It was dark where ever he was, the kind of darkness that made him feel like it was closing in on him. He wanted to run but found him self unmoving, as if he was pinned down by something. Something he desperately wanted to get away from. He wished to cry out but not a sound came out of his mouth. Not a soul could hear his distress as he cried silently. No tears rolled down his pale face as he did so. The shadows surrounded him until he could just make out the sound of men talking. It was faint and he could not make out the words but he could hear them. He struggled to scream for help but again not a sound left his open mouth. No one could hear him in the depths of his own mind.
His eyes opened slowly, vision still hazy from the supposed sleep he had fallen into earlier. It was almost as dark as the back of his mind. As connections between his mind and eyes clicked, he began to feel the same crushing feeling he felt in his own mind sweep over him again like he had been hit by a wave. Unlike inside his own mind, he managed to find some relief as he caught the hazy golden glow from flickering candles that sat in the arms of a candelabrum in the far corner of the room. He was not sure if the haze he could see was from his own tiredness or because of the smoke raising from the incense that was being burned. His mind was still clouded and body numb but he had managed to regain consciousness.
Wh-where am I? What’s going on? How did I get here? A-and… what happened before this? All these questions rushed through his mind as he pushed him self up off the cold concrete floor. He could not remember anything of what happened at all. All he knew now was that he felt slightly ill and had a bitter taste in his mouth. He shivered as his skin began to regain its feeling bringing him to the realization that he had been stripped of all his clothing and given only a well worn shirt to cover his body which at this point looked more like rags. He pulled his knees to his chest defensively even though there did not seem to be anyone else around.
There was something tightly wrapped around his neck, cutting into his skin with its abrasive edges. He lifted one of his hands to feel it dragging the other hand with it as he traced his fingers down the rope to its origin. His hands had been tied with the same material but the line of the rope was not attached to anything and the bindings were just loose around so that it was more like hand cuffs than the way they frequently used in movies where both hands were close together. He could just run away right?
He turned to face the door, now realizing why his bindings were loose and had not been tided to anything. He had been locked in a cage just tall enough that he could sit up in and crawl on his hands and knees. The incense wafted up his nose as he took a deep breath. He could pick up the scent of juniper as well as a bit of lavender from the smoke in the air, one used to calm and the other to cleanse. Neither of the smells made him feel that good, in fact they made him feel more ill as he now grasped the full extent of the situation he was in. What he had not realized was that this was just the beginning of this nightmare.