[ WP ] A person with the ability to stop time suddenly notices some one who is unaffected by the freeze .

The most useful thing about manipulating time was having the ability to stop it. It was something I learned after practicing with my newly-discovered ability for while. I did n't used to have any sort of powers. I was just your normal kid in high school, who happened to find a very expensive over-sized watch laying on the ground. Why would n't I pick it up? I would've never guessed it had the ability to manipulate time. Shoot, I was surprised I found it first. 
 
 At first, I used the time-stopping ability mainly for trivial things, like checking out a really hot girl without any consequences or cheating on a test. I was a high school guy, what was I going to do? Be helpful? After a while, I decided to use it for better things, like sleeping as long as I wanted or getting from place to place. Of course, when my mom started hassling me for staying up all night, I decided to stop using it for sleep. Eventually, I ended up using it to do pointless things, like talking walks or homework, so I could spend more time on meaningful things. Not that I had many meaningful things to do, but just in case. Honestly, when you're life becomes almost endless and time becomes meaningless, there really is n't anything that seems to have meaning left. 
 
 It was a cold September evening that those things changed, however. I'd picked up reading and long walks as a hobby, simultaneously of course. There was no danger of being attacked or getting run down by a drunk, so there was no harm in it. I was flipping through The Picture of Dorian Gray, trying to see what life was like for a man who was immortal in a sense. Not your literal sense of immortal, but something sort of like it. I'd been walking at a brisk pace to fight off the chill in the air when I heard a splash. Normally, I'd have never thought twice about it, but I'd frozen time and there was n't a single puddle around me. 
 
 When I glanced up, there he was, another young man like me wandering the streets alone in the dead of night. Unlike any other young man, however, he was not frozen in place. It was impossible to distinguish anything about him; he'd shrouded himself with a grey hooded jacket that hid his face and his hands were stuffed into the pockets of his dark grey jeans. All I could tell was that he was a bit skinny and that by the way he wore his clothes he was probably around my age. 
 
 He'd noticed my movement towards him and his head snapped upwards as quickly as mine had. We locked eyes from across the street. I could n't recognize him, but he clearly recognized me because I saw it on his face before he fled. Naturally, I was befuddled, but I chased him down. After all, how can you hide if you're the only other person capable of moving? Thankfully, I'd become moderately more athletic since I'd started freezing time and was able to catch up to him easily and grab him by the back of his hood. When it was pulled off, he tried to cover his face but I recognized him immediately. He'd dyed a gold streak in his jet black hair for some reason, which I found baffling but knew was just a part of being in high school. Now I wondered about it though; when I saw the time streaming from my watch, I tried to touch it and was left with a gold-colored scar on my skin. 
 
 `` Kyle?'' He took his hands from his face and we locked eyes again, his hazel eyes analyzing me as my brown eyes analyzed him 
 
 `` Hey, Paxton,'' he ended up saying with a small wave. We did n't exactly know each other, but we had a few classes together in school. He was a quiet kid, whereas I had the tendency to be the kid sent to the principal for my smart mouth. `` Looks like you have one too.'' He held up his wrist and, sure enough, wrapped around it was a hulking gold timepiece that looked almost the same as mine. The glass on his was unscratched and an image of a family crest painted onto the watch face, where mine was blank, though. 
 
 `` Yeah. What a coincidence, huh?'' 
 
 `` Sure is. Who'd you get yours from?'' 
 
 `` Uhh, actually, I found it laying on the side of the road.'' 
 
 `` Really?'' he furrowed his brow, as if that did n't make any sense. And, considering what it was, it should n't have, but it was the truth. `` They're supposed to be cared for better than that. I know I would n't leave it on the side of the road. I might have to talk to Vernon about this.'' 
 
 `` Vernon?'' I tilted my head. Now he was n't making sense. `` Who's that?'' 
 
 `` You do n't know very much about it, do you Pax?'' 
 
 `` I know it manipulates time. I'm pretty sure that's all that really matters.'' A sudden and enigmatic smile split his face. Kyle was known for being an odd kid, but it was almost dread-inducing to see the smile he was giving me. 
 
 `` What've you been doing with that watch, anyway? Checking out girls? Cheating on math tests? No, history tests. After all, you can go back and watch all of that history happen. Seriously, what have you been up to?'' Kyle was beginning to freak me out. His voice was so eager yet oddly harsh too. Each word syllable was accusatory, and every word a sentence. 
 
 `` Uhh, I mean, what's it matter? I'm not doing any harm.'' 
 
 `` You've got this kind of power, and you waste on yourself.'' He shook his head. 
 
 `` And what, you've been using it like some damn saint? You going around saving lives and pulling kittens out of trees?'' His grin grew wider and more devious. 
 
 `` I suppose you never really had a guide, huh? You could do so much more. Be so much more than Paxton Thorne. But, fulfilling selfish desires could be your thing if you want. Comes across as pitiful to me.'' 
 
 `` You talk like you're something special!'' I spat back at him. `` Do you have some kind of God-complex now? You get to decide who's got value and who has n't? I'll let you in on a little secret, no one is important! We'll all die some day, just the same, no matter how much time we spend changing things. Hell, maybe it makes us all important. I do n't know!'' I felt my anger boiling inside of me. Never in my life had I lashed out at someone; I just was n't an angry person. And my hate and frustration, while directed at Kyle, seemed to be oddly abstracted from Kyle himself. It felt more like a seething hatred for myself. Something that had been welling up for a while but was finally expressing itself. The past handful of times I'd frozen time, I'd sat and wondered if there was more I could with myself, but I brushed it aside as having no meaning and being pointless like everything else. 
 
 `` That's the right attitude,'' he said in voice that an off-putting mixture of cheerful and grim. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a plain white business card and handed it to me. In gold leaf, it read `` Timely Repairs'' and had an address on it. `` In case you decide to make something of that spirit.'' 
 
 `` There is no way I'm going to check this place out,'' I told him, but slipped the business card in my pocket anyway. He shrugged. 
 
 `` Well, see you in statistics on Monday.'' Though that was the truth, something about the way he said it seemed to imply that he believed it was n't set in stone. He turned around and walked off, giving a small wave before he turned a corner and disappeared. Knowing I would n't be able to get back into my book, I decided to head home myself. As my fingers ran over the gold leaf on the card, I shook my head. There was no way I was going to check that place out. 
 
 I was still frustrated when I returned home, though my seething anger had mostly settled. For some reason, I checked on my mom as if she might have moved while I was gone, even though she could n't have. But, seeing Kyle out there was beginning to make me question things. Of course, she had n't moved a centimeter, and I walked back to my room. I slid the business card out of my pocket and stared at it a moment. There was no way I was going to check that place out. 
 
 The watch was slipped off my wrist and the time set back to normal. It felt like an entire day passed while I was gone, and that was genuinely possible. There was n't exactly a way or reason to keep track of time while it was frozen. Either way, I was exhausted and quickly fell asleep. Unfortunately, my sleep was inordinately restless that night and I overslept to compensate. Thankfully, it was Saturday and it would n't be an issue. I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my watch, but when I grabbed it I felt the very plain card stock of the business card under my fingertips. There was no harm in going to check that place out, was there? 
 

