5/2/21 “Ma’am, we found your son dead. We have no idea what caused it. I’m so sorry for your loss.” My heart stopped beating for a moment as I silently wept, my head in my tear-covered hands. I looked up at the police who delivered the terrible news, my mouth opening to speak. He was frozen in a standing position with his head tilted downward in grief for my beloved son. I looked sideways and see my adorable Doberman, Hazel also frozen mid-step. Next, barely seeing through my wet, blurry eyes, I glimpsed my daughter with her AirPods in, making popcorn to snack on. Like the police officer and my dog, her body seems glued in one position. Puzzled, I took a quick glimpse of the clock. The hand counting seconds wasn’t moving at all. ‘Probably my imagination,’ was one of the false guesses circling inside of my head. Suddenly I snapped out of my trance, or whatever it was, and everything jumped back into action. ‘That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen,’ I thought, and later I would conclude that I was more than right.“Where was he found?” I whispered. “The super market,” comes the raspy reply. My heart sank even lower than it had been before. I had sent my son to go get some groceries at the super market two hours before I received the news, and had wondered where he was. ‘He’s in a better place now...’ I thought, trying, but failing to make myself feel better.

5/9/21

The time stops had been occurring whenever I mourn for my son, or feel sad or angry. Everyone I see just, freezes. The conclusion I came to is that I’m doing this. What’s wrong with me?

5/15/21

Went to a fancy restaurant to celebrate my friends birthday. I was fine until I started thinking about my son. Predictably, everyone froze. Except for a woman at the back of the restaurant, who walked toward me. “Oh, Mia, Oh Mia, ” she said looking at me sympathetically. “Who are you?” I demanded. “Are you the one doing this?” “Who else would be doing it? You?” she said mockingly and cackled wildly as if she thought I was some kind of pathetic three-year-old. While she was still evilly laughing, (wow, that was a long laugh) I warily grabbed a key out of a waiters pocket. Once she was finished chuckling she said, “I killed your son, if you’re wondering,” with another evil guffaw. I lunged toward her, forgetting she was very dangerous. “You’ll. Die. For. That.” She easily held me back with a third howl of demonic pleasure. Thinking that I shouldn’t try to punch her, which was the thing I wanted to do most, I ran out of the restaurant with the key and my phone. While the woman went to the front desk to steal all of the money contained in the restaurant, oblivious to my clever plans, I locked all the doors than waited for everyone to unfreeze. Later, once she was done raiding the safe, I saw the murderer looking around for me, brandishing a knife. Eventually she realized I had outsmarted her because of her stupidity and my wits, and tried every possible way to unlock the doors, but she couldn’t. Eventually everyone unfroze. I pulled out the phone and called the police. Breathlessly, I told them about how I found the woman that killed my son and that she had also robbed the restaurant. The incident was in their hands now.

6/3/21

Just got word that the insane woman has been caught. I testified against her in her trial, and she was sentenced to jail for the rest of her life due to her many crimes. She deserved what she got. I still haven’t figured out how she froze time, but I’m determined to. My son would’ve gotten to the bottom of this in no time. I’m missing him more than ever...