I put my book on mathematics on hold because nobody, literally nobody save one person, read the first draft. So instead, I’m working on a 311 page science fiction novel. If you’re into space, time, quantum physics and other weird science, then you’ll probably like this. Here is an excerpt from the tentatively titled “The Buffering Man”:

Mark woke up to the sound of his alarm clock blaring from the bedside table. He reached out to hit the snooze button but paused. Something felt off. The room looked the same—same beige walls, same worn-out carpet, same clutter of books and clothes. Yet, it felt as if he had woken up in a parallel universe where everything was a shade duller.

He shook off the unsettling feeling and got out of bed. As he moved through his morning routine—shower, coffee, news—he couldn’t shake the sense that he was out of sync with his surroundings. It was as if he was watching his life through a slightly laggy video stream, each action completing a fraction of a second after he willed it.

His coffee tasted bland, his favorite morning show hosts sounded monotonous, and even the sunlight filtering through the curtains seemed less vibrant. Mark tried to dismiss these odd sensations as the remnants of a bad dream or perhaps the onset of a cold. But deep down, he knew something was fundamentally wrong.

As he put on his coat and grabbed his keys to head to work, he experienced it—the first “pause.” Time seemed to freeze for a split second. The jingling of his keys halted mid-air, the ambient noise of the city outside his window went mute, and he felt as if he was suspended in a void. And then, as quickly as it had stopped, time lurched forward, resuming its normal flow.

Mark stood there, keys in hand, questioning his sanity. Was he imagining things, or had he just experienced a glitch in the fabric of reality? He felt a chill run down his spine but brushed it off, attributing it to stress or lack of sleep. He locked his apartment and stepped out, completely unaware that this was just the beginning.