear that wretched clock. Tick-tock, tick-tock! I toss and turn in my bed. I have been awake for a long time now. Sleep has abandoned my bedside. Tick-tock, tick-tock! Before dawn is still deeply buried in the ink of the night. Tick-tock, tick-tock, I shall try to dawdle for another hour or two. I cannot do it, I might as well make this moment useful and organise my thoughts. I cannot manage that either! They wander and besiege me. Tick-tock, tick-tock! I cannot bear it any longer, I jump out of bed right away! Tick-tock, tick-tock! I am light-years away from serenity. My heart is pounding wildly, absent-mindedly I bite my lips, my chest burns. Tick-tock, tick-tock! And this feeling of déjà vu! Tick-tock, tick-tock, I have tied my bun too tightly. In anger, I do not even bother removing the hairpins one by one, I pull. As if released, my hair falls down my back to my waist. I braid it and let it rest over my shoulder. Tick-tock, tick-tock! I take the broom, bucket and duster from the cupboard and launch into a thorough cleaning. Sleeves rolled up, on my knees, I scrub the floorboards. Tick-tock, tick-tock! Everything is gleaming, past perfect. I change my clothes and prepare tea. Tick-tock, tick-tock! I sit in front of the fireplace with a cup in my hand. Tick-tock, tick-tock, my mind dances among the flames, delighting in the warmth, their shimmering colours, and the crackling wood licked by the fire. Tick-tock. My friend has become quieter. She measures out time to set the rhythm of my life.