It started with small gaps.
Nothing alarming.
Nothing dramatic.
He would check the timeā¦
Then look againā¦
And feel like more time had passed than it should.
Minutes felt longer.
Or shorter.
He couldnāt tell.
At first, he blamed distraction.
Phones do that.
Work does that.
You lose track.
Normal.
But then it got stranger.
One afternoonā¦
He sat down to rest.
Just five minutes.
Thatās what he told himself.
He closed his eyes.
Opened them again.
The room was darker.
The light had changed.
He checked his phone.
Two hours.
Gone.
His chest tightened.
āThatās not rightā¦ā
He didnāt remember sleeping.
Didnāt remember dreaming.
It justā¦ skipped.
He tried to shake it off.
But the gaps kept happening.
More often.
More unpredictable.
Ten minutes turning into an hour.
An hour disappearing completely.
Like parts of his day were being erased.
Not forgotten.
Removed.
Thatās when he started tracking it.
Writing down time.
Exact minutes.
Testing reality.
Trying to stay in control.
But the more he watched itā¦
The worse it got.
The gaps grew longer.
Stranger.
One nightā¦
He decided to stay awake.
No sleeping.
No losing time.
He sat in his room.
Lights on.
Phone in his hand.
Watching the clock.
Second by second.
Everything felt normal.
Steady.
Controlled.
He relaxed slightly.
āSee? Itās fineā¦ā
Thenā
He blinked.
Just once.
And the clock changed.
From 2:14 AMā¦
To 3:52 AM.
His heart stopped.
āNoā¦ā
āThatās not possibleā¦ā
He stood up quickly.
Looked around.
Everything was the same.
Nothing moved.
Nothing changed.
Except time.
Almost two hoursā¦
Gone.
In a blink.
His breathing got heavier.
āThis isnāt normalā¦ā
He grabbed his phone.
Opened the camera.
Started recording.
āIf I lose time againā¦ Iāll see it.ā
He sat back down.
Watching.
Waiting.
Seconds passed.
Minutes.
Thenā
A blink.
Just one.
He checked the clock.
Another jump.
Time gone again.
His hands shaking now.
He opened the recording.
Played it.
At firstā¦
Everything normal.
Thenā
His body froze.
Because in the videoā¦
He didnāt disappear.
He didnāt skip.
He moved.
Slowly.
Standing up.
Walking around the room.
Doing things.
Looking at things.
For hours.
While he remembered nothing.
His breath stopped.
āThatās not meā¦ā
But it was.
His body.
His face.
Moving.
Without him.
Thenā
In the videoā¦
He stopped.
Turned.
Looked directly at the camera.
And smiled.
A slowā¦
Unfamiliar smile.
Then said something.
Very clearly.
āI like when youāre gone.ā
The video ended.
Silence.
Cold.
Still.
And in that momentā¦
He understood something terrifying:
He wasnāt losing time.
He was losing controlā¦
Of who was using it.
