Pause Story Novels & Stories

Ping added quietly, “…there’s no going back.”

Hindi ko na sana siya papansinin ng matigilan ako sa narinig ko. "What!? Buhay siya!? Papaano!?" Sigaw ni Tito na hindi yata alintana kung may makarinig sa kanya. Humarap ako sa kanya habang siya ay nakatalikod parin. I know it's wrong to eavesdrop but I couldn't help it. Something is urging me to listen what will be his next words. I took a step backward and hide myself in a leafy bush but it's enough for me to hear his conversation with someone.

The wrist unit answers before I do. LEONARDO VALE CONTINUITY WINDOW: PAUSED PENDING ACKNOWLEDGMENT. The letters are small. They do not need to be large. My brother is somewhere in the walls, somewhere in the power stack, somewhere in the dying part of a machine that speaks with his old impatience when it can afford to be a boy. Paused. Not stopped. Not killed. Paused, like his remaining self is a video file, a subscription feature, a courtesy hold.

The movie is playing, but I’m not really watching. The images blur together, the dialogue is just a low hum in the background. My mind is racing, replaying every second of last night, every touch, every whisper. I feel like I’m on the edge of something dangerously close to falling apart. Then, suddenly, Presley grabs the remote and pauses the movie. The screen freezes, and the room goes quiet.

Dylan needed to let go of this leech as it would make him move forward. “It seems Miss Adams is not understanding my words. I have made the compensation and for me to cough out that large amount means that you will not be on any show for the next six months. Alyssa Adams, I am putting you on suspension for six whole months!” His words were so cold and thorny to her ears. Her eyes bled with tears as she shot a glare at him. Suspension?! Alyssa barked internally. The only person who was suspended was Paige, however that was her new fate now!

I could only imagine the confused, blubbering mess Flossie was right now. “And everything’s stopped mooo...” Maurice paused as he looked around and noticed how still everything was. “What’s going on?” asked Claire. “Are you okay?” added Jenny, as an afterthought. “This is Phil,” I said. “He can stop time. I mean, really stop it.” “Oh,” said Maurice. “I get it. Everything’s frozen. How come we can still breathe?” “We can’t,” I said. “I’ll explain later. Just stay calm. If you get too excited, the Jester will be able to find us, so it’s important not to get emotional. Understand?”

They must've assumed these arguments make sense because I was silently standing there, making it appear as if I'd been listening, and I knew I wouldn't be able to pretend I hadn't. I put my hands over my ears, but could still detect certain words. I longed to go out of the house but forced myself to remain seated still. "You don't get it!" "I hate this life!" "You children are just a burden I can't abandon!" "I told you to listen to me…" I pressed my hands harder into my ears. Trapped there, with my eyes closed, I could almost see the words as illuminated streaks floating in the air. The noise made me realize that's their only one solution that I could think of: To play a morality game, a ga

"But, Za—" “Today I passed out because I was tired. Because I was exhausted, my heart was acting up. Because of that I was unconscious. Brother Keanu also heard what the doctor said earlier, right? If today, my heart is fine. There is nothing to worry about. I'm just thinking too much and tired, that's all."

A cup of coffee that had been falling from a businessman’s hand was suspended in the air, the liquid frozen in a perfect, brown arc. We were the only things moving. We were the "Active Assets" in a paused program. "They're selling us," I said, a cold, hard knot forming in my stomach. "They aren't just making a show. They're making a **Game**. And someone is sitting in their living room right now, deciding if we’re worth thirty dollars." "Look at the timer," Rowan pointed to the bottom corner of my vision. **[SHUTDOWN IN: 04:59]**

When he didn't see anything on the cell, his eyebrows came up and said. “Pasha doesn't play any game. Tick Tick… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.” “Look at the mobile.” Pasha, who was speaking, found Antonio looking at him with ignorance, and then he said. He had just said that Antonio's mobile phone started ringing. “See what you are up to.”At his request, he got a call on the last bell. “Game redemption ... all destroyed ... just like ... like ... like.” He clicked and said ... while everyone else started watching this scene in amazement because they did not understand what happened in the end.