A friend and I were sitting down at a restaurant, waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. The tables had umbrellas, and ours was the only one not open, so I stood and opened it. The moment I let go, the whole table toppled. As I was righting it, the waiter came out of the kitchen and said, "That's why WE set them up." He came over and started opening the umbrella, same as I had. I suddenly noticed the trailer-hitch-like protrusion on one side of the table and remembered my last visit. "Oh, right, I forgot there's a folding stabilizing peg on this." I started to unfold it so the table wouldn't fall over again. "Leave it alone," the waiter snapped. "I'll take care of it."

I went back to my seat. My friend said, "You're going to sulk all through dinner, aren't you? You always find something to be mad about, and you don't let it go for hours." Just then, the rest of our friends arrived and sat down. One asked me what was wrong. I started to explain, and everyone else got up and went to sit outside to get away from my negativity. So I left. Went out the front door and started to walk home. Less than 30 seconds passed and it started absolutely pouring. I could barely keep my eyes open to see where I was going through the rain. It didn't last long, dropping to a drizzle, and I looked up.

Ahead, there was a massive tornado on the horizon, heading my way. A skinny, shirtless man on a rickety old bicycle was casually riding past me, so I asked for a ride. He pointed at the tornado. "There's no way we're outrunning that thing," he stated calmly, in the same tone of disinterested detachment one might use to comment on an underripe apple at the market. He dismounted and pushed the bike into my hands. "Why have a bike if I'm about to die?" he shrugged, turning and walking away into the field beside the road.

Deciding I should probably warn my "friends" about the tornado, I walked the bike through the gate to the restaurant's outdoor seating area, but they weren't there. I turned to leave just as they walked out the front door of the restaurant, chatting idly. They didn't even seem to care that I wasn't with them. I walked the bike right past them, not even looking at them as I said, "You guys know there's a tornado coming, right? You should probably leave."

"Where were you? You just disappeared," one of them said, but I ignored him, mounting the bike and riding off. I managed to catch a bus fleeing the tornado, abandoning the bike and standing in the aisle just behind the driver, but within a few minutes, the tornado caught up to us. It was starting to die down, but it was still enough to stop the bus in its tracks and lift us off the ground slowly. The driver's voice came over the intercom. "Sorry, folks, we're not making it out of this. From what I've heard, though, you'll never see the moment you die, kind of like a black hole. Just before we hit the ground, time will stop, and you'll just seem to be suspended in mid-air forever." As he said this, the tornado dropped us, the asphalt rushing up to meet us, and time began to decelerate. With the bumper just inches from the ground, everything stopped.

"Nope." My voice broke the silence, though I hadn't meant to speak. The bus suddenly hit the ground on its wheels, jarring everyone aboard. As I gathered my scattered belongings, everyone stared at me. "What did you do?" the driver asked. I shrugged. "Just a little spell. Didn't feel like dying today." One of the passengers pointed at me shakily. "Y-you're a witch." I threw a scathing glance at her. "Gee, what gave it away? You're welcome." I left them to sort themselves out, stepping off the bus just as I woke up.