I was still trapped in the room, unable to countenance the dangerous freedom on the other side of the great divide. The passive enclosure that had appeared so seductive maddened me almost to the point of action. Now that I knew my limitations the confining space felt like an exoskeleton.

I had listened to my demented neighbour’s diatribes all night and in the brittle morning light I examined my own sanity and found it wanting. It was time to seize the door handle and excoriate the inertia that clung to me like dead skin. Perhaps doors were intended to keep me out.

As I eased it open, I felt a presence on the other side and heard its stertorous breathing. I was unable to let the unknown into my life. But it was too late and a rush of air filled the room, bringing with it whisperings and vertiginous swirling. Fear touched me in secret places.

From everywhere hands held me, stroking and caressing like a mother’s. Friends and lovers touched me from an easy distance, their love crossing a country as the crow flies. I was overwhelmed by love and luxuriated in a moment of meaning.