Slowed

It had been two days after he had that dream. The name Pica was stucked in his mind. He hadn't told anyone about that. It was obvious to him that the dream he had last night had some connection to the very first unusual dream he had.

As usual, he went to his school. He was trying hard to not use his power for simple things. He hadn't used his power for two whole days. He was itching to use his power but he had sworn to himself.

John reached his school. He met Sam in front of the school gate. Sam was early today.

"Good morning", John greeted.

"Yeah, Good morning. Let's go to class.", Sam replied.

They went to their class. Mrs. Rebecca came to class. She took her class. John would sometime look at Riza and sometime at Mrs. Rebecca. He had regret doing those things to them but he also wished he could do it again. He is a teenager after all.

During the lunch time, John, Sam and Riza were going to the canteen. Sam had invited Riza.

They were taking the stairs to go down as their class was on the topmost floor.

"What are you guys gonna have today?", Riza asked.

"Me, I am having an hamburger.", John immediately replied.

"What about you, John?", Riza asked again.

"Uh...umm..I..w-will have the same too.", John replied in a low tone.

"Then I will have the same too", Riza smiled and replied.

They were walking down the stairs. Riza suddenly slipped and was about to fall down.

"Riza!", Sam hastily said.

John had pretty sharp reflexes. His hand automatically moved forward. Suddenly, he realized time stopped.

He was shocked this time. He wasn't in any life threatening situation.

'What is this? I thought time only paused when I was at a life threatening situation.', he thought.

He took advantage of time pausing and saved Riza. He punched the wall and everything went back to normal.

"Be careful, Riza.", John said to Riza holding her on her shoulder.

"Uh...What..What just happened? I think I was about to fall? Anyway, thanks for saving.", Riza thanked John.

"Bro, you are quick.", Sam added.

Due to repeatedly using his power for so many days, his brain was used to it. Now, he didn't have to actually put his life at stake. He just had to imagine his life was stake. He was improving.

They had their lunch on canteen and returned back to class. It was history class. History was taught by Mr. JP

It was little weird but a unique name. Mr. JP had an announcement that day.

"I have an announcement today, my dear students. So please listen, my dear students", Mr. JP spoke. He had a weird way of speaking with his students. He ended his every sentence with 'My dear students'.

'We are organising a basketball competition three days from now, my dear students", Mr. JP said.

"So anyone interested can submit their name to me......My dear students.", Mr. JP added.

Lot's of boys gave their name and few girls too gave their name. Even John gave his name.

He geniunely practised for two days without using his power. He wanted to play honestly but somewhere deep inside, he also wanted to use his power and impress Riza.

'I want to try this power. After all, now I can pause time by just imagining a life threatening situation.', he thought to himself.

Finally, the day for the basketball competiton came. Everyone was excited. Players too were excited and a little scared.

The game started. John played honestly.

Riza was cheering for him and Sam. This motivated him more.

The first half was on John's team favour.

But on the second half, they started losing. No matter how hard they tried, they were overwhelmed by the opponent team's speed.

The ball was now in John's hand. John realized he can't let go of this opportunity.

'This is for my team's sake.', he thought to himself. He imagined that his life was at stake.

Time started stopping. John started moving forward. Then he realized something.

Time hadn't stopped completely. Players were still moving but slowly.

In fact, this time instead of pausing, the time slowed down.