The Girl Who Stopped Time

Bad things

Currently I'm standing confused in front of the old wooden door that I have yet to find what's behind. I had been holding Aggie as well but when she started to get fussy Gilah came out of no where and took her out of the room. I hadn't even said anything to make her think she had to. After our little "family" meeting Atlas asked me to wait by this door while he got the key for it. I'm not really sure why I listened, maybe my meddlesome side is poking out a little bit. I should learn to control it more; curiosity is what got me into this mess in the first place.

Let's start from the beginning. I'm kidnapped by a man who is actually Time himself. Not only that but he has six siblings who are also Eternal Joy, Hatred/Anger, Love, Innocence, Impurity and of course Death has to be thrown into the mix. While being here I've been kissed without my consent, burnt, had large shards of glass fall on top of me, ran into death who practically threw me around like a rag doll, then I've been lied to and betrayed. The only good thing that's happened here has been the food... and maybe the new constellations. Other than that, I should be certifiably sad. Or mad, I'm honestly not sure how I should be feeling right now.

"I found it." Atlas says from behind me, making me jump nearly ten feet off of the ground. I turn around to look at him and give him my finest glare. "I found the key." He says, holding it up and completely ignoring both my jump and glare.

He walks past me and sticks the key in the door, jiggling it around a bit before it finally twists. It pushes open with a loud squeak and he gestures for me to walk inside.

I look back and forth between him and the dark room, wondering if he's crazy or I am.

"You're kidding, right? If I go in there and it's some sort of fifty shades of grey kind of stuff-"

"It's not, now will you please just go inside the damn room." He interrupts with an amused grin on his face.

I suck in a large amount of air, seemingly preparing myself for whatever terrors I'm about to face. I guess I'm the crazy one. I take a step forward into the room and the darkness envelops me. Atlas joins me and walks to the wall right next to the door. With the little light from outside I can see that he's made his way to some sort of metal valve. He begins to turn it and I hear chains moving from above me. The roof begins to open and separate, revealing an assortment of stars. From the added light of the night sky, a large telescope is revealed. It's gold and rustic, with stairs winding up to a short deck where I can barely see a desk sitting atop it. Books are scattered all over the walls as well as the ground, each one carrying a layer of dust upon them.

This must be the observatory he told me about in his note.

"It's beautiful." I whisper. I look to Atlas and he gestured for me to continue on. I walk over to the metal stairs and begin my winding ascent.

I make it to the top where a mahogany desk sits with a stack of blank papers laid upon it. There's a full pencil jar and a reading lamp right beside them. The chair which is meant to be at the desk is pulled up to the scope, so I go and sit in the cushioned seat. My hands are practically shaking at how giddy I am when I look through it. This is surreal.

My leg bounces rapidly and I have grip it in my hand to make it stop.

I hear Atlas' footsteps coming up the stairs so I pull away from the telescope to look at him. The room is dim so I can only really see his silhouette but I'm glad it's darker in here. It's easier to talk to him when I don't have to look at his face.

"This is amazing, Atlas." I say and get up from the seat. I walk to the other end of the deck away from him and balance myself on the hand rail. I look up at the sky again then down to the books cascading the walls. I think I might be in heaven. "I can't believe that you actually have an observatory. I thought you might have lied about this, so I just forgot about it."