Oh God, it’s happening again! It always starts the same way - with a feeling of vertigo that grows stronger and stronger, until I feel so nauseous I need to hold on to something just to steady myself. Then when I open my eyes, everything is still. It’s confusing at first, our brains are not used to such stillness, and the absence of sound is particularly troubling. Just things like the buzz of a refrigerator can still be heard. TVs and radios go into static mode. But the wind stops.

And the people - that’s the strangest part. They just... freeze. In the strangest poses too. The facial expressions are the best part. Mid-blink, mid-word, mid-thought.

I have no clue how or why it started. I only remember I was at home, upstairs in my bed listening to music. And it just stopped, the radio went on static. At first I didn’t think anything of it. But then I got up and the buttons didn’t work. When I slammed my hand on its plastic black top and the usual thud sound didn’t come, that’s when I realized something was not... the same. My curtains were completely still, even though just a moment ago a little breeze was blowing in through the open window.

It’s really hard to say how long it lasted - that’s the whole thing. Time just stopped, and even my perception of it was also messed up. And then it started back up again. Just like that.

This time I’m at a party. This is when it’s the strangest, and the most thrilling - time stands still for everyone but me. It was scary at first. For a moment you feel like everyone could be just playing a very elaborate joke on you. I wasn’t sure if people couldn’t actually see me and remember what happened when they came back from it. If they wouldn’t ask questions which I wouldn’t know how to answer. But no one ever knows. They just stop and then continue as if nothing happened. I guess technically for them nothing did.

I have gotten into the habit of walking around and looking at people very closely when time stops. Gives me a chance to observe all the details I wouldn’t normally have time to observe. A little wrinkle, a subtle smile, a mismatched pair of socks. It’s my little fun. No, I cannot steal things. I’ve tried. Interacting with objects is not the same when there is no time.

As I start walking around, doing my close inspections of some of the guest I don’t know, I notice a movement out of the corner of my eye. I’m startled - I didn’t expect it to end already. But everyone else is still, so I turn to have a better look. And right there, across the room, a man is casually drinking his champagne, smiling at me. I’m stunned, and embarrassed, and have so many questions. And then everything around me starts up again.