Page 34

THIRTY-THREE

UNKNOWN

The sound of whimpering stirs me awake. It takes a moment for me to open my eyes and pull myself into a seated position. Even then, I’m foggy, almost in a daze, like coming to after going on a multiday bender. The whimpering is emanating from the other side of the room, or what I think is the other side of the room. It’s the first noise I’ve heard besides boots clomping across the floor above me, the sound of a bottle of water or plastic-wrapped sandwich hitting the pavement, or the door at the top of the stairs closing. I can’t see the stairs, but I know they’re there.

“Hello?” I call out.

The whimpering stops as though they’ve sucked in a breath, and the room falls silent.

“Is someone there?” I ask.

“Hello?” a shaky, faint voice answers back.

“Oh, thank God. You have to help me. My leg is...”

The familiar sound of a chain dragging on concrete fills the basement. The woman shrieks in a panic. “Why are you doing this to me?” Her voice cracks, and a sob erupts.

“I didn’t do anything to...”

“Let me go!” she screams. At me or at the room, I’m not sure.

“I can’t,” I say. “I’m chained up too.”

I think back to when I first woke up down here. I was completely panicked, disoriented, terrified. I don’t even know how long ago that was. But if I were her, I’d be suspicious of me too.

“Did you see him?”

The woman doesn’t respond right away, but when she finally does, she says, “Who?”

“The man that put us down here.”

“No...” she cries. “Did you?”

I shake my head but realize she can’t see me in the darkness. “No. I haven’t seen him. He tosses food and water from the top of the steps, always when I’m asleep. But he’s never come down.”

“How long have you been here?” she asks.

“I don’t know. No light gets through, so I have no idea how many times the sun has risen and set while I’ve been chained to this fucking pole.” I shake my chain, and it rattles against the floor as I let out a long, frustrated scream. When I’m done, all I can hear is my own labored breathing, and I worry I’ve scared her more than she already is.

“Sorry,” I say, letting out a deep sigh. “Are you hurt?”

It takes her a moment to answer. “My head hurts, and I feel dizzy and nauseous and like I’m not real. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

“It does. That’s how I felt when I woke up down here,” I say, trying to comfort her, but there’s nothing comforting about our shared experience other than me still being alive.

She sniffles. “Why is he doing this to us?”

“I don’t know.”

It’s clear she doesn’t like that answer because she starts screaming again. Her chain slams against the concrete over and over as she tugs, pulls, and shakes it.

“Shhh. Shhh. No one can hear us,” I say. “Save your energy.”

“I don’t wanna die.” She weeps through her words.

“I don’t either, but we’re not gonna let that happen, okay?” She might be nodding her head in the dark, but I hear nothing except her continuous crying. “I’m Stacy, by the way. What’s your name?”

She hesitates before she speaks. “Carissa... My name’s Carissa.”