Irrational Fears with Rational Roots (meme response)
"Mason!"

"Mommy!" The little boy runs over to Lil, latching onto her, red-eyed and shaking. Jordan is in tow with Madison, coming up close behind. "I'm sorry! Please don't be mad! I just wanted to look at--"

"Shhhhh..." She puts her arms around him, fingers in his hair. "Yelling later. I'm just glad you're okay."

----

It was a holiday story that got trotted out now and then. Mason stopping to look at a chemistry kit when the family was hitting the mall for Boxing Day shopping. After that, he'd ended up split off from the family by the torrents of crowds. It had been two hours before security was able to reunite Mason with his mother.

So, even as he feels ashamed of it, he's more than a little panicked anxious, keeping his back to a wall while he tries to get his bearings. He'd been in New Orleans as part of his degree work, attending a lecture by a leading mettalurgist. Afterwards, he'd lost his cellphone, and his notion of where in the city he was. The crowds of holiday visitors, plus the lunch rush doesn't help matters either. He keeps his palms to the wall behind him, breathing heavily, and not noticing as the surface starts to turn to glass.