Roja is just one week away from turning 18. That’s the day she has been waiting for ever since she ended up in this living nightmare. Being 18 years old means finally getting out of the foster care system, finally leaving her current foster father, Ric, behind. She doesn’t know where she will go or if her foster father will even let her, but there’s a tiny bit of hope inside of her that longs for the day she can finally be free.

This hope gets crushed when she hears people running through the house. Could that be the police? Roja knows that her foster father is engaged in some illegal activities. Maybe they’ll finally arrest him. But how will that affect her life? As she hears people shouting, she closes her eyes and tries to remember an easier time. Her childhood was perfect but she hardly remembers anything. The shouting people outside lead her mind back to the day when her parents died. It’s a blurry memory but it’s there. It haunts her in her sleep and leaves her breathless at daytime. Roja can’t hold back and starts crying again. She’s not one of the strong girls she’s been reading about in books. Maybe it’s because of the lack of sleep. Maybe that’s just how someone in her situation tries to handle their life.

She hardly notices that more people are entering the house before someone shouts, “Boss, he’s gone!”

Roja hears someone swearing close to her door. Then someone bangs on her door. “He’s in there!” someone shouts. Roja just sits there, trying to make sense of what is happening. A guy breaks the door open and points a gun at her. This isn’t the police, Roja is sure of that.

Behind the guy who points a gun at her, another one enters the room and looks at her. “Boss, that’s just a girl. Put that gun down!” Roja tries to look at them, but her vision is blurry and her head hurts from all the noise. To her, both of the guys seem to be in their early twenties, if not younger. She can’t tell if they truly look a bit similar or if that’s just an effect of her blurry vision.

“Is he here?” the guy with the gun asks but Roja is unable to say anything. Just now she notices that her mouth is dry. As the guy asks again, more aggressively this time, she shakes her head. He lowers his gun. “Let’s go,” he says to all the others and Roja hears people running to the front door.

“You can’t just leave her here like that! She’s chained to a wall!” the other guy says. The guy with the gun turns around and takes a closer look at her. The two men stay there until all the others have left. “Bro, you can’t leave her here,” the guy says again.

“You’ve already said that,” the other one replies. “And we’re still on a mission. You’re supposed to call me boss.”

“Oh whatever, Jason, be an asshole again,” the other guy says annoyedly before leaving.

Roja’s alone with Jason. He can see the fear in her eyes. He didn’t even know Ric had a daughter. “What’s your name?” he asks a bit harshly. Roja tries to gather all her energy to reply but fails. “I’ve asked for your name!” he says a bit louder.

“Roja, sir,” she says weakly while trying not to cough. Jason looks around in her room and notices that there’s no bed. It’s also a lot colder here than in the rest of the house. For a short moment, his expression softens and he wonders what this world has come to that humans get treated this way. However, he quickly comes back to his senses, knowing that this is just the world he helps shape every day.

“Oren, get back here. I need your assistance!” Jason shouts. Oren, who was just waiting next to the door comes in with a smile on his face.

“I knew you wouldn’t be such an asshole.”

“Shut up.” They get closer to Roja to take off the chains. Expecting something else, she closes her eyes tightly. As the chains are off, Oren tries to help her up but Jason tells him to go to the others and lead them back. Oren nods and leaves without another word. “Get up, I’ll drive you to wherever you should be now,” Jason says loudly enough for Oren to still hear it. He doesn’t want his brother to think that he doesn’t care about other people and he actually plans on taking the girl back to her real home, assuming that she’s been kidnapped. Roja tries to follow his order, but as she stands up, she feels her knees getting weak again. Just as she’s about to fall, Jason is right next to her to catch her. At that moment he notices a few bruises on her. He’s already seen them when he watched Oren break her chains but didn’t spend another thought on them. Now he wonders where she got them from. The floor and the wall are made of just bare bricks. Could they be the only source of her injuries?

As he thinks she’s fine again, he lets go of her and takes a step towards the door. Roja tries to follow him, but after a few steps, she feels dizzy. She hasn’t eaten much lately and the bright light from outside doesn’t make it any better. Jason has turned his back to her to finally leave this house. He quickly turns around as he hears her collapsing. “What happened to you?” he asks her in his thoughts before picking her up. While he carries her to his car, he doesn’t notice the guy who’s watching him. All he sees is that unconscious girl in his arms who’s a total mystery to him.