ArcticFox
Dreamer
Samantha Rae Dawson
26
26
The beginning of Samantha's new life involved a busy intersection, a speeding truck, a text message, and time stopping. It happened so fast, in the blink of an eye, actually with the blink of an eye.
While she was walking across 12th and High Streets near that deli with the really strong coffee, a text message on her phone drew her attention. She looked up to a green light and diverted her gaze right back to her phone's screen. As she passed midway through the intersection, a large object filled the corner of her vision. She heard brakes lock and squeal. Looking up, she spotted the massive front grille of a truck and large letters reading BakeTown Delivery. Samantha closed her eyes as the truck barrelled down, but it only takes a second, maybe less.
The world went silent: the noise of cars, the truck's horn, the hum of people talking, the clamour of the city. She felt her body tense, and when she peeked her eyes open, everything was stopped.
And now she stood in the middle of the street, but the truck towered beside her, not three inches from her face. The grille of the massive vehicle leaned forward at an odd angle, and a billow of smoke rose from its front tires, hanging in air as if painted on an invisible canvas. On the corner, a woman pointed at Samantha, her mouth open to shout, but no sound emitted. A bird flew high above her, stuck in the foreground of the sky, hanging in flight with its wings mid-flap. Somehow, it remained suspended.
Everything in Samantha's field of vision stood still, stuck in limbo, locked in the middle of motion. On the corner she left minutes ago a tall businesswoman in a trench coat tripped on a crack in the sidewalk but didn't fall. A waiter at an outdoor cafe reached for money on a table and poured coffee from an urn, the stream of hot liquid seeming never to end. A bus barrelled down High Street, its wheels spinning, though it went nowhere. A cyclist perched next to a parked car - he was balanced upright, though gravity should knock him over. And somehow, Samantha perceived that she was the cause of it. She stopped time.
In the back of her head, she sensed a tickle now, like ants crawling over her flesh. An energy bubbled inside her brain. She was in control but for how long? She didn't know how she knew, but time will start again soon.
Perhaps she would like to interact with the frozen city?
- Help the businesswoman up so she doesn't trip.
- Steal the money from the table of the cafe.
- Open a car door in front of the cyclist.
- Just walk to the corner and try to restart time.
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