They had suddenly caught up to the end of the end of the hallway, as if the building itself was cutting off their conversation. The stairs were right in front of them, dark and imposing for poor Alex.
“You should try it,” Josie said encouragingly, but something in their voice wavered.
“Wait, why are you acting scared? You go up and down these stairs all the time.”
“Oh… I don’t know.” They frowned. “It’s just… Stairs, you know? I get it.”
“Uh-huh. You get it.” Alex may have been opening up about his crazy thoughts, but he was not going to start talking to them about the force-field that had propelled him away from interacting with any transitory space for years of his life.
“Please just try it, doctor,” they said quietly.
“Fine! I’ll try my best to go back into the world,” he announced to the two of them, and then dramatically stuck his foot out to the first step… where it immediately curled in on itself, as his body met with the same invisible wall that previously was stationed immediately outside of his office door.
Josie was watching with a mix of keen interest and horror, but said nothing.
“What’s the big deal?” he humphed. “So I’ve got some sort of… problem.”
“I haven’t been able to go to Floor Seven in years,” they whispered, as if afraid that someone would overhear them. “I thought I was the only one.”