She felt the fear rising inside her once again, and she fought it down; whoever had done this to her would never get the satisfaction of hearing her cry out in the darkness, or calling for help. She was shrewd enough to know that, wherever she was, crying out for help would be futile. If there was any chance of being heard, her mouth would have been taped shut. The silence around her was complete, like the darkness; wherever she was, she was not somewhere random passers-by would stumble across, let alone somewhere where noise would cause people to panic or phone the Filth. She was being held captive for some reason; she just hoped that the reason would be explained to her sooner rather than later.

She was cold, and she could smell the mustiness of the mattress she was lying on – the place was damp, so she could even be underground. The silence and the stench made her think that might be the case. She knew, deep in her guts, that wherever she was, she was not there for any reason that might benefit her.

She closed her eyes tightly because, once more, she was feeling the urge to scream her lungs out. She needed to use the toilet, she felt a sudden urge to open her bowels; she was coming down fast, and she could feel it. She had not eaten for a few days and, now that she was sobering up, she was becoming even more afraid of the dangerous predicament she had found herself in. She tried to bring her hands out from behind her back, but she couldn’t. They were tied so together tightly, every movement caused burning pain. It occurred suddenly to her that she was still fully clothed, so whoever had done this to her had not touched her in a sexual way. She was not sure that was a good thing either – that was something she could understand, could even control. Everything in her life until now had always been about using her feminine wiles to get what she wanted.

She took a few more deep breaths, but the panic lingered close to the surface. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to relax her body, but it was hard. Her arms were screaming; she had probably been tied up for a good few hours, and her trying to move around was causing the pain. She tried to wiggle her fingers – a voice in her head was telling her to keep the circulation going. Tears formed in her eyes, and she blinked them away furiously. She was not going to show her fear to anyone, that was not in her make-up.