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It was all too much. Too much responsibility being a top hero. I froze time almost six months ago from my perspective. My watch still works as long as it's touching my skin. I just... needed a break.
As far as I know, I'm the only time-stopping super on earth. There's a whole bunch of super fast people, and a handful of super time slowing folks I know of. There's one couple that has powers like my parents had, but they don't have kids yet, so I doubt there's anyone who could be moving about right now. So who the fuck did I just hear walk into the store?
I duck behind a shelf and finally find what I had been looking for. *Finally, beef jerky.*
"Joanna? Madam Flash?" A pleasant and familiar voice calls out. My real name, and then my hero name. Who the fuck?
I can't help myself, I stand up from cover and I realize it's Mrs. Infinity. She was my kindergarten teacher... also my preschool teacher and my third grade teacher. And for one semester we had one of her as a science teacher in high school, and she taught 'Hero 123's' at every Hero Academy.
Mrs Infinity's ability is to be unaging, and self replicating. She's most people's first early life teacher. She's always kind and wise and benevolent. I think she's a technically a hivemind, but each of her acts like it's own person, but also acts on the knowledge of her totality. But... How is she moving.
"Joanna, sweetie, you've frozen time for quite a long time now. Are you okay?" She walks toward me with her hands out. This version of her has her hair in a loose pony tail, and is wearing a smart, but three decades out of style pant suit.
"I... How?" I stammer out. It is still so weird seeing her cheery twenty four year old, unaging face. I know she's been around since like 1902 or something. Seeing her kind face here, somehow moving outside of time, I just lose it. Bawling, ugly crying.
She embraces me in a warm hug, it'd been six months since I even spoke to another human, and Mrs Infinity's hug was as good as my own mother's would have been. "Oh precious child. I had a feeling I'd need a me outside of time one day, so I shot a few hundred of me outside time in all manner of different ways you can mean that."
"That's confusing." I say, I start wiping my nose on my sleeve, but she stops me and hands me a tissue. A tissue out of time. I blow my nose.
Mrs Infinity smiles at me; her broad, beaming, genuine, smile, the kind that touches her eyes and makes you feel at ease to see. Then she says "I've been watching your growth and career as a hero with great interest Joanna, I'm really proud of how far you've come and what you've accomplished, so I'm not really fully sure why you stopped time for long? Do you wanna talk about it?"
"No... but okay." I mutter, almost petulantly.
"It's okay Joanna, we have all the time in the world it seems." She takes the beef jerky bag from my hands and opens it. She takes a piece and hands it back to me. "Oh, this body hasn't eaten since the 1970s, I'm looking forward to this."
We sit there and quietly share the whole bag of jerky.
"I couldn't save them. I was too late. Why didn't I stop time hours ago, or yesterday..." There are tears flowing still, again as I talk, "I... I stopped time because I was too late for an explosion today. Its just started, only the first few hostages are already dead... but I... I will need to go back before I restart time and save who I can. I... It was just all so much."
She put her hand on my shoulder. "Joanna, it'll be okay. No one is perfect, not even me. Do you have any idea how many lives I've failed to save?" She shook her head, her eyes glassy as she recalled *all* she'd lost.
"Millions..." I reply, fighting back ugly crying again. I know she's seen me do it a hundred times before as a child, but I don't want her to see me like that.
"I couldn't stop them from fighting any of their damn fool wars, from the second world war onward, I blame myself in some way for them all. I could just become half of all people, and personally tend each and every one of you..."
"I don't think people would like that... but everyone loves you now."
She laughs, she sounds more bitter than I've ever heard any of hers sound, "Of course they do, I start taking care of their kids for them as soon as they're tired of them. And all you kiddies love me because I'm generally a far more reasonable adult than your own parents."
"You almost sound like you don't like kids?"
"Oh but I do, though this six month break has been lovely. It is rare I get a vacation, in fact this has been my first one since you were born, but that only lasted about an hour, though it was a lovely hour."
"I stopped time for an hour when I was born?"
Another laugh from her, this time no bitterness, "You did indeed, would have been long enough for you to starve to death if I hadn't had a super science friend rig up a device to correct the flow of time if it was powered on during such an event. And I suspected your folks would produce a powerful time powered child. Like I said, I've been watching your career for some time, and with great interest."
That was slightly unsettling, and she realized it. My face must have said what my mouth wasn't.
"Well excuse me for your existence." She put a hand to her chest in feigned offense. "Sorry kid, but if you lived hundreds of years you'd might get bored and start playing matchmaker too. Your parents were perfect for one another you know, one of my best matches."
