The Clock That Stopped Ticking

A little fairy-tale like story of mine. WIP. "Does a clock keep ticking if no one is around to see it?" I hope you all enjoy.

The grandfather clock ticked softly in the dim living room, telling the time as usual. Its pendulum swung and its second hand went tick tick tick once every second. It was exactly on time.

10:14 PM

10:15 PM

10:16 PM

The clock above the kitchen microwave was on time.

So were the children’s alarm clocks.

So were their phones.

So were the parent’s alarm clock, as well as their phones.

But the family had all gone to bed, leaving no one but the cat to watch the poor clocks ticking away, ticking away.

10:17 PM

10:18 PM

10:19 PM

tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick

“Why should a clock tick if no one is there to see the time?” the grandfather clock thought to itself. “Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt if I stopped ticking for a while. I deserve a break.”

And so the clock stopped ticking, the pendulum stopped swinging, and all was quite. Time stopped right where it was. The cat stalked away.

In the morning, the grandfather clock heard footsteps coming through the hallway just as the birds had begun singing. It quickly began ticking again, but it was no longer exactly on time.

It was the youngest son of twelve years, Mick. He was an early bird, and loved to wake up at the crack of dawn just to fit more television into his life.

He plopped down on the couch, but when he leaned over to pick up the remote he saw that the giant clock read 10:37. It occurred to him that his mother had assumed him sick and the family had left without him, but that was silly. He ran back to his room to check his own alarm clock, which read 5:22 AM.

It was probably the cat, he thought.

An hour later the family was rushing about getting ready for the day. Father noted the broken clock but didn’t think it was very important, so he got ready for the day as usual.

In no time they had all rushed out the front door and driven away.

With the mother and father at work, and the two children away at school, the alarm clocks in the adjacent bedrooms were left all alone. Mick’s didn’t even get to go off that morning. “Why,” it thought, “should we be counting minutes if no one is around to see it?”

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?” thought the older daughter’s alarm clock (it was very philosophical). “Nevermind that, should a clock keep telling time if no one is around to see it? Of course not! What a waste of electricity!”

So they both decided to take a break from telling time.

So did the grandfather clock.

So did the clocks on the oven and microwave.

So did all the clocks on the walls.

The poor cat had no idea what time it was, so she accidentally napped through the whole day.

Author's Note

Hello. Reviews and advice are appreciated. :) I will add more if people like it.

Reviews

[RT]

An interesting concept... Not quite sure what to think of it. I think I need more to see where it is going. As far as the basic writing - what I have read is fairly solid... Curious to read another piece of it...