Waking Up

• Ariella Schwarz, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2019

Beep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeeeeeep. The alarm clock screams in my ear. “No” I moan and roll over, “I don’t want to get up. No, not today. So leave me alone and just let me sleep.”
I’m sure you’ve had that day or two. When there’s a science project due, and you need to go for an interview. The dog has ripped your shoe. Of course you need to fix your hairdo. But you’re happy in your bed, so you stay.
My alarm clock yanks open the blinds, sending sunlight streaming in through the windows. “Time to rise and shine, dear. You’ve got a BIIIIIIIG day ahead of you.” I pull my pillow over my eyes, “Can’t I have a few minutes extra sleep? Come on, it won’t be THAT long” The alarm clock shakes her head. “Stop complaining dear. You have to get up now.”
Next, the alarm clock climbs up onto my bed. She starts jumping wildly on it, forcing me out of my slumber. By this point, I start to sense that she’s having fun. The bed is springing and rocking, moving and grooving like nothing you’ve ever seen. My alarm clock has a cheeky smirk on her face. I can see that I am not going back to bed anytime soon. So I prepare myself for the battle to come.
What does she do next? I see my alarm clock hauling a fan into the room… Turning it on… And twisting it full blast… Towards me. The room’s temperature instantly drops, and my bed is not comfortable or warm anymore. There’s no point of staying, so I drag myself towards the door.
The alarm clock has a triumphant grin, of the war that she has just won. An impossible task, she has succeeded in getting me out of bed. Yet again.
As I walked into school that day, I have to confess: The science project was a stress. In the interview, I was hopeless. The shoe was calling SOS, and my hair was a mess.
Now I’ll know for next time. Getting out of bed straight away gets jobs done. You feel organised, ready to work, you don’t just dream of success; you get up early to make it happen.