PIP/Chronos/It Begins

It was an average winter day on Otterbay Island. A thick blanket of snow coated the ground except for the roads that were kept clear by a practiced team of expert snow removal trucks. Being so far north, and the effects of lake-effect snow; Otterbay always has a white Christmas . . . well almost. There were only two years in the town's history that there wasn't a white Christmas . . . and last year wasn't one of them. Christmas was over now. It was time for school to begin again. Now you would think that all the snow would mean that the town of Otterbay would have a significant number of snow days . . . the opposite was true, however. With an expert fleet of trucks, and bus drivers skilled in winter driving; Otterbay very rarely had to call school off due to the weather.

So it was that Ethan sat in class, bored as his teacher, Miss Mallory, droned on about things that he already had a clear understanding of. It wasn't that he didn't care . . . it was just so repetitive. Was is his fault that it took everyone else so much longer to understand the rudimentary knowledge that was being taught in the fourth grade class? He couldn't wait to get home and do some real learning with the online school his parents had enrolled him in. They insisted that public school was necessary for his social education as they called it; but Ethan saw no point in it at all. It was just a place to be made fun of on a regular basis and be bored to death.

He took his gaze from the street outside to look around the classroom. Next to him, as always, was Dana. Dana has been his best friend since kindergarten. She wasn't as smart as Ethan, but she was loyal and true. There was nothing she wouldn't do for Ethan; and he felt the same way about her. She was everything you expect in a best friend; and more. He let his gaze follow the sound of light snoring to the back of the room. There, behind a book propped up like a shield, slept his only other friend. Brad was a rebel . . . or at least really wanted to be. His parents were really lenient; allowing him to have pretty much any piercings he wanted even though he was only nine like Dana and Ethan. He liked to play up the rebellious angle; but it was mostly an act. No matter how much he tried to be the bad boy, he almost always ended up following the rules . . . especially the ones that made sense. All together that made Brad a great friend . . . and then there was the fact that his sister was the most awesome girl Ethan had ever met.

Audrey was the real deal. She was a rebel street artist. She wasn't afraid of the trespassing and vandalism charges . . . she had to create her art. That passion drew Ethan's affections like a moth to . . . you know that metaphor is overused . . . her passion drew him like a ship to a siren's call. And that's how it felt; like he had to pursue her even though his adoration would be dashed like a ship on a reef. Around her Ethan could barely talk; and what came out of his mouth always sounded stupid. It didn't help that she was fourteen, gorgeous, popular despite hating popularity, and very well-built for her age. She had a mother who was mixed African-American and Caucasian and a Chinese father; and she seemed to get all of the most beautiful features of all three races. She was so far out of Ethan's league he could barely conceive a situation that would actually end up with them together . . . but he did envision those possibilities regularly despite the fact that she was his friend's sister.

Ethan rolled his eyes back to the front of the classroom to the clock. It stubbornly ticked the seconds away at about one-thirty six. It was sooo slow. Ethan just wished that it would hurry up so he could get home to some real learning. Suddenly the second hand began to sweep more quickly across the clock face. Ethan raised his head; and looked more intently at the clock. The second hand got quicker and quicker as it spun about the face. Around him the teacher and his fellow students seemed to be moving quicker as well. It was almost like a movie on fast-forward except there was no jerkiness to their movements; it was all much more fluid. He watched in awe as the world sped by around him until the bell broke him from his reverie. He looked back at the clock; and it did, indeed, say that it was three o'clock.

Around him the students gathered their things; once again moving at a normal pace. Had he done that? Did he somehow accelerate the passage of time? It wasn't really possible, was it? Maybe he had found a way to blur out the drudgery of the day; making it seem as though time had gone faster? That must have been what happened. His brain was just storing less of the event; the opposite of what people experience when it feels like everything slows down. He put his books and school supplies in his backpack; and made his way out. Miss Mallory was giving each student a send off as they passed her on the way out, as she usually did. As he passed her, she said, "It was nice to see you paying more attention, Ethan. I know it's hard with how boring class must be for you. Have a nice evening." then she moved on to the next student. How was he paying more attention? He was looking up while time seemed to go faster . . . could that be what she was talking about?

He was trying to figure it all out as Dana nudged him. "Hey weirdo," she said, "what was with you the last couple of hours of class?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You were just staring around, and moving your head really slowly like you were in molasses or something. I swear you didn't blink for like ten minutes one time. That's just creepy, Ethan . . . and kind of impossible. How did you do that?"

Ethan was trying to form a response as they left the schoolhouse. He stopped abruptly as he saw Audrey Chung. The good thing about living on a small island is that there are only enough kids on the whole island to have one school building for the entire population. The bad thing about living on a small island is that there are only enough kids on the whole island to have one school building for the entire population. He stared at the goddess of his entire universe as she waited by the road for her dad to come and pick her up along with her brother. He was transfixed by her beauty, and it seemed like the world had slowed down so he could take it all in. Actually . . . it did seem like the world had slowed down. It was the exact opposite of what had occurred in the classroom. Everything was moving in slow motion; the snowbird casually floating through the air, the snowball making a gradual arch between Billy Madison and Haley Johnson, the car careening ever so slowly out of control toward the benches where Audrey waited . . . wait. That car was going to hit Audrey! Suddenly everything sped back up. No no no no! Not yet. Audrey was going to get hit by that car. He had to do something . . . but what?

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