An unknown narrator awakened in a dark, windowless room when objects were thrown down nearby. A door slammed somewhere above, suggesting the space was a basement beneath a staircase. Heavy footsteps—likely a man’s in work boots—crossed the ceiling, confirming someone’s presence overhead.

Feeling around, the narrator found a plastic bottle and cautiously sniffed it, determining it was water. Parched, the narrator drank it all and immediately regretted it, uncertain when more would come. The second item was a wrapped sandwich, identified by smell and taste as ham with mustard, onions, tomato, and lettuce; the prior sandwich had been roast beef.

The narrator reflected on the routine: food and water had arrived twice before, possibly daily, but time was impossible to track without light. The person above had not responded to calls for help and appeared intent on keeping the narrator alive without offering rescue.

In attempts to escape, the narrator had searched the room and only managed to get a splinter stuck in their palm, which throbbed and could not be removed in the dark. A thick metal chain secured to a cuff around the narrator’s ankle prevented movement.

Resigned but fearful, the narrator admitted to having at least five enemies who might want to harm them, underscoring both their unknown identity and the number of possible suspects behind the abduction.