Eric was more assertive

"I wish he was more assertive."

The stranger smiled and Marcia felt a shiver down her spine, but she couldn't stop talking.

"He's always waiting for everything to come to him. I wish that he would just take what he wants."

The stranger leaned in further until they took up Marcia's entire vision. The face that had looked so familiar now barely looked human. Their smile was too wide, the eyes too hungry. Marcia was suddenly afraid that she was going to be pulled in, taken by this... thing.

Finally, after forever and no time at all, it said "Done," and kissed her.

Eric wasn't ready to face Marcia, so he made sure he went to bed before she got home. He figured he was too worked up to actually sleep, but he soon found himself in a dream.

He was in a police station, standing with an officer in the interview room. In front of him was Marcia, wearing the dress she had worn on their date that night.

"So who is she?" asked the officer.

"My girlfriend."

The officer frowned. "We'll try that again later. You've been together for five years, right?"

"Yep."

"So if she's your girlfriend, you must see a future together after five years, right? A house, kids, a dog, all that jazz?"

Something in the back of Eric's mind told him this whole situation wasn't right, but Eric shook it off and answered the officer's question. "I mean, I guess. Yeah."

Something dark flashed across the officer's face, taking it from plain to terrifying. "Do not lie to me. Do you see a future with her."

Eric shivered and looked away. Instead, he looked through the window at Marcia, trying to conjure up the visions of a future together that he'd had when they started dating. Nothing came. "No."

"Alright, so she's not your girlfriend. So who is she?"

Again, Eric felt that nagging feeling that something was wrong. "She's... not?"

The officer looked annoyed. "No future, no girlfriend. That's how it works. I'll ask you again, who is she?"

Eric tried to find the words to disagree with the officer, but the words wouldn't come. I guess Marcia isn't my girlfriend, he thought. The feeling of wrongness surged at the thought, but was beaten back by some other ****. "She's... I don't know."

"Let's take a step back. What do you want to do with her? Do you want to talk? If you want to talk with her, she might be a friend. Or a therapist."

He thought back to how he'd been avoiding her texts the past few months. "No." It's so nice that the officer is here to help me through this, he thought.

"Do you want to work with her? Make money together? She could be a coworker or a business partner."

"Absolutely not," Eric said immediately. They couldn't talk about money without it devolving into a days-long fight.

"Hm, this is a tough one. Maybe she isn't anything to you."

Oh god, he thought, is there really nothing that I want to do with her? We've been together for five years, there has to be something!

"Do you want to have sex with her?"

That's it! "Yes!" Eric cried, relieved that they'd found the answer.

"So she's your slut!"

"She's... no, she's not..."

The officer leaned in closer. "You want to fuck her, so she's your slut."

Eric felt the officer's presence washing over him, but still tried to resist. "She's my... no..." he said weakly.

The darkness in the officer's face returned, but this time laced with some dreadful glee. "She is your slut."

That seemed to snap something into place in Eric's mind. "She's my slut. I want to fuck her and she is my slut."

The officer smiled. "And you get what you want, because you take what you want."

Eric looked back at Marcia with a lustful gaze and a predatory smile. "I take what I want."

The officer let out a laugh so frenzied it was nearly a howl. "Take what you want!"

Eric woke with a start. Take what I want was still echoing in his head. He heard the front door open. Marcia was back.