Time Free //free\\ze Veronica Leal -

“You had a little more time,” she said.

She spent what felt like hours wandering. She paused the world to read a page of a newspaper caught mid-flight from a stand. She stopped a toddler from tumbling off a park bench, gently repositioning his tiny, solid-as-stone legs back onto the seat. She walked right up to her boss, Mr. Hendricks, who was frozen mid-scowl outside his office building, and straightened his crooked tie. time freeze veronica leal

She twisted the stem back.

Veronica smiled. It was a small, tired, honest smile. The first one she’d worn in years. “You had a little more time,” she said

“Antique junk,” she muttered, turning it over. The glass was cracked. The hands were frozen at 10:03:17. But when her thumb brushed the winding stem, she felt a jolt—like a rubber band snapping in her chest. She stopped a toddler from tumbling off a