Stop Time

One

"How did it get so late so soon?" -Dr. Seuss

I'll always remember the night it all began. Rain was coming down in torrents. The streets were flooded, having put the street lights out, creating an impenetrable darkness that seemed to swallow up anything that went out in it. The electricity had gone off as well. One crack of sizzling lightening and a loud rumble of thunder had surrounded the house, the lights blinking off immediately after.

I was sitting at my desk at my laptop, surrounded by candles and an old lantern that I had found in the basement. The old house was large and drafty so I'd wrapped myself up in one of the old quilts that had been passed down to my family from my great grandparents who had come over from the old country. I liked to surround myself with things that told a story, the same way I would rather surround myself with candles than artificial light.

I enjoyed the sound of the rain as it pounded against the roof and the windows. It was comforting and it helped me to think as I typed away at the book I was working on. It had taken me several years to write, edit, and publish my first book. Once I had a contract with an editor and publishing company, things got easier. I began writing books tailored to my audience rather than writing the things that I wanted to write. It took some of the pleasure out of it, but at the same time it was exciting to create worlds out of paper and ink and have them devoured by hungry readers.

The sharp sound of someone banging on the front door startled me and I jerked forward, my hand almost flying into one of the candles. This act would have been catastrophic as I had hundreds of books surrounding me, the candles flashing their light greedily over them, waiting for the opportunity to pounce on them.

I got up, glancing at the clock as I did. 11:03pm. An odd time for someone to be calling. The quilt dropped to the floor and I shuffled down the hallway in my sock feet to the front door, just as someone knocked again. I swallowed and looked through the peek hole, only being provided with darkness.

I grabbed an umbrella from the stand next to the door, the only protection that was offered to me in the moment and unbolted the door.

To my extreme surprise, a young girl, no more than ten, was standing outside my door, drenched to the skin and shivering as she stared up into my face.

I stood there for a moment, slightly stunned, then opened my mouth to address her. "Child, where are your parents, what are you doing here?" I lowered the umbrella.

"I don't have any parents and your house was the first I could find before I was swept away down the gutter." She spoke dramatically, shivering violently.

I sighed before opening the door a little wider. "Come on in, then." I put the umbrella down and stepped to the side.

"Thank you." She stepped inside quickly, then stood in the hallway, a puddle forming around her feet almost at once.

I closed and locked the door again and turned to her, about to ask questions, but decided it would be best to get a towel first.

Ten minutes later I had her sitting in front of a newly made fire in the living room fireplace, wrapped in several towels and blankets, with a cup of tea in her hands.

"Now." I crouched down in front of her, tilting my face to the side. "Tell me what you were doing out all alone."

The girl heaved a loud sigh. "What is your name?" She blinked up at me with huge green eyes. She looked incredibly sleepy.

"August." I sat down on the floor, taking the tea away from her before she spilled it. "What's yours?"

Something like the word 'sleepy' escaped her lips as she rubbed her hands over her eyes.