Time freezes.
I inch my hand cautiously toward my pocket, and dip my fingers in fumbling for a few moments before my fingers meet metal, something circular.
The ring.
My pulse throbs louder and louder in my ear, as I pull the ring out in an instant, and I just can't believe my eyes when I see what's right on my hand.
My eyes widen, and I blink yet again trying to decipher what is right in front of me. Because I definitely don't remember the ring looking like this before.
Instead of a simple black stone ring that I initially found literally abandoned on a street, it seems the ring had somehow shape shifted to now resemble a black serpent ring.
A serpent that's devouring its own tail to form a perfect circle.
Glowing bright with blue fire intense enough to blind and enchanting enough to hypnotise.
An ouroboros.
Unfortunately, I don't know anything about this ring except its name. What this means for me is above my comprehension.
I bring the ring closer, twirling its between my fingers to inspect it further. Its bumpy ridges and sharp detailing tells me it's worth a fair buck. Might even be made by fair skill.
Its beauty one of a kind, so enchanting, I can't stop staring, admiring and-
The spell is finally broken when I hear the loud shrill wailing of a woman. My head snaps up swivelling around to find its source.
Everyone's frozen. There is absolutely no motion, not the leaves, not even the wind.
What the hell is happening?
Everyone around me was stuck in weird positions, as if somebody had cast a state spell on them. Lily and Aiden were frozen side by side mid conversation too.
Wait, then who the hell was crying?
I look all around and find nothing, all while the wailing of a woman rings out in my head like a faulty time bomb.
I take a few steps forward, and..a wet squelch.
I instantly look down to find a pool of blood. The same one from the accident and that I apparently accidentally stepped on.
I flinch slightly at the sight which was nothing lees than gruesome
But something was off about it...It almost felt like the source of the crying sound was hidden deep beneath its thick layers.
The ring that was still tightly clutched in my hand started pulsing steadily, still bright as ever, and as soon as its light fell on the poodle of blood, I finally noticed something flicker.
The blood now translucent perfectly reflected the light, but as I squinted my eyes, I saw not my own reflection...but a woman.
A middle aged woman and a two teenage boys clutched each other and crying. They looked.....devastated.
What is happening?
I crouch down to touch it, half expecting it to be a hidden portal. I mean it's not really impossible considering all the surprises I've already got.
The scene was clear as day, the mother and her two sons sitting in front of the photo of a man, weeping. It looked like a scene straight out of a funeral.
Suddenly one of the boys got up sharply and took his suitcase parked at the side of the tiny room and prepared to leave home.
The mother and the other son frantically try to stop him from leaving, but the son leaves anyway after saying. "The land father left is all rotting, good luck with surviving on yield that does not exist."
The scene changes to show the other son, the one who decided to stay determinedly plough the field in a passionate fashion.
He keeps at it until he hits something hard. His face scrunches in confusion as he digs with his bare hand to finally pull out.....a treasure box!
He gasps and jumps happily returning home to live a life of riches with his mom.
The scene shifts to display a few wording that read:
'Leverage what you already have and you will not be disappointed'
The vision or mirage or whatever that was vanishes, as if it never existed in the first place. The crimson blood back to being just a vestige of the gruesome accident.
The oroborous ring clutched between my fingers stop pulsing, its light slowly dimming away.
It magically transforms back to the same old unassuming simple black stone ring.
"What in the universe just happened?", I breathe out finally as I clutch my head in confusion. I try shaking the ring to see if something happens. It doesn't work. Of course it doesn't.
I try to wring open the black stone, but it doesn't budge nothing happens.
I turn my gaze back to the blood, swiping my fingers over to create a ripple, trying to reactivate whatever that was.
"Why is nothing happening? Ugh", I mutter harshly.
In my deepbound frustration I didn't even realise, the world had resumed its course as everything that was frozen regained life.
A hand shoots out to grab me up to my feet with unforgiving grip, "Genny!", Aiden's harsh voice makes me flinch slightly.
"We need to get on the ambulance now, Mrs Hart needs to be admitted now", he says agitated.
My brows furrow as I open my moth to refuse, "But-"
He doesn't give me the chance as he pulls me along with him as we make our way through the throng. Everyone staring at us or rather more specifically at my bloodstained fingers.
I try to glance back at the accident sight, but fail to do so. I stumble over my own feet repeatedly as Aiden practically drags me into the ambulance.
The ride was quick, fast and short.
***
As soon as reach the hospital, the paramedics and nurses wheel Mrs Hart inside with Lily trailing closely behind.
I run alongside Aiden trying to keep up. The white walls and the classic depressing dim hospital lights whoosh past.
We skid to a stop in front of the ER, within which the doctors disappear with the gurney. Lily begs to go in whimpering, but the doctors offer her fake condolences and vanish within.
I gag as the sharp and stark scent of disinfectant and something so characteristically hospital hits me.
The scent brings back uninvited memories that I swore I never wished to experience again.
I look at Lily who now reminds me much more of my previous self with her shivering and lamenting.
After all I was once in her place.
It shouldn't matter, these are not real people, I tell myself, and yet....I find myself inching closer to her.
The ER door burst open as a grim looking doctor comes out, his mouth uttering the words we all dread, "She is stable for now.....but—"