A Darkened Apartment Ellen sat upright looking around her bedroom. Silvery moonlight cast black, inky shadows across the floor and plunged the corners of the room into impenetrable darkness. She strains to isolate the sensation that has shocked her awake, is it a sound, a sudden cold air draft from the air conditioner coming on? Straining her eyes, she peers into the corners of the room, trying to identify the shapes she sees. A shiver runs along her spine as she clutches the neck of her flimsy nightgown tightly around her neck. " Who's there?" she calls hoarsely. There is no reply as she silently curses to herself for thinking that there might have been one. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Ellen stood up sliding her feet into a pair of slippers walking quietly to the door. Putting her hand on the door handle she frowns, trying to remember if she has pushed the door closed, or left it ajar when she went to bed. As she twisted the handle, Ellen feels a sudden rush of air behind her and a damp, smelly cloth is held over her mouth and nose, almost suffocating her. She tries to reach back and scratch me, to claw at me but my grip feels like iron and she seems to melt as the noxious fluid soaking the cloth over her face made her woozy. She wobbles weakly for a moment and then her knees buckle and she slides, gracelessly to the floor. Ellen is unconscious for nearly a quarter of an hour as I prowl quickly through the apartment, making sure that they are alone. When I return to the bedroom, Ellen is groggy but beginning to come round as the effects of the drug I had soaked the cloth with wore off. She shook her head violently, partly to clear it and partly to put up at least a show of resistance. She cries out as I grab her arm starting to drag her across the room towards the bed. She has to struggle to her feet, I throw her roughly onto the bed. She desperately wants to scream, but fear has paralised her. …the next moment changed everything
