Blink of an Eye

“Blink of an eye”

The world had ceased to move as if it was a photo sitting in a frame on someone’s desk. Passing birds were now motionless and did not fall out of the sky, a jogger doing their morning run was frozen in mid stride along the bridge that went over the street below. The only sound that could be heard were the footsteps of one man. He kept his hands in his pockets as he walked on the sideway that went under the bridge. Looking to his left were a few cars supposedly traveling to their destinations but a force beyond their control paused them in their tracks.

Brushing his hair back as he kept walking along the concrete walkway where cracks had begun to form, and the bright yellow dandelions had sported in defiance of man’s attempt to hold back nature. As he went along his way, he turned the corner to another street and passed by individuals frozen in time. This was a sight he had become accustomed to since he was a young boy around the age of nine. He could recall the first time vividly in every detail.

That day when it first happened, he was walking back into his house on a cool cloudy evening.  He distinctly recalled looking up at the dark clouds that hovered above like a blanket of cotton. It seemed like they wanted to spring a leak anytime now and begin raining on the city below. He wouldn’t realize what had happened till he walked inside, and the yellowish tint of the lightbulb gave a quite clear distinction from the soft twilight outside. Sniffing the air flooded his senses with the rich aroma of the evening meal, what was he smelling, something with beef perhaps. A moment later he noticed the scent and smiled as he figured it out. Beef pasta Hamburger Helper.

It was going to be a good night for sure, he loved the rich flavor of the meat accented by the flavor that seasoned sauce and egg noodles that went with it. He was practically drooling at the mouth when he smelled it.

“I can’t wait for dinner, when is going to be ready?” he asked his mother but when he heard no answer, he looked up to see her standing motionless and that was not all, just when he thought she was pulling a prank on him he could see the clouds of steam from the cooking food also frozen in time. His heart started to race as he realized what was happening but didn’t know why.

“Dad, dad, dad…” he said as panic made his voice rise while running into the living room. But when he saw his father was also motionless and even the tv was too. He couldn’t figure it out and hopped up onto the couch and poked his check gently and it left a small indent on his check but didn’t come back out like it was clay to be molded. He fell off the couch backwards when he missed his footing while dismounting the sofa. He rushed back outside and looked for any sign that it only happening inside his house but far above in the sky a single bird perfectly still. In a panic he ran all around the neighborhood trying to find someone not frozen but to no avail.

His shoulders slumped, he walked back home and instead of walking back inside he walked across the street to the small park that his and family had dubbed the sand park due to the simple fact that there was no grass in the entire area just sand. Also in the small park was a swing set, slide and a small jungle gym. It felt like hours had passed with out sign of the world around him changing. It wouldn’t be till he fell dozed off on the swing for a moment. And then the sound of a chirping bird caught his attention, and he then spotted it in the tree outside the park. Flapping its wings like nothing had happened. With such hope filling him he ran back to his house to see everything had returned to normal.

Rushing in he gave his mother a hug making her almost stumble. “Easy sweetie, you don’t want to make me mess up dinner, do you?”

Shaking his head no and looked tears almost coming to his eyes “No I wouldn’t but I’m just happy to see you mom” She patted his head gently as she held the spatula in the other hand. “Mommy is happy to see you too sweetie, now why don’t you get the dinner table ready and tell dad dinner is almost ready” With a smile and a nod confirming he heard her and went off to tell his dad.

Drawn back to the present day when he saw something in the distance and his heart sunk in his chest. It was two cars in the middle of a collision, and he was reminded of why he came to think of his ability as a gift and not a curse. Sure, for a while he hated the ability as a kid all you want is time to move forward to be an adult and do all the things you couldn’t do as a kid. But now he valued his gift to see life from a unique perspective and when he could save a life or two. Rushing toward the cars as they were just at the point of impact, the air bags in either car haven’t even deployed yet.

Opening the door of the first one he could see a driver in his mid-forties bracing for impact with a look of terror on his face. He unbuckled him and pulled him from the car to the sidewalk. It took some effort on his part to lift the man, but he was successful. Returning to the crash, he walked over to the second car and in the driver, seat was an older woman and in the back seat was two kids. He did the same thing with the mother, pulled her over his shoulder and walked to where he set the other man down and a brief time later returned with both kids. Once he was satisfied that they were out of danger and not in a spot where the cars would not crash into and no one else was in the way he focused and let time resume.

The loud crunching of metal on metal rang out across the area, being heard for a short distance. The two drivers and kids looked around flabbergasted at what just happened and all they could see was a man walking away. The mother instantly took her kids into a close hug and sobbed about what almost happened, meanwhile the man was just looking at the wreckage in shock that he somehow ended up there on the sidewalk.

A smile crept onto the man’s face as he walked away as this incident reminded him how he turned his burden into a blessing. And if he knew then what he knew now he would have used his ability more effectively as a kid too and instead of squandering it on looking up quiz results and sneaking into places where he didn’t belong. He still had no answer to how or why this ability came to him, but he was going to make the most of it while he still had the ability to do so.