But I will say that this particular door, for this particular woman, opened onto something else entirely, and that it is worth remembering, in a world that teaches us to expect the worst, that not every closed door hides a harm.

Some of them hide a man at the end of his life, holding out the only thing he has left to offer, hoping he has finally found someone he can trust to protect what he loved.

I dwell on those first cold seconds, my hand reaching back for the door, my mind running to the darkest rooms, because I think it is important to be honest that the fear was real and reasonable.

A woman alone with a man who holds all the power, in a house not her own, behind a door he has just closed, is right to feel her pulse climb.