Tick-Tock
He counts the ticks and tocks of the clock and soon he can't tell the difference between the two. Insanity is overtaking him. He never believed it would come so clearly, calmly to a person. He begins rocking to the ticks and tocks. He begins to count once again: 1592, 1953, 1954 … Numbers fill his mind and suddenly they have no meaning. He continues to rock to the ticks and tocks. Now he sees each tick and each tock swim through his mind. A moan begins deep within his throat and seems to last for hundreds of ticks and tocks. The moan ends in a piercing scream, which no one hears. The sharpness of has dulled and the ticks and tock reappear. He rises and with each step he sways with the rhythm of tick and tock. He sways to the closet and opens a box. He pulls out a noose that his grandfather swore hung someone famous ages ago. He ties it to a rafter and puts his head through the noose. The ticks and tocks have become more daring with their voices and images. He looks straight ahead as he kicks the chair out from under himself. Finally he has silence the ticks and tocks from his mind. Insanity took him calmly, just like the ticks and tocks of that old, dead alarm clock by his bed.