How did he gain her trust so quickly? So easily? Already Karen found herself putting her fate in this man’s hands and she wasn’t even sure that he knew it. It must have been in her eyes, that look of vulnerability she showed to people so rarely. Hardly anyone ever got to see it. It was a lot like a beast in the wild rolling on its back to show its belly.

“What do I tell them?” She asked in a small voice. “My friends, the people who care about me… How do I explain to them that…” Karen stopped herself with a sigh. “I guess I don’t, do I? I leave them without an explanation. I just sort of… Die.”

Karen looked away, somewhere far off in the distance even beyond the wall of the room they were all in. Her eyes glassed over and she felt faint. She shook her head to snap herself back to reality as best she could. It was difficult to get her grip back having received the news he had just given her.

“I need a drink…” She muttered.