The floor beneath Nancy’s body was hard and cold. She shivered, wondering what was wrong with her bed. Her head was killing her. Did I drink last night? she thought through the confused haze. Maybe I passed out on the floor? It didn’t make sense though, she’d never been one to drink that much. Her eyelids felt glued shut and she struggled to pry them open.

‘Nancy. Nancy wake up!’ she heard her roommate, Casey, whisper with urgency.

When she opened her eyes, all she saw was hair. She’d gotten ‘The Rachel’ cut just a month ago and still wasn’t used to the new style. The layers were covering her eyes like a curtain. She blew hard and when her hair moved to the side, the light from the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling blinded her. Slowly she rose into a seated position and blinked until her vision adapted. The first thing that came into focus was Casey’s dirty, tear-streaked face, which wobbled back and forth as Nancy’s dizziness subsided. As she looked into Casey’s terrified brown eyes, memories played out rapidly in Nancy’s mind, like watching a movie in reverse. A pinch in her arm, the dark trunk of a car, another pinch in her neck and a large strong hand over her mouth, and finally, the man when she had answered the door. Her eyes popped open wider, the hairs rising on the back of her neck. She pulled her legs out in front of her and saw that both ankles were shackled together with thick rusty metal cuffs secured to a chain that attached to the wall behind her. She felt like she was on an episode of The X-Files, a mysterious man drugging and kidnapping them, taking them to some unknown room with cold cement floors. Except this wasn’t The X-Files, and it wasn’t a nightmare she could wake from.

‘Oh my God Casey, where are we?’ she screeched.

‘Shhh!’ Casey said forcefully. She glanced at the door and waited a second before turning back to Nancy. ‘He’s still here. I heard him moving around a little bit ago, behind that door. I don’t want him to know we’re awake.’