Abigail St. Silean was sitting in her office around 10:34 when the world stopped.

Well not exactly stopped and she wasn’t exactly sure it was 10:34 precisely. She wasn’t paying perfect attention to either.

Abigail was prone to do that she was in the legal department – well more or less was the legal department for Smanda. It was a tech startup company that had 50 employees and three patents. At 26 she had been hired to help hopefully see the transition to a company with 500 patents and maybe 1000 employees. She was at 10:34 been reading a contract with a venture capitol firm which was provisionally interested in helping them get there – but also crossing the Ts in extreme details. Her job was to read to 64 page contract and find any any hidden loopholes or tricks … though she suspected her boss would reject it out of hand regardless with the stuff on the front page. He was good at thinking he had more cards then he really did – which she realized from a distance could be impressive. This would likely cause the Venture capitalists to come back with a better offer. Which she would have to read again.

Her boss had also bought a very fine very old fashioned Grandfather clock – which for a company that dealt with advanced Field technology may have been an odd choice. It was a fine number of Wood, and inlaid ivory – a master craft in the old fashioned arts with detailed etchings of the seasons, of day and night. It was also very very loud and near her door, so, Abigail had gotten used to its constant, constant tocking, the slow sound of tick and tock passing through time it become her background noise. Lost to her for the most part. Part of the background though that you feel its absence.

So around 10:34 but maybe a bit earlier she never could say precisely the clock stopped – then some time latter noticed that it was gone.

Well not gone but different.

A tick is after all a very quick little slotting sound, This new sound she heard was much deeper – not any louder perhaps but longer a resonate tone that was slow and stately as if it’s waiting it turn but no hurry at all. A low tone of solid state.

Huh.

She put the contract down and looked up.

Her office had a glass window into a kind of pit of office workers. It had been designed she supposed to let people sit around and feel part of a community, but the way her office and cubicles were set you couldn’t actually do that. She had to stand up a bit to look into the real office and saw … people.

All of which to first glance appeared to be standing still. Frozen in place.

Huh.

Abigail pushed her hair back slightly out of her face. She had short brown hair that she grown her bangs out as far as one could legally take them and mostly stay out of her face. It was cute. She liked to be cute.

This was weird however not cute.

The people – she could see 4 of them. Three at them were sitting at there desks … doing not much. Just sitting there. If you were to actually looking at someone at a desk, it would be hard sometimes to see if they were doing nothing or frozen in place. The forth however was an intern – whose named escaped her. He was walking carrying papers – or at least that’s what he should be doing. Instead he stood with one leg up, going in the air minding his own business. If he was frozen physically actually there was no way that this could actually work. He would just fall over. Instead he just looked vaguely distracted.

But by and by he did move. He was walking. His legs were moving – just very slowly. Upppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp and Doowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn. Uppppppppppppp and down. His movements suggested a brisk pace. However to as she watched him over the course of a minute he walked maybe 10 feet. Slower then a turtle.

And then putting some papers down she watched Sally the office Administrator talk with him with a looked that may say bored tolerance with a slight sense of this guy is smarmy and perhaps a touch cute. She picked it out from her emotions the way her face changed, the way her eyes moved and looked … and not for the also very very slow words coming out of her mouth, that sounded liked a garbled mess of nothing.

She listened to the discordant sound, as well as the clock as well as the office as well as.

She yelped. “Hello.”

Her voice sounded fine. It wasn’t abnormal. Well like any voice her Sing song chirp sounded froglike to her but she lived with it.

She went to her window. It was a light rain outside – not to heavy … but very very slowly. She could see the individual drops falling like the laziest of mists. She watched it for a bit fascinated by just the way the water looked.

Her computer had gone to sleep at some point in the mornings reading. She pressed a button. And it buzzed to life in a lazy low moan she had to listen to. It seemed to take forever to start … but it did it was … 10:35.

Huh. What a minute had past it felt like forever to her.

The screen looked different to. For lack of a better word crappy. It looked as if the individual dots were being formed across the screen as lines changed and …

The Screen was refreshing she had a computer class in college and remembered that. She was watching the screen refresh in real time. So very

She got up and went to open the door to tell someone to share this with someone on. She gave the door a light push to open it.

It moved. And opened.

