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Tick Tock Tick

Tick – – Tick – – Tick, went the clock.

Jeremy put down his pencil and took a breath.

Tick – – Tick – – Tick

Irritation boiled and bubbled inside him.

Tick –   – Tick –   – Tick

He looked around. Twenty six boys scribbled furiously, two stared at the ceiling and one appeared to have eaten the contents of his pencil-case.

Tick – Tick – Tick

He tried, once more, to answer question two. The one about the shortest route between A and B when B was actually F.

Tick! – Tick! – Tick!

His right eye twitched.

Tick! Tick! Tick!

“Where are the ‘Tocks!?’” he screamed, as his pencil splintered into two.

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers. Get yourself there and join in with the weekly 100 word challenge!

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27 responses to “Tick Tock Tick”

  1. rochellewisoff

    Dear Peter,

    You’ve captured the classroom beautifully. I nearly fell off my chair at the image of the half-eaten pencil case contents. Jeremy seems a bit stressed. 😉 Well done.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Reply
    1. MrBinks

      Thanks Rochelle, hope you fixed your chair.

      Reply
  2. dmmacilroy

    Dear Mr. Binks,

    The tocks are in another classroom, driving some other poor soul crazy. You put together an excellent story for the prompt. Even as I type, I’m imagining that the photo depicts the contents of the pencil-case. Well done.

    Aloha,

    Doug

    Reply
    1. MrBinks

      ha ha, good call! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Claire Fuller

    Lovely – I can really read (and hear) the tension build!

    Reply
    1. MrBinks

      Thanks for reading (and hearing), Claire.

      Reply
  4. Horus

    tocks eaten by ticks ! nice one 😀

    Reply
    1. MrBinks

      Tocks eaten by Ticks eaten by Tocks. http://allpoetry.com/poem/851714-Tick-follows-Tock–waiting–by-pozo

      Reply
  5. Björn Rudberg (brudberg)

    Ah.. the ticks.. that bloody sucks.. what perfect image of tension.

    Reply
    1. MrBinks

      Why thank you!

      Reply
  6. Sandra

    Now that’s what I call an out of the box submission! Well done sir. 🙂

    Reply
    1. MrBinks

      I think I got away with it 😉

      Reply
  7. AnElephantCant

    AnElephant chortles.

    Reply
  8. lingeringvisions by Dawn

    He, I was wondering the same thing!

    Reply
  9. aliciajamtaas

    Thanks for a good laugh. This picture does bring “ticks” to mind.

    Reply
  10. storydivamg

    Dear Peter,
    I have always been blessed with a gift for test taking–so much that I actually commiserated with Hermione in the first Harry Potter book when she was disappointed over finals being canceled. My sister, on the other hand, is at least as smart as myself and suffers from severe test anxiety. Standardize testing was her worst nightmare in grade school, and her college entrance exams woefully underrated her abilities. In this story, you show the world from her point of view, I believe, and you’ve done it in such a way that I can truly empathize. Thank you.

    All my best,
    Marie Gail

    Reply
  11. The Writer’s Village

    I guessh e didn’t get a tock because he was too ticked off… Randy

    Reply
  12. wildbilbo

    Nothing is more enraging than a mild annoyance that you can do nothing about.
    Nice work

    Reply
  13. Priceless Joy

    Very good! It made me laugh (hope it was suppose to). 😀

    Reply
  14. Priceless Joy

    Oh, I get it… the tension lead up to the laugh!

    Reply
  15. rogershipp

    Enjoyed…. Just like the annoying silence of a still classroom!

    Reply
  16. Margaret

    Very clever. Exams, classrooms, pencil cases, and the clock ticking away the precious minutes – ah memories!

    Reply
  17. patrickprinsloo

    Lovely. And I like the way you changed the intensity of the ticks.

    Reply
  18. liz young

    I imagine the ticks were cockroaches in the walls?

    Reply
  19. Weltchysnotebook

    Nicely told. I could imagine to monotony of the class room and the slow building of rage.

    Reply
  20. etiennehanratty

    Been there. Well done.

    Reply
  21. wmqcolby

    If that test had been any harder, they’d have eaten the strawberries off the wallpaper, too.
    You captured this well, Mister B.

    Reply

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