Standing in the room. Unfamiliar. Walls too long. Ceiling too high. Void. Stripped bare and dirty. Like the victim of a pedophilic madman. I shiver. A presence. I turn to nothing. Where? Too dark to see the end of the room. Not there. On top of me. Hot breath. From where. No source. No one here but me. Head starts to hurt. Brain swelling? No pulsating. I try to climb out of my thoughts. The walls are too slick. I fall back into them. No escape now. I move. Forward. Any direction. Can’t stay still. Have to run. I move but my surroundings remain the same. No closer to the end. Presence still on me. With me. In me. A scream. From me? No one else. A rope. Hanging. Noosed. I try for it but cannot reach. Too high. Must escape. Must find a way. Jumping now. Breasts heaving. No closer. My own mortality hanging just out of reach. The presence. Warm now. Pleased. Hands now. Ethereal. Not visible but tangible. Lifting me. Rope now within reach. I wrap it around it my neck. So rough. Burning. So tight. Choking. Beautiful. Life draining. Leaving. Gone. I fall. Through the rope to the floor. How? Rope gone now. Never there. On my feet. The hands again. I turn to face him. He is there. Touching my face softly. He speaks to me. A lifetime of words in one. “Welcome”