Danielle cuts another segment from the caulk, letting a bit more natural light trickle onto the floor. A creek from above has her yanking her bra pad from the ground and shoving it into the hole. She waits, staring at the hatch.

With each breath her heart rate sinks closer to normal, until she is calm enough to remove the fabric from the caulk. False alarm.

Danielle feels the hole she has made. It just fits all four of her fingers. Her heart rate picks back up. She shoves her bone pick into her free pocket and jams her finger up into the opening. Planting a foot square on the wall, she pulls. And pulls. And pulls…

The wood bends the slightest bit but refuses to come free from the wall. Even with yesterday’s meaty meal she still doesn’t have the strength.

Danielle’s knuckles cut back into the concrete wall as her arms give way. She crumples to the floor, fingers still stuck. She huffs and catches her breath before wiggling her fingers free. But when she slides them out she feels something smooth slide along the back of them.

Danielle smooshes her face against the wall and tries to peer up but can’t see through the crack. She sticks one finger up and hits the smooth object. She tries sending her thumb up as well to crab pinch it, but there is nothing to grab onto,

Cutting the hole larger with her bone, she follows her finger along until she can feel an edge of the mystery object. Cupping her hand underneath the hole, Danielle pushes the object flat to the wood and lets it fall. When it hits her palm, she draws her hand back and stares at the object now in her possession.

A shard of broken glass.

~

Mackenzie feels the shard of glass in her hand. The piece is wide enough to hold in her grip, far easier than the bone in her pocket, but is it sharp?

Mackenzie digs into her pocket, past the short bone half, and digs out the paper strip at the bottom. She unravels it from its twisted shape and holds it as wide as she can with one hand. She places the glass on her lap and sticks her hand under her shirt before picking it back up, better safe than sorry. She raises the glass and presses the shard down into the paper. When the paper slices in two clean halves, she smiles. Perfect.

~

Victim 7: Ven

Ven stares around the empty concrete room. The man has killed many before them and has yet had one escape. And he plans to kill her next. She is going to die, but it doesn’t have to be on his terms.

Ven extends their wrist and stares through to the veins and arteries beneath. Raising the glass shard, she presses it right beneath where the blue and purple branches surface to the skin.

They can die on their own terms.

~

Danielle raises the glass from her wrist, checking that the skin is still intact. Tears slide down her face as she gasps for air. Her head pounds as she curls up against the wall, holding the glass as far from her as possible. She recedes, letting her body sit in the empty space.

When her sobs are spent and her thoughts are clear, she takes back control of her body. She sucks in another deep breath then unravels her limbs and sits staring at the glass in one hand and the split piece of paper in the other. The man has to take her out of here somehow, he’ll have to either bind her limbs or drug her again. If it’s the first one, the glass will do much better at getting her free than the bone.

Danielle lays the glass on the floor and removes her shoe. She places the shard inside and grabs the bra pad on the ground next to her and lays it on top before slipping her shoe back on. The fabric presses into her arch, but there is no visible indication of the contraband in her shoe.

Danielle leans back into the wall and slumps but is shot back upright when the bone sticking half out of her pocket jabs her in the stomach. She removes both bone halves from her pockets and stares up into the hole she made in the window. She could shove one of them up there as a signal like she originally planned. But she’s been listening all week and she’s heard no indication that there are neighbors. No children yelling, no lawnmowers, nothing. Plus, she doesn’t know what way the window is facing, the man might see it if she shoved it up there, which would ruin any rapport she’s built with him.

Danielle sighs and leans back. If she can’t escape through the window and she can’t signal for help, she’s going to have to go all in on plan A.

She reaches up and pushes the bone shards into the hole lengthwise, not to push them through but to plug the hole. Once both pieces are snug against the wood, Danielle lays down and stares up at the ceiling.