The world span above her. The harsh interrogation-like white lights that were so common in shopping malls beamed down at her, causing blinking spots in her vision.
Asta didn't know how much time had passed, if any at all.
The frozen state of the world made it impossible to track the passage of time. Or, she reflected ruefully, how long she had relatively lay there as it was likely more accurate to say no time had passed at all.
The tightness in her chest had subsided, but only slightly. She winced as the act of sitting up pulled on her hair that had gotten caught under her back.
It was horrifying to see the petrified other occupants in the store. Their bodies as still as statues, not a spark of life to indicate that they had not been carved from stone. Unseeing eyes and vacant expressions meant it was hard to remember that they had in fact been once alive. Her vision blurred and she felt like she was looking straight into the uncanny valley. Were those really human stood in front of her?
Her gut twisted anxiously, like something hot and unpleasant was stirring up all of her insides.
Feeling defeated and wanting to stop looking at the sight, she dropped her hands into her head. She could feel herself spiralling. What if time never restarted? What if this was her life now? To never talk to a real person again. What if everyone remained a mannequin for the rest of time?
What if...
What if everything restarted eventually?
What if this was just the state of the world for a few hours?
Well... then, she had time. Then...for now? She was free! She had no responsibilities, she didn't have to drag herself back home to face her parents and she could do anything.
A hysterical giggle escaped her. Maybe this was a blessing! Maybe this was the reprieve from everything that she'd been studiously praying for every night. Maybe she had a chance to take time to breathe for the first time in a year since her grandparents' accident and her support system collapsed.
Or maybe she'd gone insane. Maybe the ceiling had suddenly caved in and time had 'frozen' because it was her actually entering into a coma.
Maybe, maybe.
There was no way to tell. Surely she should grab this opportunity and take it as far as she could run. Who knew how long this would last.
Wiping a few stray tears that had slipped out, she stood up, catching her reflection in the full length mirror on the wall next to the clothing rack.
The disembodied voice that she'd heard had not yet returned, she sort of wondered if it had been real at all.
The puffiness around her eyes from the tears was not doing herself any favours. Her mouth crooked up, the weight stress had added to the bags under her eyes seemed to have been taken from the rest of her body. Not a healthy way to shed some kilos but we take what we can get, she thought grimly.
She looked pretty nice that aside, she had received some ridicule for dressing up to visit the hospital but she always thought in the back of the mind that maybe today was the day that her grandma woke up. It'd be nice to look nice if- when that happened.
She wore a black and cream argyle cropped cardigan with a school girl style grey skirt and tights and matching cream leg warmers rucked over her black ankle boots. Her red knitted scarf was the only splash of colour and even most of that was covered by her thick, waist length black hair. The crying had induced a sort of natural blush on her cheeks, highlighting the delicate features of her face.
Her eyes strayed back towards the clothes she had been looking through, before this whole ordeal. In a few quick paces she stood in front of them once more.
With detached curiosity she brushed along the fabric.
She hummed in consideration; despite the appearance of being solidified, suddenly resistant to gravity, the shirt was still perfectly soft to the touch. It still moved without resistance, like for a second, it felt like everything was normal.
But no, it was only as she interacted with it. Upon pulling back her hand, the side of the shirt remained stretched towards her, mid-air exactly where she had tugged it outwards.
What on earth was going on?
The physics defying sight in front of her was slowly erasing the potential thought that Asta had had that this was all some kind of extremely elaborate prank. Some part of her was sure one of those TV hosts or Youtubers was about to pop up any second now and laugh at her, all "you should have seen your face" and pointing "there's a camera there, there and there".
But as rich as she was sure they were, there was no way anyone could pull off a way to defy the natural laws of the universe.
Right?