Time

Time

“Boy”

My eyes held the cold cement wall. Time was moving slower now.

“Hey boy, don't pretend you ain’t hearin’ me. You piece of shit, you ain’t gonna last one damn minute with all this mute nonsense”

My neck croaked, I turned to look at the big black behemoth of a man. His immense body pulled my eyes with gravity. The engorged veins in his neck pulsed with blood. He shuffled the deck of cards in his hands.

“Well well well, pretty boy is finally awake, we got eight hours till breakfast so may as well get comfortable.” His voice boomed a quiet tone, one you felt more than you heard.

I needed the next six months to fade into history. I wondered what Jay was doing right now, somewhere laying low, off the grid, maybe in Venezuela, or New Zealand just rolling in dough. Fucking rat.

“Well boy, I hate to do this but this life ain't fo’ everyone and yo’ ass needs a protector, a guardian”

He rose from his bed, it squeaked in relief. He took slow, sluggish, swaggered steps toward me.

“Some protection from who eva’ or whateva’ might be, looking to, harm you” As he got closer I could hear him breathing deep and heavy, from an icy smile creeping up on his face.

He came to the foot of my bed, and stood still for a moment.

    “Yea you’ll do fine” he whispered as he grazed my face with his meaty, sausage fingers.

    “Now boy” He paused and waited. “Boy, you listenin’ to me?” He said fiercely.

“Ye-yes”

“Good, now you can't expect me to be your big man all for nuthin’ huh?”

I said nothing for a moment. His gaze petrified me. He towered over me like a dog eyeing a new chew toy.

“No”

“No I can't, so you just sit tight and pay me back now ya hear”

I nodded my head, I could feel the sweat on my forehead. I followed his hand to my thigh. It was shaking. I tried to say something.

    “Hel-”

His finger was already in my mouth before I could finish.

    “Shhhh now boy, ain’t no reason to be afraid you just sit tight now”

He fiddled with the buckle on his belt before tossing it to the floor. He pushed my head down with his left hand as his right tugged on his trousers. Before I could move a muscle he had me on my knees. Time was almost at a stop.

    “You go on now boy, go on ‘nd get a mouthful of your big man”

My eyes were watering. I thought back to Jay, and his wife. His beautiful wife and the night we had together. It was in that moment that wouldn't pass that I made time stop. I threw my head into his stomach, knocking him off balance. He fell for a long time before the crack of his head against the white toilet bowl shattered the small lapse in time, throwing me back into reality. He had split it right in half. It did the same to his head. I can remember the thick blood. Blood and water and the small trickle it made as it spiraled down, into the drain.

And that moment- that moment lasted forever.

    or

    Time is a funny thing. Einstein has proven it runs at different rates, but you may never stop it forever.