Brad screamed. The consistency of the pitch and sound helped settle his mind. It was something he could control in a chaotic and challenging world.  When the overwhelming nature of his situation was too much for him to take, the scream released the pressure inside. Whilst he organised the world in his head, he retreated inside himself. When he looked inside like this, time no longer had any meaning. He had no idea how long had passed, but when he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by people. There were uniforms everywhere. It was like a sea of dark blue, black and bright yellow flashes. He focused harder and began to make out faces in the ocean of bleakness. Kind faces, stern faces, angry, frustrated, confused faces. He could tell he was in trouble. It was not too hard to piece together. Mr Splendid was no longer there, but they would want to question him about what they’d found here. No one would believe him.

He stood up and told the nearest adult it was time he went home. They gave him a strange look and gently guided him to a police car. Lots of them were saying things to him but he barely caught any of it. He could tell it was kind. They asked him about his mum and dad, and they were asking him his name and why he was here. But Brad stayed locked away in his own mind. he wasn’t ready to talk to them yet. He got into the car that would take him home. It smelt like soap. They must have used the cheap cleaning fluid in here. Brad thought about what they had to clean up in the back of a police car and made himself shiver. He watched the world go by out of the window. It was raining and it streaked sideways across the glass, blurring the lights of the high street. The people they passed transformed into twisted creatures gathered on the pavement. Then they missed his turning. He was not being taken home.

“Where are we going?” he asked. Speaking for the first time that night.

“Oh! He lives.” The driver said, his voice dripped with sarcasm. He probably thought he was being funny but Brad hated sarcasm. It made no sense that people would say the opposite of what they mean sometimes but not others and you were expected to be able to tell the difference. Who knew what this man meant?

“Of course I’m alive. You have seen me in the back with my eyes open breathing in and out. Speaking is not a sign of life on any first aid course you will have done and I am shocked that you think that.” Brad said. The driver sighed and kept his eyes on the road.

“We are taking you to the station. We weren’t sure where you lived because you didn’t tell us your name. We also have lots of questions to ask about whose house we found you in and what happened there.” The passenger said. She spoke with an accent that Brad didn’t recognise. It might have been somewhere in South America. “I hope you’re going to be more cooperative when we get there.” Brad was still not certain about where they were heading. However since he was in the car with a couple of police officers, he assumed they meant the police station rather than the train station or life boat station.

By the time Brad had thought this puzzle through, too much time had passed so he didn’t respond. He just waited till they got there. They led him to an interrogation room that was nothing like the ones you see on the TV. It was not what he was expecting. It was a cosy room with two sofas and a table. The table had an empty bowl that might have once had fruit in it or maybe chocolate. Like everything else to do with the police, it smelt of cheap soap. The nice South American police officer sat with him and offered him a drink. Brad though for a moment about all the horrific things he could catch by drinking from these people’s cups and he politely refused. She asked him loads of questions about that night and he was ready to answer now so he told her the truth. He told her about She-Borg, The Shock and the argument. He was not being believed. He could tell. After an hour he retreated in to his own mind again. He didn’t need to scream this time, just shut down to hide where it was comfy and warm. Where everything was ordered.  Where he was in control. He popped out of his comfort zone a couple of time but the people around him were shouting at him and at each other so he shut them away again. Eventually he surfaced and he was in his dad’s car. His dad was shouting and his mum was crying. Brad knew it was his fault but too much had happened for him to take the time to reassure his parents. They got home and Brad went straight to his room. He was really tired so fell asleep immediately. That way he couldn’t worry about everything else.

The sun came up the next morning and everything was clear and bright. He felt much better. He had organised the last day into facts. Mr Splendid was The Shock but he was killed by his girlfriend, who happened to be She-Borg. Mr Splendid told Brad to stop She-Borg. That was it. Two facts to sum up the day. No problem. Simplified.

Brad went downstairs and the world continued to be simple.

“Go to school,” commanded his mum coldly and he did. His dad was muttering unpleasant things like, “We don’t want you here anyway, weirdo.” Brad chose to ignore these and not hear them. They would upset his easy morning. It would not take much to force Brad back into his comfy place this morning. He had to keep everything simple. When Brad was feeling fragile like this, he dealt with life one step at a time. Put on coat – done! Open door – done! And that was how the morning went. However, it did not take long before the whole house of cards came tumbling down. He was just finishing ‘walk down Beaker Street’ and was about to start ‘cross Time Road’ carefully when he heard a sickening noise. It was like someone had dropped a large bag of custard off a high building. It wasn’t quite a splat but it wasn’t really a thump either. Brad only saw what happened when Emmanuel, the boy from his class who was walking in front of him, hit the road after bouncing off the car. His arms and legs bent in unnatural positions. The noise Brad heard was Emmanuel’s head hitting the car bonnet.

Brad instantly retreated to his comfy place inside his own mind, blocking out the image of Emmanuel lying in the road and the sound of screeching tyres and children. Something new happened, something that had never happened before. Brad didn’t close himself off from the world. The world snapped into perfect focus. The scene froze in front of him. Smoke rose from the skidding tyres but the screaming had cut off. Dull grey pigeons were trapped in mid-air as they launched into flight at the disturbance. Adults that were pushing prams captured like a photograph with mouths hanging open. There was one brave man with lightning reactions already taking a step towards Emmanuel laid in the middle of the road. However, even he was stuck in place.

Brad found that he too couldn’t move, even though he knew this bizarre time pause was down to him. He didn’t know how he’d done it, but Brad could freeze time. Moving was like moving through jelly, not impossible, but the air felt thick and gelatinous. What good was this power if Emmanuel had already been hit? It was unfair of Mr Splendid to give Brad a power that meant he couldn’t save anyone, just stop time after they’d been hurt. What was he supposed to do with that? Brad had to force something else to change. He could do it. He knew he could. He pushed back at the force in his mind. It too felt like jelly, thick but movable. He fought against the tide of time and did the unthinkable. Everyone and everything around Brad began to shift backwards. Mothers closed their mouths and turned back to their babies in their push chairs; pigeons settled back on the rooftops; the man stopped trying to rescue Emmanuel and planted his feet firmly on the pavement. The most important change was with Emmanuel. Brad watched as he pushed through time and Emmanuel rose off the ground and flew towards the car. He bounced off the bonnet for a second time, only this time the damage was undone. His head neatly mended itself and his arms clicked back into place. He landed gracefully on his feet and took the two backward steps on to the safety of the pavement.

Brad stopped wading his way through time. With a heroic effort he came back out of his comfy place and the world erupted around him. People went on with their lives like nothing had happened. Only Brad knew the truth. The whole thing would have been for nothing if he didn’t do something about what was about to happen.

“Emmanuel!” he screamed.

Emmanuel turned and gave Brad a strange look that said, “What do you want?” and a car shot down the road, missing everyone.