It was dark.
Too dark.
The kind of dark that swallowed light whole. That pressed in on you from every direction like the walls were breathing. Like the shadows had teeth.
Lucy’s wrists ached.
The rope was too tight. It scraped against her skin every time she moved. Her arms were bound behind her, her legs loosely tied at the ankles. Her mouth was gagged with a strip of scratchy cloth that smelled like sweat and old metal. But worst of all?
She was alone.
Not alone like “no one in the room.”
Alone like abandoned. Alone like she could scream until her throat bled and no one would come.
She was lying on cold concrete. There were no windows. Just a single bare light bulb above her that flickered every few seconds like it was deciding whether or not to die.
And every time it did… the d
