A little pink purse rested over her right shoulder while she searched through bins of jeans. Now her ensemble was complete. At least jeans were pants, she thought. She thought about ditching the skirt, as she thought herself determined to stab herself in the eyes with razor blades rather than be caught in one ever again. And yet.

Unfortunately, nobody was interested in helping her anymore, and the sales clerk was only interested in ogling her. By the time she tried five pairs she found a pair that fit. After noting the size, she quietly folded six pairs into a pile and took them to the sales desk.

“Are you from around here?” the clerk asked.

“No, I live closer to Pittsburg.”

“Are you a model- you know- clothes- fashion?”

“No.”

A salacious wink caught her attention, “That’s too bad, a body like that belongs on the cover of a catalogue.”

“Just ring up the jeans.”

She turned away for a minute to look at some other clothes that caught her eye, but mainly to avoid looking at a guy who just hit on her. She tried not to blush, but did slightly. It was simple reaction, almost as simple as the one that made her want to jump over the counter and knock out his teeth. Was every guy she ran into today going to act like this?

If only that idiot knew more, she thought, then he wouldn’t be so eager to comment.

"Hey, know what, I have a-"

She looked up. The cashier was gone, so were the other people in line. Her jeans were on the counter, the sale had been rung, but everyone was gone. Their carts were still behind her, but the people had disappeared. There wasn’t another shopper as far as she could see in the entire outlet. Then she saw one other person there, the dusty blonde-haired guy with the half ear. Josh smirked menacingly as she assumed a fighting stance.

“Wow, you’ve gotten hotter since we last met, clothes do make the woman I suppose.”

“What did you do with everyone!?”

“I didn’t kill them. They felt the influence of the terror incubus, just a tiny bit of it really. The fear gave us a little privacy. This is the perfect opportunity to finish our fight.”

“Well then, Bring it!”

The expression on Josh’s face indicated that her reaction was not one he was used to. This woman had something special that he couldn’t quite grasp. He feared her clenched fist, and felt that he could be killed dealing with her. He was scared enough to keep talking.

“You resisted me. Those punches back on the road were pure meat. Who would have ever expected it from such a petite thing? I thought the old man was lying when he said you’d be a challenge. I even have a question for you. Aren’t you afraid?”

“I don’t feel anything. What’s all this talk about feelings all the sudden? Come over here and get beaten so we can finish this stupid fight!”

“Fine, we finish this now!”

With one long lunge, he aimed his fist full force. Nadia dodged to the side, and using only her opponent’s motion to provide the force for impact, her fist met his gut. Saliva flew from his lips as he fell backwards. Less than a second later she gripped his neck to keep him from recovering.

“I thought about your move a little bit, not that hard. A little pressure to the right spot and your opponent is paralyzed from the neck down. A little too much pressure and I could kill you, but since you were so complimentary, I’ll let you go if tell me why you're after me.”

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Josh smiled, whispered, “Don’t wet yourself.”

A tsunami overcame the island of her thoughts. Perspiration gathered over her forehead. She felt her heart beat faster and harder. Her trembling hands slipped from Josh’s neck. Gasping, she stumbled backwards into a bin of jeans. Cold wires wrapped her as she burrowed inside the bin and hid herself. She became a lead ball.

Every time she closed her eyes visions of death, gruesome dead, grasping corpse-like figures screamed in agony as they clawed her. Josh flung away the jeans Nadia used to hide her huddled form. Nadia wanted to jump out and defy him, but the words she heard herself utter shocked her. The cowardly mixed with a soft feminine tone.

Josh drank it like a cocktail.

“Please- don’t hurt me... please.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t wet yourself.”

Thousands of baby spiders crawled over her.

“Go away!”

“Fear is such a powerful emotion. You’re experiencing the full effect of my terror incubus. I want to see you overcome by it.”

She could barely breathe, “I can’t- I can’t- I- I- please take it away. Somebody help me!”

The bin fell over. She slowly crawled out, but all her effort couldn’t prevent him from petting the back of her neck. Cold sweat formed at his touch as he unlatched chain that held her pendant, as if he knew the mechanism already. Josh took it for himself, covering it slowly within his palm.

“You talk tough, but deep down you’re just a scared little girl. Lucky for you, it wouldn’t be honorable to kill you. But I still get paid if I take this pretty little necklace.”

With the pendant off her neck, Nadia could hear him walking away. She forced herself to stumble upright, even though her legs were unsteady. “This has nothing to do with me being a girl! No! I don’t care anymore. I can’t let you can’t take that pendant!”

The footsteps stopped as he turned around, “You’re standing? Man! You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” He tossed the pendant high and caught it. “You want it, come, and take it from me. I- won’t- even- move- an inch.”

Nadia drug cement feet across the floor. Forced fear. With each step, she could feel herself going faint. Blood rushed to her head and her breath became heavy. It felt as though she could drown in her own tears. Every fiber of her being cried until she became in her mind a child, a barefoot little girl in a sleeveless nightgown being chased by monsters from under the bed. The store disappeared, and she found herself alone at the edge of a forest. The trees were adorned with grisly black bark complimented by dark blue leaves. The grass of a meadow bordering the forest tickled her feet. Loose dirt found its way between her toes. A cold wind from above stung the bare skin of her shoulder.

On a path into the forest stood a heavyset woman with salt and pepper hair tied in a bun. She wore a plain tan kimono with a brown sash decorated by white flower print. Nadia couldn’t forget the frown lines on that weary yet kind face. It was Lady Garasa. Yet her face twisted, the kind features becoming stoney.

“Wicked child, why did you come to our peaceful village. I would still be alive if you hadn’t charmed my son. You vile creature! The deaths of our people rest on your shoulders.”

The lady vanished before Nadia could protest. Vines laden with sharp thorns slithered around the trees and coiled up their trunks. They lashed outwards from the edge of the forest to wrap her legs and arms. Thorns sliced her flesh deeply; a pain burned as venom dripped from their points. She slashed at the vines wrapping her left arm using a thorn protruding from the vine wrapping her right. Once her left arm was cut free, the vision dissipated, the store racks returned, and Josh waited with her pendant.

She ran for him but it was like an invisible wall of mucus slowed her approach before her vision faded again.

“It knows your greatest fears.”

Nadia leaned over a mirror, her hands beside the glass. A heavy purple kimono did little to hide her swollen abdomen. Something kicked her from the inside. The woman in the mirror looked older, even a bit tired. A little girl in a smaller version of Nadia’s purple kimono tugged at her mother’s robes in an attempt to get her attention. The little girl said something about her little brother being hungry, pointing to a screaming child. Nadia broke into a sweat; her hands shook. For a few minutes, she tensed before the child’s crib, staring. Then she picked him up and cradled him close to her chest. Lady Garasa stood in the background, visible in the mirror as she stared with a scowl.

“You’re not real. The person I met was kind.”

The illusion dissipated once again.

Nadia approached Josh full speed, fists clenched, red faced, and breathing heavily.

"No! No, no, no! It will break your mind if you even try!"

She came to a complete stop as Josh bulged. Clothes burnt away. Skin became charred. He grew to a size that towered over her as he transformed into a demon golem composed of burning coal. A deep red scar shaped like a cross ran across its chest. The beast attacked with glowing red disembodied eyes that burned as they swirled around her. Nadia froze in place as a terror chilled and burned in the same moment, only to gather her courage and punch into the midst of the beast.

As her fist contacted the scar, it cracked open. A burning fire engulfed her fingers before flames shot up her arm. Her skin glowed and then darkened. Nadia screamed as her body became like coal.

She stepped inside the opening.