day 4

josh shivered, curling his legs up into his body. he wiped the tear off of his nose where it tickled him.

he gripped at his shirt, trying to find any warmth he could. he was just so cold for some reason.

he listened as he heard footsteps. he imagined that they were police officers. but they weren't.

josh sniffled and sat up against the wall. he rubbed his arm where it was hurting.

he set his chin down on his knees, staring into the darkness. he could barely make out shapes.

he thought about his parents. they're probably so worried. they probably think he's dead.

was anyone going to come for him? save him?

more tears filled joshs eyes as he blinked them out.

the door latch opened, josh snapped his head towards the door and backed up in fear.

light poured in around tyler's silhouette, josh letting out an accidental cry.

"how we doin down here?" tyler asked, making his way down the stairs.

josh didn't answer, and just cowered down as much as he could.

tyler walked up to him and squatted down. "it's not polite to ignore someone."

"fuck you." josh said quietly. tyler just chuckled.

he stood up, taking a step back before abruptly slamming his foot into joshs stomach.

tyler squatted back down, gripping joshs hair and jerking his head up. josh cried and cried.

"we're gonna have to work on these manners." tyler grunted, dropping his head and standing up to kick him again.

"i just wanna go home." josh said, sound barely coming out.

"you are home." tyler said.

josh flinched, expecting another kick. he opened his eyes when he didn't feel one, to see tyler leaving the basement.

"why," josh pleaded. he wanted to know why him. he wanted to know why tyler had him here. he's not assaulting him. he's not using him for anything. what is the motive?

he started to sit up, but wincing and crying out as his rib cracked.

he took painful breaths as he slowly sat up and turned to the chain. he followed it up to the wall, leaning out of the way so his shadow didn't block the little light.

he picked at the bolts and tried pulling, spinning, bending and anything he could to try and get them loose.

nothing was budging though, and his fingers were starting to bleed.

he moved across the thick chain, looking for any impurities in it to try and break. nothing.

he closely examined his ankle, trying to find anything he could budge loose. but nothing was working. he leaned over and felt the intense pain from his side again.

he collapsed over, gasping and sobbing as his breathing spun out of control. he was stuck. he was stuck here forever. he was going to die here.

josh cried and sobbed until he was nothing. just a pile in the floor, robbed of any hope he had left.