The Girl Who Stopped Time

The Cosmos

Two silvery moons stare back at me from above. Their teal colors reflecting off the shallow pool beside me and glimmering onto the tiled walls. The stars blink at me in soothing patterns and I feel my shoulders relaxing. Relieving me of the aching stresses that have been weighing them down.

I needed this.

Currently I am supposed to be conversing with the devilish fiend -Atlas himself- but after having such an emotionally draining conversation with Lori, I decided to take a break. She also just so happened to turn on 'Inside Out' and that movie gets me every single time; the audio descriptions practically had me sobbing.

The pool was the first place that came to mind when I thought about peace. I considered going to the observatory but I was worried that it might be locked or that I would be drowned by the memories. It's ironic really, I chose to go to the pool room so I wouldn't drown.

I miss home. Miss the way everything felt so familiar. How things were so much easier to understand, and even though I hate to say it... I miss high school. There was a lot of stuff wrong but I do miss the good parts. The small number of friends I had, the gross cafeteria food, the weird smell that the hallways used to have and especially Mr. Mathews. God, do I miss him. He was a great teacher. He truly cared for each and every one of his students. He wanted us to succeed and excel to the best of our abilities; even beyond that and he didn't care that the world was ending. Then of course there was the added bonus of him teaching astronomy.

I hope he's doing well; he was a good man.

I hear hard footsteps coming from the hall, leading me away from my wondering thoughts. I wrap my arms around my legs and turn my head to the door. Preparing myself for whoever might enter.

"Already thinking about another man, are you?" I hear him say before he's in my sight.

When his lengthy body steps into view my chest oddly constricts, making my back straighten. I have to dig my nails into the palm of my hands just so I can ignore my instinct to get up and run away.

He doesn't even look that threatening. With his crisp white button up shirt and black slacks, his tussled black hair that matches the scruff on his face, his dark daunting eyes and the warm tray of food he is carrying in his hands; all of it seems so innocent. Almost as if he didn't just try to kill me not too long ago.

"No." I respond and slid a little further away from him. "I was thinking about an old teacher and how is it that you always seem to know what I'm thinking."

"It's one of my many gifts, although it has its many restraints. I can only read your mind if I'm near you and your guard is down." He says and takes a step towards me. I immediately stand to my feet. "So, for example, right now I can't read your mind. You've put up your walls."

"They won't be going down again." I say and tilt my chin up in a confident manner.

He raises an eyebrow at me, but in the end decides to ignore my gesture by looking down at the tray he holds.

"You didn't show up to dinner, so I thought I'd bring you some food." He says, then places the tray on the ground and slides it towards me... or at least tries. The tiles stop it short and it only makes it about half of the way to me. "That went better in my head." He mumbles.

I glare at him then slowly step forward and grab the food piled plate, never once taking my eyes off of him. He seems to get the message from my cold stare and puts his hands up in surrender, backing away slightly.

I sit on one of the pool chairs and pull my legs up criss cross apple sauce, balancing the tray between my legs.

"How'd you know where I was?" I ask while I dig into a pile of corn and biscuits.