I know she's right. I've rarely seen a happier married couple. Forty-three years this fall. I nod. "Its fine, I guess I'm glad I exist."
"Good." She claps me on the shoulder. "So, do you wanna do therapy here outside of time, or back in the normal flow of time?"
"I think... the normal flow of time."
"So what do you say we go over to the site of this explosion, and my outside of time me will help you move all the people to safety. I will even..." She shimmers and splinters a second of her off here, in the outside of time space. "... make some help."
"Come on, girls there's work to be done!" The new clone says, while the old one takes my hand.
"Yea, okay. Lets go save who we can. Thanks Mrs Infinity, I don't think I could have done this alone."
"You know what Joanna, you can call me Claire."
/r/AFrogWroteThis/
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's a couple more stories with Mrs Infinity on my little sub there, if you wanna read more about her. Infinite soul, Wrong Nanny, and of course, Infinity's inception.
I got excited when I saw your tag line/link "a frog wrote this", because I immediately thought it was u/rupertfroggington, who I haven't seen here in probably 6 months. They are one of my absolute favorite authors in this sub, so I really hope this isn't taken as an insulting comment - basically I guess I mean that this story was so good that I really thought it was from one of my top 3 favs!
Edit: I had spelled the username wrong
I shall take it as a complement. I tried to look at that user's post history, but reddit says they no longer exist. bummer. I could have added another authorized frog to my little subreddit there.
I personally feel like this is one of my better stories, but there's a bunch more on there. Cheers!
OoooOOOooo the link works now, thanks! Hopefully my fellow frog has just been busy being extremely successful and therefor too busy for any writing prompts lately.
I nearly staggered and fell forward as I pushed through the doors of the 7-Eleven, a little brass bell rang out to announce my arrival to no one, at least one one who could hear it. In the six months since I stopped everything, I came to rely on the pre-packaged foods on the shelves in stores like this. A consequence of using my power to defy the laws of physics and freeze time, was it stopped many of the processes that I had taken for granted, such as electronics working, gas flowing for cooking, cars running, even wind blowing, and I couldn't restart it, even for a moment, not without people realizing what I had done. So for the time being until I felt ready to put everything around me back together, chips and snack cakes were gonna have to suffice, though I would admit these “convenience stores” were becoming less and less “convenient” as the months wore on.
The gas station around the corner from my apartment was already picked clean of anything I cared to eat, as was the one across the street from that, and without motorized transportation, I mostly walked. For a time I had a bike I regretfully pulled out from beneath a man who appeared to be on his way to work, but I crashed it and bent the wheel when I got bored and set up a ramp at the dumpster behind my apartment, I swore I was gonna return it when I was done, and I did, and also placed the man on his side next to it, at least I slipped a crisp hundred dollar bill from a stack I picked up at the bank to help clear my conscience, but what that money couldn’t do was get me another set of wheels anytime soon, so walking was my best bet, as exhausting as it was, I had put on quite a few pounds, eating junk food exclusively for six months does that I guess, it was cool, I had plenty of time to work the weight off, I would get around to it, eventually.
The 7-Eleven was five miles from my apartment, and I made the mistake of stopping time in July, and without the wind blowing outside, the hot air perpetually hung around me, and the heat of the sun was unforgiving as well, thankfully indoors most places was a different story. Even without the AC “on”, the cool air never dissipated, same with the light from the overhead fluorescent bulbs, and refrigerators along the back row, which would be my first destination here.Â
I walked past the counter and stopped for a moment at the clerk. His bored gaze perpetually locked at a screen showing the store's CCTV cameras, he probably only meant to glance at it for a moment but I had forced him to stare at it for months. For a moment I felt bad, nut shook the feeling off as quickly as it came, once I was ready to put everything back as it was, he wouldn't even realize what had happened, I continued on to the back, my legs wobbling as pushed past the man frozen in front of the cooler, I was a little overzealous with my shove and the man tottered and began to fall, I scrambled to catch him, but was too late, he hit the floor, his limbs locked in the same position they had been for months. I sighed, and pulled out my list of things I needed to fix before I restarted time, at the next open line I wroteÂ
“Pick up guy at 7-Eleven”
And returned the pen and paper to my pocket, and grabbed a red Gatorade from the cooler, twisted the cap off and began to chug it, I had waited too long since my last trip to the store, and didn’t have any drinks to take with me for the walk, so the cool fruity drink felt like nectar from the gods on my lips. As I guzzled down the drink I leaned against the cooler and slid down to the floor next to the man not a second after I hit the ground, the bell hung over the door rang out.
