She was charming and confident throughout the whole meal, regularly reaching across to touch my arm or making consistent engaging eye contact.

She laughed openly and sincerely, rolled her eyes when I was self-deprecating and spoke

openly about her own vulnerabilities.

Over the course of dinner, I started to feel more comfortable and less anxious, and without fully understanding

why.

I noticed a strange warmth in my chest and stomach that I had never felt before. She had brown eyes and chocolate covered hair

that fell around her bare shoulders in harmonious locks.

She looked like a woman straight out of a noir film,

and she exuded a self-confidence that was not only attractive, but to many men, would have

been downright intimidating.

And yet, by the end of the date, when she held my hand, I did not find myself filled with doubts about why

she wanted me or what she saw in me. I trusted her affections in a way I never could

with any other woman. Her charisma was infectious and when we stepped out into the

cold city air I truly, genuinely felt like I stepped into a fairy tale.

That was the last thing I remembered before waking up in a bathtub full of ice.

The shark was so sudden there was a moment where I felt I'd been plunged into a lucid nightmare.

For the first few seconds I thought of nothing, saved the agony, vaguely located along my left side and the stinging ice burns across my bare body.

Everything hurt. It felt like I'd been in a car crash.

My vision was blurry, as if my eyelids were gumed together.

Each blink felt like rubbing sand into my eyes,

and every breath out felt like approaching suffocation.

My limbs were weak, but I pushed myself out of the ice and into a sitting position, letting

...