But as it did she heard it fl hit the other side of the wall outside. And watched curiously as it bounced back towards her making an incredibly loud noise. It never did that. She pushed it again to stop it … and it flew back … and made the noise again, before this time breaking off its hinges as it flew back at her. She touched it again to push it … and watched it fly across the office hitting a glass window.

And shattered.

All in like for her about 10 seconds. Even if the sound of the shattering was delayed with a loud reverberation for like 20 or so seconds.

Huh.

She looked around and realized that in this time … everyone’s in the office eyes were on her.

She felt very self conscious.

Abigail was about 5’7, and weighed on her good days about 110. She was tallish and very thin with little weight on her spindly body. She was Cute – with pleasant cheek bones that captured her makeup well, with flowing lines and a couple of sever curves to set it off. She could have been a model – actually she was for about 3 months in college, which mostly involved modeling for catalogs. She may have actually succeeded but she was shy, and the work skuzzy. She would rather make it with her mind. She went into law, which was in a way similar to modeling … but

She looked around. People started to make the low moans again. One of them made which she guessed was a scream. This disturbed her. Despite being a lawyer, or perhaps because she was a lawyer she had a desire for people to like her.

And it hit her was happening.

She was thinking and moving at super speed. Super fast speed. How fast.

She saw people come at her to get up to see her … she ran into her office. Her computer has a clock fixture a stop watch.

It took her to what seem a minute to get to it start it and hit play. Then said one missipiit two missippi …

It took her 30 times before the clock went to one.

Huh

Quick math. She was moving at 30 times. If she walked at say 3 miles an hour that meant … 180 milers an hour. How fast could she run?

Well that would require knowing how fast she could run before. Which she didn’t. Well so much for math.

She sighed softly. And noticed at her door was Sam – a girl who handled accounts payable outside. She was followed by the rest of the office – well some of them – outside she could dimly seep theirs fleeing in slow motion.

Well if she was a monster or a beast she wouldn’t have that much trouble catching up to them, but huh.

“Um hi … sorry … it’s … it’s it seems that I have.”

And realized that if the voices that Sam was making which sounded like a very slow croak, then what did she sounded. The Alvin and the chipmunks times a million she guessed.

She guessed.

Sam was walking towards her at a faster version of the slow walking intern. What could she.

She picked up a pen. A piece of paper and started to write

It was frustrating … she would write a letter and the next would be vauge … only for the third to be nromal … it took her a momment to realize her pen depended on ink moving into the tip.

She wrote

“It’s okay. Something has happened to me. I am not sure what … but I don’t mean you any harm … but I appear to be.”

She looked up. Sam was looking at her directly at her. Inches from her face in a slow pause of comprehension. Abigail paused and looked back it curiously. She paused and spent a very long time looking at it with a kind of curious gait of someone waiting for something to happen – and by it did. She could see her. That much was evident but well 30 times as slow. It took a long time for her eyes to match in terms of vision and energy to see to look at each other as Abigail go to study Sams older, ever so slightly flecked eyes – Sam wasn’t an old woman by any stretch – maybe 35. But each poor was visible in detail – not the stuff you can’t see but you can’t focus. The way her noise bent and flared and motioned to her which seemed every couple of seconds. It was in a beautiful – but that an abstraction, a mystery the actual effect …

It should be noted that all this time Abigail didn’t feel particularly scared frightened or anything. She didn’t feel much of anything to be honest as the long pause let her collect herself – but she should, she should be terrified … but …

At last there eyes met and they shared a look, to Abigail seemed a good minute but were really a couple of seconds. Then Abigail moved the note gesturing towards it to read.

And Sam read it

And read it

And read it.

This was taking awhile.

Abigail saw the clock

It was about 10:37 – so for her … it had been what an hour? Something likes that.

She looked to see about 5 other people had in the long leisurely moment had made it to the office. They were bill and Frank, and the intern guy, and two peoples who she was completely blanking on.

She realized this was going to change things, ehr life now would be completely different if she stayed like this. She would be some kind of celebrity or freak or monster. Or

Still reading. Then Abigail watched as she picked up the same pen and start to right

Abigail paused and continued what she should do. How would her mother think of this? Her parents. Her uncle who worked in stock trading. Her boss.