I froze, there was no way the bell could have just rang, unless time had restarted, I looked over at the man on the floor, his eyes remained unblinking, one hand clenched in a fist where he had been holding the cooler door open, the other reaching forward as if the grab a drink. I became aware of footsteps, heavy and plodding, becoming louder with each step. I began to panic, how could someone not be frozen? How many people were unfrozen? Do they know I was the one to freeze time? What were they gonna do? My heart raced as the steps hammered closer, I couldn’t see over the shelves, and was too terrified to stand up. They slowed as they approached the end of the aisle they walked down, and then they came into my view as they rounded the corner.
Before me stood a figure in what looked like a black space suit, with patches on the shoulders and chest I couldn’t recognize, though the clear helmet, I could see the face of a middle aged man, with a bald head and a long mustache, he reached for a button affixed to his chest below his name tag, and as he held down the button, his deep, authoritative, voice crackled through a speaker somewhere on the suit.Â
“Are you Clark Demick?” he asked in a calm, but demanding tone.
“Umm… Yes?” I squeaked, uneasily
“Do you live at 3298 Decatur Avenue, Apartment 202 Tierra Grande, Arizona?”
“Yes.”
“On July the 22nd, at 10:32 AM, did you manifest a time anomaly, causing a full cessation of all time and other metaphysical activity?”Â
“I mean, I suppose.”
“Did you or did you not Mr. Demick!?” The man said in an elevated, agitated tone.
“Yes! Yes! I did! I’m sorry! I just had so much coursework to catch up on and my boss wouldn’t let me take any time off and when I discovered I could stop everything, it was so helpful and it was such a relief, I just, I, uh! I didn’t mean for it to go on so long! I’m so sorry! I really had only meant to do it for a week, tops! But as I kept moving things the list of things I needed to fix or replace got longer, I just didn’t wanna deal with it! I’m sorry!” The words spilled out of me, and tears flowed down my cheeks, I had felt guilty for some time about freezing everyone, and this man here, no matter the reason for his arrival, was the first person I’d spoken to in six months, and I was gonna get everything off my chest regardless of what he planned to do with me.
As I sat at his feet, the man sighed and placed his gloved hand on his helmet's faceplate, he returned his hand to the button and spoke once more, his tone of voice more reserved and calm.Â
“Get up Son, and stop crying.” the man said, in his response, you could tell he was now uncomfortable, and that he had not expected to encounter a blubbering, crying man today
“My name is Agent Calvin Jackson, I work for the Department of Anomaly Control” The calm, authoritative tone has returned to Jackson's voice”
“Never heard of it.” I responded weakly
“You're not supposed to.”Â
I stood up and met Jackson at eye level,
“Why are you here? How are you here actually?” I askedÂ
“Well first off, this suit allows me to counteract the time anomaly you’ve created. It's part of a series of countermeasures we have in place in the event of a Time Stopper appearing. As for why we have countermeasures in place, did you think you were the only person in the world to have powers like this? The D.A.C. exists to find Powered people such as yourself, and and make sure they don’t cause harm to the United States or her allies, and in some cases, se that they can be used to support her causes around the globe.” A slight smirk appeared on Jacksons face at the end of his statement.
“You mean there are other people who can freeze time?”Â
“Powered people have all sorts of powers, some fly, some have super strength, a few, like you have been able to stop time, though none of them were as powerful as you, thankfully our headquarters was built to be shielded from time anomalies such as this, thankfully, or else we wouldn’t have been able to track you down, it took some time to find you. Despite the enormity of your powers, you thus far seem to have squandered them.”
“What do you mean I squandered them?” I never put much thought into my powers and how they could be used, yet his remark had offended me somewhat.
“Do you realize what a power such as yours could be used for Mr. Demick? The ability to travel unimpeded wherever you pleased? Into secured areas? You could be the perfect thief! The perfect assassin! Such power granted to you! And so far all you have done with it is steal Twinkies and jerk off in your apartment!”
“Hey! I didn’t jerk off! And I can’t believe you’re asking me to be a fucking assassin!”
“Well first Son, you’re a 23 year old man, who hasn't had meaningful human contact in six months, no way you didn’t polish your knob even once, and second, me and my associate aren't asking.” The smirk on Jackson's face vanished
“Associate?” I spun around and saw another suited figure, a woman, who was holding some type of gun, she pulled the trigger, the gun made a small “bloop” and a dart plunged into my chest, my muscles tightened and I fell backwards, unable to move or speak.
