Day 25: The Encounter

People passed by around her without stopping.
Footsteps, voices, glowing screens.

Sally stood still in the middle of the crowd, watching without truly looking.

Neon signs flickered. Sounds overlapped, yet reached her muffled, as if an invisible pane of glass existed between the world and her.

She looked around without really seeing.

Her body was there.
Her mind, not entirely.

She felt the energy flowing beneath her skin—constant, silent.
Like a second current that did not match the rhythm of the city.

The energy separated her from the rest.
An invisible layer.
Muted colors.

The urban world looked desaturated, dense, heavy… as if the air itself were saturated with something no one else could perceive.

Lit screens surrounded her. Advertisements, smiling faces, automated messages. Information flowing without rest. Sally felt a slight dizziness.

Too much.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them, the sensation did not disappear.

She lowered her gaze to her hands.

For an instant, she thought she saw her shadows being cast again.

She blinked.

There was nothing.

An electric murmur ran through her head, similar to the background noise of a poorly tuned broadcast.

The more she tried to focus on the people, the more distant she felt from them.

Then, within the endless flow of anonymous faces, a presence stood out.

“Sally.”

The voice cut through the noise like a sudden interference.

She lifted her head.

Kam was there.

Looking at her with a mix of relief and concern, as if she had feared not finding her… or finding her too late.

Disconnection—or awakening of the true self?