We Are All Strangers by Nicole Sobon Page A

me up in her arms. I didn’t want to hurt her. But I wanted to throw my arms around her and never let go.
    “Oh, how you’ve grown.” She grinned, gripping my cheeks.
    I tried to speak, but the words kept getting caught in my throat.
    “What, did you think I was going to let this disease beat me down?” she joked. “I’m going to fight until the very end, kiddo. I’m not going down that easily.”
    I inched away from her and shoved my hand inside of my pocket. My mother glared at me. Don’t, she mouthed.
    Ignoring her, I pulled the pocket watch out of my pocket and opened it up in my palms. “Grandma,” I choked out. “Can you do me a favor?”
    “Anything for my precious Sophie,” she replied.
    “No, Sophie.” My mother cut in. “Don’t do this, please.”
    I’d missed too much to walk away feeling as though I had enough time to say goodbye. Visiting hours would be up in less than an hour. I needed to do something. “Can you place your palms on top of the watch?”
    She laughed and did as I asked. “Is this some sort of magic trick?” She joked, keeping her tone light.
    “Something like that,” I said, offering a small smile.
    A white light seeped out of the pocket watch and surged through my veins. I kept my eyes focused on the clock over my grandmother’s bed, and watched as it shattered.
    “Sophie,” my mother cried out, placing her palm over her mouth. “No!”
    “You always were a fan of magic tricks,” my grandmother said, completely oblivious to what was going on.
    I’d reset the clocks, giving myself at least a full hour with her now. It wasn’t much, but I didn’t want to attract the attention of the Association of Jumpers. Not while I was in my grandmother’s hospital room.
    “You seem sad, dear.” She pressed a finger to my lips. It was only then that I’d noticed the breathing tube hooked up to her nose. “What’s wrong, my precious Sophie?”
    “I don’t want to lose you,” I said.
    “Oh, kiddo.” She waved her hands at me. “You’ll never lose me.”
    “Grandma, you’re dying,” I said, barley able to choke out the words.
    “That’s just how life works, Sophie. No one lives forever,” she said. “And I certainly want to live forever, even if I could.”
    I sat down beside her on the bed, grabbing her hands between mine. My family watched on quietly, allowing me my time with her. “I just wish we had more time.” I sighed. “I can’t say goodbye to you, grams. I don’t want to.”
    “Sophie, I need you to listen to me, and I need you to listen to me good.” She leaned in closer and smiled. “I said that I was going to fight until the end, and I am, but it isn’t up to me now. I’ve accepted what will come next. I’ve delayed it as long as possible, but it’s time, my dear.”
    She pulled her hands away and leaned back on the bed.
    I focused my attention on the pocket watch that lay in my open palms.
    It crackled with power, and I knew then that I’d done something wrong. “Sophie,” my mother hissed from beside the door. “You need to fix the balance before they notice.”
    Clocks throughout the hallway flashed different times. Walls became blurry and pixilated. People – nurses, doctors, visitors – became nothing more than shadows. All a consequence of me altering time. Soon enough, it would all be gone.
    In order to extend time, something needs to be erased.
    And sometimes, it was people that needed to be erased.
    “What’s going on?” my grandmother asked, pulling off her bifocals to wipe her lenses. She probably assumed that she was seeing incorrectly. If only.
    My mother threw her palms over mine and ordered me to revert everything back to normal. “I can’t,” I protested. “If I do this, I’ll only have minutes to say goodbye.”
    “If you don’t, you’ll destroy everything,” she countered. “Sophie, if you don’t fix this, they’ll come here soon, and they’ll take you away from us – that is assuming we don’t get