It took her nearly 45 seconds of her own time before she got to her husband Frank.

And 10 seconds of her time to mentally curse out that it had taken her to long.

God Frank. How would he react? When would he react … this was incredible this was

‘What’s going on?’ said the note from Sam.

Well that was very helpful

Abigail rummaged around her office and found a pencil.

“I have no idea either really. It just appears I am now moving and thinking at superspeed – about 30 times average. This has gone on for a couple of minutes, but I am still not sure why or how. I guess maybe something to do with is radio experiments but I don’t see how that could do it unless … I am very unsure. I don’t feel bad – not really justwell … this is very strange and I am not sure whats going on either. Can you at least read this right please write yes.”

Y.

Abigail paused.

E.

Abigail smiled. People liked people who smiled. She wondered if the constant subtle movements of people made her look like a blur to them. That she was strange freaky …

Wait a second. She had superpowers now.

S.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

Abigail smiled wanting to do a jump for joy.

But that would totally startle people.

Okay she had the power to go at super speed – to move to think to respond. Could she dodge bullets – they moved like 700 miles an hour right? Well assuming she could run at say at least 500 … probably?

Okay she had the power to move and think – however she would also need to learn how to not do it. To turn it off and on – cause the not moving at super speed was right now a problem.

She had a lot to learn … but did she have the time …

Well yeah she did.

She looked at Sam and wrote a note “I am going to go explore my powers. See what I am going to do. I am going to be back around 1:00. If you can call my husband and maybe a doctor or something. Police if you have to. My husband’s phone number is 313 544-4562. His name is Frank...”

She paused as Sam read the note. She looked at the intern. He was kind of cute.

It took a second for compression to cross her eyes but.

Abigail got up and walked out of the office – which by now was empty – into another office which was full of people talking to each other animatedly – about her she assumed?

She wondered what would happen – would all of this make the papers tonight – would she become an instant … whatever. This was a very odd thought to her I mean if she had a superpower – well you would assume that she would have a secret identity. Of course she would tell frank. She loved him since you met him three years ago. He was her rock her knight in shinning armor. But this …

She walked to the door to the hallway (the business was on the third floor of a 6 story office building). She paused for a second and used her hand to open it normally – so it didn’t fly off. The key wasn’t force – she didn’t seem super strong, but speed, inertia – if she pushed something while moving fast it would move like a rocket. If she held it slowly – no. It was the speed of her movements. She controlled them.

She walked to the elevator for a second (more like a millisecond) before realizing that was silly.

******

Outside the building was still the rain as she came and felt drops hit – or more precisely she hit them. They all seemed as before moving downward very slowly towards the ground. As she walked and waited in the busy Dallas Street some did hit her – but most were just a kind of slow wall as if one was walking in a fog – in a world that seemed a fog.

There were cars a plenty driving down the street – less people then you might think but people same before who didn’t seem aware at all of her.

She looked down to the wet ground.

Okay the logical thing to do was start running.

Huh

Well I mean cars were out.

So … how about that?

Abigail wasn’t a runner. Really she hadn’t gotten a lot of exercise since high school and PE. In college she had played a touch of volleyball as part of dorm stuff – but ehhhhh. She looked at her skinny arms. In stories superhero’s were always super buff and fit, or the transformation made them that way. Funny how life was.

She was also wearing the kind of high heel shoes that running was theoretically possible but not a good idea. And if weird things like wind or inertia happened probably not.

Well okay then

She took her shoes off getting her stocking feet kind of wet.

She had a pair of sneakers at home a good logical start was to get there.

It was a curious sensation as she tried to figure out what that meant. Abigail either drove to work, very rarely had her husband drive her, or for one week when the car was in the shop took Uber She knew she lived in a small condo project in the south of the city … that was by the Sally Hawkins. Actually getting there on foot was an alien sensation to her. It was by no means a long commute – it took her maybe 30 minutes most days … but it was an odd sensation to say. Let’s get there.

Well she knew ho to drive there so she started to take the same motion.

She ran in a sprint – but quickly found it very tiring an exhausting little exercise of quick motion done as fast as her body could go. Oh shit this was going to be hard and long.

