With your classes done for the week, you head back to your apartment just across the street from campus. One of the perks of sophomore year is that you got to escape the hellholes that were the freshman dorms. You're a fairly average, nondescript kind of guy, but the jocks will pick on anyone who isn't one of them. In short, you are happy to be away from all of that.

Hopping into your building, you climb the stairs to your second floor apartment. On the way up, your across the hall neighbor, Anna, is coming down the stairs. You give her a nervous smile and nod, but the busty blonde walks right past you like you're invisible. She's probably just busy rushing off to class or cheerleading practice, you tell yourself for the 83rd day in a row. You unlock your door and enter the apartment, tossing your backpack on the couch. Your roommate, Andrew, was heading out of town for the weekend, so you have the place to yourself and nobody will care if you leave your things strewn about. You think about just vegging out and playing video games for a while, but there's plenty of time for that. Instead, you decide you should go out for a short run. And then you'll feel better about sitting down with nothing but pizza and video games for the rest of the night. So you throw on some workout clothes and head back outside.

You're not in great shape, but you run just often enough to stay fitter than the average guy. Plodding down the sidewalk, you notice a group of girls running your direction on the other side of the street. Tightening up your form, you find yourself speeding up. Eyes firmly on the bouncing scenery across the street, you're running way faster than you ought to be, but you have to look good while they are within viewing range. All is going according to plan, right up until you run into something and go crashing into the sidewalk.

Flat on your back, you can hear an older man cursing at you and you try to block out the giggling sounds you hear from across the street. "Owww," you groan as you sit up.

"Sonnovabitch!!" the man shouts at you.

"I'm so sorry," you stammer out, finally getting a look at the man you ran into. He's an older man, probably in his 60's, wearing a white lab coat. You figure he's arriving home from a job at the university. Papers are scattered all over and you try to atone by picking up the ones closest to you.

"All you damn kids are the same!" he continues ranting. "Lost in your own little worlds... But now, after all these years, I have the means to fight back."

You look up and see him reaching into his pocket. Fearing the worst, you shield your eyes, shouting, "Don't shoo-!" but you don't finish the thought as something is suddenly stuffed in your mouth. In fact, you aren't standing at the foot of the driveway anymore. Instead, your arms are tied behind you around a no parking sign. And you are wearing only your underwear. And from the taste, you're pretty sure there's a sock in your mouth. What the hell? you think to yourself.

"You're all so damn self absorbed. Let everyone else see you for who you are," the man says, now holding the stack of papers that a second ago was scattered all over the ground. "Maybe next time you'll pay some goddamn attention!" And with that he turns his back on you and starts walking up the driveway. He fishes in his pocket to get his keys out and you notice something shiny and metallic fall out into the grass. The man doesn't stop though and he's quickly into the house and out of sight.

Luckily for you, the scientist was no boy scout when it came to tying knots and with a little wriggling, you're able to free yourself. Your situation doesn't go entirely unnoticed though as several drivers give you shouting cat calls or honking horns while you retrieve your clothes and re-dress. You're about to take off running for home with your tail between your legs when you remember the object that fell from the old man's pocket. Walking back over to the side of the driveway, you spot a silver pocket watch in the grass.

The watch looks fairly new, but not particularly fancy. There's no cover on the front and there is a silver button on the right as well as a red button on top. Along with the usual hour, minute and second hands, there is a small red hand pointing directly at 12. You fiddle around with the watch a little bit, spinning it around in your hands as you consider whether you really feel like facing the old man and his dark magic again or if you're just going to leave the watch on the doorstep and take off. Almost absentmindedly, you hit the red button and the world suddenly goes quiet around you.

The deafening silence causes you to quickly jerk your head around toward the street. A car that had been driving by is now stopped with the driver inside frozen in place. Up in the sky, birds are stuck in the air motionless. Holy shit! You look back down at the pocket watch and all the regular hands are frozen, but now the red hand is slowly moving clockwise. Having seen your share of sci fi, you come to the only reasonable conclusion. That old guy figured out how to stop time! You check the watch on your wrist and sure enough, the second counter is stopped on 33. This is awesome! You start hopping up and down with excitement. Looking more closely at the pocket watch, you noticed that the red hand has now moved past 2. By rough count, it would take about a minute to go from one number to the next. You figure this must be a timer for how long time can stay stopped. Not wanting to waste all your time, you hit the red button again. The world comes back to life around you as everything starts moving again. Now the red hand appears to be moving very slowly in the counterclockwise direction. That must be the recharge rate.

You start to think of all the fun things you could do with a time stopping watch. Of course, being a 20-year-old male, many of those ideas revolve around naked women, but at least some of your thoughts involve being a superhero of sorts. Then again, it's not really your watch just because the old man dropped it. You weigh over the first truly major decision in your life.