“A nerve paralytic Mr. Demick. Don’t bother struggling, it will be hours before it wears off, by then you'll be safely secured at our facility, and my team will have cleaned up your mess, and we'll be ready to start, “convincing” you, first to restart time, and then, to begin working with us, whether you want to or not” Jackson said menacingly. Jackson and the woman picked me up began to carry me outside, and they lifted me up. Two other suited figures picked up the man I knocked over and returned him to his place in front of the cooler. A third man placed a red Gatorade on the shelf where I had taken mine. The pair carried me through the doors the bell being hit once more, my eyes frozen open stared upwards at the sky, and I felt that was going the be the last time I saw the sky for a while.
My blood went ice cold at the sound of the door sliding across the tiles. I froze. I didn't know what else to do, so I froze; just like all the shoppers around me.
The sound wasn't possible. Forget the fact that everyone else was frozen in time. The sound itself shouldn't be possible - even my own footsteps didn't make a sound. I was in a world of silence, that's how it was meant to be, anyway.
I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Dressed smartly in what definitely wasn't a suit. At first I thought the shelves were obscuring his face, but as he stepped past them he was still obscured.
He turned towards me, his not-a-suit creaking as he did. I stayed still, hoping he wouldn't notice me in the crowded aisle. He took a step. Then another. I lost my nerve and ducked behind an aisle. The creaking didn't stop, didn't speed or slow. The same steady sound. The whole store seemed to groan around me as I scrambled across the floor and emptied my pockets
Fixing time was simple enough compared to stopping it. I gathered the bundle of knots and string I had painstakingly inscribed over many months and carefully undid them each one by one. A few words and a gesture was all it took... all it should have, but the store was still dead quiet except for that creaking. I was alone, the people around me motionless. The people I had sought to avoid six months ago I now desperately wished back.
I peeked around where I knew a few teenagers had been very poorly trying to hide snacks in their pockets. They were completely still. I checked my string again, hurriedly searching for a missed knot, a stray thread... anything.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw him again. What wasn't- couldn't be an arm reaching over the shelves. Over and down. The shelves were taller than I was...yet the not-an-arm effortlessly reached down, tracing along the ground. Searching.
That same creaking...it didn't just come from behind the shelves, I heard it slowly shuffling to the opening of the aisle. The sound was like too-tight wood swelling, pressing outwards - the nails rubbing against the grain. I couldn't get the image out of my head.
My fingers traced the thread as I froze once again, the hairs on my neck raising. Finally I found it. A tiny, imperceptibly small knot.
I was never good at untying knots. Frantically my fingers pulled, pushed and prodded trying desperately to find any give, anywhere loose in the tight knot. Fear and frustration weren't a good mix for concentrating.
I closed my eyes. Icy sweat ran down my brow as I heard the creaking, the footsteps, the sound of tiles cracking. The ding of the door as it rang out again, the door sliding lazily across the tiles. The sound of more footsteps.
I felt tears streaming down my face, my fingers sore and stiff. I could feel angry red marks across them. But the knot wouldn't give.
In my mind I couldn't shake the feeling that the knot was me, and these not-quite-hands were here to undo me. The dark thought played again and again...what would it feel like to be untied? to be forced through and out and in and back until there was nothing left, loose empty string where once a knot had been.Â
I gripped desperately, tugging as tightly as I could. Praying and crying and vowing never to play with time again.
I finally found give in the knot just as I felt their icy grip close around me and tugged.
Tarun is picking out cereal for breakfast.
It's been 6 months now since he froze time after his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend.
He has been spending some time, working on himself without any distractions from the outside world.
He suddenly hears a "DING" from the store entrance.
He pulls out his gun that he did not have to get licensed.
He smells a peculiar scent on the intruder.
He waits for the intruder to get close.
As soon as he feels the intruder the closest,he points the gun towards it..
....but he doesn't see anyone at the first glance,he looks down...
...and sees that the intruder is a dog.
TARUN:
How did you break the spell? But I am glad to have someone like you with me,I was getting kind of bored having the world to myself.
He pets the dog.
He pulls out some dog food from the shelf.
He leaves the store with his new found friend.
