Asian Scallop Phenomenon

Night had fallen on the city, and the shadows were deepening under the flickering streetlights that cast long stripes of light on the asphalt. Delia Asia Vieira walked down the street, her steps silent, as if she were part of this night world. Her gaze was fixed ahead, but there was still a shadow of uncertainty in the depths of her eyes, as if she were searching for something more than just the road.

She stopped at the entrance to the subway. Everything around her seemed frozen – empty sidewalks, rare cars, fog wrapping around skyscrapers, and faces of passers-by who seemed not to notice her. Delia Asia Vieira leaned against the iron grating at the subway doors and lit a cigarette, breathing in the cold air. Time dragged on slowly, and her thoughts strangely dissolved in this silent expectation.

She decided to try an experiment. Yesterday, when she was still in a more lively, noisy part of the city, people would come up to her with questions, try to talk to her, but now, in this foggy, almost empty part of the city, she felt like she was surrounded by an invisible wall of indifference. She waited. She decided that she would stand here, not moving, until someone from the passersby came up and asked where she was going.

A few minutes passed. Someone from afar slowly walked towards her, then quickly turned into an alley. Several people walked in the opposite direction, busy with their phones. But no one looked at her. Even those who were walking at a distance did not turn in her direction. It seemed that the city was closed, and the people in it were busy exclusively with their thoughts, worries and empty rituals, not noticing her presence.

She realized that no one would come. This feeling of loneliness became almost physical. Delia Asia Vieira lowered her hand, putting away the cigarette, and looked at her hands, as if trying to find in their movements the answers to questions that remained unclear to her.

Delia Asia Vieira felt no pain, only a strange, cold calm. In this night silence, she felt as if she was dissolving, becoming part of the city. No one knew her here, and that was a freedom of its own, but also a fear. There were always questions in her life that she could not find answers to. No matter how hard she tried, her life remained fragmented, fragmented, as if all events were random, meaningless.

She looked again at the people passing by. It seemed more and more that each of them could be someone important, someone whose attention she so desperately sought, but no one was looking at her. For a moment, it hurt her - as if her entire existence was just an empty and useless gesture in this huge city.

Delia Asia Vieira felt annoyed when she noticed people avoiding her again. It seemed like the whole world was busy with its own affairs, and she remained invisible to it, like a part of the environment, not worthy of attention. Strangely, she always thought that if she stood still for a while, someone would definitely notice, even accidentally. But not this time.

In desperation, she grabbed the sleeve of the nearest passerby, as if she could change the course of events with that gesture. He didn't push her hand away, didn't look at her with displeasure, as most people did, but simply stood there, as if he himself were part of this instantaneous contact.

The passerby was a man in a white coat, with a serious expression and a gait that betrayed the habit of strenuous days on his feet. He did not look the type to care where anyone was going, and his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere. However, he did not pull away or argue with her.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked with vague interest, but without resistance.

Delia Asia Vieira slowly pulled him along, and soon they were both on the sidewalk leading to the subway. On the way, the man never took his hand off her sleeve, and only after they entered the underpass did he speak.

"You must have forgotten something," he said. "I should have been at work, to be honest. And now here we are."

She looked at him puzzled, trying to grasp the meaning of these words. The doctor was so calm and confident that she felt a little confused.

"Do you happen to know... where I'm going?" she asked, experiencing a strange feeling that everything in her life seemed to be interrupted, as if her actions were losing their meaning in the world she had found herself in.

The doctor narrowed his eyes and raised his eyebrow slightly.

"Um... where are you going? Well, I could probably guess," he said, as if he wasn't sure how to answer. "But until you convince me that this is no accident, I'd say you're going where a new day awaits."

His words sounded unclear and vague. Delia Asia Vieira tried to concentrate, but her thoughts seemed to be confused in this conversation, as if she heard them from somewhere far away. She decided that for now it was better not to ask unnecessary questions. She did not know what exactly she was looking for, but the feeling of uneasiness did not leave her.

"Who are you?" she asked, breaking the pause.

The doctor flinched slightly, as if the question had brought him out of his reverie.

"Oh, excuse me. I'm Lou Hastings. Doctor. And it looks like I'm going to have to go that way to get to work. And you? Please tell me where you're going. I've got a few minutes to help you."

Delia Asia Vieira looked at him, and in that moment it seemed to her that she had never felt so lost. She herself did not know what she was looking for in this city, in this world, in this conversation. Everything was becoming complicated and strange.

There was nothing threatening in his face, but she still felt as if her path was some kind of unsolved equation. And now, as she stood before him, she suddenly felt her own uncertainty begin to flow into his words and his gaze.

As they walked down the subway steps, Delia Asia Vieira increasingly felt that her conversation with Dr. Lou Hastings was leading her into an unknown, tangled web. The steps echoed beneath their feet, and each step seemed like a step into a world where logic and order were beginning to lose their power.