The festivities were a tad too raucous for Catherine. There were too many bodies, too many faces, to much sound and noise. It was stifling, choking, and with each new murmur of speech, each new laugh of delight, each peal of applause, some loudness rose up within her in echo until it was in her eyes and her ears, and all the way into her fingertips. A tremble overcame her, and deep in the core of her body there was a great longing to leave, or to scream, or to otherwise avail herself of this horrific sense of too much.

In a quaking whisper she excused herself, hand pressed tight to her stomacher, and fled in quick steps to the nearest quiet place. An alley loomed before her, cast in shadow, and she darted inside to catch her breath. She did not hear that the snicket was already occupied, too loud was the rush of blood in her ears, and the wheeze of her breath. But she heard a squawk when she came upon them, two men hidden where the light did not touch them, and could barely apologise before one hurried his way past her and away into the night.

“I- Sorry, I-” Her breath came out of her in shuddering gasps, and the leant heavily against the wall, losing her focus on the man who remained as she forced herself to calm.