I caught sight of a woman huddling in a stairway. She looked beaten down by the unkind years she had spent on this planet. I felt like I was locked into that moment. I couldn't hear anything behind me or in front of me. All I could hear was a voice. It chilled me to the bone when I heard her speak, because it was my voice coming out. I was trying to move away from there, but it was impossible. It was as if my legs were encased in cement. I heard laughter coming out of the walls now. Not just one voice laughing,but hundreds. I was so cold I could see my breath.
What was happening? Could I be going insane just like that? I forced myself to look at her. I was hoping this was all a dream. That I would wake up on a train or a bus with lots of people going about their business. I looked deep into her eyes and saw all the injustice that had been done to her. I felt all her sadness and despair. I felt a loneliness beyond anything I could imagine. I had no control over my emotions. I felt a wound so deep in my soul that I didn't think it would ever be possible to recover from it. I would die every day over and over. My tears came next. I thought they would never stop.
Then I felt a crushing embrace lifting me off my feet. It was such an unbelievable rush of pleasure surging through me that I thought I was dying.No sooner did this happen then I was coming down from it. Once again I saw her eyes. This time they were incredibly kind and focused. I heard a voice ,her voice perhaps, whispering to me. "Remember me", the voice said. "Never forget". In that instant I was back outside with the warm sun shining on me and a crowd of people flowing by. There I stood for a second wrapping my sweater around me. People brushed past me on all sides hurrying to their destinations. Me? I had nowhere to go,but I never felt so assured of my place before.