She had been eating wild onions.  

She would never forget… not if she lived as long as Noah.

There are moments when time slows and reality is subjective, when a second lasts longer than the expansion of a universe. Seeing Tobi had been that moment for Tess… that moment that defies all concepts of time.  

It was the pendulum of a Grandfather clock moving in ticks rather than in smooth waves. It was relativity thrashed violently by the cleaver of surrealism.

Earlier that day she had walked the woods with the others during the first moments of light, driven by Miss Antonina’s cruel glare. Having the girls wake before their lessons to hunt their own food was a sick pastime of the Mistress… she made no secret of this fact. Made no excuses, offered no apologies.  

If ever the Technetium emboldened the darkest parts of a human being, Miss Antonia was proof and example.

Tess’s life was bland and hopeless, but… seeing Tobi walk through the doors of the lunchroom that day was a break in the clouds, a sliver of light on her face.

To be continued…