Episode 1: Girl in Hiding

Josie's been using her time-control powers selfishly for years. But when she mutes her dad and misses a crucial message, her sister Justine disappears.

Written and produced by Adam C. Prince.

Digitally narrated using the voice clone of a real Brummie.

Music from ElevenLabs - Temporal Drift

Transcript:

Girl in Control. Episode 1. Girl in hiding. 

What would you do if you could stop time? 

Seriously, think about it.

Would you finally do your homework? Clean your room? 

Spend half the day staring at your crush? Or would you just... sit back and chill? 

Would you use it to get rich and powerful? Or maybe... just maybe... you'd try to save the world? 

Well, my name's Josephine Marshall. Josie to anyone who matters. 

I'm obsessed with music. Like... totally obsessed. 

I spend most of my time singing into my hairbrush like I'm headlining Glastonbury. 

Dancing around my room like nobody's watching. Because nobody is. 

The whole world's basically my personal stage and I'm the star. Obviously.

I love binge-watching Netflix and eating way too much chocolate. 

The kind of stuff that would make my mum lecture me about balanced nutrition and screen time limits. 

Basically. I'm your perfectly normal, slightly dramatic teenager. Except for one tiny detail. 

I can actually control time. I mean, I can literally pause the universe. 

No big deal, right? Here's how it started. I was five.

Playing with the TV remote like any normal kid. Except when I pressed pause, everything stopped. And I mean everything.

Mum froze mid-sentence. Dad's coffee hung in the air like magic. Even our cat, Orion, stopped purring.

It was like the world's most boring museum. Except I was the only visitor. I tried showing my parents.

But every time I pressed pause, they froze too. Can't exactly get a round of applause from a statue, can you? 

So I kept it secret. My little superpower.

My get-out-of-jail-free card. The remote became my best friend. Mute button.

Perfect for Dad's when-I-was-your-age speeches. Trust me, I've heard them all. Twice.

Pressing rewind. That let me travel backward. Not too far.

Just to watch. Not to change anything. Great for finding my lost stuff.

Also for re-watching embarrassing moments. Because apparently I'm sad like that. Fast forward.

Now that's where things get interesting. I get little glimpses of what might happen. Nothing set in stone, just possibilities.

Dinner plans became my speciality. Hey Mum, wouldn't pizza be amazing tonight? Right before she'd even thought about cooking. 

Look, I know what you're thinking. Josie, you could do something great. Help people. Be a hero.

Yeah, no thanks. I'm 14. My biggest worry is whether my hair looks good in math class.

I just wanted an easy life. Good grades without missing out on the good times. Sue me.

But everything changed today. Because today, my sister Justine went missing. 

And it was completely, totally, 100% my fault.

Here's the thing about being the oldest kid. Everyone expects you to be responsible. Reliable.

The perfect little adult. My siblings, Justine's 11, Joni's 8. They get driven everywhere. They get help with everything.

They basically get bubble wrapped and stored in a safety deposit box. Me? I walk to school. I make my own lunch.

I'm basically raising myself. So when Dad came into my room that morning, talking about something important, what did I do? I muted him. 

He was going on and on about responsibility and family and blah blah blah.

I just nodded and said, yeah sure, whenever he paused. Classic mistake. Turns out he was asking me to pick up Justine from band practise.

Every Saturday, she plays violin with the youth orchestra. Dad always picks her up. Always.

Except this week, Mum and Dad had some fancy brunch thing. So it was up to me. 

The responsible one. The back-up parent. The designated grown-up. Except I had no idea.

A few hours later, Mum and Dad came home. Where's Justine? Dad asked. I shrugged.

Probably hanging out with friends, living her best life. I genuinely thought she was fine. She's 11, not 5. The bus ride home takes 10 minutes.

What's the worst that could happen? 

Famous last words. Just to be sure, I pressed fast forward. And what I saw made my blood turn to ice.

Flashing blue lights lighting up the sky. Police cars. Officers at our door with serious faces.

Mum collapsing into Dad's arms. Sobbing like her heart was breaking. And Dad.

Dad looked at me with such disappointment. Like I wasn't his daughter anymore. Like I was a stranger who destroyed his family.

I slammed the stop button so hard, I nearly broke the remote. 

Whatever that future was, I couldn't let it happen. No way.

Not on my watch. I might be selfish. I might use my remote for silencing the world and for pizza.

But I'm not a monster. 

Justine is my annoying little sister. She steals my clothes and tells on me and plays violin at 6 in the morning.

But she's my annoying little sister. So here's what I'm going to do. 

I'm going to find her. I'm going to bring her home safe. And I'm going to make sure that horrible future never happens. 

Because for the first time in my life, this power I have actually matters.

My name is Josephine Marshall. And I am the girl in control.