Chapter 1

In the city of New York, on the streets of Time's Square, a young boy's figure was aimlessly wandering around the streets. His orange hair stretched out over his eyes covering him and his expression. He wasn't even looking at where he was going, he was just going along the crowd, with his head cast down. By looking at his clothing, one could tell that he wasn't poor or in deplorable condition, even his figure was well built, towering over most of the people his age, but yet he looked depressed, his shoulders were slightly hunched forward, his eyes were downcast.

To top it off he was holding quite a large box, and even his backpack looked heavy, which just made him look more depressed. If one looked at him closely, they would see that his eyes weren't unfocused or downcast, he was just looking at something.

He was gazing down at a strange circular pendant, with nostalgia, regret, and many other emotions. Just as he was about to dive deeper into his thoughts, he rammed into something, or more precisely someone.

He groaned as he rubbed his head, to soothe the pain. When he lifted his head he was looking at something, that didn't... make sense.

People had stopped moving, cars had stopped moving, birds had stopped flying. Everything was frozen.

"E-Everyone...what happened, all of a sudden? D-Don't tell me this is a prank?"

"Haha-...what the hell"

His head was becoming blank. His feet staggered. The throbs in his chest accelerated. His only thoughts were

What the hell is happening here?

******

Yeah, you're now wondering what the heck is happening here, right? So for that, we have to rewind back in time to the morning of that day.

A sharp ringing sound echoed through a bedroom of an apartment on a Monday morning, followed by a bang!!, thud!!, and crash!!, and that ended the morning orchestra of this particular apartment and so began the morning ravings of the tenant of this flat, who would, unfortunately, face the next unlucky event of the morning that most of the people are familiar with...

'Ohhhhhh no no no no no no no..... this isn't happening right???'

"WWWWWHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYY" a shrill cry ripped through the building

The day wasn't starting off well for Helio.

It was supposed to be flawless, absolutely perfect, filled with exciting opportunities for my future, What could possibly go wrong?.

Everything. Everything could absolutely go wrong and it did.

******

It was a chilly night a week ago, I was sitting there in the dark of the night, alone with fatigue and defeat accompanying me in front of my computer, its dim light highlighting my dreary eyes rummaging through emails in the last effort before calling it a night, that was when I struck Cleopatra's 3rd egg. Now there I SHOULD have been, ready to claim my prize.

But instead, I was there in my home, going through the consequences of not waking on time. While trying to make up for a lost time, I tried to brush my teeth WHILE simultaneously making breakfast and putting on clothes, not a good decision, certainly NOT. I MIGHT have eaten scrambled eggs mixed with toothpaste, but I CERTAINLY had to wear my jeans upside down AND I certainly had to make a SUSPICIOUS looking mark on my suit look inconspicuous.

That's when I finally learned why mothers continuously keep on nagging their children, OH, How I regret not paying attention to her.

As you might or might not have expected... that's not the end. It gets worse, way worse.

Well, I certainly didn't expect to end up in the wrong building, which surprisingly ended up to be a women's clothing store, and certainly not with my jeans dipped in mud and water. The stares the women gave me weren't something I would like to go through again, especially the receptionist.

After that, when I headed for the next building, I faced an unexpected situation where I seem to be in the SAME store as before but a different section especially for...women's undergarment...where I met the same receptionist from before...OH, FOR THE LOVE OF-

I practically burned with embarrassment, as her eyes bore through me with criticism as I stood there frozen in front of the door. Guess who I had to ask for directions to the men's toilet? Yes, that very same receptionist, luckily their store also had a men's clothing section, or else I would have literally died in embarrassment.

Alright, whatever, I got the correct building this time. Nothing else could possibly backfire on me, right? RIGHT?

Finally, there I was standing in front of the correct building, ready to claim my price-----

"I'm - I'm here… for..." I wheezed from over-exerting myself "I'm here for an interview. My name is - "

"You missed it. Have a nice day."

----WHAT, OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOOOOOD

and then seemingly as a last cruel answer from god to my words, the sky's darkened and the wind picked up speed, it was as if God wanted to even take away my misery. OH Boy, How wrong I was, he just wanted to watch me suffer more.

It was getting a lot windy now, a lot of people were going back to their homes, to the warmth of their homes, and I was one of them. But, not exactly, I was now standing in front of my apartment building, with my mouth hung open, and standing motionless, looking at a bunch of suspicious-looking men moving things out of... MY HOUSE.

WAIT, WHAT...

" Hey, What in the world do you think--"

" OH, we are just taking back things that belong to us," called out a snarky voice, and then seemingly as a last cruel joke from the righteous devil above, all of my pent-up misery appeared in front of me, smirking.

There he stood, with his fedora hat slanted across his forehead, a wrinkled eye underneath his hat, and a pitch-black cloak hanging across a brown shirt and wrinkled, ripped-up jeans.

"HEY, OLD MAN, I already pai--,'

"Yeah, Yeah, I know you paid the rent, but....it seems you forgot your debt, this is just a way to pay back your debt, boy,"

"But, you can't just go on and take away my th----,"

"Oh, shut up, first of all, we have tolerated your debt just because of your age and situation, but you're taking too long, you should be grateful to me, or else it would have been the big boss standing in front of you, instead of me," he glowered with seething annoyance, as he turned around, and headed out with his goons and my stuff, while I stood there with my mouth open.

"Oh, before I go, check out the envelope....take it as a parting gift," soon he disappeared into the corner and out of my stupefied sight.

******

I was back in Time's Square now, walking along aimlessly through the crowd, with a huge backpack and box on me. I had no home now, all of my belongings are gone, and I have no money at all, well, how ironic, just last night I had dreamed of becoming a millionaire, but now, look where am I, standing on the opposite side of it...WAIT, that means I am now a homeless man.

Hah, I gave out a dry chuckle, as I realized my predicament,...just as I was falling into depression, the envelope came into view, it was just there sitting on top of the box.

Hmm, He said it was supposed to be a farewell gift, but even then, why would they give it to me of all people, I have no connection with them, and yet.....why.

Confusion and suspicion filled my brain, as I opened the envelope to come across something astonishing,

How is it possible? I gasped as I realized, It almost looks like the one aunt gav----

THUD, I slammed into someone,

"Oh, sorry for--"

I groaned as I rubbed my head, to soothe the pain. When I lifted my head, I was looking at something, that didn't... make sense.

People had stopped moving, cars had stopped moving, birds had stopped flying. Everything was frozen. Literally frozen, nothing was moving.

The box, slipped from my hands, as I frantically ran around, to processes what was happening. Glancing into an alley, I found a crow and cat, in mid-fight; the crow frozen in the air with the cat frozen below; in the middle of the street, a bunch of leaves frozen in mid-flight; water splashed from a puddle frozen mid-air; People were frozen around me in the middle of their actions.

"E-Everyone...what happened, all of a sudden? D-Don't tell me this is a prank?"

Just as I was about to dive deeper into insanity, I felt warm, no hot, very hot. My body was burning up fast, very fast.

My head was becoming blank. My feet staggered. The throbs in my chest accelerated, something strange was happening, but yet he suddenly felt so...nostalgic.

"Haha-...what the hell"

It was the landscape of daily life...but even so, the fact that time had stopped would not change.

Suddenly, my vision gradually began to fade away...it was almost as if I was suddenly struck by a spell of drowsiness, and soon, the throbs in my body reached a breaking point, and as I lost consciousness, I heard a sweet voice whisper

"Welcome back, Helio"

and I cried.....yet I felt happy.