punctuation counts

A Trifecta challenge: this weekend's challenge is to give us a story or snippet of a story which includes, in exactly 33 words, a justified exclamation point.  Make us believe that your exclamation point simply needs to be in your story.


The nurse furrows her brow in confusion.
Slippery coldness as the magic wand glides over my abdomen.
A pause; impassable silence.
Listening, we strain our ears and the world holds it’s breath.
There!