She slowed down to what for she was somewhere between a fast jog and a slow run. About the speed a marathon runner went – maybe a little faster. She found that it wasn’t particularly hard to keep it up. She breathed faster but it was a breathable speed a speed that felt that she could keep this up for hours if need be maybe forever. If you had supper speed Super Stamina would be perhaps a necessary secondary superpower – and she had some version it appeared of it, some ability to keep it up.

She concentrated as she ran down the empty sidewalk around the building to realize what was happening around her.

Well the rain had stopped for one.

Well no not really however she was pushing the air around it making a strong wind that was pushing maybe 90 percent of the rain away from her body – some on the street some into a kind of steamy mist.

The ground behind her wasn’t burning leaving a trail of fire – but it was obviously getting a touch faster as she ran across the street at … Jesus. Really should be able to count.

Okay maintain constant speed. She was going 30 times faster. Let say she was running at for her … 15 miles an hour. These were simple numbers that were probably wrong, but well …

She was running at 400 miles an hour

No 450.

She briefly kicked the speed up a touch … and realized this was maybe 600. Speed of sound was like 750 … she wondered if she really ran really kicked things up she could get that fast but …

My god. This was happening to her. This was happening to her.

Getting around on the streets was easy. There were plenty of cars but since they at best seemed to be moving as fast as good walk they were easy enough to get around. She wasn’t taking the freeway but that was okay.

She found a good empty strech a road. This was a good test.

She tried to stop.

And she did.

She wondered if inertia would keep her moving to fast that she would slam on a break but …

Nope she stopped like it was on a dime. With in a couple of feet it was all over and she was standing still. This was weird.

She noticed as fate happened that along this street was a foot locker – a store that sold Women’s running shoes. She walked in to see it empty thankfully and toward the back a lot of spiffy running shoes with a clerk who was in the back a vague shape.

She was a 6. Pretty big for a women and she saw a nice blue white pair that looked snazzy.

Huh. She opened her purse to pay for it … when she realized that wasn’t going to work now was it?

Well nothing physically was going to stop her from just stealing a pair now was there … and …

Even a security camera was probably seeing a strange blur right now.

She shook her head. Picking up the shoes for a second and shrugged. Morality was things when you did in the dark, but also what you did when you were a strange blur. If she was going to do this, there was no reason to commit petty theft.

She sighed and sat for a second on a bench – enough to see that the clerk had turned his head wearing a ref’s uniform a touch.

Well let’s keep going

Outside

This was cool but this was weird. This was her superpower set and it was cool and it was weird and it was.

She smiled and caught her breath for a second.

She looked.

She was maybe 2 miles from her home now.

She continued with her run. It felt good it felt fun even to run to do this – that was what struck her. About a year ago she and her husband had joined a couple of friends on a camping trip. It involved a 10 mile hike – while she could conceptually understand why people did stuff like that, to her it was one of the worst days of her life. Just a long deep slog through a kind of prarie like woods of north Texas. It wasn’t fun good at all. This wasn’t that. This made her feel alive made her feel free and powerful.

Free and alive and …

She was home.

She got her keys out went into the kind of semi decorated mass of her home. She and Frank had been to Italy on there honeymoon and during that time had collected some objects de art that where the main feature of there home – some framed photos of them in front of the leaning tower of Pisa, in Venice on gondolla-nicknacks. It made the place seem homey.

It wasn’t the largest condo in the world – really a large one bedroom with a room that was intended as a den but had ended up kind of a storage room. Frank had setup a computer where he played video games. She walked in now. Maybe this would turn into her secret base or something …

She sat down.

This was very very weird.

It took her a good long second to realize how weird abstractly her life had suddenly become. Really a superhero? That was a very silly notion for a woman who if not the most senibile person in the world worked in a world of law and order who should know better. What would that entail if that was happening? On her run she hadn’t seen anything more illegal then a few bums on the street.

And what should we do with say a criminal. The only way she had so far to engage with people on any level was a very minimal level of pantomime that didn’t really work very well. Let alone arrest them or read them there rights? How could they understand a glowing insect?

How would any of it work, how would people on the street or her husband or anyone ever interact with her as anything more then a strange superpowered freak who was a constant blur. Her powers were in a way as shaped a curse. She had no way to stop them. She was always this fast always this.

She sighed.

It was 11:14.

