Berlin

They have to be here somewhere in this shop he found himself in, Shoe City, Berlin. He was sheltering from the rain. The sudden downpour.

The light blinded - a spark - a flash, perhaps no more than a glint. But the illumination seemed to be a prod, a nudge to notice, an alarm, albeit momentary, that said 'wake up'. There was something about this person. He could feel it. He was being made aware, but by what and for what reason? His phone vibrated and sounded its familiar phrase, as he looked at its screen, the clock - the largest piece of information presented to him laughed in his superstitious face: 13:13. When he looked back, the person had gone.

They have to be here somewhere in this shop he found himself in, Shoe City, Berlin. He was sheltering from the rain. The sudden downpour. It wasn’t that large a shop yet a cursory look around was to no avail. They had been in blue. Shades of blue. Blue trousers, blue shirt, blue jacket and blue hat no two colours the same, none denim. Was it that which had attracted his attention? His eye caught a pair of shoes, alone on a shelf, blue. Below, an arrow, pointing towards the back of the shop. 

What kind of messed up thing was this? Was he really going to be drawn into this? How was this even a thing? What was his mind doing to him? He wondered whether the few glasses of wine he’d had the previous night were still teasing his capability to be rational - and as he thought this, his legs moved him towards the back of the shop. Was that a flash of blue through the door? The door was clearly for staff only. One of those silver push button locks, reinforced fire glass and a large sign (which he had just noticed) read ‘Staff Only’. The door was not fully closed yet - its heavy dampener was slow in returning it to the locked position.

What was he doing?

Before he knew it, he was through the door into a dark passageway which ran in two directions. Dark to the right. Light to the left. There was no one around. He turned right against all of his best intentions. What he should have done was left the way he came. As he walked down the passage, a sensor tripped the overhead lights on, and he could see along the edge a stuck-on blue line. This was ridiculous. He followed. His phone beeped and scared the life out of him. 13:11 - what the……? This can’t be. A message from a number his phone, and he himself, did not recognise. One word. ‘Yes’ 

The corridor turned left at a right angle. He turned the corner and there they were. Back towards him. The figure in blue.

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I’ve never had the pleasure of Berlin so you will have to do with a corridor in Trellick house taken in September 2021 on the Nikon d750.

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