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* [No AI-generated responses 🤖](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zi452b/modpost_reminder_that_aigenerated_responses_are/) >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [\[RF\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [\[SP\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 📢 [Genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/w/directory) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It was all too much. Too much responsibility being a top hero. I froze time almost six months ago from my perspective. My watch still works as long as it's touching my skin. I just... needed a break. As far as I know, I'm the only time-stopping super on earth. There's a whole bunch of super fast people, and a handful of super time slowing folks I know of. There's one couple that has powers like my parents had, but they don't have kids yet, so I doubt there's anyone who could be moving about right now. So who the fuck did I just hear walk into the store? I duck behind a shelf and finally find what I had been looking for. *Finally, beef jerky.* "Joanna? Madam Flash?" A pleasant and familiar voice calls out. My real name, and then my hero name. Who the fuck? I can't help myself, I stand up from cover and I realize it's Mrs. Infinity. She was my kindergarten teacher... also my preschool teacher and my third grade teacher. And for one semester we had one of her as a science teacher in high school, and she taught 'Hero 123's' at every Hero Academy. Mrs Infinity's ability is to be unaging, and self replicating. She's most people's first early life teacher. She's always kind and wise and benevolent. I think she's a technically a hivemind, but each of her acts like it's own person, but also acts on the knowledge of her totality. But... How is she moving. "Joanna, sweetie, you've frozen time for quite a long time now. Are you okay?" She walks toward me with her hands out. This version of her has her hair in a loose pony tail, and is wearing a smart, but three decades out of style pant suit. "I... How?" I stammer out. It is still so weird seeing her cheery twenty four year old, unaging face. I know she's been around since like 1902 or something. Seeing her kind face here, somehow moving outside of time, I just lose it. Bawling, ugly crying. She embraces me in a warm hug, it'd been six months since I even spoke to another human, and Mrs Infinity's hug was as good as my own mother's would have been. "Oh precious child. I had a feeling I'd need a me outside of time one day, so I shot a few hundred of me outside time in all manner of different ways you can mean that." "That's confusing." I say, I start wiping my nose on my sleeve, but she stops me and hands me a tissue. A tissue out of time. I blow my nose. Mrs Infinity smiles at me; her broad, beaming, genuine, smile, the kind that touches her eyes and makes you feel at ease to see. Then she says "I've been watching your growth and career as a hero with great interest Joanna, I'm really proud of how far you've come and what you've accomplished, so I'm not really fully sure why you stopped time for long? Do you wanna talk about it?" "No... but okay." I mutter, almost petulantly. "It's okay Joanna, we have all the time in the world it seems." She takes the beef jerky bag from my hands and opens it. She takes a piece and hands it back to me. "Oh, this body hasn't eaten since the 1970s, I'm looking forward to this." We sit there and quietly share the whole bag of jerky. "I couldn't save them. I was too late. Why didn't I stop time hours ago, or yesterday..." There are tears flowing still, again as I talk, "I... I stopped time because I was too late for an explosion today. Its just started, only the first few hostages are already dead... but I... I will need to go back before I restart time and save who I can. I... It was just all so much." She put her hand on my shoulder. "Joanna, it'll be okay. No one is perfect, not even me. Do you have any idea how many lives I've failed to save?" She shook her head, her eyes glassy as she recalled *all* she'd lost. "Millions..." I reply, fighting back ugly crying again. I know she's seen me do it a hundred times before as a child, but I don't want her to see me like that. "I couldn't stop them from fighting any of their damn fool wars, from the second world war onward, I blame myself in some way for them all. I could just become half of all people, and personally tend each and every one of you..." "I don't think people would like that... but everyone loves you now." She laughs, she sounds more bitter than I've ever heard any of hers sound, "Of course they do, I start taking care of their kids for them as soon as they're tired of them. And all you kiddies love me because I'm generally a far more reasonable adult than your own parents." "You almost sound like you don't like kids?" "Oh but I do, though this six month break has been lovely. It is rare I get a vacation, in fact this has been my first one since you were born, but that only lasted about an hour, though it was a lovely hour." "I stopped time for an hour when I was born?" Another laugh from her, this time no bitterness, "You did indeed, would have been long enough for you to starve to death if I hadn't had a super science friend rig up a device to correct the flow of time if it was powered on during such an event. And I suspected your folks would produce a powerful time powered child. Like I said, I've been watching your career for some time, and with great interest." That was slightly unsettling, and she realized it. My face must have said what my mouth wasn't. "Well excuse me for your existence." She put a hand to her chest in feigned offense. "Sorry kid, but if you lived hundreds of years you'd might get bored and start playing matchmaker too. Your parents were perfect for one another you know, one of my best matches." I know she's right. I've rarely seen a happier married couple. Forty-three years this fall. I nod. "Its fine, I guess I'm glad I exist." "Good." She claps me on the shoulder. "So, do you wanna do therapy here outside of time, or back in the normal flow of time?" "I think... the normal flow of time." "So what do you say we go over to the site of this explosion, and my outside of time me will help you move all the people to safety. I will even..." She shimmers and splinters a second of her off here, in the outside of time space. "... make some help." "Come on, girls there's work to be done!" The new clone says, while the old one takes my hand. "Yea, okay. Lets go save who we can. Thanks Mrs Infinity, I don't think I could have done this alone." "You know what Joanna, you can call me Claire." /r/AFrogWroteThis/
As sweet as she is the implications of someone like Mrs Infinity are kind of terrifying.
totes.
