Listen to me! Remember the scarlet blanket? The one I gave you when you were 6 years old and so sick? Here! Feel it. Feel it’s warmth. Within this blanket is your happy place. That place where everything is quiet, where you feel safe and loved. Feel it!

As he wrapped the blanket tighter around him the rage began to subside. The anger diminished. The hate was replaced with apathy. He dropped to his knees still clutching the blanket, his refuge, as tightly as he could.

Raven took a quiet step back, reaching for her phone inside her pocket. She had to dial 911 but she was afraid the button sounds would break the silence and send her attacker into a rage again. She had to get out of there. Where was the door? She turned her head left and right looking for her escape route

Suddenly he snapped his head up to look at her. And she froze. They stood face to face, each staring intently into each other’s eyes, hers filled with terror, his filled with maniacal madness.