Chapter 01

I dribbled the ball on the pavement, splashing a puddle of water onto my shoes. I had the basket in sight. I could imagine the crowd cheering me on, watching as I curved around competitors to the goal.

"Come on, Adam!" John said. "Get your head out of the bleachers."

I focused on his movement. His muscles were coiled like a spring. Luckily for me, he tended to not have control over his movements. I faked right and dodged left. He reached and grabbed nothing but air. I saw my opening and took the shot. I could hear the crowd go silent as the ball sailed through the air.

The ball bounced off of the basket away from the garage. I could hear the "boos" from the crowd all the way here in a rural neighborhood in North Carolina.

"Nice try," John said. "Next time, don't let your mind get distracted by things that don't exist."

"In the present, you mean," I correct as I brush grass off of the ball. "It could happen in the future, you know."

"No one can see the future," he said. He stripped his hoodie off as the clouds let the sun shine through onto our small game.

"Why'd you wear a hoodie, anyway? It's not going to rain."

"The forecast said it was isolated showers," he said. "I just wanted to be prepared."

"Prepare for this!" I shouted and threw the ball at the goal.

It hit the ring and bounced away too far for me to grab. It rolled onto the street.

"Nice," he said.

"I got it," I said.

It stopped right on the line, and I hastily moved toward it. Now at the curb, I could see a minivan driving by and stopped myself. My shoes slipped on the curb, and my body tumbled forward into the road.

"Adam!" I heard John shout my name.

The car horn honked. I heard the wheels screech on the minivan, but it was too late.

I could see the scene play out. As I would struggle to get up and move, the van would hit my body, and it would roll onto the windshield, cracking it like a rock. The minivan would stop abruptly, throwing my dead body onto the ground. My head would be bleeding from my fractured skull. The woman inside would get out and try to help, but it would be too late. John would run over and--

A wave of something, something like fire or ice, washed over me, and in the blink of an eye, everything froze.

There was no sound.

There was no movement.

There was no pain.

I could see the minivan scarcely touch my stomach as it remained frozen where it was. The woman inside had her mouth open in a scream, but she remained unmoving. My heart raced and jumped into my throat as I watched this scene frozen in time. I glanced at John who also remained unmoving as he was in a run and frozen in a way that would be impossible for him to remain standing. I looked back at the minivan and wanted to move, but my legs were frozen where they were. I couldn't tell them to move.

Then, like another wave, the icy feeling in my bones returned, and visible light fractured all around me as everything started to move backwards. The minivan retreated to a few feet away. John was running in a moonwalk fashion. The clouds went against the wind, or what was the wind a few moments ago.

The feeling subsided, and the minivan came at me full-throttle again, except this time, I was on my feet.

"Adam!" I heard John shout my name.

The car horn blared.

The wheels of the tires screeched.

I dove out of the way.

The car stopped right where I would have been. The woman inside thrusted open the door and rushed over to me like she was my mother.

"Oh god oh god oh god are you alright?"

She brushed the hair from my face and gave me a closer look. She had on a business suit like she was going home for work.

"I'm fine," I said, though I didn't feel it. "I'm okay."

"What the hell were you doing standing in the road like that?" She demanded.

"I wasn't standing," I countered. "My ball rolled into the road. I tried to stop myself, but my shoes slipped."

She gave me a funny look like she didn't believe me and sighed.

"Well, at least you're not hurt. Just try to be careful next time," she said.

With that, she got into her car and drove off. I picked up the ball and made it back to the curb where John was standing.

"Dude, what were you thinking?" He asked.

"Did you see that?" I asked him.

"See what? You almost get run over?"

"No, I was going to get run over. Then, it just..."

"It what? What are you talking about?"

I gave John a funny look. "Don't tell me you didn't see it, either."

"See. What?"

I looked back at the road.

"Everything... stopped."

"Stopped? You mean that moment when your life flashes before your eyes?"

"I mean, I guess. I don't know. It was... weird."

"You just somehow avoided becoming roadkill. I'd call that a miracle. Let's just not tell your mom about this, please? She wouldn't let us play basketball on the team anymore if she saw that."

"Yeah. Sure."

I threw the basketball into the garage, narrowly avoiding my mom's car inside.

"I'm not in the mood for basketball right now," I said.

John looked at his watch. "That's cool. We're going to have to stop anyway to catch the game."

I wasn't feeling like looking forward to the game much, either.

As we walked to the front door of my house, I looked back at the road. Whatever it was on that road, whether it be God, coincidence, miracle, or whatever, something happened in those few moments of time.

And no one noticed but me.