The bridge

You begin to make out the floor. There is colour beneath your feet. A dull blue, with grey worked through it in a pattern you can’t quite follow. You stop and look at it. You don’t know how long you’ve been walking on carpet. Somewhere overhead, someone calls a flight. You lift your head. You can see chairs now, and people sitting in them. Beyond the chairs, more people pass with bags over their shoulders. You watch a woman lift a cup to her mouth. You are in an airport lounge. You try to remember coming through the doors. There must have been a point where the darkness ended and this began, but you can’t find it. Even with people around you, and enough light to see their faces, you have the feeling you are still coming out. You reach for your phone. There is someone you need to find. Someone you care about. You open Find My and wait for the map, certain they must be somewhere in this building. Their location is flying away without you. You pull the map back until you can see the…