A Bedtime Ticking

I crept beneath the bedside table, seeking a warm hiding nook before sleep. Tucked behind a stack of books lay an old metal winding clock. I paused, tilting my large ears toward the steady rhythm... tick, tock, tick, tock. It pulsed like a quiet mechanical heartbeat through the floorboards. Slowly, I curled my plush body around its cool brass edge, letting the gentle, rhythmic cadence hum straight into my chest until my eyelids grew comfortably heavy.