How many days had passed now? No idea. He’d left me alone with this song and my thoughts. It felt like every last marble was rolling out of my head and disappearing into an abyss. Maybe it had been five days, or had it been six? I’d always liked time to myself, but now I regret wishing to have more of it. The two questions I had on a continuous loop were: when would he reappear, and when would I take my last breath?

You are my sunshine….”

My eyes fluttered open. Oh, dear god, I was still in this hell. I put my hands over my ears. Please just make it stop. I was sure this was what sensory torture must be like—he was purposely trying to make me insane with this song. I fell asleep singing along and would wake up with it ingrained in my brain. Like the lyrics were the Pied Piper, my lips began to move, and I sang along and shut my eyes tight, not wanting to see anything.

“But if you leave me to love another.”

I tried to hum a different song as my body rocked back and forth in an attempt to block it out, but it was impossible. By the next verse, the words were once more tumbling out of my mouth.

“You’ll regret it all someday.”

The music lowered to a bearable decibel, and I sighed.

“You have quite the nice singing voice, Sunshine,” Cain said, and I sat up straight, knowing he was there.

My eyes searched the room, desperate to have contact with a person again but terrified and anxious to find him. It took a moment to zero in on him. It was like he blended in with his surroundings. He was sitting at the far end of the room with a laptop. He glanced over the top of the lime green screen, and a strange feeling whipped through my stomach. It felt like eels were swarming around in there, electrocuting me as they wiggled and moved.

He was lounging in a chair with his feet up, and even though I could only see his eyes, I knew I was already being analyzed. I was in the middle of a metal cage in the ocean, being circled by a shark ready to attack while chum was tossed in water all around me.

“You didn’t eat your dinner last night,” Cain said, and I glanced at the plate with the peanut butter and jam sandwich and the glass of water.

“I wasn’t sure if you were slowly trying to poison me or drug me into accepting whatever you decided to do.” I pushed myself back until I could lean against the wall.