The man comes toward her. She tries to push him away. Fear sending her to near panic. The fear is not of him, but for him. Of what she might do to him. She begins to feel her control slip. The world around her begins to ice over as he moves closer. First a light frost over the floor. Then crystalline ice structures stretch across the counter tops.

He continues to move closer. He reaches out. Time crawls by. Every inch closer, a heart beat. Every heart beat a year of her life. She has no desire to harm this person. This stranger who showed only kindness. His outstretched hand is so close. She could reach out and touch it, but she knows this would mean his end. Already his fingers are turning pale, and ice begins to form. Just being this close puts him in danger.

The panic builds and she is about to run. Then, the skin of his hand begins to glow red. Steam rising. Waves of heat radiate from his body. She’s shocked and confused. “See. There’s nothing to worry about.” He says. Shock gives way to surprise, then to relief, and finally to hope. Reluctantly, she raises her hand, slowly reaching reaches out. The walls, the furnishings, the entire room becomes encased in a sheet of ice. But still he radiates heat. Rejects the cold. Trembling, she takes his hand. There is a hiss. A pop, as her cold gives way to his heat. With a growing desperation for human contact, she moves closer.

She doesn’t feel the inferno he must be generating. She only feels warmth. And safety. Something she hasn’t felt in so long. The simple kindness of this stranger, giving her the most basic of all human needs. He could have walked by, and left her to be rescued by someone else.

He wraps his arms around her. They are enveloped in flames. The ice around them melting away.