The Red Alarm-clock: a reflection on my childhood and The Yellow Wallpaper

I have a secret to tell, but you must keep it quiet, for I know not what punishment my clock might inflict if it found out that I said.

My clock mocks me. It laughs and the numbers swirl about, alternating shapes and patterns enough to drive me from my mind.

I haven’t actually seen it, but I know it’s true, for just looking at that red glow, I can feel the haughty electricity waiting for me to look away again.

You see, it will only change into this mode when I can’t see what it is doing and rights itself to that plain insulting composure when I look back.

My roommate saw it though. He told me, but it was too late for me to catch it, so I shoved him in my sock drawer and told him to stay there until he had thought about what he did. I haven’t seen him since.

But I digress. I’ve almost tricked the clock into slipping up so many times! I look away and turn back so quickly or I pretend to sleep… it’s always just a little quicker than I. Hours spent only to admire the device all the more.

Now these silly people are trying to drag me away from my clock, my precious clock. They claim to have my best in mind, but they just want to catch the clock before I do, and that shall not be!Tonight I take it apart and find its secrets. It must be tonight, so that I can free the people in the clock. I was the first and now must save them too. (Thomas Reher)