Mathieu: The Magical Heir

23:13.

The clock ticks each second with a strong, heavy sound. I would have never thought that the sound of a minute hand on a clock would be so loud, and yet here it is, louder than anything else in this room. My head rests on my pillow, and the pillow is damp with sweat because I haven't slept yet.

23:14.

I can hear every breath that my roommate takes as he sleeps, and it's driving me crazy. The room is quiet enough for him to sleep without interruption, but still not quiet enough for me to sleep without being driven mad by the ticking of the minute hand.

23:15.

"Ughh." I groan loudly in frustration and roll over onto my side, trying to muffle the sound with a pillow. "Quiet!" I whisper angrily at my roommate who is still soundly asleep. It seems that nothing but his snoring could wake him up tonight, even if he rolled right off of his mattress or had an elephant step on his head or something. I curse myself for letting him have the top bunk; if he was right below me then I might have been able to fall asleep before midnight and get some rest before morning.

23:16.

As if on queue, the alarm clock starts beeping from the bedside table next to me, and I slap at it with all my might until it stops making noise. "Thanks," I mutter sarcastically at it as it goes silent. The bright red numbers flash 12:00 for a moment before going blank again, ready to start counting down from 60 minutes again when the alarm goes off tomorrow night.

I close my eyes and try to force myself back into slumber land; why couldn't my roommate just go to sleep after 10 o'clock like normal people? He has no job anyway; how does he get anything done when he's just dragging himself out of bed at noon every day? It was a mystery to me how anyone could live like this and manage to eat 3 meals a day or dress themselves in the morning - but there was one thing that I knew for sure - I had to get up early tomorrow morning if I wanted any chance at getting hired by *ANY* company in town!

There wasn't any doubt in my mind that they would choose someone else over me - what employer wants an applicant who can't even wake up on time? But... It isn't fair! They should give me a chance because I've got so much experience under my belt! And no one else in town has literally *CAST A SPELL* before either! It's not like there are many wizards in town anyway - most people don't even know that magic exists! So why don't they want someone with real magical talent?! It makes me so angry that it keeps me awake; but even now after an hour of tossing and turning I'm still too exhausted to think straight enough to fall asleep again... Or maybe *NOT* thinking clears my mind enough to do so?