This had been maybe half an hour … or to her …

She went to the kitchen she opened the fridge. In the comics the flash always ate a lot – she never really did. She prided herself on eating like a bird. If she wasn’t going to the gym she could eat dainty. She felt hungry but not so hungry. There was a piece of chicken. She had some. It tasted like chicken.

She was feeling tired to. Not so much stamina was gone but physically tired as if she should go sleep. Was this a good idea? Well in any case. What had started as a kind of way to get some she turned into?

She went to bed and reasonably fast for her fell asleep.

******

When one wakes up there is a moment between dreams reality when things aren’t quite set aren’t quite in place. For her it was like this for a long moment even though she did not recall her dreams.

She awoke awhile later, getting up.

What time was it?

She wished she had a big clock like the office did – but realized that the house didn’t really have a mechanical clock as such. She didn’t have an alarm clock. She usually used her cellphone.

She went and got it … and turned it on.

It took her a second to realize it turned on. Just flickered on that everyday before it had.

It was 2:04. Wait a second …

She got a clock app going it. Flickered on and she watched as the second hand moved.

Normally

Oh good.

She fell back into her bed and caught her breath.

Normal.

Then she wondered if it was a good thing or a bad thing for a moment. She wondered if it had all been a dream – but well she didn’t normally sleep in the middle of a work day in her work clothes.

******

“So is this a joke?” said frank on the phone. “I mean I got a call from work, but it seemed like a joke.”

“So you’re there?” said Abigail.

“Yeah.” said frank “Where are you?”

“I’m home now...” said Abigail “Are like the police there.”

“No.” said Frank. “I think I saw one come by but he left and talked to people. I mean your boss is here – but things actually have gone kind of normal for the most part – I mean I guess.

“Like any scientists?” said Abigail.

“No.” said Frank “Are you okay? It sounded very weird from how they described it.”

“Right now I am okay.” said Abigail. “This may just have been a 1 time thing.”

Frank paused “Well that’s good so you … were …”

“Moving at superhuman speed.” said Abigail “like the Flash.”

“Right.” said frank

“Well you can tell everyone there I am alright.” said Abigail “no wait I’ll call in.”

“This seems very strange Abigail.” said frank

“Yeah it is.” said Abigail “How do you explain to your work that you suddenly developed superpowers? I donno. Hey can you come home and pick me up and drive me back to work … I left my car there.”

“Maybe you should take the rest of the day off.” said frank.

“That’s a good idea.”

******

Frank did come home afterwards to see if she was alright. He looked at her oddly – she wondered if she was odd, if something like changed her in someway physically – of if she was the same bright little quirky lawyer she was before. It was an odd thought. He of course had never seen her superpowers. She should be just the same. Except …

Abigail talked to her staff and even the CEO of the company and they were all very curious what happened. Especially Sam. She wondered what that would be like to work tomorrow. They had seen it seen her. Now she was.

Maybe she should go to a doctor or something like that. But she had no idea precisely how what are. Was there a department of Superspeed at Lutheran General?

Abigail cooked dinner – something that as a wife she should do more often then she did. Frank was a come home with dinner from takeout guy and she would pick at something from it When was the last time she made a meal – it might have been a couple of months ago when she impulsively bought a rice cooker. Now she cooked pasta with a canned sauce. She did feel hungry for her – unusually so and finished a portion and went back for seconds. It was odd for her – but not so unusual.

She looked at her husband. She would like to have her powers back to look at him with superspeed. To see him – but well she didn’t have to. He was a young man – at 25 about 5 months younger then her. He unlike her was putting a little fat on his body, which she didn’t mind – until today realized she hadn’t super noticed. He was a kind man, who on his worst days was more never mean. He never objected when she went out with friends, she never objected when he went out with his. They never really fought and on there days off had fun enough together, even if fun was just a DVD.

She thought of things like cooking and cleaning – things a wife does and she rarely as such did. The equal partner things were subconscious to them. She thought about Sex, though realized Sex with her superpowers would be either really fun or really difficult or maybe some version of both. Then she realized that she hadn’t really thought about sex in months – not that she hadn’t had it in that time, but for them it felt subconsciously – he would grab her at nights and that was part of the fun of life. She realized that there were a lot of things that she hadn’t thought about.

