"1.855094832 × 1043 tP"
"Um, hi I was just. . ."
Steven froze. The world around him seemed to freeze as well while the one inside of him slipped into panic. His eyes went wide as within him a shouting match was happening between the flight and fight parts of his mind. Neither, unfortunately, was particularly well equipped for this particular situation.
It was the longest second of Steven's life.
100 billion neurons fired 300 times each, seemingly at random, in an electrical storm of desperation. His breath caught in his throat. He felt damp as nearly 2 ounces of sweat poured onto his skin, though a chill shot down his spine. His heart beat twice.
And while Steven stood in rapt terror, the earth continued to spin, moving Steven hundreds of feet, and drifting 18 miles in its orbit. At at the center of the solar system the sun put out a trillion trillion watts of energy. And beyond the solar system nebulae and gasses coalesced into thousands of new stars, while thousands more winked out of existence, dozen exploding into supernovae.
All while Steven was lost for words.
Beyond our galaxy, beyond the little bubble we call 'our universe', in the infinite expanse, untold realities formed. New universes explode into being. An unfathomable numbers of worlds, countless lives began and end.
And perhaps in one of those lives, in a world much like ours, another Steven stood locked in a flurry of doubt and sweaty indecision. Perhaps that world's Steven, in that one second, fell upon just the right words, managed to say just the right thing and lived happily ever after.
Perhaps in another universe, but not this one.
"Are you ok Steve?"
"Oh, um, yeah, have a good night Mel!" Steven turned and hurried for the exit.
"Was there something you wanted to ask me?" Melissa called after him.
"Nevermind." He called over his shoulder. "It was nothing."
And truly it wasn't.
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