Take Time to Think

'If you had the power to stop time, what would you do with it?'

That was where our conversation had begun - a simple, non-confrontational thought experiment to gauge my friends' morality... Right? Well, yes and no. Mostly I was just looking for some inspiration; ideas don't always strike me unawares.

Freddy said he'd rob a bank if he could. Pretty boring answer if you ask me - from experience I know it's actually easier to steal the stuff than the cash to buy it.

Luke surprisingly put some genuine thought into it. He figured electronics probably wouldn't work, so stopping time to watch TV or play video games was out of the question. Instead it made more sense to stop time to get important stuff done, like napping.

And then there was Taylor. I think we've all known a Taylor at some point in our lives. His guess was to sneak into the girl's locker room, take pictures and steal their clothes... One of those people you just know will end up on some sort of register.

I'd had to put a stop to it. Putting a pause on time was little effort on my part, though I tried to avoid it as much as I could. I learned the consequences of using time powers the hard way - in a trial by fire, so to speak.

If nothing else, stopping time gave me a chance to reflect on it all.

It all started on my fifth birthday. Stupid, ignorant me decided to wish that the day would last forever. I blew out the candles, and everything stopped. I thought my dad was playing a prank. I remember that I got really upset about it, but I soon figured out (more or less) how to turn it on and off.

Back then, I thought having a super power was great, I didn't even care that I'd trigger it without meaning to. I learned what I could and couldn't get away with, and how to avoid calling attention to my powers. I thought I had it all figured out... That was until I grew a mustache in fourth grade. You see, if you put a pause on time itself, you keep moving on a separate time stream. Therefore, you continue to age. My dad started to worry I had some sort of pituitary tumor, spending thousands of dollars on tests, only to be told that I was probably just an early bloomer. I've recently tried working out the math - I think I've skipped about three years in total, so it's really no wonder.

That's when I decided to cut down. I'd wasted three years, stopping time to sleep, to play outside, to prank teachers, to go places I shouldn't go and steal things I shouldn't have. I was a seventeen-year-old stuck in ninth grade. Though it made me quite popular among the girls, and helped me lie my way into R-rated movies, I hated standing out. I thought the whole point of time powers was to stay out of trouble, but more often than not, I had older guys picking fights, and grown-ups sneering at me whenever I went out with Jenny Dobson from my grade.

I swore to myself I'd only use it for emergencies, and only stop for a few minutes at a time. I used to trigger it to study for exams, now I freeze during the test, check the answer sheet on the teacher's desk, or peek at the answers written by someone smarter. It's not that I was all that dumb - on my own merit, I could manage a C, but dad only took me for pizza if I brought back an A. He couldn't understand how much harder tests had become since he was at school.

But Taylor... That Taylor... He just had to go and make everyone uncomfortable. It wasn't the first weird thing he'd said. You know, most teenage boys have those thoughts - they just don't say them out loud. Of course there were... Things... I wanted to experiment with... With Jenny. But for me, that meant seeing what it would be like to kiss her, or to do that thing where when you're watching a movie, you pretend to yawn to put your arm around her. I fantasized about falling in love with her, taking her on dates, doing the things that couples do, and eventually, maybe even proposing to her.

Taylor didn't think like that at all. He had an older brother, I think, that had let him watch stuff way too old for him when he was growing up. Sometimes he tried showing us. He'd be all, "Hey, have you seen this funny video?" And we'd be gullible enough to crowd around his phone, him grinning and laughing all the while as our expressions twisted to sheer disgust. Look, we weren't sheltered kids, alright? We all took sex ed, we learned about puberty and the mechanics and all that shit, but we got to learn that stuff in context. We'd had plenty of embarrassing conversations with our parents - we got a good laugh out of it all. Taylor... He was just a straight-up perv, and in that frozen moment in time, I had to ask myself why we were still friends with him.

