Abnormal, this brightness beckoning me down the staircase into the real world. Upstairs felt surreal as I left it, as though the space above held time in its grasp and didn't want to let me go. I could feel them below, their power pulsing between them, the normal flow of emotion and, as I neared the middle of the stairs, the drone of their talk became words I could almost decipher with a little attention.

That made me waver, grasp the bannister, ...