Ash, a 14-year-old boy, stepped into the local grocery store, his movements slow, weighed down by an invisible burden. Life had become a quiet war—one he fought alone. At school, he was a target, shoved, mocked, ignored. His teacher pretended not to see. His parents worked endless hours just to keep food on the table. He wouldn't add to their worries. So, he kept silent. Always silent.
He moved through the aisles, picking up a few essentials—bread, a bottle of water—his hands moving out of habit, not thought. The fluorescent lights flickered above him, casting shadows that felt heavier than they should. The low hum of the store filled the space, but it didn't reach him. Nothing did.
At the checkout, he paid with the last of the crumpled bills in his pocket. As he stepped outside, a cold raindrop splattered against his cheek. Then another. Within seconds, the downpour swallowed the world. He sighed. No umbrella. He never remembered the small things.
Hunching his shoulders, he clutched the plastic bags and ran. The rain soaked through his clothes, clinging to his skin, chilling him to the bone. He just wanted to get home. Away from the storm. Away from everything.
Then—screech .
His heart lurched as the sharp sound of tires skidding pierced the rain. He turned just in time to see headlights cutting through the downpour, a car spiraling toward him.
Too fast. No time to move.
Then—silence.
The rain stopped mid-air. Tiny droplets hung like frozen stars. The car, inches away, was still. The world held its breath.
Ash staggered back, his own breath caught in his throat. His pulse pounded in the unnatural stillness. He turned in every direction, expecting something—someone—to explain.
Then, a voice. Deep. Commanding. Everywhere at once.
"ASH..."
The air around him pulsed with energy. A flicker of light danced before his eyes, something unseen whispering through his bones. And then, he felt it. A surge of power, raw and undeniable, flooding through him. Time was no longer a river he drifted in—it was something he could bend, stop, control.
His hands trembled. His heart thundered.
And then, the realization hit like ice.
No one could see him.
The frozen world stretched before him—people locked mid-step, the rain still in the air, the car motionless. He could walk through it, touch it, change it. But he was alone. A ghost in time.
His fingers curled into fists.
For years, he had been invisible. Ignored. Forgotten. Now, even with this impossible power, he remained unseen.
A slow, bitter smile crept onto his face.
But not for long.
His mind drifted to the faces of those who had tormented him—the laughter, the whispers, the pain. They thought he was nothing. Powerless.
But now?
Now, he could make them feel it. The helplessness. The fear. The loneliness. He could make them pay.
He exhaled, the sound swallowed by the silence of the still world.
"They won't ignore me anymore."
As time stood frozen around him, something inside Ash shifted. The quiet, broken boy who had walked into that store was gone.
And in his place, something else had awakened.