The number of times I wanted to punch him... But I guess having powers makes me like a superhero? And being a hero means having responsibility. I didn't want to end up like ReMarkable... I still remember the headline - 'Super Kills Man in Bar Fight.' When you've got super strength, I suppose it's important to keep a level head... He'd gotten drunk, and argued with a guy harassing a young woman. The guy threw a punch, and ReMarkable turned him into a meat pretzel. He went from the kind of hero who reads to kids in the hospital and volunteers at soup kitchens, to the most dangerous man in America. He lost everything: his career, his mansion, his kids, his credibility, and his freedom - with two consecutive life sentences.

I dreaded all that happening to me. I decided the only solution was to remain neutral and keep my power a secret. People like Taylor made that more difficult than it sounds.

I'd overhear the girls talking about how much they'd love for someone to beat the crap out of him - for some knight in shining armor to finally vanquish the creep. And you know, a lot of the guys felt the same. They'd say things like (and I wholeheartedly agree) 'he gives men a bad name,' and 'he's the reason none of the girls will hang out with us.'

Sat in that cafeteria, with time frozen, staring at his dumb grinning face as he twisted one more innocent conversation into an excuse to take a jab at yet another girl in our grade. Oh he'd made it quite clear why he'd use his hypothetical powers to stalk the girls in the locker room, and exactly who's clothes he would steal. Then he'd proceeded to use his sway over our discussion to shame and make fun of other girls. Darcy Cooper was usually the target of his rants, which left the rest of us convinced he was obsessed with her. At the mere mention of her name, I'd snapped and paused it.

And I hated him for it.

It wasn't a life or death situation. I wasn't saving anyone's life or deliberately trying to make someone's life better - I'd used my superpower to make a sexist jerk shut the hell up. Because of him, I was aging seconds more ahead of everyone else. I was already seventeen in ninth grade. If I'd stopped him every time he said something stupid, I swear I'd be thirty already.

... But I had a plan...

You see, a few weeks ago, I had gone to the internet with the same question that started all this.

'If you had the power to stop time, what would you do with it?'

Obviously, being the internet, most of the responses had been inappropriate or straight-up deranged. Still, I ended up finding one answer that really stuck with me.

It was from one of those randos with an anime profile pic and a nonsense, cutesy-sounding name followed by a bunch of numbers. Their comment was just five words...

'I'd take time to think.'

Apparently the whole forum got curious as to what they meant by that. I didn't have a chance to ask before someone got there before me.

'Well, I'm neurodivergent. It takes me longer to figure out what people mean when they talk to me. So if I could, I'd have a few extra seconds to think and plan my responses.'

Taking time to think... Just to think... A few seconds, that's all.

And so that's what I did. I put a pause on Taylor's moronic spiel and I thought. I started with a deep breath to calm my shaking fists. I thought about everything that had led up to that moment. I recalled the consequences of using my powers, I thought about the three years I'd gained on top of everyone else, and I came to a realisation.

I didn't have to be friends with the guy. I didn't have to pander to his idiocy, or give him the satisfaction of my outbursts. I didn't have to waste a fist, a thought, or a second on him.

I started time up again. I stood, and I smacked my hands on the table as loud as I could to get everyone's attention and stop him from finishing his sentence.

"Why should anyone waste their time indulging a pathetic, misogynistic asshole like you?"

I want to say that the entire cafeteria cheered and clapped, you know, like those people online who add that to their stories to make them feel good about themselves. But that wasn't the case. Instead, I was met with a mild chuckle at best, in a flood of silence. To be honest, I hadn't felt like I'd used the right words, I mean, what were the perfect words to use in that situation? With my cheeks hot from the hundred sets of eyes on the back of my head, I picked up my tray of food and left, finding the only empty table. I forced myself to eat with my head held high, fighting not to blush too much as half the room continued to stare at me.

Steadily, conversations whipped up again, and people went on like nothing had happened.

I sat alone, finishing my lunch... Until Jenny took the seat next to mine. Then Luke came and sat opposite, with Freddy beside him. And Jenny's friend Erika came over. Patricia. Darcy. Jacob. Ben. Rowan. Soon, every seat was full, with no room left for Taylor.

You know... It hurt. We'd been friends for years, and it all just stopped. And I looked at Taylor left alone, with a blank expression decorating his face... Well, I hope it gave him time to think.