The door rattles loudly before silence settles over everything again.
My phone! The tablet!
There has to be a way to reach someone outside here.
I spin around frantically, dragging my dirty sneakers forward. I search the mattress, the concrete floor, the corners of the room.Everywhere.
But they’re gone.
Of course they’re gone.
My chest tightens so painfully it feels impossible to breathe properly. I press my trembling hands against my mouth, forcing myself not to completely lose it.
Think, Elena, think.
But my thoughts won’t stay steady long enough. My head pounds harder with every passing second, and dizziness drags at me again.
I stagger backward until my knees hit the mattress and the room tilts violently.
Cold sweat breaks out across my skin as nausea rolls through me again, much stronger this time. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to fight it, but exhaustion crushes down harder.
I can barely keep my eyes open.
The concrete wall behind me feels freezing through my sweater as I slowly sink back onto the mattress.
Somewhere beyond the locked door, footsteps echo faintly. Then there’s silence again, crushing the hope I dared to have.
Henry’s words float back, reverberating at the back of my mind:expect the unexpected.
And the tears I’ve been holding in begin to pour out without control.
But it wasn’t my fault.
Nothing could have prepared me for this. Nothing could have prepared me for the devastating reality that I might never see my parents again.
As much as I want to stay upset at Henry, the thought stabs me straight in the chest that I’ll never get the chance to tell him how much I value our friendship. My life might just be over.
And for the first time since waking up, the terrifying truth sinks fully into my chest: I’ve been kidnapped.
Snatched away without permission from the world I’ve always known, and compelled to survive in this shithole of darkness.
And nobody knows where I am.
Faint footsteps resound again beyond the locked door, but unlike before, they don’t grow quieter.
They get closer, growing louder until keys jangle on the other side of the door.
I sink deeper into the mattress and shut my eyes as the rusty door opens, creaking like something out of a horror movie.
I hear shoes against the concrete floor, drawing closer and closerto the mattress. My eyes aren’t open, but I feel the commanding presence suffocating the room, pressing against every corner, making me feel smaller by the second.
With my heart beating in my throat, I hold my breath, aware of how dangerously close the stranger stands to me. I can feel his body heat slowly radiating into the air around me. It sucks out the cold, though temporarily, and leaves a warmth I should find uncomfortable, but lean into, anyway.
There’s a small shift and rustle of clothes, and then two fingers press against the base of my neck, undoubtedly checking for a pulse.
From the rough texture of the stranger’s skin, my best guess is that the person is a man.
I don’t move, barely even breathe. The stranger doesn’t move, either. I want him to, but he doesn’t budge. Instead, he spreads more fingers around my neck, gently brushes them against my collarbone…
