Francis rummaged around the dusty attic. He found an old steamer trunk that was opened and looked through it. He found old clothes and photographs of long dead relatives. He noticed the floor of the trunk seemed a bit too high. He knocked on it and noticed it sounded hollow. He found an indention by the side and lifted out what turned out to be a false bottom. Inside the hidden compartment was a stopwatch. He picked it up. On the back there were some strange marking etched into it. The watch looked perfectly normal. It wasn't running, though. There was only one button on the top. He pushed it in.
Suddenly Francis felt odd. Something was not right. He looked around. The dust that had been slowing swirling in the beams of sunlight coming in through the round, slatted window had stopped swirling and were hanging suspended in mid-air. He walked over to them and noticed his footsteps made no sound. He opened the window and looked outside.
Outside looked like a 3D photograph. There was a bird stopped in mid flight and a leaf haning in mid-air. A woman jogging down the street was perfectly still in mid stride. Francis looked down at the watch and pushed the button in again.
Sound started to come back from the world. The woman jogged on, the bird flew off, and the leaf wafted to the ground. Francis pushed the button again. The world again came to a stop. He looked back at the woman jogger. He had seen in around the neighborhood. She was about 30, tall and slender with her light brown hair tied in a pony tail. She wore pink jogging shorts and a gray top over a sports bra. Francis grinned wider. |