I stand there, Sheba sits.

They would just put you on a platform with your back against a wall, in front of a hundred kinds of moving flaming spinning death, and let you figure out a way to kill yourself.

Despite my self-assurances, I am nervous. I feel like I am hanging by two fingers of one hand over the black pit of nightmare, with only the light of my flashlight and the panting of my black dog keeping me tethered to calm.

Find the way out, you don’t have the strength to hold on much longer.

I start walking, keeping the flashlight beam close. Sheba stays right by me, not wanting to wander too far, sensing my nervousness and keeping alert.

She knows she is keeping you sane.

We walk for what seems like ages.

She may be stupid, but she knows you better than you know yourself, because you are all she has.

I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that we should have reached the other side of the lobby by now. The beam of the flashlight seems less of a sunbeam and more of a moonbeam now, the darkness leeches the energy from it before it hits the ground.

If you didn’t have the light she would be the only left thing to keep you from falling.

I freeze.

Someone is there.

I stop and sweep my flashlight around me in a wide arc, squinting, trying to pick out the predator from the forest of darkness all around me.

Some thing is there.

I stand stock still to take stock, holding my breath, trying to hear. Anything. Sheba stands next to me, looking straight forward and panting.

Why are her ears up?

I remember I am still holding my breath and let it out in a shaky gasp. My lungs burn with effort as I try to force them to calm, wishing I could hear over the heartbeat pounding against the inside of my eardrums.

You know what it is.

The beam of my flashlight is jumping spasmodically with the shaking of my hand, the motion becoming even more exaggerated as I point it further into the inky blackness.

It’s the most terrifying thing you can imagine.

The light flickers.

One is slipping.

I shake it and it stutters increasingly less frequent bursts of illumination as I jostle the batteries roughly against the copper contacts inside.