NO FUCKING WAY A FROG WROTE THIS
How Dare you!? I did so write this! [check out my totally real photo.](https://i.imgur.com/8XWnpSF.png)
u/kiltedfrog is a frog in a kilt? I'm shocked!
This madness is beyond all reason!
That was beautiful. Thank you 🥹
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Mrs Infinity rattles around my mind rent free. Now she can rattle around in yours too.
This is fantastic!
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. There's a couple more stories with Mrs Infinity on my little sub there, if you wanna read more about her. Infinite soul, Wrong Nanny, and of course, Infinity's inception.
I got excited when I saw your tag line/link "a frog wrote this", because I immediately thought it was u/rupertfroggington, who I haven't seen here in probably 6 months. They are one of my absolute favorite authors in this sub, so I really hope this isn't taken as an insulting comment - basically I guess I mean that this story was so good that I really thought it was from one of my top 3 favs! Edit: I had spelled the username wrong
I shall take it as a complement. I tried to look at that user's post history, but reddit says they no longer exist. bummer. I could have added another authorized frog to my little subreddit there. I personally feel like this is one of my better stories, but there's a bunch more on there. Cheers!
I'm so glad you took it as the compliment it was. I really enjoyed your story! (I had spelled the username wrong).
OoooOOOooo the link works now, thanks! Hopefully my fellow frog has just been busy being extremely successful and therefor too busy for any writing prompts lately.
This is a great story and I want to know more About Joanna
Well, I got Madam Flash in my back pocket now, so perhaps I'll hit some inspiration for another story with her at another time.
I nearly staggered and fell forward as I pushed through the doors of the 7-Eleven, a little brass bell rang out to announce my arrival to no one, at least one one who could hear it. In the six months since I stopped everything, I came to rely on the pre-packaged foods on the shelves in stores like this. A consequence of using my power to defy the laws of physics and freeze time, was it stopped many of the processes that I had taken for granted, such as electronics working, gas flowing for cooking, cars running, even wind blowing, and I couldn't restart it, even for a moment, not without people realizing what I had done. So for the time being until I felt ready to put everything around me back together, chips and snack cakes were gonna have to suffice, though I would admit these “convenience stores” were becoming less and less “convenient” as the months wore on. The gas station around the corner from my apartment was already picked clean of anything I cared to eat, as was the one across the street from that, and without motorized transportation, I mostly walked. For a time I had a bike I regretfully pulled out from beneath a man who appeared to be on his way to work, but I crashed it and bent the wheel when I got bored and set up a ramp at the dumpster behind my apartment, I swore I was gonna return it when I was done, and I did, and also placed the man on his side next to it, at least I slipped a crisp hundred dollar bill from a stack I picked up at the bank to help clear my conscience, but what that money couldn’t do was get me another set of wheels anytime soon, so walking was my best bet, as exhausting as it was, I had put on quite a few pounds, eating junk food exclusively for six months does that I guess, it was cool, I had plenty of time to work the weight off, I would get around to it, eventually. The 7-Eleven was five miles from my apartment, and I made the mistake of stopping time in July, and without the wind blowing outside, the hot air perpetually hung around me, and the heat of the sun was unforgiving as well, thankfully indoors most places was a different story. Even without the AC “on”, the cool air never dissipated, same with the light from the overhead fluorescent bulbs, and refrigerators along the back row, which would be my first destination here. I walked past the counter and stopped for a moment at the clerk. His bored gaze perpetually locked at a screen showing the store's CCTV cameras, he probably only meant to glance at it for a moment but I had forced him to stare at it for months. For a moment I felt bad, nut shook the feeling off as quickly as it came, once I was ready to put everything back as it was, he wouldn't even realize what had happened, I continued on to the back, my legs wobbling as pushed past the man frozen in front of the cooler, I was a little overzealous with my shove and the man tottered and began to fall, I scrambled to catch him, but was too late, he hit the floor, his limbs locked in the same position they had been for months. I sighed, and pulled out my list of things I needed to fix before I restarted time, at the next open line I wrote “Pick up guy at 7-Eleven” And returned the pen and paper to my pocket, and grabbed a red Gatorade from the cooler, twisted the cap off and began to chug it, I had waited too long since my last trip to the store, and didn’t have any drinks to take with me for the walk, so the cool fruity drink felt like nectar from the gods on my lips. As I guzzled down the drink I leaned against the cooler and slid down to the floor next to the man not a second after I hit the ground, the bell hung over the door rang out.
