ARCHIBALD~
At those unclear words, my brain stuttered for a moment—two—my eyes took in more light than I expected. Every part of me came on pause while my thoughts caught up. Though it never did fully. They had come much like water; a few came to pass slowly, a drop at a time, even froze, then rushed by in a blink. Blurred. And then froze.
She balked at my barrage of questions, her eyes a tumultuous storm of emotions. I could sense her trembling, a faint but undeniable shiver that ran through her. It churned within her, struggling to find the elusive words, the very words I yearned for or perhaps fought to conceal, buried beneath layers. Hidden.
Driven by the need to know, I stalked forward, closing the gap between us. But she, too, moved, a subtle step backward that halted my advance.
