temporal deadzone where clocks are barely breathing

I couldn't have told you why I had her on the mind. All I knew was that I did as soon as I woke up that day. Something about the way that the sun was shining kind of reminded me of her hair, in the same way that the full moon reminded me of Sesshoumaru's silver hair — even though my own was the same color.

Thinking of people without being prompted to was uncomfortable in a city like Darrow. I knew as well as most people did that disappearances were speckled here and there, with no more seeming reason than the arrivals had. You might have thought that someone who lived as long as I had would be used to the way that humans come and go, but... I wasn't. I had spent so many years avoiding human contact that the losses I remembered could be counted on a single hand.

Usually, I did the leaving first.

I ran around to settle my restlessness. Up the mountain, bounding through forests, but before lunchtime, I had managed to find myself perched on top of the lighthouse. I watched waves crash out at sea, each one not quite like the one before, but all steady enough that there was a calming frequency and regularity in it.

And I thought that perhaps Kathy would be someone to appreciate a scene like that.

It didn't take long for me to find her. She smells purer than most people. Like the countryside, grass after a long rain. I sat on a bench, waiting for her to emerge from the hospital. I knew she did some volunteer work there.

I didn't really know whether her shift was ending anytime soon.