There's No Time

Chapter 4

        6:04 a.m.; it was warmer in here. I looked around and smiled. I loved being in the library. It was big, yet cozy. It was quiet and peaceful. I could live in any world I wanted when I was here. Books were my escape, and here, there was a world of seemingly endless books. I walked toward the fiction section.

I grabbed a few books and read the summaries. After I chose a book, I looked back at Andrew, who was simply looking around, rather than actually reading a book.

“How long are we going to be here?” It’s weird with someone else with me. I thought about it, and figured that I should spend this opportunity fixing this problem.

“Well, I was planning to be here until our little problem went away.” He looked at his iPhone.

“Time has actually stopped… Wait.” He looked at me suspiciously and my heart skipped a beat. “Is this a dream?” He walked through the shelves and I think he tried to fly at some point. I guess it didn’t work because he came back. “It doesn’t feel like a dream,” he said shaking his head.

I sighed. He reminded me of a child. “Where do you want to go then?”

He smiled. “The mall. Just like I said before.” He stared at me.

“Ugh. Fine.” I surrendered, “But no stealing.”

“What’s the point of going to the mall then?” He complained. Just like a child.

“Okay,” I said, not too fixed on going to the mall, “Let’s stay here then” He glared at me.

“How about you stay here, and I leave for the mall?” He began to walk away. I immediately jumped up.

“Nope.” I followed him. “We should definitely stay together.”

I swear, I could feel him smirking. “You should step out of your comfort zone. No one will know if you take something.” I thought about this.

“Well,” I replied, “Time has stopped, so I’m already a bit out of my comfort zone” My acting skills were finally coming into play.

I began to follow him out of the library, but I realized I still had my book. I put it exactly where I found it, and told it, for whatever reason, “I’ll be back for you.” Then I ran out of the library to catch up with Andrew. I guess I was leaving my comfort zone at that point. "So," I said, trying to be casual. "What do you make of this whole situation?" I glanced up at him. Because I am somewhat lacking in height, I had to crane my head to look at him even though he isn’t especially tall.

He shrugged. "What do you make of it?" I rolled my eyes. I hated when people redirected my answer back to me without answering.

"I asked you first." I looked back up at him awaiting his answer.

"Well," We kept walking. "I guess it's pretty cool. I mean, think about what can be done when time is stopped..."

It was my turn to shrug. "Yeah, it's pretty amazing."

It was silent for a little while. Andrew followed me, since his navigational skills are terrible.

"Okay," He said, "So how about you?"

"Well..." I hadn't really known what to say. "It's pretty cool at first glance. But don't you worry? Like, when it’ll start again?" This was something I would be worried about if I didn't control the whole thing.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." I wasn't really surprised at his response.

"When -- or if, I guess, time starts again," I said, "Are you going to tell people about it?" This seemed like a reasonable question. No need to beat around the bush to stay discrete.

He snorted. I didn't know whether to take this as a good or bad sign. "Hell yeah. Are you kidding? This is like, the most amazing thing that's ever happened!" I dropped my head and took a deep breath.

"People might think you're crazy." I countered.

"You'll be there to back me up." He said simply. How was I supposed to tell him that I was going to do the exact opposite of what he expected? Yeah, I didn't know.

"Uh... Well... I mean," I coughed. This was very awkward for me, and my heart started to race. "I might not, you know, tell anyone about it. Doesn't seem like something everyone should know, does it?" I looked up at him nervously, waiting for his response.

He stared at me. "This—time being stopped—is an unexplainable phenomenon. How could I not tell anyone about this?"

I gave him another worried glance. "It's unexplainable. How are you going to convince your friends of an unexplainable phenomenon? Especially when you don't know if I have your back or not."

Silence.

It was a few more meters before he gave his response. "We can cross that bridge later, too." Well, I was stuck. It seemed pretty clear that he was intent on telling people about it. I didn't know what to do. So we kept walking.