"I'm sorry but Mr. Willhem is fully booked for the next week, ma'am. He's planning on revealing a new energy prototype on Friday and needs to spend these next few days preparing. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but thank you for calling."

As soon as she hung up, Chloe let out a groan and closed her eyes, needing just two seconds of peace and quiet. All day she had to deal with snobby people getting upset when they didn't get what they wanted. She even had to skip her lunch break to help Mr. Willhem with whatever stupid presentation he had to do. Her stomach loudly growled in protest of any more work but the woman knew that, at any moment, another rich patron would call and demand attention. 

Yet, surprisingly, the office was quiet. Dead quiet. The room was quickly warming up, too, and when Chloe opened her eyes she realized the only light was coming from the large windows that surrounded the work area. "The power must have turned off," she muttered to herself as she slowly looked around, a slight frown appearing on her face when she noticed something was... off. As she wondered about some sort of backup generator she stood to get a better look at the others in the room. She worked as a secretary for Colby Willhem, CEO and founder of Willhem & Co. Research Enhancement Center, on the office and presentation floor. The room was wide open and secretary desks dotted themselves in front of closed doors where the more experienced and higher-paid scientists worked. Mr. Willhem's office was directly behind her but he was in the laboratory two floors above.

"Is this some kind of joke?" She yelled when she realized the other coworkers weren't moving. They were frozen, mid position. One lady was putting a phone back on the receiver, another was in mid-sneeze. A guy directly across the room was bent over his desk. A frown appeared on Chloe's face as she stepped around her desk, her heels slowly clicking against the polished floor. Hesitantly walking to one of the offices, she pushed the door open without knocking. Inside a bald man named Fischer, according to his name plate, was mid-bite in a sandwich. The woman slowly walked in, still convinced this was all a prank, and slapped his hand. The sandwich scattered across the desktop but the man's hand still remained midair. 

"What the hell is happening," Chloe muttered, quickly turning to the large, floor-to-ceiling window that showed a grand view of Park Avenue. Everyone outside was frozen, just like her coworkers. Cars paused mid-turn, people standing on sidewalks with open strides. A bird was even frozen just a few feet from the window.

The black-haired woman's breathing started to become a bit labored as the utter silence of the city, and the gravity of the situation, hit her. New York City wasn't supposed to be silent. It was supposed to have car horns and police sirens and people yelling. Strangers were supposed to be busy, moving and shoving people to get to their destination. Not this. Not whatever the hell happened. 

She stumbled out of the office and went to her desk, practically ripping out a drawer to access her purse before digging in it for a cigarette. Shoving one between her teeth her fingers fumbled on the lighter. Once it was lit, however, she drew in a deep breath and held the smoke in her lungs before releasing it slowly. She did this once more before she started to settle down, the nicotine forcing her to relax. 

"Okay just think Chloe. One minute everything is fine and the next everything stopped," she muttered, looking around for some sort of answer. Her left hand held the cigarette and she mindlessly smoked as she tried to turn her computer back on. It wouldn't start and even reconnecting it to the outlet didn't work. Her phone turned on but the connection was extremely spotty and unreliable. Every app or game that didn't require an internet connection worked fine, but those that needed internet or even just a hot spot didn't work. Her clock was stuck on 1:41.

As she lit her second cigarette a thought hit her. Everyone but her was frozen in time. She could do whatever she wanted. Take whatever she wanted.

An old feeling welled up inside of her, one that she had to suppress if she wanted a job and all. When she was a teenager she used to steal little things to get by and, if no one was around to tell her "no," then why shouldn't she indulge herself a little bit? She bit her lip to stop her smile as she stubbed her cigarette out against the desk. She grabbed her purse and slung it over her shoulder as she used the stairs to get to the street.

Poking a few random citizens in the face and getting no reaction, Chloe couldn't help but laugh as she began her way down the street, poking and accidentally knocking over people who were probably dead or something. None of them mattered, though, because this was like she was running the show. This was her world. She figured everyone was frozen or dead or whatever happened and didn't both actually looking around for people like herself.