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CHAPTER 1

Frozen

Co frozen

One second the woh the nice of have a nice day Herthe ni of nice, the syllable was the last sound she’d uttered before she’d coone slack, her hand hadn't dropped to her side, she hadn't fallen to the ground but siebehind the counter

She stared unerringly at me, but it see, vacant brown eyes I kept waiting for her to coe, but as the seconds ticked into an to realize that she was not playing some sort of sick, demented trick on me

She had in fact suddenly, instantaneously, been struck completely immobile

It was the oddest, ape at her I continued to stand there, not because I wanted to, no one in their rightthere, but simply because I was shocked into immobility I hadn't been struck suddenly inert like the woazed at her I finallyfrohtly, but because a little bit of drool had started to forawking at her for so long

Though Imy mouth, I couldn't make any others I couldn't drop the arm that was extended across the counter I couldn't close the open hand still waiting in expectation of e clasped within the wo the woman in order to retrieve it either

I didn’t care how scarceto get my money back I would have to touch her I would actually have to pry open her clasped fingers in order to retrieve asextreain

I shuddered at the thought as the hair on the back of my neck stood on end I knew no one was behindthat there was so down my back I didn’t knohat that woman's hand felt like; it was probably still warh she was still on her feet, even though I didn’t know if she really was dead, in my mind her hand would feel as cold and clammy as a corpse’s

A s it to juid arm that finally caused me to pull it back, but the fact that the shtthrough it My arain