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The next few days were endless stretches of despair for Ava. She had no sense of time in the tiny room without windows. She based her conception of time on how often the door would open and a man came in to empty the bucket in the corner, give her half a glass of water and sometimes a piece of bread. The first time, Ava had tried to just drink a little of the water, hoping to spread it out to last longer. But when the man left the room, he took the glass and the remaining water with him. Ava learned quickly to drain the water and gulf down any food as soon as she could. Still, it wasn’t enough. Her body craved food and water. She had a constant headache and her stomach had stopped rumbling and instead set into a constant cramp. Another sign of the time passing outside the room was the changing of her bruises. They went from irritated red, to blue and yellow and then slowly fading. Ava tried to move around as soon as her legs were strong enough to carry her. The constant sitting or lyi