Beep-beep, beep-beep, "School time Lyra!" The alarm clock spoke in an odd mechanical voice, but it did just the trick.
Rubbing her eyes, and slowly willing herself to climb out of bed, Lyra called out to her brother, who slept on the other side of the wall. "Get up Kyle! Maths starts in thirty minutes," the young girl had been up late last night preparing the day, but all the planning was part of her routine – all she would need is her usual post-shower coffee to be up and ready to go. Wrapping her blanket around her, she shuffled along the cold wooden floor to the bathroom.
With the water running over her head, Lyra thought about their timetable today. First was mathematics - which would be important when Kyle is old enough to work at the local supermarket. Then History – one of Lyra's personal favourites, the pair had been learning about the ancient Greeks recently, they had even started an arts project based on Greek temple, The Parthenon.
After history is geogra-
Beep-beep, beep-beep, "Schools out! Go home!" Rang the alarm clock. Lyra peered through the misty shower window, just as she thought the analogue clock on the wall was just about to hit the 8am mark – definitely not home time. Grabbing her towel, stepping out the shower, she want to investigate.
"Kyle, have you been messing with the clock again?" She yelled blindly through the house, the boys head poked out the far end of the corridor in response, seemingly as confused as her.
Still sporting wet hair, he replied, "I've been in here! Don't blame me, jeez." Lyra stared at him down the hallway, suspicious, but she had only been out the room a few minutes – last time he tried to change the school clock it had taken hours, and he even got caught red handed.
4:00pm; the clock was pretty far out. Lyra, looking puzzle, tapped the buttons on top, trying to reset the time. The alarm clock didn't seem responsive; it just sat still at four, the middle colon blinking periodically. Instead of messing around, Lyra went straight for the plug.
"Don't touch that!" Boomed the clock on full volume. The sudden noise made Lyra stumble backwards, shocked and confused.
"What even?" She questioned, as she regained her footing and peered closely at the machine. The screen now all blinked, pulsing repeatedly and constantly changing time.
5:04
6:17
9:55
1X:?V
"Errr, Kyle? I think school might be cancelled toward," She ran from her room in to the kitchen, where similar disruptions were happening on all the clocked there. All malfunctioning, all changing time, all in unison. "Kyle? I-"
A bang from her bedroom signified the end of the anomaly, remnants of the clock exploding into the hallway, "Oh... shoot."
