Two days ago, I was at the coffee shop, waiting in line to get my usual morning drink when it happened the first time. One second you could hear the bustling of baristas and the conversations of customer, and the next second it was silent. I know the saying goes “you could hear a pin drop,” but in this case I don’t think the pin would hit the ground. Everyone and everything was completely still. I looked around me, half freaking out and half expecting a camera to come through any second to tell me I was on one of those elaborate prank shows. But no one came. There were the regulars I recognized at the tables and in the line, and some people I didn’t recognize. A tall guy with a baseball cap, a girl with long black hair and purple rimmed glasses, an elderly woman in a flowery dress. But nobody, not one, was moving. Only me. I began to panic as I wasn’t sure how it happened, and I definitely didn’t know how to undo it. And then it just…stopped. As suddenly as it went quiet the din returned. The elderly woman in the flowery dress seemed to give me a double take. Possibly due to my being a foot or two out of where she saw me less than a moment ago. I apologized and ran out of the cafe. No tea for me today.

Later that same day, I was at work, doing the same monotonous work on my computer, listening to the white noise of the keys clacking on a hundred other computers all around me. Then it happened again. Quiet, total cessation of movement from those around me. “This is insane,” I thought to myself. “What the hell is happening?” I ran to the window to see if there was some kind of, I don’t know, weather phenomenon or something that could make this happen. But I didn’t see anything. A blue, cloudless sky, a street full of people a few floors below, and a bird stopped mid-flight just in front of me. Suspended in the air. At the cafe, this unnerving event lasted, maybe, 30 seconds. But this time it seemed to go on for minutes. I made it all the way to the lobby floor through the stairs and was about to step outside when the world began to move again. On my way back up I got a text from my work buddy, Dylan.

“Where are you?”

“Just went to the restroom, heading back now”

“When? I was literally on my way to your desk and then you were just…gone”

I didn’t know how to explain what happened, nor did I feel like trying at the moment. So I finished work and went home with no other issues to speak of. A good night’s sleep and everything would be normal tomorrow. At least, that’s what I told myself.

That was not the case. In fact, it seemed worse the next day. I had a later start at work, so I ate some breakfast at home and watched the local news. Halfway through a fluff piece about a mom and pop donating some money to the elementary school, the broadcast froze. At first I thought, or I hoped, it was an issue with the tv. But I couldn’t change the channel. I felt sick. A thousand questions flooded me: Am I dreaming? How was this happening? Was I the cause? How come I could move but nothing and no one else could? How do I stop this? I asked myself that last question over and over. I was so intent on that question I didn’t even notice the broadcast continue on the tv. Once everything was moving again, I called out of work and stayed in bed all day. But even though I wasn’t watching or listening to anything, I could *feel* the stops. Four more stops of varying length happened throughout the day.

The next day was Saturday, and my friends Lilly and Maeve were having a get-together at their place. Surprisingly, there were no time stops the whole day. I was starting to wonder if the last two days had been some kind of fever dream. But I got dressed up, went to the party and was really enjoying myself. I was mid-conversation with Lilly, talking about her and Maeve’s recent trip to see family and how much fun they had, when Lilly froze. I looked around, everyone was frozen. Dammit, not again. Just then, from the corner of my eye, I saw movement. Across the room, someone was walking toward me. As I saw them weaving through the crowd, I realized I recognized her. Dark hair, purple glasses…the girl from the cafe. What on earth was happening. Finally when she got to me all she said was, “hey”.

“Hey,” I responded, “do you know what’s going on here?”

“I do.” she smiled up at me. It was a beautiful smile, but it had something else behind it, a shadow of mischief. “For some time I’ve been able to freeze time. I don’t know why, or how it happened, but I’ve learned to get some control over it.”

I realize as she’s been talking that she’s looking at me, almost through me. Like she’s assessing me.

“For a while it’s been fun. I enjoy wandering around and people watching in real, unfiltered moments. Genuine laughs in the middle of telling a story, and tears in the middle of a funeral. These moments of life that would pass by so fleetingly if I wasn’t there to stop and appreciate them,” again that look on her face.

“That’s beautiful, uh…” I start, realizing I don’t know a thing about her.

“Jess,” she fills in the blank for me.

“Jess,” I feel the word in my mouth, and I’m surprised at how it feels. “But if you’ve been doing this for a while, why am I suddenly able to walk around when everyone else is frozen?”

Jess smiles and brushes some hair from her face. “Well,” she says, “I think I may have wished for you, somehow.”

I sputter and choke on a laugh, “What do you mean?”

She keeps smiling at me, “I enjoy freezing time, but lately I’ve wanted someone else to enjoy it with. And that day I saw you at the coffee shop, I thought you were cute.” Here, Jess becomes a little more reserved, “sooo, I froze time to get a better look at you and you just didn’t freeze. I stopped time a few more times to see if it was a fluke, but here you are.” She gestures around to all of the others frozen in place.

“I see,” I say even though I don’t, really. “So what should we do now?” I can feel my face warming.

“I mean, I already said I think you’re cute,” Jess says with a shy smile. “What do *you* think?”

Again, I’m stumbling over myself, “Uh, I mean, I think… you are very beautiful and, uh, I think what you can do is incredible. Um…” and she puts up a finger.

“Then there’s one more thing I want to try,” she says as she closes the space between us. “So why don’t you just…freeze.”

As she leans in and gives me a kiss.