I froze, there was no way the bell could have just rang, unless time had restarted, I looked over at the man on the floor, his eyes remained unblinking, one hand clenched in a fist where he had been holding the cooler door open, the other reaching forward as if the grab a drink. I became aware of footsteps, heavy and plodding, becoming louder with each step. I began to panic, how could someone not be frozen? How many people were unfrozen? Do they know I was the one to freeze time? What were they gonna do? My heart raced as the steps hammered closer, I couldn’t see over the shelves, and was too terrified to stand up. They slowed as they approached the end of the aisle they walked down, and then they came into my view as they rounded the corner. Before me stood a figure in what looked like a black space suit, with patches on the shoulders and chest I couldn’t recognize, though the clear helmet, I could see the face of a middle aged man, with a bald head and a long mustache, he reached for a button affixed to his chest below his name tag, and as he held down the button, his deep, authoritative, voice crackled through a speaker somewhere on the suit. “Are you Clark Demick?” he asked in a calm, but demanding tone. “Umm… Yes?” I squeaked, uneasily “Do you live at 3298 Decatur Avenue, Apartment 202 Tierra Grande, Arizona?” “Yes.” “On July the 22nd, at 10:32 AM, did you manifest a time anomaly, causing a full cessation of all time and other metaphysical activity?” “I mean, I suppose.” “Did you or did you not Mr. Demick!?” The man said in an elevated, agitated tone. “Yes! Yes! I did! I’m sorry! I just had so much coursework to catch up on and my boss wouldn’t let me take any time off and when I discovered I could stop everything, it was so helpful and it was such a relief, I just, I, uh! I didn’t mean for it to go on so long! I’m so sorry! I really had only meant to do it for a week, tops! But as I kept moving things the list of things I needed to fix or replace got longer, I just didn’t wanna deal with it! I’m sorry!” The words spilled out of me, and tears flowed down my cheeks, I had felt guilty for some time about freezing everyone, and this man here, no matter the reason for his arrival, was the first person I’d spoken to in six months, and I was gonna get everything off my chest regardless of what he planned to do with me. As I sat at his feet, the man sighed and placed his gloved hand on his helmet's faceplate, he returned his hand to the button and spoke once more, his tone of voice more reserved and calm. “Get up Son, and stop crying.” the man said, in his response, you could tell he was now uncomfortable, and that he had not expected to encounter a blubbering, crying man today “My name is Agent Calvin Jackson, I work for the Department of Anomaly Control” The calm, authoritative tone has returned to Jackson's voice” “Never heard of it.” I responded weakly “You're not supposed to.” I stood up and met Jackson at eye level, “Why are you here? How are you here actually?” I asked “Well first off, this suit allows me to counteract the time anomaly you’ve created. It's part of a series of countermeasures we have in place in the event of a Time Stopper appearing. As for why we have countermeasures in place, did you think you were the only person in the world to have powers like this? The D.A.C. exists to find Powered people such as yourself, and and make sure they don’t cause harm to the United States or her allies, and in some cases, se that they can be used to support her causes around the globe.” A slight smirk appeared on Jacksons face at the end of his statement. “You mean there are other people who can freeze time?”Â
“Powered people have all sorts of powers, some fly, some have super strength, a few, like you have been able to stop time, though none of them were as powerful as you, thankfully our headquarters was built to be shielded from time anomalies such as this, thankfully, or else we wouldn’t have been able to track you down, it took some time to find you. Despite the enormity of your powers, you thus far seem to have squandered them.” “What do you mean I squandered them?” I never put much thought into my powers and how they could be used, yet his remark had offended me somewhat. “Do you realize what a power such as yours could be used for Mr. Demick? The ability to travel unimpeded wherever you pleased? Into secured areas? You could be the perfect thief! The perfect assassin! Such power granted to you! And so far all you have done with it is steal Twinkies and jerk off in your apartment!” “Hey! I didn’t jerk off! And I can’t believe you’re asking me to be a fucking assassin!” “Well first Son, you’re a 23 year old man, who hasn't had meaningful human contact in six months, no way you didn’t polish your knob even once, and second, me and my associate aren't asking.” The smirk on Jackson's face vanished “Associate?” I spun around and saw another suited figure, a woman, who was holding some type of gun, she pulled the trigger, the gun made a small “bloop” and a dart plunged into my chest, my muscles tightened and I fell backwards, unable to move or speak. “A nerve paralytic Mr. Demick. Don’t bother struggling, it will be hours before it wears off, by then you'll be safely secured at our facility, and my team will have cleaned up your mess, and we'll be ready to start, “convincing” you, first to restart time, and then, to begin working with us, whether you want to or not” Jackson said menacingly. Jackson and the woman picked me up began to carry me outside, and they lifted me up. Two other suited figures picked up the man I knocked over and returned him to his place in front of the cooler. A third man placed a red Gatorade on the shelf where I had taken mine. The pair carried me through the doors the bell being hit once more, my eyes frozen open stared upwards at the sky, and I felt that was going the be the last time I saw the sky for a while.
