W2: "The Day I Woke Up with a Superpower"

It was an ordinary Friday morning, I woke up and prepared for school. When I opened my eyes, something felt unusual. The sky looked brighter than usual, I turned to check my alarm clock, it was already 7 am. This meant I was going to be late!

I quickly jumped out of bed and complained, “If I can stop the time, it will be better”. Suddenly, everything around me froze. I opened my bedroom door and saw my mother enjoying breakfast and my father reading the newspaper, but they weren’t moving! That’s when I realised I had a superpower: I could stop time!

Figure 1

The gears of the alarm clock

Note. The gears of the alarm clock were stopped turning.

I was excited. I took my time brushing my teeth and washing my face. I even stole a bite of my mother’s breakfast. Then, I slowly walked to school. When I arrived at the school gate, I clapped my hands, and time started moving again. Thanks to my superpower, I was not late and warned by the school.

Then, I felt sleepy in class because I had stayed up late playing video games the night before. So, I used my superpower again. I stopped time and took a short nap at my desk. When I woke up, I clapped my hands and time passed as normal. I felt much better and was able to pay attention to the lecture.

When I reached home, my mother was going to go grocery shopping. She asked me to sweep the living room and wash the dishes. But I could not resist watching cartoons and sat on the sofa for an hour. I suddenly heard my mother’s car outside. I promptly stopped time and completed all the jobs she asked me to do. When I clapped my hands to continue time, my mother saw the tidy living room and washed dishes. She even praised me!

Time is valuable and cannot be traded, won, or conjured up (Noori, 2023). Since I had more time, I wanted to use it wisely. I found that my power was beneficial in a variety of ways. I could spend time thinking about excellent replies in conversations to prevent arguments and assist my family and friends with tasks, making them believe I was amazing. Hence, my relationships with people got better. However, my friends started asking me why I was so different. Why am I so great at everything? I choose to keep my power a secret. I was concerned that if others knew, they would think I was weird and wouldn’t trust me anymore.

One day, during an exam at school, I realised I had forgotten to study one of the topics. A bad thought crossed my mind. I said, “Stop time,” and everything froze. Then, I walked around freely and started looking at my classmates’ papers, trying to find the answers. When I reached the smartest student, John, I copied his answers onto my test paper. I returned to my seat, feeling proud of myself.

I clapped my hands to restart time. Nothing happened. I clapped again. Still nothing. I tried clapping several times, but time still did not move! I started to panic. No matter what I did, everything stayed frozen. Hours passed, and I felt lonely and helpless. I had no idea what I should do. Feeling bored, I deleted all the answers I copied from John’s paper.

Figure 2

The erased paper

Note. The answers copied from John were erased.

Suddenly, I heard the ticking of the clock. The teacher started walking again, and classmates continued writing. I felt a huge sense of relief. Everything was back to normal. At that moment, I realised that superpowers could not be used to cheat or do bad things. Otherwise, I might lose control and never be able to fix it.

After that day, I decided to stop using my superpower. I wanted to live my life as a normal person. Even if I could stop time, it felt more meaningful to experience life naturally. That way, I would have no regrets and could fully enjoy my time with my family and my friends.

References:

Noori, R. (2023, February 27). Time is a precious resource: the importance of time management. Timely. https://www.timely.com/blog/what-is-time-management-and-why-is-it-important