As Carol left the room to tend to Jokey, I was left alone to fight this shadow.
My thought process:
(Where is she going?)
(Wait... this thing only wants me... why am I letting her put herself at risk?)
(I need to protect her. I need to do this alone.)
(Okay... I'm ready.)
I turned around briefly. "This is my battle." I said calmly, and closed the darkened room's door.
I faced the shadow again. I hit the light switch in the room, holstered the magnum and drew my knife. I steeled myself to face whatever this thing was.