Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down!
Hickory Dickory Dock.

There she was, standing by the drowsy little cliff by the sea. She no longer could remember where she had travelled to, neither could she care less about the time nor date. She slowly sat down as she hung her bag loosely on one of the travellers that was frozen next to her.

“Day 41,” she wrote in her diary.

“My search is almost over. I am convinced that while I am blessed to have been spared from this merciless freeze in time, I am cursed to have to see the faces of many being frozen. Some were frozen happy; some were stopped in their steps in teary faces. Some, oh some, they still held their horrifying stance of anger.

I want to jump off the cliff I am standing upon, and yet I am afraid, for I don’t want to be frozen and only to be found by someone that might be cursed like me in a state of despair and desperation. I do not want to be frozen in desperation nor despair. No.

I am tired. And yet, all the time I have is not sparing me the rest I truly desire.”

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The bird looked at the clock,
The clock struck two 2,
Away she flew,
Hickory Dickory Dock

He was alone in his own world, walking down the winding path that many had walked before. There he was at the Great Wall of China, and as he walked down that path, it was his own private exhibition of faces, or expressions, of different walks of life.

The first time he met the stoppable-s, he was horrified. He was awoken with his roommate’s face hovering over his, his mouth still open, water frozen in their scattered form around him. It was his roommate’s way of waking him up when he is late.

“Tao,” Sehun had call before splashing a cup of ice-cold water on him, but that morning, he woke up, and stretched his hand out in the attempt to stop Sehun. That morning he had succeeded in waking up with a dry face, and a Sehun frozen in his own spot.

He tried, in many ways to awake the stoppable in front of him, to slap Sehun, to kick Sehun, and in fact, he did tried to even kick him in the balls, but nothing. There was nothing, but the frozen statue of Sehun with his mouth mouthing “Tao.”

That was months ago, when Tao finally gave up waking Sehun, and that was when he was greeted with stoppable-s scattered around the street, all frozen in their acts.

Tao remembered his reaction. He screamed.

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The dog barked at the clock,
The clock struck three 3,
Fiddle-de-dee,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

There she was, this time no longer on a cliff. It might have been longer than a day, it might not have been, but she no longer cared. Another day, she thinks, is just another time she have learnt something new.

And so unabashed, she wrote in thin clear , Day 42,

I met another one today, another jumper. Another one that got frozen in the middle of her suicide. Unlike the previous one whose face was calm and collected, this one was horrified. Fear and remorse was plastered all over her face, and still plastered over her face as I am writing.

I walked up the building that she was jumping off, and walked down starting from the top floor to visit each household in that apartment. And I could understand why she would regret her decision to jump.

There on the top floor was a lovely elderly couple frozen in their steps, their gramophone playing an old jazz.

Below them was a family that was having a dinner together, their faces plastered with smiles.

Then a couple sitting on the couch, with the husband gently patting the wife’s huge belly. How many more months due? I don’t know.

It continued for seven more floors, seven more floors of happiness, until I reached the floor that she couldn’t make it to see.

There on the floor is a little girl protecting her even younger brother from the cane in their father’s hand.

I don’t know whether she would still feel as regretful over her action at the lack of humanity the father is showing, or feel even more remorseful that humanity still exists as the girl shields her brother.

I don’t know. Or did she jump, because she was like me, facing too many frozen people.

I don’t know what to say, except that from her face I am happy that I didn’t jump yesterday.

Hickory Dickory Dock,
The bear slept by the clock,
The clock struck four 4,
He ran out the door,
Hickory Dickory Dock!

He is lost. Lost between the frozen times, and lost in the land that he is facing. Words and different on billboards that hung over the land. It’s been a long time since he actually faced civilization, or what used to be civilization.

The last time was in Beijing where he was sure of thanks to the long walk on the Great Wall of China. This time, he was somewhere new. Was it Korea? Or is it Japan?

He might have chosen the latter, for he had always had a thing for the food there, but now, he couldn’t care less. He just wants to find a place he really really like to die.

He met a family as he walked on the street - A couple strolling down the streets with their daughter happily walking in the middle of them both.

He met another family, this time just an old elderly woman and walking with her grandson and two granddaughters.

And a young couple with their fingers linked.

And another. And another. And another.

And he quickened his steps. He really needs to find a place to die.

And perhaps that was when he saw something that he finally felt glad about. Something that he gave thanks for for the first time ever since the start of meeting all the stoppable-s

An almost collision between two cars. And as if it’s the most normal thing in his life, he shifted both drivers’ foot on to the brake ped