I am not much of an expert on guns, but I know a bullet when I see one. Its rounded head was staring me right in the face. I had not even thought to pause time, but it seemed like my ability had activated unconsciously.

I looked past the bullet and the gun smoke and clearly saw that it was Peter. I did not know Peter all that well, all I knew was that he was my wife Eliza’s ex. I did not need to know anything more. He got jealous and snapped and my forehead was about to get a shell full of that jealousy.

Anxiety coursed through my thoughts because none of my body was moving, not even my heart. I could not move any part of my body while the ability was activated, and if I deactivated it my body would not have enough time to move. The plus side was that I had all the time in the world to think because my body felt no soreness or even pain while in that state. The downside was that I could not think of any solution to get out of this.

It was a choice of death or staying like this forever.

I thought of all the good times I had with Eliza. Sure the big vacations were fun, but I could not help but think of the little things. Our spontaneous night walks that we used to go on. Her laughter after I showed her a stupid internet meme. The way she would run her fingers through my hair and tell me I could do anything. All of these things I took for granted and as normal when in reality they were so much more special to me.

If I stayed the way I was, I could live those memories forever. Joy flowed through me as I laughed in my mind about the situation.

“You thought you could get me, Peter, but you never will because I’m going to keep time frozen forever. There will be no more pain or suffering in the world, just me. Maybe it’s selfish, but you just helped me save humanity,” I thought.

If I could have grinned I would have. I was now a god in a frozen masterpiece. I had saved humanity from itself, even if it was for entirely selfish reasons. I replayed scenes from my life over and over again. No more work, all I had was my memories.