How do I know nothing will go wrong? I think to myself as I stride through the automanic, sliding doors. I immediately get blasted by the vaguely familiar air conditioner, the current pop ballad being “sung” in the overhead speakers, and the latest outfits on the clothes racket—jeans, pastel colors, goth makeup, this store had it all, but I didn’t exactly come here to shop.

My arms begin to shake and sweat. My heart begins to pump furiously. My breathing becomes shallow and rapid. I’m blushing. Oh God, I’m blushing, people will notice the blush, the arms, the heart, the breath…

I take a deep breath, trying to interrupt the fast beat of my lungs. I calm, but only slightly. I run back outside, to my car. I drive out of the parking lot as fast as I could.

I used to go to this building a lot as a preteen, actually, but ever since that day, that event, I vowed that I would never go back. I didn’t break that vow…until now.