Time for School

Sarah

Sarah stared at me in disbelief for a moment. I grinned and raised my eyebrows, waiting for her to reply. She gave her response in the form of an amused chortle.

"That's cute," she said. "Is that like a metaphor or somethin'? Like, you can ... run real fast, right?"

"I'll show you," I replied.

I looked around for another show-and-tell opportunity. Like clockwork, a staff member walked out of the same door that we'd just come out from. He was a deus ex machina for sure.

"How you kids doing?" he casually asked as he walked by.

"Good, thanks," Sarah replied with a smile. I simply watched him as he passed on by us.

Just as he was about to round the corner down to the long sidewalk, I blinked and stopped time. Sarah sensed the gentle breeze come to a silent halt.

"Jeez, what happened to the wind?" she asked as she curiously looked around. I folded my hands across my chest, a playful smirk on my face.

"So, remember how I said I could freeze time?"

"Yeah?" she replied with confusion in her voice.

"I wasn't joking," I replied, casually pointing a thumb to the staff member who was - surprise, surprise - immobile. Sarah stared at him for a long moment before cautiously approaching him with a confused scoff.

"You're totally pullin' a prank on me right now," she remarked before her voice got quieter, "... right?" I shook my head.

"I know that you and Jordan and I have played little pranks on each other before ... but I'm not lying about this, Sarah. I really do have the power to stop and start time at will."

My words played out in her head while she inspected the man with big, curious eyes. I smiled gently as I walked up to her. She was affixed to this guy, waving her hand in front of his face. She then touched his shirt and gasped.

"He's like ... a stone statue or something!"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "That's what happens when someone is bound in time and we're not. It's impossible to move him, even the tiniest bit."

"But ... but-but you're so calm! And he ... and he's ... he ..." she trailed off before losing her balance.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed with a laugh as I quickly caught her in my arms. "You okay?"

"I'm totally gonna ... I'm gonna faint ..."

Blinking time back on at that point was probably not the best idea. So, I carried her over to the grass - which I'd remembered to make mobile so as not to spear me - and gently laid her down on it. I calmly plopped down beside her while she stared up at the motionless sky, calming her breathing.

"I can wait for you to relax for a few minutes," I said, "then I can just ... turn time back on."

"I'll be fine. ... I think," she replied, looking at me with a slightly worried expression. "So, ... how long have you been able to do this ... thing?"

"Not that long," I said, glancing over at the school. "It's been about a month now."

"Why'd you wait to ... tell me?"

"I had to build up the nerve," I replied, gazing down at the grass. "You know me, I haven't really opened up too much. I've only just now been able to tell you ... how I felt about you. I kinda just wanted to throw everything out there at once, but I see now that I overloaded you," I said with a slight chuckle.