A day passed and Locke was sat in his room with the curtains closed.

Soft rays of sunlight peeked from under the curtains but the clock showed the real time which currently was 11 AM.

It was an odd experience; it was supposed to be night, but the sun never set since everything was frozen in time.

Locke lay there in bed, not being able to catch a wink of sleep due to this oddness, so he sat up and grabbed his tab out of boredom and began scrolling through some YouTube videos.

Eventually, he fell asleep.

After several hours, Locke awakened and headed downstairs wondering what he should do today.

He couldn't think of anything, however.

Arriving at the living room, Locke sat on the sofa while his mother was busy cooking breakfast.

"Mom, what do I do? I'm so bored," Locke said, hoping his mother would give him some solutions.

"Go outside, you will figure it out, you have all the time in the world!" she said with a laugh as she was also slowly coming to terms with time.

Locke heard and could only nod and went silent for a while.

His mother glanced back at him and noticed that Locke was quietly just sitting there and felt like she hadn't said the right thing.

"Hey Locke, how about we go to the mall?" she said.

"Really!" Locke asked excitedly.

"Yes, after breakfast," she said with a smile when she saw Locke’s excitement.

"Thank you!" Locke exclaimed as he switched on the TV and waited for her to make breakfast.

"Hey Locke, why don't you help me make breakfast?" she suddenly said.

"Huh, why?" Locke asked, confused.

"Well... I won't be here forever, you know. You should learn how to cook," she said.

"Ah, that's right," Locke said.

He switched off the TV and went behind the counter to help her cook.

After they were done with that, they ate and got dressed to head out.

She hopped into the driver’s seat of the car while Locke sat in the passenger’s seat.

She started the car up successfully after Locke used his power and they set off.

They drove through the streets, where the only sound for miles was their car's engine.

The rest of the world was completely silent.

After about 15 minutes of driving, dodging through the cars that were stopped on the road, they arrived at the mall.

The large parking lot in front of the mall was filled with cars scattered throughout.

They parked in a parking spot close to the mall and walked inside.

There were several people there.

But they were all frozen in place, almost like super realistic mannequins.

"Let's get some groceries first," she said as she grabbed a cart from outside the store within the mall.

In they walked, picking out necessary items that they needed for the coming week.

"Why don't we buy more? The food is not going to spoil," Locke asked when he saw his mother getting food for a week.

"This will give us an excuse to come out every week; it gives us a goal," she explained her reasoning.

"Oh, okay," Locke nodded, not really understanding her.

They went about their shopping, and as they reached the counter, she took out some cash and placed it on the counter, bagged the groceries, and placed them into the shopping cart before beginning to wander around the mall.

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Locke left to go wander by himself as he entered a Hamleys and explored there.

Meanwhile, his mother walked around, lost in her thoughts, looking at the frozen people and thinking about how she could help Locke through this when she coincidentally arrived in front of the shop with the purple dress she liked on display.

Her eyes lingered on it for a few seconds before she walked inside the store, leaving the cart outside.

The store had a dim atmosphere with a wood finish.

Mannequins were wearing beautiful and fancy dresses inside, while several other dresses were neatly packed and placed in stacks on the shelves.

She walked past the frozen sales lady towards the glass display, opening towards the mannequin displaying the purple dress.

Her hands extended outwards as she felt the soft material of the dress and the desire to have it was ignited.

"So pretty," she murmured in a daze.

"No!" she said with a frown and removed her hands from the dress.

She wanted Locke to follow the rule of not taking whatever he wanted, yet how could she break the rule when she was trying to enforce it?

Wouldn't that just make her a hypocrite?

She gripped her purse tightly and marched out of the store without looking back.

Eventually, she found Locke at Hamleys, where he wanted to purchase a Lego set.

She considered whether she should buy him this Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego set.

In the end, she decided to buy it for him even though it was a little pricey. She knew that this was something that would keep him busy for a long while.

So she decided to give him a quest.

"You will have to pay for it, but..." she said.

She hoped that if Locke went and got the money by helping people, he would be able to value the set enough to not give up on it halfway and be able to keep himself busy for a longer time.

