Her eyes

Caught mine

The silence

Entwined between the shelves

Reduced to

This one moment

I blink

And she’s gone

She’s running

To her home

To her world

To someone who isn’t me

I catch

Their whispers:

“How about I take you to dinner?”

“Sure! I’d love that.”

The smile in her voice

Breaks a sacred rule

Screaming in my mind

They leave

And I don’t realize

The binding I’d ripped