When the Clock Stopped Whispering

AI Generated Image

In Pius house, everyone trusted his old wall clock to be working more than they trusted each other in the house.

It had hung there longer than any argument, longer than most memories. Its ticking filled the silence when words failed. Pius grew up believing time itself lived inside that clock.

Just after the rain on one evening, the clock stopped working. Just silence. No warning. No final tick.

At first, no one noticed that the click had stopped working. Pius' mother cooked. His father watched the news. Pius scrolled through his phone, waiting for a message that never came through. But slowly, the house started to feel exposed. The quiet moments were too loud.

His mother asked. "Is there no light in this house?"

His father said. "The clock, has stopped working".

They stared at the clock and Pius as if they had committed a crime.

Pius climbed the chair and tapped the clock. Nothing. He shook it gently. Still nothing.

That same night, without the ticking, Pius couldn't sleep. His thoughts grew louder. Regrets he had postponed, apologies he had delayed, dreams he had kept waiting for "someday."

The next morning, Pius' father fixed the clock. It ticked again this time around steady and faithful. But Pius didn't feel relieved. He then realised something uncomfortable: the clock had never reminded him that time was passing by. It had been whispering excuses not now, tomorrow, later.

On that evening, Pius sent the message he had been afraid to send. He apologized where pride once stood. He then applied for the opportunity, even though he thought he wasn't ready for it. He spoke at the dinner instead of hiding behind silence.

The wall clock kept ticking. But Pius no longer listened to it the same way he used to. This is because sometimes, time doesn't stop punishing us, he said. Sometimes, it stops to wake us up in the morning.