Instead his teeth ground against something solid. He tried to move his head back, away from the light, away from the ticking noise and away from the obstruction in his mouth. He couldn’t move. Why couldn’t he MOVE?

His whole body tensed and he wanted to lash out, but every part of him met with resistance. He was held fast. Tied by a million ropes that felt like they were pressed against him everywhere. He breathed heavily to try to control the panic. He could hear his breath whistle as it moved past the obstruction in his mouth. He forced his eyes open in a squint, trying to make out his surroundings, trying to remember how the hell he had got here. Details revealed themselves slowly. The pinging light was a flat panel, a mottled grey square that was surrounded by more mottled grey squares. Another few moments and he had recognition: ceiling tiles. The light was a ceiling lamp. He could make out the shape of the bulb now, a scorched ‘C’ flickering white hot behind translucent plastic. One of the tiles was missing and ropes stretched above him, twisting out of sight into the void. He fidgeted again. His feet were planted and he pushed them as hard as he could into the floor in an attempt to get up. He had powerful legs but still his body moved only slightly. Whatever he was seated on moved too and clunked under him as his thighs burned, and he had to abandon his attempt.

‘Come now, Danny!’ A familiar voice stopped Danny instantly. He tried to speak, to shout, to demand what the hell was going on but it only came out as a sound from the back of his throat. His teeth chomped down on the solid object again. Danny quickly moved to fight mode, tried to lash out with his hands, to lead with his right, always his strongest. But it was numb. So numb that for a panicked second he wondered if it was missing altogether. He concentrated and was sure there was some movement, enough to prompt blood-flow, so it felt like it was being pricked with tiny little needles. His left hand was by his side; he could feel it but it wouldn’t move either, because it was restrained down there, tied to something solid.

Danny tried to speak again, his anger replaced by desperation. Now he wasn’t trying to demand to know what was going on, now he was trying to plead, to beg to be set free. The bright white rope, the sounds that echoed around him like he was in an empty room, the sparse ceiling. The solid metal in his mouth. He suddenly knew exactly what this was. He had seen something just like it. He heard the gurgle his throat was making too. It turned high-pitched, as close to a scream as he could get. He had heard that before too.