Bro

Erick never thought anything special about himself. He was just a normal 15-year-old—school, games, texting friends,

repeat. Nothing crazy. Nothing legendary. Until the clock stopped.

It happened on a random Tuesday. He was sitting in class, bored out of his mind, staring at the ticking clock above the

board. Tick. Tick. Tick. Then… nothing. Silence.

At first, Erick thought the clock broke. But then he noticed something worse—everyone else had frozen. His teacher

stood mid-sentence. A pencil hung in the air like gravity forgot it existed.

Even the wind outside the window had stopped moving the trees.

"Yo… what?"

Erick whispered. He stood up slowly. His chair scraped loudly across the floor—the only sound in a completely silent

world. He waved his hand in front of his best friend's face. No reaction.

"Okay… this is not normal."

Heart pounding, Erick walked out of the classroom. The hallway was the same. Frozen students. Lockers half-open. A

dropped phone stuck mid-fall. It felt like the world had been paused. And somehow… he wasn't.

He ran outside. Cars were stopped in the middle of the road. A bird hung in the sky like a statue. Even the clouds

weren't moving.

"Am I dreaming?"

he muttered. Then he heard it. A voice.

"Not a dream."

Erick spun around. Standing behind him was a man dressed in all black, calm like this was just another normal day.

"Who are you?!"

Erick asked.

"Someone who's been waiting for you."

"For me? Bro, I don't even know you."

"You stopped time,"

the man said simply.

"No, I didn't."

Erick shook his head.

"You looked at the clock,"

the man continued. "And you wanted everything to stop."

Erick froze. Because… that was true. Just for a second, he had thought, I wish everything would just pause.

"And it did,"

the man said.

"Wait… you're saying I did this?"

Erick asked.

"Yes."

"So I can… control time?"

"Not yet,"

the man replied. "Right now, it's controlling you."

Erick looked around again. The frozen world didn't feel cool anymore. It felt wrong.

"How do I fix it?"

The man stepped closer. "You have to learn. Or this moment… stays forever."

"Forever?!"

Erick's voice cracked.

"Time doesn't restart unless you let it."

The man nodded.

Days passed. Or at least, it felt like days. Erick didn't need to eat. Didn't get tired. Because time wasn't moving.

The man trained him.

"Focus,"

he said. "Time isn't something you push. It's something you feel."

Erick tried again and again. Nothing. Frustration built up.