stay and burn (only to drown instead)

Fear," he smiled as if he was making a joke you didn't yet understand, "shouldn't control you. Not when it comes to opportunities like this."

You're silent, worrying your bottom lip between your teeth. Frozen in indecision, eyes focused on a random paper on his desk.

Then he said your name quietly.

"Fear only has as much power as you want to give it."

You looked him in his eyes- his crystal clear eyes, penetrating and sharp in their clarity- and the words spilled from your mouth like you'd been put under a spell. Hypnotized, like always.

"Alright. Then I'll do it."

or,

Reader accepts an offer to TA for Dr. Jonathan Crane's Psychology of Fear class and everything goes to shit from there.