unedited

Continued from part I. As in read that first.

The moment is frozen. My limbs are leaden, and I feel the blood draining from my face. I close my eyes again hoping it was just my imagination and you will be gone when I open them.

No such luck.

You face is frozen, stuck in the same moment. Stuck in a moment, I think.

"And you can't get out of it."

I shake my head and shrug it all off. I find my feet and stand up. I can see my goal: the entrance back to the central lobby. I can quickly lose myself in the maze of corridors and crowds of people. But you've already moved to the bottom of the granite stairs.

I am panicking. I am a cornered animal. Fight or flight.

Flight.

I try the large, ornate doors behind me into the historic building in desperation but they don't budge, not that I am surprised. So I stand there; still holding the handle, my forehead against the glass, and I wait for the inevitable. It's like seeing the tidal wave coming at you; there is only submission. I feel all the blood in my body leave through my feet as the approaching wave sucks it out and gathers it up in preparation to completely engulf me.

Your breath sounds like a freight train. And again it seems like we’re frozen; you behind me, now not knowing what to do next, and me with no escape. So I do what any honorable man would do: I turn to fight.

In front of me is not a monster but a young woman biting her lip with tears brimming, and stocking feet. You never put your shoes back on.

I open my arms and you fall into them.