The Nomenclature of Fear

‘After a time, I no longer heard my words but only the sound of my voice, and saw only the faint trace of a smile, which spread from one corner of Claire's mouth to the other like an elastic band stretched taut against gravitational pull. My ears filled with noise and I realised that I'd finished. Mr Kent's hand was on the back of my shoulder and that gentle force returned me to my seat like magnetic propulsion. I was frictionless.’

— Andrew Hook, The Nomenclature of Fear