Locked Away

Chapter 4: Dinner Time

After an hour or so of Collin and I just sitting around and talking, we heard the door open.

"That's him. He's bringing us up to eat dinner," Collin whispered in my ear. Then, he immediately stood up next to his bed and put his hands in the air. He motioned for me to do the same.

Ethan came down the flight of stairs that led to this prison of a basement, walked over to Collin, and grabbed his wrists one by one, putting them behind his back, like he was arresting him.
"You, stay put!" He said to me, and then marched Collin upstairs.

When I saw Ethan behind Collin, I realized something. Ethan was a bit taller than Collin, which was unusual, since I predicted Collin was 6'7". That would make Ethan about 6'9". That fact made me even more afraid of him, since I was 'vertically challenged', shall we say, and I was only 4'9". He could easily overpower me if he wanted to. Come to think of it, either one of them could. Collin seemed to be on my side, though, so I wasn't afraid of him.

After a few minutes, Ethan came down the steps again and grabbed me in the same was he grabbed Collin. Then he marched me up into a small kitchen. I saw Collin sitting in one of maybe 20 chairs around a large, rectangular table.

"Are there others here?"

"Ha, there used to be."

He sat me down in a chair across from Collin. Collin was looking down, not making eye contact with the man. I did the same.

In front of us were bowls of oatmeal. I didn't realize how hungry I had been until I smelled the fruit that was mixed in with it. My stomach let out a low grumble and Collin shot me an urgent look. Just then, Ethan went over to Collin and hit him upside the head with what looked like a pepper grinder. Collin only closed his eyes for a brief moment, he didn't even flinch. He was used to this.

The room was completely silent as we ate, except for the sounds of spoons clinking against ceramic bowls.

When we were both done eating, Ethan grabbed Collin by the collar and pulled him out his seat, then put his wrists behind his back like before and brought him back down into the basement. Not long after, he brought me back down as well.

Before Ethan left, he looked at me and said, "That's the meal routine. Break the routine, and you get hurt. Don't even think about trying to escape. You're never getting out of here."

Once we were alone again, Collin turned to me. "Good job," he said. "Now just do that three times a day for however long we're here. Until then, I'll be thinking about trying to escape. We are getting out of here."