One morning Nathan woke up with the ability to stop time, it was a pretty uneventful discovery. He figured it out in the shower, he tilted his head on a strange angle, made a noise in his head and the water stopped in mid air. He started time again quickly because he was all lathered in soap.
He stopped time over breakfast, so that he could catch up on Facebook. He liked the noise it made in his head when he stopped time, he found it quite calming. On the way to work, he stopped time and wizzed through tight traffic on his bike. It was actually pretty useful.
But over time the ability to stop time made Nathan quite dull. He was no longer ever late for anything, which was a pretty boring trait. He was always correct in conversation - if there was anything that he didn't know he would stop time, look it up and then start time again. He was pretty dreary to be around. He cheated at cards, stopping time to look at other peoples hands. At parties he would stop time, rehearse pick up lines and then recite them - it was eerie. He became very bland and a little bit creepy.
People stopped inviting him to parties. But he would often go anyway, where he would stop time and wander around pretending to talk to people while they where frozen. He was lonely.
It was a very lonely ability. When he stopped time he was completely alone. He began stopping time for longer and longer, he wanted to know if there was anyone else like him. Anyone else who could move between time. He started searching. He stopped time for what seemed an entire day, searching for anyone else who could continue on.
He became obsessed. He stopped time for a week, he packed a bag, got on his bike and rode around the city looking for any sign of change. Nothing. No one. he stopped time for years and years, he taught himself to fly an aeroplane and searched the earth from the sky. He landed in different countries. He used to be a little scared of foreign language countries. But now he felt free.
He started to let himself go. He walked around naked, in huge cities, through crowds of people, he screamed as loud as he could. He talked to frozen strangers.
Nothing. There was no one else like him.
One day when he was running naked through a huge city, covered in butter, screaming,
"I AM THE MASTER OF THE WORLD AND THE MAGICAL KEEPER OF TIME!" (he had become quite confident)
he slipped over on a wet plastic bag and broke his pelvis. It was very painful.
He lay on the footpath, naked, surrounded by pedestrians staring at him. They stopped to help him, but he couldn't understand them. He tried to stop time, to learn their language, but he couldn't, he was in too much pain.
They helped him into an ambulance. They were very confused. He spent two weeks in hospital.
His parents and his sister flew over to look after him in the hospital. They asked him how he got there, what happened. He tried to stop time to make up a good excuse, but his brain had associated the trauma of his broken pelvis with his ability to stop time and it was impossible.
So he told the truth, the whole story, the years of searching, everything. They asked him why he was covered in butter and naked, but he couldn't really answer them, that would be a mystery. In fact the whole thing was a mystery to his family; and to his friends. They all laughed at his story, they thought he was joking. But underneath they were impressed, it was such a strange, detailed and ultimately flawed story but at least it wasn't boring.
He left the hospital with his family and they flew back home. He lived with his parents for a while, at first he was embarrassed, but he got over it.
And now he fumbles through life with everyone else.
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