Look around. Do you see anything on the walls?

The walls… They’re caving in on me. It’s dark… I am shivering. And so cold. Always cold.

Warm yourself. You have woolen gloves on your hands. You’re wearing a warm fleece jacket and fleece pants. Snuggly slippers on your feet.

So, so cold.

You have mittens, fleece. You’re not cold.

The walls are caving in. So frightened.

You know the walls can’t move. They’re inanimate objects.

The bird. The bird with flames for wings. It’s on the wall, staring at me, taunting me.

That’s your imagination. You know it’s your imagination. Now look around the room.

Just gray walls. Gray concrete floor. Never any light except when they open the door up the stairs.

There are no windows in the place?

No. No windows. They open the door, and the light hurts my eyes.

Look around the room. Is there anything you can identify?

Just gray. Cold, dark, gray.

And then someone opens the door, and there’s a sliver of light?

Yes.

Who comes down?

He feeds me.

Yes, the one who’s missing a toe on one of his feet.

Yes, that one. He always wears his mask, but sometimes, when the others don’t come, he doesn’t wear black.

What is he doing today?

My eyes adjust. He brings me a sandwich. Peanut butter and jelly, I think. He sets it on the floor in front of me, and then he takes the bucket upstairs. He brings it back empty.

Does he say anything to you?

No. Not when he comes alone. He only talks when the three of them are together.

Are you going to eat the sandwich?

Yes, I always eat what he brings me. Even if I’m not hungry. I’m never really hungry.

So there’s nothing in the room itself that you can recognize?

No. Just dark, cold, and gray. Dark, cold, gray.

Look at the steps. Look at them the next time someone enters. What do you see?

Just steps.

Are they carpeted?

No. Just wooden steps. They’re painted gray, I think. Everything is gray.

Remember the day you escaped. The one when he left the door open.

Yes. I’m so tired. Weak. I can hardly walk. All I have is my T-shirt. No pants. But I have to try. So I get up the stairs.

And what do you see when you get to the top of the stairs?

I’m in… Is it a kitchen? A little kitchen. I don’t know. I look around a little. I think I pick something up…but then I run. I’m so scared, and I run. I run out the first door I find, in the kitchen.

Go back. Go back to the kitchen. You said you looked around. Do you see anything in the kitchen? Anything unusual?

I… I see a briefcase.

Good. What color is the briefcase?

It’s brown. Brown leather. Like my saddle at home.

Anything else?

Yes. Masks. Black ski masks. Sitting on the table next to the briefcase. And something shiny.

Do you stop to look at these things?

Not for very long. But I like shiny things. I pick it up. It’s gold. It’s a circle. It has letters on it.

You mean it’s engraved.

Yeah. Letters. T. And something else. I don’t remember.

Look around the kitchen once more. Do you see anything else?

No. I drop the shiny thing, and I run.

Where do you run?

There’s a door right by the table. A screen door, and then another door that’s locked. But I can unlock it from the inside, and I open it, and I run.

Again…where do you run?

I just start running. I’m in grass. I run and I run and I run… And then it’s different. I’m in a field, and now I have clothes on, and I see a house.

You escaped. But I need you to go back to the house, back where they kept you.

No! No, I won’t go back there. You can’t make me go back there!

You have to if you want to find anything else.

Nothing else! I won’t go back! No! No! No!

Everything is fine. You never have to go back. You’re not there. You’re on the beach, lying in the sun…

 

“Relax,” I said. “You’re not there, Talon. You’re here. In Jonah’s house. And you’re safe. Relax and count back with me. Nine, eight, seven…”

“Six, five, four, three, two, one.” Talon’s voice became calmer.

“You’re safe here. Now open your eyes.”

He opened his eyes and then sat up, clearly agitated. “Oh my God. I didn’t know what that thing was at the time. I was just a kid. But it was a cuff link.”

“It was?”

“Yeah. It was a gold cuff link. I wanted to keep it. If I found it anywhere else, I would’ve put it in my pocket. But I didn’t have a pocket.”

“Instead you left it there.”

“Yes. I threw it on the ground.”

“You said it had letters on it. One was a T. Can you remember anything else? Maybe the other letters?”

He shook his head. “I can’t believe I haven’t remembered that until now. It’s all clear as day. There was a T, and then I got scared and threw it down.”

“Are you sure there was more than one letter?”

“Yes, I think so. Damn!” He rose from the bed and paced around the room. “Why didn’t I stop and look harder?”

“Because your first thought was getting out of there, as it should have been. Don’t berate yourself. You were ten. You did the best you could.”

“Could T be an initial of one of my abductors?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “But it’s certainly something to look into.”

“But not Nico Kostas or Milo Sanchez. Neither of the other guys who got the tattoo has those initials either.” Talon raked his fingers through his hair and let out a heavy sigh. “God, Doc, it could be nothing. It could be fucking nothing.”

“You’re right. It could be nothing. But you did remember something. I tried having you look around the room where they kept you, but you kept saying dark, gray, cold. You were focused on Larry bringing you food, so there really wasn’t an opening for me to get to one of the other guys. So I had to go up the stairs, and we got something. We got another clue.”

“Yes, I suppose so. What I was really hoping for, though, was to get more physical characteristics. Something to identify the other two.”