I tried to breathe in and out but the air felt too thin. It wasn’t filling my lungs. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. All I could think about—all I could feel—was the anxiety and the pain.

I could not remember a single thing from that night other than the feeling of dread and confusion I had. My body had not been my own and I was left to the mercy of the shadow man. That was what I called him. All I could remember of that night was the shadows, and his cold, calloused ...