I’m in my early 20s, in college and I work two jobs to make ends meet. My life was stressful, trying to get a degree in architecture while being screamed at by angry customers at my jobs, I wanted a way to finally relax and not worry about anything. I have Saturdays off, and one day I decided to go to a handful of yard sales around my town to waste time and possibly get a good deal on something. While I drove around I seen a sign with “YARD SALE” written in black marker, pointing to a small, abandoned looking house. It had a tiny garage attached to it, and there an old man sat on a lawn chair with a small case infront of him holding money inside of it.
He seemed excited when he seen my car park on the side of the road infront of his house. His hair a dark grey with the most empty eyes I’ve ever seen, yet he greeted me politely.
“Hey! What’re you lookin’ for?” He said with a big smile.
“Hello! I think I’m just browsing.” I returned the positive tone.
We started to talk about random subjects. His life, where he got some of the things he was selling and eventually we got onto the topic of my life. When talking about it I almost immediately complained of my stress, and how college was adding to it. I could see the man thinking, after I finished my rant he made eye contact with me.
“I think I have the perfect thing for you, and you can have it for free.” He said, shuffling back to the tiny garage.
I followed him from a safe distance, not wanting to invade his privacy or go where he didn’t want me to. His body was surrounded by darkness for a moment, then he came out with a tiny box.
“Whats this?” I asked curiously.
“It can stop time itself, darlin’. All ya’ have to do is turn this here flashlight on and boom. Everything stops.” He spoke with confidence.
I ended up taking it, feeling bad if I didn’t. I felt like nobody has taken the time to talk to the man, and it made me feel a bit better to rant about it especially seeing he was fully interested in what I was saying. I went to a few more yard sales then went home for the night to wash the clothes I got and put the small glass figures I got onto my shelf. I put the flashlight on the shelf as well before I went to bed.
The next morning I sat up in my bed yawning. My alarm blaring since it hit 7am, feeling like I only had 20 minutes of sleep I got up and got ready. My first job is at a popular coffee shop, and I work as a barista. That day particularly, a customer was screaming at me over the counter that I gave her regular whipped cream instead of light. This happened more than once, when I told a man his coupon for two dollars off his order expired a week ago, he started to yell about how he was entitled to the two dollars off since he’s been coming here for a long time.
After I finished my second job, I went home almost in tears. I was exhausted and knew I had to wake up early for college the next day. Out of options, or maybe to make my life feel a bit better, I clicked the flashlight on and off before I went to bed. The next morning my alarm didn’t go off, I started to panic even though my alarm clock still said 6am. This time though, I felt wide awake and alert from the first time in awhile.
I got ready quickly and started to drive to work, all cars were parked but still running. After I got to work and seen that none of my coworkers were responding and standing perfectly still, I realized that the flashlight worked. I was happy at the time, I spent my days exploring the world since I was by myself in it. The problems started after three weeks.
I realized that the people around me, stuck in a pose of walking across the street started bloating, their skin a yellow and light blue color. Fearful I tried to click the light again, to change everything back to normal but nothing happened. I did it over and over, to no avail until I was in tears about the situation. I told myself it was nothing so I had the courage to go outside.
Most of the people were gradually getting thinner, some were starting to decompose within a few months. Masses of skin fell off their bones onto the ground near them, by now the entire city smelt horrible but they all stood still. I found a large house and put blankets over the people living in it, in fear that they could still see me but couldn’t scream for help. I hid there for a long time.
A year has passed, I’ve went around the world and done everything a person could do I am now 25. Every day for hours I would try to click the flashlight to make time go back to normal, everything was frozen besides me. I went to the man’s house that I got it from, barging inside I seen that he was long gone. His flesh hanging off of his body, maggots frozen in time were in place of feasting of him. I screamed at him in a blind rage, I did that for a solid hour before gaining my composure. I sobbed infront of him before going back to the house I was staying in.
Two years had passed, I’m 26 now. Everyone has decomposed completely. I gave up on the flashlight, accepting my guilt that would last forever. Every food has rotted and turned into dust of a pile of mold, I ruined the world and I can’t stand the only one in it.
It is December 30th, a day until the next year. As I’m writing this I’ve clicked the light at least 500 times, I decided the only thing to save myself is death and I apologize to anyone who had to wake up to see the city of decomposition. I’ve eaten the people around me to stay for this long, I feel disgusting, and guilty of every action I’ve done in that time. I’ve written down every action in hopes that someone would see this, I’m currently sitting against a tree in the middle of the city. If time spontaneously unfreezes I pray that nobody touch the light.