I always thought the world would end with noise—explosions, sirens, screaming. Not stillness.
Not this… pause in everything.
Shimla's early morning fog curled around the winding roads like something alive. I stood at the window, clutching a chipped mug of chai, watching a cat mid-leap—mid-leap—above the rooftop next door, frozen in air like a paused YouTube video buffering forever.
At first, I thought I was dreaming again. One of my recurring lucid ones, where I'm the only one aware something's off. But it didn't fade when I blinked. I even pinched my arm hard enough to leave a red welt.
Everyone was frozen. Mid-bite, mid-word, mid-step. Like mannequins caught playing human.
I dropped my mug. It didn't shatter. It stuck to the floor.
Not on it. In it.
I backed away from the kitchen, my heart jackhammering. Nani was curled on the book café's lounge chair downstairs, spectacles halfway off her nose, a novel open in her lap. A thin column of steam rose from her untouched cup of tea, suspended mid-air.
"...Nani?" I whispered, but the sound fell flat, like the air didn't know what to do with it.
I grabbed my phone. No calls worked. No internet. No notifications.
Except one.
A new app sat on my screen—a glowing black icon shaped like an eye. It hadn't been there last night. Beneath it: a blinking red dot.
I opened it.
CHAT REQUEST — The Host
Welcome, Aira.
Your world is paused.
But you are not.
Complete missions to unfreeze lives.
But be warned—each soul you return will not be quite the same.
Will you play?
The message pulsed against the pitch-black background. My fingers hovered over the screen.
I should've screamed. I should've thrown the phone and run. But I didn't. Because I was already used to living in a world where no one really listened.
Used to being the quiet girl who only spoke when spoken to.
Used to hiding behind my sketchbook, behind fake yeses, behind the mask of the obedient daughter who never disappointed.
Now... the silence stretched on, unbearable in its totality.
I typed back.
Is this a joke?
The Host is typing…
No.
But life has always been a game.
You just never got to play before.
I stared at the frozen world. Shimla, paused like an abandoned film set. And me, the unchosen extra, suddenly shoved into the lead role.
For the first time, no one was telling me what to do.
I should've felt terrified.
Instead—I felt something else.
Relief.
Because if the world was frozen, then maybe for once... I didn't have to pretend.
Not yet.
Not until the game started.
But even then, I didn't press "Yes."
Not yet.
Because deep down, something whispered—once I said yes, there'd be no going back.
And something in me wanted to say no.
The Host types one last message:
"Your first soul awaits. Choose wisely. Your time begins... now." The clock starts ticking...
[To be continued in Chapter Two: "The First Mission"]