Short Stories

When Time Stops

At first there was nothing but mind shattering pain. And numbness. I felt everything and nothing. I was broken and whole. There was no end and no beginning. Just this endless horror and torment.

I can feel my limbs moving. Feel my legs being pushed harder than they've ever been before. My arms, broken and bloody, as they swing through the air causing endless death and suffering.

I can smell the scent of blood and tears. Hear the cries of the helpless. Taste the salty tears as they slide down my face.

And I could see. See all the pain I cause. All the hatred and fear of the people as they see me. Their faces engraved in my mind, some familiar and some unknown to me. I can see the betrayal in the faces of those who once thought they knew me.

All I want to do is scream. Yell. Cry out until my mouth can no longer form words. Tell them that this isn't me. Beg someone to kill me. Tell them that death is better than this torture. Anything so they can stop looking at me with those looks on their faces.

I want to give up, to fall to my knees. Curl into a ball and cry myself to hell. Because the doors of heaven have long been sealed shut.

But then a miracle happens.

Everything stops as the hold on my mind pauses.

I become me again. Only for a second but it is enough. I take one final breath, remembering the feeling of freedom.

I know that I cannot fight the hold on my mind when it comes back. So I only have this moment.

I mentally apologise to everyone. All the people who have fallen today because of me.

It feels like an hour, just listing names and remembering faces.

But like everything else, it ends.

My mind is taken once more and I become a prisoner again. I don't try fight it this time, I know that it will be useless. I just cling to the memory of freedom and let myself go.