Jan
24
2012
Run to the Hills

The alarm sounded, music uploaded onto the clock interrupting their sleep.

Honest to God, she’s never going to change that music, he thought. At least “Run to the Hills” accurately reflects the annoyance of waking up this way.

I hate when she lets the alarm go on and on, it’s so inconsiderate. Doesn’t she realize how exhausted I am?

He rolled around with his anger for a bit and toyed with the idea of turning off the alarm before she got up, but that would really piss her off. He considered an escape from the room, but he didn’t have the energy to right himself. His movements always felt awkward in the morning.

He tried one last time to roll over, but felt like he waded through thick brush. After about 30 seconds, he gave up and allowed himself to roll over onto his back. Positioned just right, he could muffle the sound of the alarm and rest.

He dreaded the days she slept through the alarm. She would check the time, panic, and start spewing profanities about the alarm’s uselessness, making him wince. Yeah, blame it on the clock. Why can’t you just go to bed earlier, woman?

After about a year of this torture, he couldn’t take it anymore. He cracked. Fuck this noise, he thought.

He made sure the alarm would never sound again. It didn’t help her get out of bed anyway. Silence, blessed silence, and rest awaited. 

 

This post was inspired by the Write on Edge RemembeRED writing prompt on personification: “tell a piece of your story from the point of view of an object who bore witness.”

This post is written in memory of my Tocky, who tried to roll around (as you can see from the video, pretty half-heartedly) and play music (only three songs worth, though it held many more) to wake me up for about a year, and then decided he’d had enough of my nonsense and my thick shag carpet and died an untimely death. After much back and forth with the company, they promised to send me a new one. We’ll see how Tocky2 fares.


Write on Edge: RemembeRED

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22 Responses to “Run to the Hills”

  1. Asproulla
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 6:55 am #

    OK, that took me two reads: one where I thought that the narrator was a really inconsiderate male partner, and the second when I fully appreciated Tocky and his frustration. Wonderful! He really does sound pissed off, and I hope he’s having a great rest now 🙂

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:46 pm #

      I thought it would be fun to make it seem like a real person until the very last second.

  2. kelly garriott waite
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 6:59 am #

    Really nice job. Even though we know it’s not supposed to be a person, it could almost be, until the ending. I think I’d yell at that thing in the morning too.

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:54 pm #

      My first thought was to write about my favorite stuffed animal, but I didn’t know how to do it without some mystery and for some reason I wanted to “Sixth Sense” this piece.

  3. angela
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 8:16 am #

    I am the WORST about getting up with alarms. Tocky would hate me 🙂 I think you did a great job with this, really showing Tocky’s annoyance. And I hope your new one works better and is a little more understanding about how truly difficult it is to wake up in the morning!

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9:55 pm #

      Thanks, Angela! My new Tocky just arrived today! Coincidence? Probably! Maybe I’ll be a little nicer to this one.

  4. jenhasapen
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 8:40 am #

    Is that really the song you wake up/woke up to??? OMG. Talk about morning… inspiration? 🙂 I am a total snooze button whore. I’m talking 10 snoozes sometimes. Maybe I need one of these things? I’d never seen them before.

    Good luck with your new one!

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:11 pm #

      Yep, Run to the Hills woke me up every morning for about a year. It’s a staple on my running playlist and when I got Tocky, I thought it would actually make me get out of bed. And it did for awhile. Now hearing the beginning of that song makes me cringe.

      The new Tocky that arrived today will join an army of 3 other alarm clocks in the battle against my snoozing. I hit snooze 19 times once.

  5. Lance
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 11:01 am #

    good writing

    I thought Tocky was an ex boyfriend or a dooshy ex friend.

    well done job personifying Tocky. I enoyed this.

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:22 pm #

      Thanks! That’s what I was going for, the reader to think this was a guy (although my husband isn’t even remotely that dooshy!). Glad it worked.

  6. Anastasia
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 1:31 pm #

    I love that you have no idea that it’s an inanimate object. Brilliant!

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:27 pm #

      Thanks, I really wanted to keep it a surprise as long as possible.

  7. Natalie @MamaTrack
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 2:03 pm #

    So funny! And what a great idea for a clock. Hope the new one works better!

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:28 pm #

      Thanks! Tocky part 2 (electric boogaloo) arrived today! Can’t decide if I should load the same songs or not. I’m kind of over Run to the Hills.

  8. Let Me Start By Saying
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 2:47 pm #

    I love that he cracked. You did personification perfectly here!

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:42 pm #

      Thanks, Kim! Tocky sprung to mind immediately when I read this prompt.

  9. le chef
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 3:42 pm #

    Dear God. You wake up to that .. are suppose to wake up to that? I can see where he cracked.
    I love that you gave us the video; the writing stood on it’s own, but the visual really sent the punch home.

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:52 pm #

      Yep, I woke up to that. It got very annoying! I partially chose this subject because of the video. It amuses me to see him struggle.

  10. Katie
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 8:52 pm #

    I’ll be honest. I think I would’ve killed Tocky. I hate alarms as it is. One that moves? Oh, hell no.

    Great job here. It felt like Tocky was a real thing. At first I thought maybe a dog…nicely done!

    • logyexpress
      Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 10:54 pm #

      Thanks, Katie! Tocky and I had a love/hate relationship. I’ve been struggling so much more to get out of bed since his death.

      He would’ve moved more/faster on a solid surface, but I can assure you he didn’t get very far on my shag carpet. I had to place him on the other side of the room or I could easily grab him and turn him off before he rolled.

  11. Tina
    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 11:27 pm #

    Wait—which “Run to the Hills”? Lol! I really thought that you were talking about a boyfriend. Great job!!!!!!

  12. Jenn
    Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 8:13 am #

    Hahaha. This is awesome!!!! Way to trick us 😉

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