“What are you doing? You should be doing your homework. I’m fed up of you. Totally fed up. Really too fed up of monitoring you. Everyday, I ask you to go bathe, do your homework, brush your teeth, wash your face with soap. You think I really got nothing better to do?” As mother’s incessant nagging continued. I stared at the small alarm clock in front of me. Frustrated? Yes. Angry? Yes. Tired? Totally. Everyday, mother treats me like some kind of young child. Asking me to bathe, asking me to do that. For goodness sake. I’m already 16.

As the minute hand moved, it seemed to slow down. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. The heavy sounding seem to go slower and slower. Something seems weird. Did the minute hand just stop? I looked at the clock and it just didn’t move. I grabbed it and shook the clock wildly. Cling clang clong. Hmm. Looks like it is spoilt… I turned and looked at my mum who was standing at the door. She stood there, mouth wide open, hand raised, saliva flying out. But everything including her stood still. I tried to take everything in. The whole situation. Time stopped. ‘Oh well. The stoppage of her nagging transcends all of this logical thinking that would make me think too hard.’ I hesitated towards her. Slowly moving, making sure that she wouldn’t suddenly surprise me and beat the crap out of me. I extended my finger and poked her. Weird. Still feels the same. I crept out of the house. Everything was still. The cars that were supposed to be moving. The people walking, strolling, chatting with their neighbors. All at a halt.

Cool. Everything stopped. Can I do whatever I want? Who cares. No one can do anything! I walked over the a car and opened the door. The engine magically started and I drove it, crashing into anything I wanted, postboxes, lamp posts, etc… This was like Grand Theft Auto in real life! Without the police! No one to stop me! No one to scold me! No one to control me! This is like my ideal dream! As I was running everything over, I started to think, ‘I’m a guy, I’m in a world that has stopped. Where would I want to go? To a female’s changing room! Wow, and I actually used my head to think.’ I sped at top speed, ignoring traffic signals, anything in my way, towards the swimming complex.