And though it seemed to tear at every fiber of his being, he swallowed, nodded. He grabbed the cables in his hand. Gripped my neck in the other. And his lips met mine for one fervent moment. And then they were gone. He ripped the strange lighted hat from his head and put it on my own. “I think I’ve fallen in love with you,” he said gruffly. “So you’d better fuckin’ come out, Nina. Promise me. Now.”
I blustered. “I… I promise.”
And then he disappeared into the gloom.
And I crouched in the dark and waited, my heart thrown from one wall to the next.
There was little time to recover. It didn’t take long for the cables to become taut, stretched to capacity. I flattened myself against the outer wall and waited the interminable wait for them to move.
What seemed like a millennia later, the p
