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“I… I am afraid to go outside,” she said. “Just being here is agony for me.”
He’d already traced her via her voice, and the little things she’d said to allude to who she was—like how she worked from home and sold custom pottery, but never left her house.
Who she was was unimportant.
What she represented was everything.
In a way, she was the same as him. She was afraid of the world, and she was never going to overcome it. She was never going to make a difference.
He was going to, though. He was going to make the world a better place.
But first, another fear to knock off his own list.
It was one of his stranger fears, he had to admit. He went upstairs, into the kitchen, and looked at the bowl of almonds he’d put out.
He had always been terrified of eating one and choking, after he’d seen it happen to someone in a mall cafeteria once. That person had an almond lodged in their throat, and no one knew how to help them.
They died on the scene.
He’d seen it all.
The panic, the shouting, the death.
He’d looked away, but the memory had always been there, like a small dark cloud.
And it always stayed with him.
He’d gotten used to seeing almonds in stores—but he’d never touched one.
On the table, the bowl of almonds mocked him.
He couldn’t eat them.
He couldn’t live with them.
He picked one up and looked at it.
If he was going to live fearlessly, he’d have to face this fear.
He had to do it.
He put the almond in his mouth. Slowly, he chewed it, crunching it between his teeth.
He felt it slide down his throat, and he closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable.
But nothing happened.
He swallowed the almond safely and let out a deep breath of relief.
He’d eaten an almond, and it hadn’t killed him. A smile curled at his lips.
Another fear conquered. He had done it. He didn’t need a group therapy session or anything like it—all he needed was himself, and the right motivation.
With the right motivation, one could do anything.
He took another almond in his hand and bit into it, feeling the crunch between his teeth and the cool smoothness inside his mouth as he chewed.
He could do anything he wanted. He was invincible now, strong enough to face his next conquest.
