The Counter

The Counter (a short story from the collection titled Things Left In The Dark)

By M. T. Maliha and narrator Tracy Collier

Life is a matter of perfect arithmetic.

Everything is done by the clock, measured down to the precise, unyielding second. Every single action is counted out with mathematical certainty—how many strokes to brush his teeth, how many circular stirs to mix his coffee, and the exact moment to read the daily paper. But the final equation always stops at the front door. He stands at the threshold, refusing to exit, trapped in a cage of his own flawless design.

A girl wearing a chaotically colored tutu bursts into his world. In a flash of spinning tulle and unscripted noise, she completely ruins his perfect perfection. Time becomes everything and nothing. The men lost on a battle field know that truth...

But The rhythm is broken, the tally that kept him from remembering the guilt is lost, and he is forced to face the one terrifying truth his clock could never calculate.