Fred woke up to the flight attendant tapping him gently on the shoulder. “Mr. Klutse. The flight is boarding.”

Fred looked around as his eyes began to clear, and he realized there was no one else at the gate except him and the attendant.

He quickly jumped up. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. I never sleep at terminals. I can’t believe this.”

“It’s alright. I told them that we had a passenger who would need extra time. We don’t have a full flight, so they didn’t mind allowing us to board you after everyone. I hope the rest was good?”

“It was. Short but good. Thank you so much.”

“All part of our customer service. Now, if you could kindly come with me and show your ticket, we can get you in and on your way to Nairobi.”

Fred walked with her to the scanner and opened his e-ticket. She scanned it and checked his carry-on to make sure it was the right size. “It appears you’ve had a seat change.”

She waited for the new seat number to print and then handed it to him. “Let me take you to your seat.”

They walked onto the jet bridge and into the plane. The entry way they used was different from any other one Fred had used whenever he’d flown anywhere. He was used to walking into what looked like the middle of the plane with crammed seats and a lot of noise. Not this time. There was so much space, it felt like a hotel room.

The materials lining the entire suite were red and white and looked silky. There was a full couch on one side, a queen-sized bed on the other, and a bar in between them. It smelled like sweet roses in there, and it looked nothing like the inside of any plane he’d ever been in.

Fred turned to the attendant. “This is definitely not first class. I must be in the wrong place.”

The attendant smiled at him. “You are, Fred. We upgraded you on request. I can’t tell you whose request it was but I’m quite sure you can guess. Apparently, its your wedding anniversary, and a good friend of yours was kind enough to foot the bill. The bar is fully stocked, as is the fridge right behind it. There’s a menu on the counter, order whatever you want, it’s all fully paid-for. We offer a complimentary massage service. All forms of massage are available. All forms.”

Fred raised his eyebrow, which earned a continuous nodding from the attendant. “We’re about to take off, so please sit in the couch and fasten your seatbelt. Thank you for flying Express Air.”

Right before she left, Fred said to her, “I never got your name.”

She turned to him. “My sincerest apologies, Fred. It’s usually the first thing I say to anyone, so I thought I’d already mentioned it. My name is Marica, and I’ll be your personal flight attendant today.”

*****

Fred thoroughly enjoyed his sleep. The stress of all the worrying from earlier was finally brought to bear once he sat in the couch, and he got completely knocked out. He was currently in between sleep and consciousness, waiting to see which way his body fell. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep for, but it was long enough for him to hear the pilot say that the seatbelt sign was off.

A part of him wanted to go to the bed, but that part was quickly overruled by the overwhelming sense of sleep. The cabin was so balmy, it felt like he was outside in the perfect weather. Airplane cabins were usually cold, but this one was perfect.

As he drifted off again, he thought he heard the sound of whispering and footsteps. Too sleepy to look, he chalked it up to the flight attendants bringing in food or something. He’d have to find out when he woke…

******

Pressure.

Steel.

Pressure and steel.

Fred’s body was getting off the sleep train, but something felt off. The usually smooth process, which usually started with him stretching, seemed a hell of a lot more strained this time. It felt like a dream where he was frozen, but it also felt real.

Slowly, as his consciousness returned, the sensations in his body began to give him better information. His legs were completely unresponsive, as were his hands. He could feel something pulsing inside of him; thank goodness his heart was still functional.

More information came through as he continued to wake, and each one scared him.

He couldn’t move any of his limbs, but he could somehow feel everything. His eyes were completely slow to open, much as he tried to force them, as though they were hundred-pound lids. The feeling of pressure and steel became even more apparent when he finally came to, and his eyes slowly opened.

The light that hit them was blinding, but the rest of the room was dark. In trying to avoid the blinding light, he turned his neck and caught a glimpse of the cuffs on his hands and feet, in addition to what looked like a pair of black boots. His avoidance lasted all of half a second before extreme pressure from someone gripping his head turned it right back into the light. He tried to shut his eyes, but the light was still powerful enough to feel bright beneath his eyelids.

