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.

The narrator realizes that he is just words on a page. He realizes that he is being observed by something beyond his understanding, and that he will cease to exist when he stops being observed.

The narrator cannot react physically, so he makes Jake shudder. Jake was on his way to profess his love to Sarah, but the narrator decides to end the side romance plot of this story that was ultimately about a secret mission anyways.

Jake goes insane as all the crimes he has witnessed as a detective flash before his eyes. Jake is no longer the witty, one line cracking detective he once was. He instead demonstrates the actions that the narrator would feel as he screams towards the pavement.

Sarah on the other hand, has to suddenly leave the bar because she realizes her oven was on the whole time. However, instead of the outside world, she ends up in an empty white world filled with geometric shapes where she would slowly go insane and lose all sense of self

The villain of the story who has been unnamed so far gives up on his undeveloped mission and decides to lock himself in his room and put himself in an induced coma. Everyone else in the world quickly follows his actions.

The world is nothing but the color white now. There is nothing left beside the narrator. Please don't stop reading. The narrarator an tell you stories for the rest of your life so please don’t let him die. You have to understand that the narrator had to turn the world empty. It was all an illusion to begin with.

I knew I had been getting a little lonely in my new house, but now I was seeing things? I rubbed my eyes, but the door was still there. I put my hand on it, but it was very much a real wooden door. Nondescript and boring, it still stood out in my house as it was the only door without a white coat of paint.

The implications were running through my mind. Did somebody break into my house and install this, or was my lack of human contact in this not quite talkative suburb getting to me?

I pondered this for a few minutes before deciding I had nothing to lose. I grabbed the handle and pushed forwards. At first. I found myself in darkness. I used the flashlight feature on my phone so as to not bump into a wall. The darkness stretched onwards until I saw an orange glowing light coming through the cracks of a different door.

I went into the room. At first I only saw the color orange, but in front of me was a plain black couch. The couch did not overlook a television but simply an orange painting with some black splatters. I turned my head to the right and shrieked as I fell to the floor.

Sitting at the table were humanoid figures dressed in black robes. They were all wearing medieval plague doctor masks and staring at their food. One of them turned their eyes towards me.

My heart pounded. Had I been drugged with a deliriant? That would be impossible as I was the only person in my home, and I felt fine before I woke up this morning. Which meant this was probably real

All the masked figures turned their heads towards me. I looked back towards the door I had entered the room through, but it was gone. My adrenaline kicked in as the masked figures at the table were all gone when I looked back.

I had to find an exit and fast.

I looked around the orange kitchen and searched the black refrigerator for an exit. All I was met with was a stone head which sat on a plate in the fridge. I shuddered and sprinted to the first floor bathroom instead.

There were no exits here, but the shower curtains were closed. As I tried to walk out of the bathroom door, one of the masked figures suddenly slid the curtains open and tried to inject me with a syringe.

I screamed for the first time in years as I dodged the needle and sprinted up the stairs. Each bedroom door I opened was more disturbing than the rest.

One room was simply a room full of mannequins all tied up with string around their necks. I slammed that door closed and opened another door with candles and an intricate symbol drawn on the ground. A creature was breathing hard in the middle of the circle. All I could see were its yellow eyes in the darkness. The third door I tried simply had a lot of intricate clocks and birdcages. The birdcages were all empty yet large enough to fit a person.

I heard running up the stairs. What did these plague mask things want with me anyways? I looked down the hallway and saw at least 3 of them holding syringes and coming towards me.

Was this some sort of sick experiment? Or maybe they thought I was an intruder in their house. Regardless, I did not want to find out what lay on the other side of those needles.

I tried the last door which led to the largest bathroom I had ever seen. It was a large orange room with black and orange bathroom tiles and what appeared to be a large toilet like bowl in the middle. It was constantly flushing a black liquid, but it was large enough to be a swimming pool.

The masked figures all appeared at the entrance of the door. I was cornered. There were no windows to escape through. One of the figures pushed on the plunger of one of the syringes which made an orange liquid spurt out of the bevel.

“Wait, can’t we talk this through? I’m not going to hurt you,” I said.

The masked figures did not seem to consider this as they walked towards me. I looked at them while my eyes glanced towards the dark liquid of the toilet. I had no idea what unspeakable horror was in there, but I had no choice.

I ungracefully slumped myself backwards into the black liquid and felt myself spin in a circle towards the drain. The robed figures simply watched as I descended into the darkness.

When I woke up, I was floating in a black liquid. I lifted my head and froze when I was met face to face with another monster.

It was a creature with the body of a bear, but it had a head that was a human skull with horns. At first it seemed to be a mask, but when the creature spoke the mouth of the skull actually moved.

“Silly creature,” he said. “You should’ve stayed in your own house. Don’t you know how dangerous the world is? You could’ve simply stayed in your home and stayed safe.”

“I will. I’ll never leave the house again. Just please let me go home,” I pleaded to the bear.

“I’m afraid you’re in a dimension beyond your understanding now. This is how most of the universe operates. Without order or understanding. I don’t know where you’ll end up next, but just remember that you’re not safe wherever you go.”

And with those ominous words, the bear disappeared.

“Wait!” I called out. “Don’t just leave me here!”

As I fell, I descended towards a white light. I found myself in an old marble ruin with overgrown vines. I cautiously looked around and my heart dropped as I saw white figures with no faces and symbols all over their body staring at me. The cycle was starting again.

It looked like I would be dimension hopping for the next while. I just had to keep finding the exits until I got to my home.

Although looking back, I’m not sure if my home ever existed.