Her shift was over and her schedule was shot. She usually did this weekly, but it had been over a month.

Moving down the corridor to the holodeck, she chose a vacant room and tapped the console. “Computer, open program ‘Overlook’.” A moment later the computer voice rang back, “Program ready.” The door opened and Pretha hit the ‘not public’ code to let others know it wasn’t an open invite program. What she ‘forgot’ to do was also lock out anyone who did happen to come along.

**
She stepped into the room and looked around. It was a beautiful ocean side house with a balcony that looked out over the ocean. Moving thru the room and out onto the deck, you would have thought it the perfect vacation house. The young security officer took a look across the expanse and sat on the edge of the deck. Crossing her legs she took a deep breath, heart racing, and spoke out loud. “Start at one mile. 50 foot intervals on my mark.”

The ocean’s edge seemed to move much closer. Pretha took a deep breath and sucked her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment. Her voice, shaky but clear, spoke to the computer. “One notch…” She closed her eyes and shivered. When she opened them, there was a fifty foot drop between her and the waves below. Her vision was set on the horizon line. If anyone was monitoring her vitals, her heart rate increased a bit and her endorphins were starting to kick in. She clenched her fists and tried to calm herself.

It was nearly 30 minutes before her voice piped up once more. “Again…” Again she closed her eyes in anticipation and when she opened them, 100 feet were between her and the ocean. This time her heart rate increased a bit more than last time. Her palms, sweaty and shaking, were constantly rubbing back and forth on her leggings as she tried to keep from balling them up in panic.

This time it was nearly 40 minutes before she found enough volume to increase it again. But this time, her heart rate soared and her hands balled into fists. Her nails leaving tiny moon shaped crescents on her palms. Tears welled in her eyes as she murmured and berated herself for her weakness. All the while unable to remove herself because she couldn’t stand up. It took every ounce of determination not to close her eyes and curl into a ball of fear and panic. At this point, even if a red alert claxon had sounded, the roaring in her ears as her phobia began to consume her would have drown it out.

Pretha
CoS