"Oh... okay," Locke said, a little sad.

Seeing the frown on Locke's face, she spoke again.

"How about we go around and see if we can help people?"

"Okay," Locke said with a nod, and he kept the set back for now.

"Okay, Mom, let's go," Locke said with a determined look.

"Alright, let's head into the city and see if we can help people."

"Mmm," Locke hummed as they both left the store and headed back to the car.

They drove into the city and were immediately stuck in the New York traffic that was frozen.

His mother could only sigh and step out of the car.

"Locke, it seems we will be walking," she said.

"But I don't wanna walk," Locke murmured under his breath as he stepped out of the car.

"Let's go," she said as they began walking around the city.

As they were walking a little distance away from their street, Locke noticed a boy on the road chasing a ball.

The unsuspecting boy, however, looked like he was going to get hit by a car coming his way a few meters away from him.

"Mom, I think we can help that boy," Locke said, pointing towards him.

She looked at where Locke was pointing and nodded.

Locke went towards the boy, picked him up with a little struggle, and removed him and the ball from the path of the car. Meanwhile, his mother opened the door to the car and took some money from the driver's wallet.

After some struggle, Locke managed to move the boy, and his mother came over with about 30 dollars on hand.

"Here," she said with a smile.

Locke took the money but didn't feel excited at all.

I mean, why would he? He could have taken that set without needing to do all this effort, but he didn't vocalize his dissatisfaction as he didn't want to get lectured again.

Locke's mother looked at him and instantly noticed his dissatisfaction, and she could only sigh.

She knew that Locke would eventually stop following this rule to an extent.

But at least he would have morals and self-control when he is alone and no one is there to watch him.

She shook her head and smiled.

"Let's get a move on; there is a lot more you need than 30 dollars," she said.

Locke could only nod and look around on their walk.

After walking around for another 20 minutes, Locke saw a man stuck in mid-air, seemingly falling.

"Mom, look at that!" Locke pointed upwards.

"Oh God..." she murmured under her breath.

"We should help him," Locke said.

"Uhh, sure," she said weirdly.

Locke took off to a shop nearby to get a landing pad with his 30 bucks while his mother looked at the man who was in mid-air.

She felt that even if they helped the man right now, they weren't fully helping him.

But due to their constraints, this was the best they could do.

After about 10 minutes, Locke exited a convenience store half a block away with a deflated landing pad and made his way towards the man.

He arrived near his mother with the folded pad in hand.

He began unfolding it with a little struggle and with a pump that he also brought began pumping air into it.

It was a half automatic pump he just needed to keep turning the wheel to blow air into it.

"Here, let me help you," his mother said When she noticed Locke getting tired after filling half of it.

As shebegan to rotate the wheel, she looked at Locke. "Did you pay for this?" she asked, causing Locke to freeze.

"Umm, no," Locke softly said. "But it's for a good cause, right? So it's fine," Locke said, raising his head with hopeful eyes.

As she saw the look in Locke's eyes, she shook her head heartlessly.

"But..." Locke was about to try convincing her, but she stopped him.

"It's not fine," she said sternly.

"But this time, I will allow it," she said, causing a radiant smile to appear on his face.

"Alright, now let's get this set up," she said with a smile, causing Locke to happily nod and focus.

Soon they finished setting up the inflated pad and adjusted it in the right place On the sidewalk.

"Do you want to look around more, or do you want to head home?" she asked.

"Mom, let's continue looking around," Locke said, still filled with energy.

"Here is 50 dollars," his mom said as she took it out of her purse.

"Why don't we take some of his money?" Locke asked when he saw her give him his own money.

"I don't think he has any money," she replied.

"Then why should we help him?" Locke questioned.

"Hmm?" his mother hummed, finding herself pushed into a corner.

She didn't want Locke to associate the person he helps based on if he could get money from them.

But then her rule would become redundant.

She stood their in thought trying to think of something to make it work but nothing was coming to her mind.

She also realized that she could have just said that the man was out of their reach but instead of going back and changing her words.

She chose to fix this plot hole right now.