I was mostly distracted by the strange minglings of my mind for about ten minutes before it became unbearable: What was he doing? Did he really believe I was asleep? Was he watching me? Was he even awake? There was only one way to know for sure: to look.

It was a controversial thought. What if I looked and he was just sitting there staring at me just as I had pictured it? It would be terrifying, seeing my greatest fear come to life. But, what if I looked and he was asleep? Would that bring me any solace? He would still be in the room, ready to pounce at any given moment. Still there was another possible outcome. What if I looked, and he noticed me? There’s no telling what could happen then!

All the horrible possibilities and the huge margin for error led me to a near meltdown. However, in my neurotic state, I finally mustered the nerve to peek.