It wasn’t a really passionate life, but as she watched Frank chew his food and compliment her on her cooking profusely (which he did) it wasn’t a bad life. She and he had made a good life together of upper middle class bliss. Numbers that may not fit but probably did. . There was little want, and little worry. Weird ideas of powers felt a strange fantasy.

How exactly did one become a superhero other then buying a spandex outfit? How did one fight crime? Why of all the problems in the world should she fight that? Was there a superspeedy solution to global warming? It felt ridiculously stupid and wonderful at the same time, which was perhaps why it drew her in. It was a passionate idea. If she got a silly name and did stupid things it meant she was alive.

After dinner she felt very awake – which wasn’t perhaps unusual as it felt like she had slept 8 hours if not longer in the middle of the day. She decided to try running. She went to her closet and find clothing for it, discovering all she had was a slightly oversized T shirt and some sweat pants that was more for painting then running. Still with some sneakers it worked.

Outside the city was normal again. The light rain had long stopped and even most of the puddles were gone leaving a green mass of beauty. Dallas could be greener then you imagined it sometimes, more pretty to. It was a nice pretty city. She started to jog and discovered that without his super stamina or what ever it had been she could still keep up a good pace without feeling very winded. It was fun actually. Maybe she would start doing it now. It was interesting just to see it move in a normal speed, a normal method of cars moving down the street, of people walking into restaurants for dinner, of a city at peace and quiet.

Near her apartment she found what either was a running trail or a hiking trail along a full creek, full of aspens and oaks and reeds. She saw some cranes fishing gently in the river. As she ran, she felt alive and connected to something part of something greater then her.

She was 50/50 that she would get fired. After an experience like this how could you work with someone like that? If it happened would she complain? It went both ways. She could land on her feet again. It would be like the old joke of leaving off on the recommendation letter the time you fired for photocopying your ass – except well …

Then she could go back to normal somewhere else. Frank would forget. Be normal again.

She paused about a mile in and stopped and watched the sunset, and as she stopped her stamina broke and her body felt tired – but even that felt good in a way. She was alive. If nothing else on this very strange day, this very strange experience had caused her to learn something of life and the world – and she was glad for it. She would with any hope not be normal again.

Then she closed her eyes for a second and opened them.

The water.

It wasn’t moving right.

Not at the right speed at least. You could see how the ripples formed in it, and moved down the creek and.

Much much much to slow.

Oh.

Okay then. It happened again.

Her first impulse was to run home to frank to show him. But no better to figure this out now.

Open her eyes close them. Water still to slow.

She concentrated, feeling something inside of her meditating on the universe and how it did. And by and by felt something deep in her psyche, a sense of something. It was like when you mediate you can hear the waves of the ocean in your ear like the sea in a shell. It wasn’t the real sea just the blood in her head. She listens to it – unlike everything else in her universe it was moving to fast.

And after a few minutes learned to slow it down.

And the water of the river looked normal.

And speed it up.

And the river became to slow.

She smiled.

She practiced watching the birds at normal speed or slowed down. She didn’t have fine control of it – it was an on or off – 300 miles or nothing. But well maybe with more time she could learn that control learn how to run say a 100 or 50. That would be useful. But well …

She returned it to normal speed and paused.

Oh god.

This was happening.

For the first time that day she really panicked. Really felt fear, in her bones. It was one thing to theoretically have superpowers. Now she definitively did. If she wanted to she could rob banks, or even perhaps destroy armies. She realized that at superspeed very little could hurt her – she could outrun tank fire. She didn’t want to of course, she still wanted to be a good person … but she was something far more then she was this morning.

But she had the option of just turning it off of going into work tomorrow like it never happened. And that was almost equally frightening somehow. Because she knew she couldn’t do that. That wasn’t really possible either. This was happening. This was really happening.

She considered, looking at the sunset.

This was her life now.

And she laughed. As she ran at 500 miles an hour.

******

Abigail St. Silean quit her job at Smanda after two week notice. A month latter she got a job as an Associate at Haskel & Welnt in there contracts department working structured finance The brief hubhub around these events went away – it made the local papers but was quickly forgotten, as she largely denied it to a few curious reporters who followed up on the story, such that it was largely forgotten even by those in the office. A kind of blip.

When Three months latter something happened something changed and people saw …