Her face was flushed and pale. Pin-sized beads of sweat formed along her eyebrows. She thought she was ready for this moment, but boy was she wrong. She had rehearsed this moment in her head over and over again, but, as she found herself face-to-face with him, she was frozen with fear. Everything she wanted to say to him, everything she wanted to do to him fled her brain. She was utterly and truly paralyzed. While she stood, the man approached from the shadows of the room. He slithered his evil self into the light. He walked methodically around her.

“You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this,” he hissed. “What?” he said in a mocking tone after a minute. “Cat’s got your tongue? I thought this is what you wanted all along—facing me so you could prove something to yourself. Well, here I am. But it looks like I’ve been the stronger one all along.”

A ping of water reverberated the baren room. She flinched. The man cackled with laughter.

“You’re so pathetic. Waste of time,” he said walking off.

The woman felt her hands shaking as they were gripped tightly to her chest. After the man left the room, her body gave up on her. She collapsed to the dampened floor below.