Stopping the World

I stood there in shock as Michael shoved his way past me.

“Why are you here? And how are you unfrozen?” I asked him, as I finally gained my composure and started following him. He was carrying two bags. One was already full, while the other was empty. He made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where I had come from.

“Probably for the same reason you are,” he said, answering the first question. “To see how mom and dad were, right?” He said this sarcastically, but there could’ve been a number of different things he meant by that, other than in the usual ‘how they are’ way. “Oh wait, never mind. You wouldn’t know anything about that seeing as you haven’t been here since last... what? Thanksgiving?” He started going through some of the food cabinets.

“Mookoo...” I started, but stopped when he flashed around to look at me. He pointed a finger at me.

“You have no right to call me that anymore,” he said with hostility. “When was the last time I saw you? When was the last time you returned one of my calls?”

“Oh please, Michael, you have no right to be mad at me,” I said, getting angry now myself. He looked at me with shock.

“I have no right to be mad at you? Are you kidding? Well, for one, starting with the damn obvious, look what the hell you did!” he exclaimed, gesturing to Mom’s frozen self. I stayed silent at that. “And for another, you’ve skipped out on every damn holiday since last Thanksgiving. Leaving me alone to face Mom and Dad’s wrath, especially during Christmas when I brought my girlfriend over!”

“Oh please. Look, I didn’t mean to intentionally not be here for the other holidays, but at Christmas you had it coming! You skipped out last Thanksgiving when I brought Nick over! And I had to face Mom and Dad’s wrath with him on my own! How do you think I felt then?”

“So I skipped one holiday to show my girlfriend that I was committed to the relationship by going to meet her family! Big deal! But at least I didn’t skip... five other ones, leaving you on your own! Those other ones I had to be here by myself, afraid to bring Anna back, and face Mom and Dad’s... awkwardness! You could’ve at least called, but no! You never even told Mom or Dad why you didn’t come! And God, now you do this! Why are you even here? Looking for help when you need it Marley, just typical. Not caring about anyone but yourself!” he cried. I choked back a sob.

“I do care about other people! That’s the only reason I’m here! I came back to see if Mom and Dad were still normal, and sure, to see if they could help me. But only in the fact to get the whole world unfrozen again! These people who for some reason weren’t frozen just all of a sudden showed up and took Nick, and now I have no idea how to get him back! I figured getting the world back to normal would be the first step. But no... that’s pretty much impossible now, seeing as Mom and Dad are frozen and I have no idea what to do now! The love of my life is being held captive because of something I did. Do you have any idea how that feels? And now I have no idea how I’m going to get him back, because things are pretty much stuck like this!” I exclaimed, getting fed up and kicking one of the chairs that was around the kitchen table. My big toe started to throb, but I didn’t care; I deserved it.

Michael stayed silent for a moment, and stopped what he was doing. He had been putting cans of food into his bag, but... why? Finally, he said, “I do, actually.”

“What?” I asked, totally confused now. I said a lot, so I wasn’t sure what he was responding to.

“I do know how it feels, kind of. About feeling guilty for someone I love,” he continued. “Anna... she’s not frozen. When the world stopped, I had been holding her hand, so... she stayed unfrozen too.” I looked at him in confusion, but then remembered he hadn’t answered my one question from earlier.

“How are you unfrozen, Michael?”

There was a moment’s silence before he answered.

“Because, Marley, you were never meant to receive the world,” he said. “I was. And it was mine, too... until the accident happened.”