This was getting ridiculous. It’s been happening more often. More than I can count. How long had it been now? Years at least. It was useful at times, but now I just wanted it over with. Usually only lasted a couple of minutes, that was a blessing.

I was involved in a conversation, so I couldn’t move away. Maybe a sip of my drink would be permitted, but better not chance. I’d walked away from someone mid conversation before and the reaction was horrifying. Their mind couldn’t make sense of what had happened. They been committed that evening.

So here I stood still in a sea of frozen bodies, humming to pass the time.

As my eyes glanced across the room - laughs and chattering caught in throats - I noticed a movement. My heart quickened.

What was this? A play of light? I didn’t want to look back, this hadn’t happened before. So I sipped my drink, and waited for a semblance of normality to return.

Again a movement.

I saw him across the room, a smile plastered across his face. Dark hair and features. He stood still too, his glass raised towards his mouth. Mid sip.

‘I thought I was the only one,’ I shouted.

His voice bounced off the walls towards me. ‘Same.’

Burst of noise. Deafening. Swallowing the silence whole. The man talking to me spat out his last syllable and eyed me. Everything completed in a moment, and then tumbled on.

“You okay?”

I dismissed him and kept my eyes on the man across the room. He caught my sight and winked.