The Awakening
***
The next moment Joshua could remember, the ringing had become something very different. It was a dull pulsing sound, like some kind of bee buzzing around his head. He opened his eyes and saw the bright red digits: 7:45. In a swift, practiced motion, he threw his hand against the radio alarm clock and slammed it into silence. He wanted to go back, back into that beautiful world into which his consciousness descended again, lured by thoughts of her.
Some moments later, the buzzing sound angrily protested again, another dismissive hand abusively knocking it out. A third, and then a fourth siren from the droning machine and finally Joshua relented. Presently, he sat up on his bed, the sparsely furnished room thick with shadows. A familiar book lay on his desk. A bookshelf collected dust in the corner. Posters covered the walls.
He turned towards the clock. The ever threatening red digits read: 8:22. He turned back and slumped into the warm covers. A doorbell faintly sounded from somewhere far off once, then again.
"Oh right, it's today... damn," mumbled Joshua.
A tap, the sound of rock striking glass, made him turn towards the window. He walked over and opened it.
"Alright I'm u-- ack!"
Joshua had opened the window just in time to be hit by a rock. For most people deja vu is just an odd feeling. For Joshua it was something else entirely. He rubbed his forehead ruefully and frowned, trying to dismiss it as nonsense.
"You didn't forget did you Josh?" said Matt.
"No Matt, You hit me with a rock!" replied Joshua.
"I told you already, it was an accident man! Get over it already. If you'd just wake up on time..." Matt smirked.
"You hit me with a rock! Now I have a mark, I'll probably get an infection..." Joshua retorted, clutching his forehead dramatically.
They started laughing.
"Seriously dude, you throw like a girl," teased Joshua.
"Hey if I wanted to break your window--" said Matt.
"Like that time in grade 6?"
"That was totally a fluke!"
"So today's the day of the exam..."
"I hate school."
"We gonna get Sarah too?"
"Shoot, I knew I forgot something... I'll be right back!" groaned Matt, turning around 180 degrees.
***
A very similar but clearly different sounding alarm clock rang furiously in someone else's room this day. A gentle breeze wafted through an open window into a similar room, with a computer and desk and posters, but of notably more girlish tastes.
The girl ignored the shrill alarm with a pillow over her head. Unfortunately someone had been clever enough to devise alarms which would get ever louder if not silenced. Eventually she realized the futility of this, and promptly threw her pillow at the clock.
With a clang, the alarm clock and pillow flew through the open window. Outside below was heard a loud crash, followed by cursing in a familiar voice. The girl, suddenly quite awake, jumped up and hopped to the window.
"Oh My God! Sorry Matt!" she yelled out the window.
Then, realizing the time, she grabbed the cell phone on the night table and dialed.
"Mmm... what's... going... on..." said a sleepy voice on the other end of the line.
"Mary! I think I killed Matt again!" declared Sarah emphatically.
"Is... dat... so..." replied Mary, yawning.
"Wake up! It's exam day! I'll be there in a little while." Then to the boy outside the window: "Go on ahead, I need to go get Mary."
"What?! Aren't you a bit young to be getting married?!" gasped Matthew.
"That joke stopped being funny ages ago!" said Mary from the other side of the phone line.
***