Frozen In Time

The coffee shop was packed full of people stopping in on their way to work.  He worked his way through the clogged entrance and through the line up inside.  He sat down and checked his cell phone.  Almost 8:30 am.  No new messages. He waited for the morning rush-hour to die down before ordering his coffee.  He was early of course.  He didn't like feeling rushed and showing up late, so he always made a point to be early.  Andy on the other hand was obviously not bothered by being late because he always was.

Ten minutes later, the line at the counter was down to one person.  Dave got up and ordered his coffee, large,  with one cream and one sugar, then returned to his seat.  Some of the people in the building were familiar to Dave through his job as a carpenter.   He said hello to a couple of guys at a nearby table and made some small talk.  He saw Andy enter the coffee shop and get in line.  He waved vaguely and nodded in his direction.  Andy smiled at the cute girl behind the counter and placed his order.

A moment later Andy sat down at the table and began to pull his jacket off.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Andy said to someone as they passed by.

Dave sipped at his coffee and finished reading a small anecdote in the Coffee Breaks newsletter.

Then it dawned on him that something wasn't right.  He looked up, startled to see that no one was moving.  They were all... paused.   There was no sound of people chatting or noise coming from the registers, the coffee pots and kitchen area were silent.  There was no ambient hum of electricity or rattling air conditioner vents.  The silence was deafening.  The clank from his coffee cup being placed on the saucer seemed grossly amplified.  He sat motionless as well.  It's like he was suddenly sitting in the middle of a life-sized diorama of the coffee shop.  At first he thought he was caught in an elaborate joke, like he unknowingly walked into the middle of a weird flash mob or something.

Dave waited a moment, unsure if there was more to the joke or not.

"Andy?"

Reaching out he tapped Andy on the shoulder a couple of times.  Andy didn't react in any kind of way.  His eyes remained open, unblinking and he didn't seem to be breathing.  His body didn't feel rigid or hard.  He seemed pliable, still warm, yet he sat solidly enough that he didn't just topple over.  Dave stood and walked over to two guys sitting at a nearby table.  One squinted out the window through the early morning sunlight, the other glanced down at the cellphone in his hand.  He had to admit to himself that if this was a prank, they were all doing one hell of a job.

"Okaaay, yeah, great job everyone.  Very funny." He said nervously.

He expected everyone to start moving again, maybe laugh and clap at the successful heart attack they gave him, but they didn't.  For the past ten minutes they had all remained perfectly still, like someone pressed pause on the universe's remote control.  Dave found it difficult to look at them.  The expressions on their faces didn't match their hollow, macabre eyes which seemed slightly more sunken and dark than usual.  Some people were smiling or laughing, others were sipping coffee with raised eyebrows and pursed lips or eating a breakfast sandwich, but it was their eyes that sent shivers down his spine.  It was very unnatural.

Outside was even worse.  There were people everywhere and they all had the same type of creepy expression as the others.  Dave walked among them, being careful to not bump into anyone.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Hello?  Can you hear me?" he screamed in the face of a middle-aged woman.

He quickly walked around the area, yelling out, looking for something or someone.  Anyone at all.  Are there others who are experiencing this as well?  There must be others.  Why would he be the only one.  Panicked thoughts raced around his head.  Above the parking lot a small flock of birds just hung there like they were part of a painting.  It angered him to see the birds defying the laws of physics.  It freaked him right out.  How were they doing that?  Why isn't gravity working?  His brain was thrashing against the incomprehensible.  What if they never move again?  What if I'm stuck here like this forever?  I don't want to be alone like this forever!