snapshot: legacy

"It’s not him" she growled fiercely at herself. "It’s not possible. It’s not him!"

And even as she tried to convince herself; even as she knew intellectually, that the brown-haired man with the intense eyes walking towards her was not him... she felt herself shaking, felt the panic setting in. It was a feeling both sadly familiar and shockingly immediate. She stared at the man as she walked past him. She was not surprised to find herself holding her breath and fighting the urge to run, or at least cringe out of his reach.

"No. It’s not him" she said to herself finally as she got close enough for absolute confirmation.

She sighed raggedly as she walked on by, wondering if a time would ever come when every man who resembled him did not stop her in her tracks and start alarm bells ringing. Her sigh held both relief and sad resignation as she wondered how long it would be and how far she had to go before she finally felt safe.