Pieces of Time

Pieces of Time

The clock froze at 3:24 p.m. and for sixty-seconds the world paused.  Grotesque statues replaced the able-bodied students, turning the classroom into a temporary museum.  The teacher sat unblinking behind his desk, mouth opened in mid sentence.  All movement was switched off by an invisible force - with one exception.  A fair-haired girl grinned wildly, apparently amused by her paralyzed classmates.  She moved about with quick, deliberate actions, unseen by twenty-six pairs of motionless eyes.  Silence was broken by the girl, muttering under her breath.

“Thirteen...fourteen...fifteen...”  She snatched the baseball cap of a boy named Larry.  Larry’s mouth was a broken faucet of irritating facts that spewed dates of historical events and celebrity pet-peeves.  An outburst of laughter interrupted the girl’s counting as a novel idea occurred to her.  She pulled Larry’s chair out from underneath him; Larry’s body remained suspended in a sitting position, defying physics.  Too bad Newton never got a taste of my world, she thought, a nasty smile transforming her otherwise attractive face.

“Thirty-one...thirty-two...thirty-three...”  Her next target was Anne-Claire.  The girl disliked Anne-Claire almost as much as Loud Larry.  She hated how any problem belonging to Anne-Claire was always twice as important as those of others and she needed to announce it to anyone who’d listen in a speech filled with too many “likes” and “totally’s.”  She gripped a pair of sticky art scissors as a wicked idea formed in her mind.  She could barely contain her laughter as she worked furiously, her precious seconds draining away.  Finally she scurried back to her seat.

“Fifty-eight...fifty-nine...sixty” - A flash flood of chaos descended on the classroom in an eruption of screams, thuds and hysterical laughter. The latter belonged mostly to Ivy.  Shouts of disbelief bounced off the walls and Anne-Claire’s shrieks rang loudest of all.  She watched in horror as tufts of black hair fluttered down around her.  Ivy smirked knowingly; the bangs she’d given Anne-Claire looked good she thought - better than the butchered layers hanging in the back. 

Ivy heard a loud snort to her right and realized that she was not the only one enjoying the show.  Her teacher’s mouth had dropped onto his desk but otherwise remained in the same statuesque position, unsure of how to react.  A string of expletives resounded in the classroom as Larry recovered from his fall and stared at his hat, now home to the classes’ dissection frogs.  Ivy could barely contain herself as Larry pressed his pudgy nose against the tank glass.  While some looked utterly bewildered, Ivy and a handful of others gleefully reveled in the humiliation of their fellow students. 

The school bell rang, finally releasing the students from the unknown, invisible tormentor.

“So Ivy, are you going to lie to me and tell me you had nothing to do with that?” Beth asked as they fought through the crowded hallway.  

“Well, what do you want me to say?  I was in my seat the whole time.”  Beth gave her an exasperated look.

“I know you were involved Ivy.  Every time something happens - something that should be impossible - you’re always nearby.”

“Really Beth? You think I’m some sort of witch?

“No! I don’t think that. I don’t know what to think.

“Maybe you should consider that before you start making accusations.”

“I just want to know how, Ivy.  How you do it.”

“How...” Ivy repeated, mind reeling.  She considered the pros and cons of telling Beth and realized little harm could come out of confiding in her friend.

“I could show you better than I can tell you.”

***

They met at 7:00 p.m. on the bleachers of the soccer pitch.  Ivy swatted at a mosquito that threatened to attack her bare ankles.  The two girls sat in silence and watched the kickoff and start of play.  The boys worked hard in the hot June air; sweat poured down their faces and necks.  Beth’s eyes continually wandered to where number 7 stood and this did not go unnoticed by Ivy.  

“I dare you to steal Matt’s jersey,” Ivy said, winking at Beth.  She blushed but didn’t say no. 

“When are we going to do it?” Beth said, changing the topic.  

“In five minutes.”  Ivy remained focused on the game.  The black and white ball flew threw the air again and was cradled by a defenseman’s foot.  Ivy was feeling nervous about sharing her secret with Beth.  These precious pieces of time had been hers alone for years but Ivy believed she was making the right decision.

“You know the rules right?”

“You can seriously stop asking, Ivy. You’ve gone over them every five minutes for the past two hours.” 

“Okay, but we need to be on the same page about everything. There isn’t exactly room, or time, to make mistakes.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Just be careful okay?”  Ivy’s usually spunk was replaced by nerves.  She tried to shake it off and enjoy the moment with her friend.  Ivy made an effort of turning on her signature cheeky grin.

“Ready to be blown away?”  Beth only nodded, the anticipation was killing her.

“Take my hand.”  Beth obediently complied and for the second time that day, time was interrupted.

“Oh my god!” Beth squealed. “How did you do that?”

“l’ll explain later - we only have sixty-seconds.”  That snapped Beth out her momentary daze and the two girls sprung into action.  Ivy had already begun her internal countdown and she noted Beth heading in Matt’s direction.

“Don’t do anything too naughty, Beth!” Ivy scolded and Beth gave her a mischievous smile.  

“I’m taking you up on that dare,” Beth called over her shoulder.  Ivy laughed as she ran over to the boys sitting on the bench.  The boy nearest to her was frozen with his water bottle raised to his mouth.  Ivy began to relax as she unscrewed the lid of the bottle.  The water unnaturally remained in the bottle; Ivy knew the poor boy would be doused as soon as time resumed.  Ivy never felt guilty for the pranks she played; they were harmless and supplied a laugh.  She knew she could use her fragments of frozen time to swipe an answer on a test or pickpocket a stranger but Ivy did have morals and that would cross a line.  

“Twenty-six...twenty-seven...twenty-eight...” Ivy glanced over to see how Beth was fairing.  She was impressed to see that Beth had wrestled Matt’s damp jersey over his head and was now ogling over his defined stomach.

“We have thirty-seconds left!”  Beth acknowledged her with a wave.  Ivy’s creativity had left her, so she used her time to make small adjustments to the motionless soccer match.  She darted to the referee.  Ivy chuckled evilly as she wrote, “That was stupid!” on his yellow card and “Your Mom!” on the red card. She wondered if the referee would notice.

“Ten-seconds, Beth!” Ivy hurried back to the bleachers but didn’t see her friend following her.  

“Beth! Get over here now!” Ivy yelled, finally spotting the other girl moving towards the parking lot.  

“I got his jersey! I’m not waiting around for him to see me with it.”  She turned and dashed off as the last seconds ticked away.

“WAIT! Watch for the car-” Ivy screamed as the world burst back to life.  The stationary SUV shot forward.

The driver had no time to stop.  

Beth never knew what hit her.  

Only Ivy watched in horror as her friend soared through empty space.  Beth’s body landed in a heap, like a broken doll.  Unmoving, frozen, Ivy thought.  Someone yelled about calling an ambulance.  Another spectator ran to Beth and began performing CPR.  All Ivy could do was sit and count.

“One...two...three...” she whispered as tears began to prickle her eyes.  After what felt like hours, Ivy reached sixty, but unlike her classmates, her teacher and the soccer players, Beth remained still.