Chapter 40

David

I don't know how much time passed, but no one came back here after I woke up. I feel dirty, stiff, and hungry, not to mention that my mouth feels like cardboard. It's so dry.

Yes, my bladder couldn't take it anymore and I relieved myself. They will think it was fear, but physiological needs cannot be contained indefinitely.

My hands feel numb, and I open and close them to feel them again. The numbness is such that it hurts unbearably, but I can't stop opening and closing them.

When some feeling returns to my fingers, I reach for my coat sleeve.

I've learned for many years that seams are great hiding places.

I struggled to pull the sleeve and put my fingers between the stitches. A smile, which I immediately stop because my lip is throbbing, appears when I touch one of the small plastic balls I hid.

Stopping to listen and hearing nothing, I take out one of the balls with two fingers, praying I don't drop it.

I squeeze it between my fingers, breaking it and letting what it contain