41

It was dark. So dark. Charlene thought that her eyes had to adjust eventually. She waited and waited.

The world remained pitch black.

It was terrifying and disorienting, but it was not as bad as the cold.

She was colder than she had been in her life. Here, on the hard, damp stone floor, she looked back to her days in the manky old shed with fondness. It had been like a holiday camp compared to this.

After Damien had left, she had felt about her surroundings.

Inside her box-shaped room, consisting of three stone walls and one metal bar wall, was nothing but a metal toilet.

She couldn't see it, but through the sense of touch, she had a mental image of something like she'd seen in prison dramas.

Was this place a prison cell?

'How long have I been here?' she wondered.

She had not needed to use the weird toilet, but then, she also had not had anything to eat or drink.

There was nothing inside the room. Not even a bottle of water and stale bread.

When she heard a lock click, a light fl