Microexpressions: Emotions

        Blood roared in her ears as she concentrated on being silent. She tried to flatten herself even more, pressing her cheek to the cold floor and squeezing her eyes shut. An involuntary shudder shook her as the sound of footsteps echoed at the far end of the hall, and she tried to move even farther back under the table.

    Please, oh, please, oh, please don't see me, she prayed. Just keep walking, don't look here. Please don't look here.

                             *     *     *      *

    The sky was so blue today, and it seemed to reach down around the town, trying to immerse everything in its glorious color. He sat on the bench with a book drooping in his hands, his attention elsewhere. The syrupy sunshine falling over him warmed him all the way through, and he leaned his head back with a smile. There were others there, walking to and fro into the shops and restaurants, taking pictures, greeting friends, and he watched them quietly, feeling a rare interest in how they thought and felt. Their existence fascinated him, and although they only saw him in passing, he felt a sort of kinship with them. They weren't just shoppers today, they were people.

                            *      *      *     *

    I shook my head, trying to understand yet wishing that I didn't.

    "You can't be serious," I finally said, my voice sounding great and terrible.

    She looked me dead in the eye without responding. I could feel my insides begin to boil, and I choked back my first instinct to tell her what I thought. My eyesight seemed to blur with my efforts, and I snatched the back of the couch to steady myself. She continued to look at me with an expression that was somehow both blank and defiant at the same time. It was then that I, for all basic purposes, lost my mind.