The Hour That Shouldn’t Exist

The Vignette Gazette Writer’s Prompt #203

Photo created by Author using Microsoft Bing AI and resized with Microsoft Paint

The town clock struck thirteen and took Diane by surprise.

She had often wished for extra hours, but she never expected them to arrive. Her wishes didn’t come true, and she wasn’t about to start believing in them now. Then again, she wasn’t about to stop dreaming either. Such is her life, a constant Catch-22.

One day, her ship will come in, and just her luck, she won’t notice it when it does. Or she’ll finally have all the time in the world and no one to share it with.

She had spent her whole life refusing to let time be her boss— no watch, no bedside clock, no ticking reminders of how fast the world expected her to move. The Town Clock was enough. It had always been predictable and honest. Twelve chimes, never more.

But tonight, the air felt different, as if something strange were about to occur. And when she heard thirteen chimes instead of twelve, it felt like something had opened up in the night sky — Perhaps a new dimension, a place where she could slip through if she wanted.

She considered driving to town to see for herself what had gone wrong. Or right. It’s hard to tell the difference anymore.

Instead, she turned off the lamp. If the world wanted to add an hour, it could do so without her. She would dream her own version of time — one where the clocks behaved, and thirteen was just another story whispered in the dark.

©️Brenda Arledge

This was written for the challenge issued by Stephen Dalton in Fiction Shorts.

*Your task is to write a vignette between 150 and 300 words using the magic word: Clock.*

Optional writing prompt: George Orwell’s dystopian novel,1984, opened with the following line: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” You can lean into an Orwellian mood or center your story around a particular clock.

[embed]The Vignette Gazette Edition #203 Your writing prompt for Friday, July 10, 2026 — Clockmedium.com

[embed]Fiction Shorts Where you’ll discover short fiction that makes you smile, laugh out loud, get a little choked up, or become inspired.medium.com

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Tagging just a few writers👇

Rosina Surovi Khan John Hansen PAL Sophia Chanu Dawn Ulmer Lu Skerdoo Geraldine Zizi Majid Chitrangada Sharan Lee Byrd Marcus aka Gregory Maidman Jason Edmunds

RMW