The squawking of the alarm brought him from the depths of sleep to the outer rim of reality.  He opened one eye slowly, regretting it in the instant he did so.  He slammed the eye shut to block out the bright piercing light that flooded his brain, too late though he was awake now.  He slapped the alarm clock ineffectually twice before making it shut up on the third strike.  He lay motionless for a moment, drinking in the blessed silence of his apartment.  He knew he had to get up, his mind wandered to the stack of bills on the hallway table, bills that were mostly overdue. 

Groaning he rolled onto his back shielding his eyes from the harsh morning light with his arm.  He tried to think of a way to escape his fate, a way to avoid the world and stay in bed all day.  Nothing came to him, at least nothing that was practical or likely to work.  He let out a heavy sigh which escaped his lips and seemed to settle on his chest, weighing him down even further.  He was about to throw back the covers and begin his ascent from the bed when the alarm got the better of him with its insidious squawking yet again.

His arm shot off of his face without him thinking about it and slammed into the alarm with such force that he launched it off the nightstand and onto the floor when it continued to assault his ears.  Now his eyes were exposed to the bright morning light again.  He cried out in frustration, threw the blankets aside and dived at the offending alarm as though he meant to choke the life out of the infernal thing.  Instead he yanked the cord from the wall, pulling the socket loose with it.  He swore and stared at the damaged wall, the day was already off to a great start.

He rose from his kneeling position over the clock and headed for the bathroom.  As he went he noticed that something smelled awful in his apartment.  His mind was dwelling on the origin of the odor when he stepped down on something sharp.  With a cry of pain he yanked his foot up off of the offending object only to fall backwards onto the floor.  He managed to save his head from colliding with the foot of the bed by a combination of luck and skill, well luck really.  As he lay on the floor recovering he saw the culprit for his injured foot.  His ex girlfriend’s high heel shoe.  He had somehow got the sharp heel right into the arch of his foot.