Music Speaks

A Little Irony

He stared at the girl, frozen in time. She was looking at him, her eyes alive, but the rest of the world wasn't.

"Do you want to know a little irony about me? No, you don't. My heart started beating today. Because of you, I can see that even though love isn't scientific, it's beautiful. I heard you scream, and I wanted to save you. I wanted to run to your side. But I couldn't. This is my fault."

He walked away from her, regretting everything.

He had known her for a long time. She was his next door neighbor, a woman who would always be kind to him, but he never returned the favor.

-a few minutes ago-

As he stood in front of the time-freezing machine, she opened the door.

"Nick? Nick, you in there? I brought you leftovers from last nights block party. I saw you didn't come, so I thought, hey, why not bring over the cookies and the cake. I can't keep it, or else I will eat it all."

I could hear her voice, but I shook it off. "Ms. Dickens, I am in the middle of an extremely important...um.... essay, and I don't care if I missed a college block party. Just leave the food somewhere, okay? And my name is Nicholas, not Nick."

I could hear her sighing, and her footsteps became louder.

I looked up at the screen. One minute until the time freeze.

"Nicholas, are you okay? I'm in all of your classes, and there isn't an essay in one of them. If you need anyone to talk to, remember I'm right next door." Her voice was soft, genuinely concerned.

I sighed. Some people didn't understand that I needed privacy to freeze time. If it was frozen, maybe my life would be better. Maybe I could understand emotion.

20 seconds until my dreams came true.

I heard the door creak open.

"Nicholas?" A little blonde head popped through my lab door. She was smiling, but the smile faded as she saw the screen.

10 seconds to time being frozen.

"No, Nicholas, no!" She cried. She could see what I was doing.

5

4

3

2

1

"NICK NO!" She cried, right before screaming in fear. The scream was cut off abruptly, and I looked over at her.

Her fragile hand was outstretched towards me, and her eyes were glassy with frozen tears. Her blonde hair looked as if a fan had blown it back, since she was running towards me.

What tipped me off was her eyes. The sweet, innocent eyes looked right at me, right into my soul.

Something snapped within me. I was hyperventilating. I couldn't breathe. She was looking at me.

"Ms. Dickens, why now? You know, you could have come here maybe 20 minutes ago, and seen my countdown, and oh, Ms. Dickens, I could've kept you real."

I knew now why people liked the fast paced world. I know moments didn't last long, but I just wanted more than this one moment with her.

"You're trapped now, you're trapped, you're trapped." I felt wetness on my cheeks, and I placed a hand on the strange sensation dripping down my cheeks.

Was I.... crying? I was crying, I was crying over my neighbor, who happened to be going for a degree in the STEM program, and she was funny, and she cared about me, and- oh, what have I done?

"Love was just a feeling Ms. Dickens. It was completely irrelevant. I have to, I have to find a way to make you real."

I ran towards my computer, furiously searching for a way to reverse my own handy work.

I turned to the girl frozen in time that had started my heart. "I have found reason to ask you this one more time. I don't know if I should share this little irony about me. Do you wanna know a little irony about me? Freezing was just a way to get away. Love never came to me, it moves unscientifically. But after this, you will be more real than you ever were before today, Ms. Dickens."

I turned to my computer, staring blankly at the formulas I had so carelessly put together.

"You can call me Nick, if you want."

-Hayden