She stood there. She stood there on the corner. She stood there as if time had stopped. She stood there not feeling the breeze as it stirred her skirts around her legs. She stood there in shock at the last words she had heard. Biting words, hurtful words that had no place in public or private. Words that could cause one pain and suffering. Words that altered those around them and tore down the very walls that we erect in defense of our very sanity. It was those words that froze her in place. Those words that froze her mind. It was those words that reached her very heart and froze that too.

She could not feel the golden brown hair moving in the wind with her skirts. She could not hear the ruffling the wind caused her jacket to make. The cool breeze did nothing to dissipate the cold that surrounded her or the hurt that developed from those words. Day in, day out, it was always the same. At night it was no different as the moon glowed on her tear filled cheeks. Days, weeks, months passed by her in moments. Frozen as she was in her own time. Years went by and then time slowed to normal as a fancy car stopped near the corner.

An old man carefully got out of the car. His wrinkled face held a pain of life long lived and hard won. A face that knew little of love or trust. His actions slowed as cracks appeared near his feet as if the very weight he carried on his shoulders could affect the cold concrete that had stood the test of time and weather. He stopped in front of the frozen girl as a single tear of regret traveled over the creases and cracks of his face.
Words had done this to her. Words had frozen her in place never to be heard again. Words that had frozen her to the core. These words that he had spoken out of fear. Words that he had uttered out of hate. Words that flew from his lips for the obligations he was trained to uphold. Words that freed him of the shame he would have caused.

Their words. His hand reached out with a soft tender gesture that almost touched the frozen tears on her face. His hand felt the cold. He was so tired. So long had he fought. So long had he rejected. So long that he had resisted taking back even some of those words. Fear no longer held him back. Family expectations faded and vanished as each who held those demands faded from his life. The cold reached his shoulder as if by surprise. Too late. His face reacted for a brief second in panic as long held values and truths desperately held on. Too late. His legs lost all feeling as the cold took advantage of his immobility. Too late. His hesitation to break the hold so long held by his word.

The cold forced a solitary sigh out of his now locked chest, as the cold reached his very heart and whitened his eyes. Two now stood on a corner, the one frozen in time held back from living the life she most desperately needed, and another that had lived his life not knowing the life he was truly meant to live. Both reaching for the impossibility to recall those words. Frozen forever on the corner of choice.