Discovery

“It is time you discovered the truth about yourself,” the stranger whispered in Sarah’s ear just before he took her hand and the world went quiet. Too quiet. Sarah opened her eyes. The only people moving were her and the stranger. It was as though time had stopped. What happened? She pulled away and ran.

Everything was normal again. Had she imagined the feeling of being frozen in time? Perhaps even imagined the stranger and his whispered words, she thought. She shook herself, much like a dog shaking off water, and continued on her way to meet her friends. They were meeting for the Canada Day picnic. There would be tons of people and a lot of live music. Best of all, there would be cake! Maybe no one remembered it was Sarah's 18th birthday so it would not be her birthday cake, per se, but she could pretend a little bit.

Sarah meandered over to her friends. Everyone was enjoying the excitement of the crowd and the band playing a cover of that cheezy song "I Want You to Want Me." Sarah felt herself slipping into the music. There he was again. The Stranger. It had not been a dream. The beat of the music was pounding in her heart. The stranger's eyes were watching her. And just as the singer screamed "I Want You To Want ME" Sarah heard the gun shot.

As Sarah watched, the stranger's eyes widened and time stopped. The world went quiet. Sarah saw the bullet strike and the stranger fall as she turned and looked around to find the shooter locked into this frozen piece of time. The truth was clear. Sarah had to stop this killer and the stranger had shown her that she had the ability to do so.