"Are you hungry, John?" Moriarty asked.

"Not really."

"Oh, good. More for me, then." He reached into the pizza box, and took out a cheese piece with pepperoni.

"Pizza... I love italians, don't you?" He asked with his mouth full.

"I wouldn't know."

"Oh, right. You're ordinary and boring. I forgot."

"Thanks for that."

"Anytime."

Despite himself, John squirmed in his seat. The plastic ties were biting into his hands painfully...they were way too tight. But John didn't say anything; he didn't want to show any weakness.

Silence.

"Wow, you are so boring! How do ordinary people do it? They're just so... dull. You're sure you're not hungry?"

"Pretty sure," John said, but his stomach growled. He flinched. 

Traitor, he told it. 

His stomach growled again.

"You are hungry, then? Good."

John scowled. There was no way at all that it could be good.

"Go on." Jim held out a slice of pizza. "Take it."

John almost did, but then he remembered that his hands were tied.
"Can't."

"Oh, right! That's too bad."

John shrugged helplessly.

Jim stood there, a thoughtful expression on his face. He brightened. "I've got an idea!"

"Great," John muttered.

"You don't get to eat at all! People can last up to two weeks without food, you know. Two weeks. Sound good?"

"Erm.. no. Not really."

"Not for you, John, of course. But on the up side, you'll lose some pounds! That's always good. Maybe I'll let you eat at the end of the week..."

"Thanks for the consideration."

"Any time, John. Well, I'm going to get some popcorn and watch in the security room."

"Why? Watching me slowly starve won't be interesting." John didn't think he would ever say that in his life.

"Oh, I know. Goodbye!" He strutted out of the room.

John looked around. Might as well get used to this place. I'm going to be here for a while, he thought. Hmm... seems darker than before. And there's something wrong...

The hair on John's neck rose. Someone was watching him. And it didn't feel like Moriarty. Felt... dark and scary.

Then he realized it was a noise. It was high pitched and constant, seeming to echo throughout his skull.

He took a deep breath and let it out. He was fine. It was just a noise. A noise. That's all it was.

It grew louder and louder, and he tensed. What was it? Where did it come from? What was it going to do?

No... it was just a noise. He'd be fine.

Then it stopped suddenly. John looked around, alerted. This was strangely more terrifying than the noise.

A blinding flash of light made John flinch and clamp his eyes shut. He could see the light through his eyelids. After minutes of the searing brightness, the light died down. John timidly reopened his eyes, ready for something to pop out of nowhere and scare him or something. Nope... nothing.

He heard the creak of a door opening.

"Having fun, yet?" It was Jim again.

"I thought we already went over this."

Jim smiled for about the fifth time that day, and stepped out of the doorway. "I brought you something."

"Oh, really? You shouldn't have!" John pretended to be moved.

Jim just continued walking to John's chair casually. The former army doctor stared at him, suspicious.

"Look, John. Just so you know, what happens next is completely normal. It happens all the time. You'll be fine after. Okay?"

"Erm... okaaay."

Jim stepped up, and pulled out a syringe.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... not okay! Not okay at all!"

Jim tapped the side of the syringe and squirted the liquid to get the air bubbles out. Then he rolled the cuffs of his sleeve up nonchalantly. "Don't worry. It'll only last a night. Come on. Stop looking so worried, you drama queen, and-"

Unexpectedly, Moriarty reached out and injected the anonymous liquid into his captive's neck, then pulled back and started walking out of the room.

"Hey!" John yelped when he realized what happened. "What-what is that? What's in it?"

Moriarty looked over his shoulder, an amused look on his face. "You'll see..."

"Whoa..." The room started to spin. "What's going on?"

"See you in the morning, John!" The consulting criminal said and skipped out of the room.

John felt everything go numb. "What...?"

His eyelids started to droop. Not again. He fought against it, trying to think of things that would keep him awake. Didn't work. His eyes closed.

The blinding lights woke him up again and he grimaced in pain, squinting. So that's what they were doing: depriving him of sleep. Great.

His eyes started to droop again. No, no, no, I can't. They'll just do the stupid light again. Come on, John! Pull  yourself together! But his eyes shut anyways.

He tensed, bracing himself for the lights. Nothing.

Huh. Maybe they had enough. Maybe they'd give him enough time to just get some sleep. Sleep. Oh, yes, sleep would be good.

A few more minutes of nothing. John slipped deeper and deeper into the welcoming embrace of unconsiousness, and then, Bam! The lights again!

He jerked awake. "Oh, come on! Just leave me alone!"

An intercom crackled to life. "Aww, I hoped you would've started to have fun by now. It is for me."

"Well, then, why don't you come try it if you think it's so fun!"

"I'd rather not. This is much more convenient."

"Stop it..."

"I'm sorry, John, it's too late for that now. I don't have an antidote for the serum. You'll just have to get used to it."

"I don't think that's possible."

"I know," Moriarty admitted. "It was designed for it to be impossible. Too bad."

John's eyelids got heavier and heavier. They shut, and there it was again. The light. His lip curled with disgust. "You're messed up, Moriarty! You're seriously messed up!"

"I don't know. You're the one sounding crazy right now," Jim said. "Here, be more crazy. I like it."

The light brightened. John cried out in pain, and slammed his eyelids shut. "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"

"Oh, fine," the intercom buzzed. The lights died down again. "There's only so much you can do for one day. I'll just keep it at the normal routine now. Sorry. Maybe you could do it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" John suddenly realized that he hated that word.

"Yes, John. Tomorrow. Today was the easy day. The others will be much, much worse."

Others. John winced. He hoped that Sherlock wouldn't take that long.