After what seemed like an eternity, the light shut off instantly, and he heard footsteps moving further and further away from him. Out of nowhere, he felt the chill of iced water as it was dumped on him from behind.

His limited range of motion meant that he couldn’t turn all the way, so he didn’t see who the culprit was. Not that it would matter, anyway. He was literally powerless at the moment.

While he recovered from the shocking cold of the water, he got a better look at the room. Everything was still the same except the lights were now blue, the bed was covered in roses, and the bar went from being black to being almost bloody looking.

“What the hell is this place?”

As Fred sat in the quiet, he wondered what he could possibly have done to earn this. Being a software engineer meant that he didn’t really do a whole lot. Sure, he had a few nights of dinner and drinking, but that was with Sena. He had exes that absolutely detested him, but none of them were rich enough or smart enough to pull this off.

The only other thing that made sense was…

No, that couldn’t be it either.

He’d gone to great lengths to make sure that could never come back on him. A person had died because of that. There was no need to open that vault of darkness.

While he pondered his current reality, the front of the bar lit up like a TV screen.  A video began to play, and it was filled with sweet moments from his relationship with Sena through the years.

There was their first date, the day they first kissed, moments at the park, concert footage, all stuff he had tucked away in a secret folder on his laptop. No one knew of this footage except for Sena.

For a moment, he remembered the note at the airport, but then that thought quickly made way for absolute panic at the sight of the next video.

There they were, deep in a passionate lovemaking session in their bedroom. That was not the only footage there was too. There was their honeymoon sex-fest, their sneaky quickie at her workplace, all kinds of footage. This was stuff he had never recorded, and each footage was from an angle through a window from afar.

The video finally ended with the sound of Moment for Life playing, and a black screen with the words, “Sena. Fred. For Life.”

That lingered a little bit, with a heart growing bigger and bigger until it had fully encircled the words.

Instantly, there was the sound of breaking glass, followed by a high-speed car crash, and then the heart on the screen broke, and then the screen was shattered into a million shards.

This was harrowing for Fred. It was like a torture chamber, except no one was in there with him. He started to sweat, the once-balmy room now feeling like an active volcano. Out of nowhere, the screen lit up again, as though the last few minutes hadn’t happened.

The same footage played, and then it shattered again. It happened a third time, but the screen remained intact. And then a very familiar song begun to play, followed by the sound of a live voice singing. The second the sound hit his ears, his gut dropped out.

This had to be a fever dream, some sick time warp from the grave. It just had to be.

“The first time, ever I saw your face. I saw the sun…”

No one had walked in to claim that voice, but it continued ever so smoothly. The torment was hammering at Fred, turning him into a puddle of terror.

“Dead men don’t sing. This is all a dream. This is all a dream, Fred.”

His self-affirmations were quickly negated by the reality of his immobile limbs.

After what seemed like an eternity, a figure emerged from under the bar. The closer she got, the more apparent it became to Fred just how fucked he was. This echo from the past was one he could never have seen coming.

Dressed in black, high-thigh, high-heel boots, a black and red lace bustier with a lace thong to match, and a pair of red horns on her sleek, flowing ponytail, the five-foot-nothing, dark-skinned cutie stood in front of him.

Fred looked absolutely horrified, which fed her energy even more.

She slowly circled him, touching him tenderly with her bejeweled red claws around his neck and shoulders, pressing in deeper as she got to his Adam’s apple. Then she went back to her place right in front of him, leaning in ever so slightly so he could get the perfect glimpse of the cleavage he once was obsessed with.

She touched her red claw to his upper lip, dragging it slowly down to the lower lip, and got in close enough for her breath to heat up his face.

“Hello you, goddamned motherfucker!”

Uh-oh! Fred’s been led into a trap! Who is this woman, and why is she coming after him?