The eerie emptiness of the house began to eat away at the confidence that had taken so long to muster, as though his wife's lover may even possess the...power to take her from this world for a time, or make her invisible to anyone who might intrude.He pressed forward, past the thickly carpeted stairs, then under the open balcony twenty feet over his head. The door before him was different then the others. Wider, made of solid hand-rubbed walnut, its very character carried a warning of what may. ” Chloe had guessed as much – she’d waited for Jess to come back for fifteen minutes before giving up.“She took me to Nathan – in that classroom on the second floor of the geography building, you know? The one with the skylight?” Chloe nodded: She had had a lesson there earlier in the day.“Well he was sitting down at the desk. Josie was there with Sarah – Emily too of course, she came in with me.”Sarah and Emily were other favourites of Nathan’s. Emily, a short dark-haired girl, was always. The female senator on the senate floor. The librarian in your town. The policewoman in the squad car. Get the picture? I know that you wish it weren’t so. In all likelihood, you’re a decent guy. You work hard. You’re smart. You contribute energetically to society. You’d like to eventually meet a decent woman and have a family. That’s what men have been socially conditioned to look for. And men have held their part of the bargain. it’s women who haven’t held their part of the bargain. the thing. Being accepted and, in a way, loved, pushed all thoughts of punishing his body completely aside. Whilst life was not all roses, it wasn’t all thorns either. After a wonderful time at Petra’s, studying together and having dinner, Dan could be forgiven in thinking life couldn’t get any better. However life is fickle and his tenuous grasp on popularity came crashing down. It seemed as though once her mother had fulfilled her obligation, Petra no longer wanted to be seen with him, fading once more.