ALARM

     She lay down in her room waiting for her alarm to go off. Why did she always have to wake up minutes before it did? It made it oh so tempting to watch the clock and turn it off just before it made that heart-wrenching noise. She could never just let it startle her to consciousness.
Instead she would just lay there for minutes, listening to everything around her. It was all just noise.
     One time, her friend slept over, and she said that it was so great sleeping in The Girl's room due to the sounds of the crickets and the foxes outside her window almost too close for comfort. Her friend said she slept deeply with these sounds. Well, The Girl didn't see the greatness that her friend found in the noise. Sometimes she would think about it. She would listen as hard as she could, but, to her, it was all ruckus, so she quickly got bored.
     She wished her alarm clock would sound sooner. She lay back in bed and stared at the door. Her day lay ahead. Although she wanted it to start, more than anything she knew it would not be so different from this moment she was experiencing.
     The girl's alarm clock read 5:27. She had three minutes. Why couldn't she just sleep, and let the alarm clock wake her up?? She sighed. It was easier when she was prepared…

But there was still time! She could still close her eyes and let the alarm clock startle her to consciousness. She could still almost jump out of her skin. She could still have her heart wrenched.
She looked over at the clock. As she had been thinking this all through, it had become 5:29.

She reached over and turned off the alarm.