I climbed the stairs of that abandoned building with steady steps. Each stair creaked softly beneath my feet, but the sound meant nothing in this frozen world. Dust hung suspended in the air, frozen like thin snow. Dull walls covered in vandalism graffiti stood frozen in eternal silence.
Second floor. A narrow corridor with several doors. Only one stood partially open, the door to the room at the end.
I stepped inside.
There, near the window with its threadbare curtain slightly pulled back, stood a woman frozen like a statue. She was standing, peeking through the gap in the second-floor window curtain of that abandoned building.
In this world frozen in time, she looked like a painting. Her pale white eyes were directed downward, toward the street where the taxi was parked—where my body was supposed to still be inside the car, waiting patiently as she had planned. Her expression was cold, focused, emotionless. Like a hunter stalking her prey.
