The lobby of the building was tiny. The size of a small bedroom. There were no chairs for anyone to wait in. No magazines to pass the time. The only furniture was a desk crammed in the corner. A young woman was sitting behind it with a neat stack of papers in front of her. There were no pens. There was no phone.
“Michael?” She asked without looking up from her stack of papers.
“No. I’m sorry. I came here with Thomas.”
I turned around for direction from Thomas but he wasn’t behind me. He wasn’t anywhere. I didn’t see or hear him leave and I swore that he followed me inside. I must have been wrong.
The woman looked up at me. Her eyes were the biggest I had ever seen. They were an amazing dark brown. I swooned.
“If you came with Thomas then you MUST be Michael,” she insisted. “Are you really NOT Michael?”
“I…I don’t really know,” I stammered. “Maybe I am Michael.”
“Good. Then you are running late, Michael. Please meet with Dr. Pilsen in the next room.” She pointed to a door to my left that I hadn’t noticed before.
“Why am I here? I don’t exactly understand?”
It wasn’t just the confusion of names or the way I seemed to be anonymously important but something was getting to me. Something inside of me was off. I noticed my left arm was tingling and for some reason, unknown to me, I had accepted a name that was not my own. Who was Michael? I wasn’t really Michael, was I?
“Please, Dr. Pilsen is waiting for you…and you’re late.” The woman had the same sharp tone that Thomas had when I talked to him on the street.
I turned toward the door. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be any trouble.”
I opened the door. Beyond it’s threshold there was only darkness but still everything seemed very defined.
I glanced at the young woman once more. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She smiled. “Have a nice day.”
Thank..you?