1 Second After Novels & Stories

As I do, I wonder what he has noticed. “Stop,” he shouts and I look at the screen, not sure what I’m looking for when I see it. That bastard. The time is different. I press play once more and can see the time jump from 8.01 to 8.15 in a second. I try a camera from another angle, seeing the same thing over and over. I try another camera and another until finally we find one where he didn’t edit the time well enough. 8.01 – 8.13 we all see it. A flick of blonde hair appears as the door is just about to close.

“…what now.” Adrian moved closer to the console. “Do not touch anything.” Anna frowned. “I am not touching anything.” Silence. The screen flickered again. Then expanded. New lines appeared. Not historical. Not archived. Live generation. OBSERVATION: SUBJECT A-01 EXPERIENCING TIME SEQUENCE REINTEGRATION EFFECTS Anna froze slightly. “…time sequence reintegration.” Adrian’s voice lowered. “That should not be active yet.” Silence. Anna turned toward him.

I got detention for the first time in years because of that douche. I was quietly in class paying attention when a crumbled paper landed in front of me, I had no idea where it came from, so I opened it curiously. *You, me, at the pitch after this class* I turned around to see if there will be any sign of the writer, only to find a stupid smile on Jordan's face. He sent this shit? I frowned my face at him and signaled to him that I was going to to cut off his throat. That was when Miss. Whatever she is called thought it was nice to look towards me.

“So you should probably understand what those two ugly men are doing at Second Master’s home by now.” ‘Yes!’ Sotiria would have to be an idiot if she still couldn’t understand at this point! “Second Master has made accurate calculations. The effects of that solution on a human will only start working in eleven minutes after consumption. Given my superb driving skills, we will only need fifteen minutes to get from here to Second Master’s house. If we run through all red lights, nine minutes should be enough.” Lucas showed Sotiria his watch. “So get in the car, or you’ll miss the show.”

"It just pinged again." I looked at the screen. A single new line had appended itself to the log, timestamped, my coordinates rendered down to a precision that made my stomach turn. "When's the last one before that," I said. Fen scrolled up. Did the math. Looked at me. "Forty seconds ago. Exactly forty seconds ago, to the second." The counter in the corner of her screen was already climbing toward the next one. Thirty-eight. Thirty-seven.

"The frame is frozen. Move." Lina jammed the USB into the terminal. The monitor flared, washing her face in a ghostly blue glow. "What’s the window on the server reset?" Lina asked. Her pulse was a frantic hammer against her ribs. "3:15 AM sharp," Noah said. "When the bank server resets, the verification logic goes blind for ten seconds. It’s 3:14 and forty-five seconds. You’ve got fifteen ticks to hit the gap." "Count it." "Ten," Noah started, his voice tightening. "Five. Three... two... one. Rip it."

"We do this for one year. Then we 'grow apart,' or whatever, and it ends clean. No drama." "One year," he said. "Agreed." "Starting now," I repeated. Just to make sure I'd heard him correctly. He nodded at the nearest phone screen, barely concealed behind someone's backpack. "Starting five minutes ago, actually."

I gasped for air and lifted my hand in terror. Out of instinct, I reached for the glass of water beside me, trying to use it to steady myself. But my fingers passed straight through the solid glass. With a sharp crash, the glass fell to the floor and shattered. [Warning! Detected: bound target Victoria Quinn's love value has fallen below the critical threshold.] [The contract has been breached. Penalty activated. Erasure protocol officially launched.] [Death countdown: 71 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds...]

the system said to Quickstep. "What?! Even a song from you costs one shop point?" Quickstep was astounded by the system. "Affirmative, host," the system replied to Quickstep. "This is going to be a boring vacation," Quickstep said as he accepted his one hundred year recovery program. 1 day 2 days 1 month 12 months 1200 months A century has passed by swiftly together with the changing of seasons. "Congratulations, host. You have fully recovered from your injuries," the system notified Quickstep after one thousand two hundred months and ten days.

Dang, I can’t remember the code! Did my dad say 9122? No, it had an eight in it, I think. I can hear heavy gunfire downstairs and I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. I start to cry because I literally can’t still remember the freaking code! Okay, okay, I need to calm down. Despite the commotion downstairs, I take in a deep breath and I try to calm myself. “9182.” I say to myself and it clicks in my head. That’s the code! “9182.” I say again as I press the numbers on the keypad.