ANOTHER

Friday, March 26th

“Tell me more about that girl you mentioned earlier.”

     She held her hands clenched into a fist, facing down to the table. She glanced at me briefly before looking off towards the room number above the door.

Holding Room 236

“I think she was trapped.” She spoke in a tepid tone.

“In a room or something?”

“I guess you could say so.”

     I tried to pay attention to her change in tone whenever I’d brought up this supposed memory. How seemingly each time she had to speak about it, her face grew ever so slightly pained.

“Was she being held there by someone?” I asked.

She vaguely shook her head as she looked down at the glimmer of the metal table.

“Not by someone…”

“Then by what?”

“By time…”

     I eased back slightly. My body reaction minimal, but my mind racing. She stared at me with eyes that now felt piercing. I struggled to respond. I felt almost… afraid to.

“Don’t you feel that?” she said with a forward yawn of her neck. “That strange feeling that you get when we’re talking?”

“It would help if you could describe it more.”

“Like… Like we’ve had this conversation before.”

     I let the air pass between us for a moment. Letting the conversation settle was pointedly more effective at getting someone to lead themselves where you needed them to be. The natural flow of her thoughts was bound to get her speaking more than I could ever forcibly pull from her.

     She then shifted her seat, faintly opening the space between us further. I could see her lips quiver before she finally spoke again.

“I don’t think any of us belong here…”