Charlie's Rock Alarm Clock

An odd interpretation of the thoughts behind the downloading of an app- Dwayne Johnson's Alarm Clock app to be precise.

Charlie is trying to change. He wakes up at the right time, just before the sun. He works out, practices his music, even studies like he was always told to do. Hell, Charlie even uses the Rock Alarm Clock that helps motivate you to get after your goals- it has a little yellow bull as the symbol, it should be bigger. Charlie is seeing someone. He wouldn’t call it serious but she certainly would, after all, it has been a year. Charlie doesn’t know where to go now; all he does is circle the same delicious looking carcass in the desert.

He was in love once, no twice, with a girl he never really knew. The second one he knew but she left. She’s off to Oklahoma to study whatever the hell she decides to study. She’ll be amazing at it, he thinks about her frequently. Charlie still wants to impress her everyday, he wants to be so successful she comes crawling back. That’s why he wakes up to the Rock Alarm Clock.

Charlie’s best friend doesn’t have the privileged knowledge of all of these fun thoughts swarming around the productive ones in his brain. No one gets to hear about those. He was afraid when his one year told her parents the truth, he’s still scared of that outcome even though there just wasn’t one. It’s the wet bomb to his Vietnam- you’re never sure if it’ll go off but that doesn’t mean you’ll clean it up. He worries he isn’t good enough but Charlie is aware of all the other successful people that have felt that way and still feel that way. He doesn’t worry about that. No, he worries about the mundane things- the little points of his life like missing a workout or not calling his mother- that’s the kind of thing that gets you in trouble after all.

Charlie graduated a few weeks ago; not through a whole stage walking ceremony but just by finishing his classes. It was a struggle for him, always was too. He’s never had that curiosity about the degree he earned, he just wanted to stop wasting time. Charlie worries about that too- it’s why he has the Rock Alarm Clock. Charlie has the stories, the characters, that he loves more than life. He doesn’t want to be them like most people long to be their favorite sports idols- he wants to make them. Charlie wants his name just under the title so those ladies he never really knew beg for his attention. He wouldn’t shun them either, he just wants to talk- see how they like it wherever they end up.

He doesn’t know why the second one keeps bugging his thoughts. She’s been silent for well over a year now and she barely cared. They’d met twice- alone anyway. Charlie worries about the current one finding out the connection, her friend is friends with the second’s sister after all. It wouldn’t take much to deduce. Charlie has a brain though- he covers his tracks, wakes up before they do, works more than they do- his mornings aren’t as lazy- he has the Rock Alarm Clock after all. Charlie wakes up with ten push-ups for the blood flow.

The push-ups get him moving, sure, but it’s still hollow. He spent one day f*****g one year into a malaise of what she thinks is ecstasy but Charlie doesn’t think she’s close to satisfied. He’s sick of asking her too, her response doesn’t fit what he thinks it should be. Charlie wants to go back.

Not in time so much as just back. He doesn’t think his path is right right now. He swore, back with one and two, he’d be a doctor. He’d make money, he’d be rich and they’d adore him. He thought money would change it all, he’s kinda got it now, compared to the rest of his peers anyway but he’s a country boy they don’t exactly compare well.

His new alma mater wasn’t good enough for him. He hated the time, made little use of it, found it to be expensive and pointless until he paid a few grand for the sheet of paper he’d receive in a few months. One year is proud of him. So’s the best friend and many many others- but one and two barely know- it’s better that way.

Charlie has a picture hanging up in his room. He just got it from best friend- a picture of her and himself and another who is very close to the pair of them. He can’t help but smile about it. He isn’t really conscious of it but it works far better than his other motivation. It works far better than the Rock Alarm Clock.

Charlie is trying to find out if his motivation is from the wrong place but he knows the answer. One and two might check up on his internet presence here and there but, really, they won’t concern themselves about it much. He won’t be seeing them again- likely ever. They aren’t the best friends in the painting or one year who believes in him, who is satisfied with him. Charlie still sets the Rock Alarm Clock every night after a long day of studying. He can’t shake the drive, he can’t shake the need.

It’s misplaced though. Worrying doesn’t produce anything. Charlie needs to produce something- his studies can’t be studies forever if he wants to be a success. Charlie has a bit of good luck though, he’s got best friend to help him out. He has others that don’t know yet because Charlie is smart and one year who wouldn’t really care, after all, everyone has a past, everyone has a reason to set the Rock Alarm Clock- does it matter what that is?

Charlie has resigned to fix himself. He isn’t overweight or dumb or needy or poor but whatever is wrong with him- he’ll fix it. He misses that drive that’s been fading with the memory of those girls. The constant push to be better is hollow like an empty roll of toilet paper. Charlie spends his days watching television after completing whatever mundane tasks he’s set for himself- he isn’t advancing. So he needs a jolt, that was when he downloaded the Rock Alarm Clock. It’s helped a bit. A week later he received the painting. Today he hung it. Charlie will feel better tomorrow- and if not, he’ll just keep trying.

I’m Charlie. Tomorrow will be better for me, it will.

Author's Note

Free write so it is unedited for the most part. Lots of 'though' as a stylistic choice.