For a horrid moment, Irene thought she was back in her nightmares; those weird dreams - visions she had while she had been asleep where the creature hunted her down and made her fall into water. But instead, all she could feel was the cold wall against her back as she squeezed her eyes closed into pure darkness. This couldn’t be happening again. She felt as if she was being squeezed into a small box. Even as the shouting continued outside and Irene kept her head down, the buzzing kept going until it felt as if the pressure in the air had increased by tenfold.

Hands plucked at her sleeves, encouraging words being murmured to her but they only sounded like roaring in her ears. Irene shook her head, only ducked further into herself, and she even heard someone scream for them to leave. So they left and the lights had been extinguished in the room and she was left in darkness, the window having been repaired by someone.

By the time she heard the knock on the door, the buzzing had died down. A light-headedness had descended upon her, and she only felt numb once more. Slowly, she turned to look up at who had come back. “Mr. Iago.” Her voice was hoarse, coated with surprise that he had returned and not sent someone else. She sniffed and reached up to swipe at her cheek with her palm. As he stepped in, she wanted to back further into the wall, and yet she found all of her fight had left. She eyed the ash that dusted the man’s jacket. Immediately the smell of smoke filled the room, and her heartbeat filled her ears. The walls seemed to be closing in. She stared at Mr. Iago, her eyes trained over his shoulder as if expecting a dragon to appear behind him.

---