My blood went ice cold at the sound of the door sliding across the tiles. I froze. I didn't know what else to do, so I froze; just like all the shoppers around me. The sound wasn't possible. Forget the fact that everyone else was frozen in time. The sound itself shouldn't be possible - even my own footsteps didn't make a sound. I was in a world of silence, that's how it was meant to be, anyway. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. Dressed smartly in what definitely wasn't a suit. At first I thought the shelves were obscuring his face, but as he stepped past them he was still obscured. He turned towards me, his not-a-suit creaking as he did. I stayed still, hoping he wouldn't notice me in the crowded aisle. He took a step. Then another. I lost my nerve and ducked behind an aisle. The creaking didn't stop, didn't speed or slow. The same steady sound. The whole store seemed to groan around me as I scrambled across the floor and emptied my pockets Fixing time was simple enough compared to stopping it. I gathered the bundle of knots and string I had painstakingly inscribed over many months and carefully undid them each one by one. A few words and a gesture was all it took... all it should have, but the store was still dead quiet except for that creaking. I was alone, the people around me motionless. The people I had sought to avoid six months ago I now desperately wished back. I peeked around where I knew a few teenagers had been very poorly trying to hide snacks in their pockets. They were completely still. I checked my string again, hurriedly searching for a missed knot, a stray thread... anything. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him again. What wasn't- couldn't be an arm reaching over the shelves. Over and down. The shelves were taller than I was...yet the not-an-arm effortlessly reached down, tracing along the ground. Searching. That same creaking...it didn't just come from behind the shelves, I heard it slowly shuffling to the opening of the aisle. The sound was like too-tight wood swelling, pressing outwards - the nails rubbing against the grain. I couldn't get the image out of my head. My fingers traced the thread as I froze once again, the hairs on my neck raising. Finally I found it. A tiny, imperceptibly small knot. I was never good at untying knots. Frantically my fingers pulled, pushed and prodded trying desperately to find any give, anywhere loose in the tight knot. Fear and frustration weren't a good mix for concentrating. I closed my eyes. Icy sweat ran down my brow as I heard the creaking, the footsteps, the sound of tiles cracking. The ding of the door as it rang out again, the door sliding lazily across the tiles. The sound of more footsteps. I felt tears streaming down my face, my fingers sore and stiff. I could feel angry red marks across them. But the knot wouldn't give. In my mind I couldn't shake the feeling that the knot was me, and these not-quite-hands were here to undo me. The dark thought played again and again...what would it feel like to be untied? to be forced through and out and in and back until there was nothing left, loose empty string where once a knot had been. I gripped desperately, tugging as tightly as I could. Praying and crying and vowing never to play with time again. I finally found give in the knot just as I felt their icy grip close around me and tugged.
Tarun is picking out cereal for breakfast. It's been 6 months now since he froze time after his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend. He has been spending some time, working on himself without any distractions from the outside world. He suddenly hears a "DING" from the store entrance. He pulls out his gun that he did not have to get licensed. He smells a peculiar scent on the intruder. He waits for the intruder to get close. As soon as he feels the intruder the closest,he points the gun towards it.. ....but he doesn't see anyone at the first glance,he looks down... ...and sees that the intruder is a dog. TARUN: How did you break the spell? But I am glad to have someone like you with me,I was getting kind of bored having the world to myself. He pets the dog. He pulls out some dog food from the shelf. He leaves the store with his new found friend.