Chapter 13

Maddie had lost all sense of time. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, harsh and unrelenting, making it impossible to tell if it was day or night. She’d gone to sleep in her tent beneath the stars, then woke here—under the lights, after the voice. But how long ago? She had no idea.

She’d used the toilet in the corner, sipped water from the metallic-tasting fountain, but her hunger was growing unbearable. Her stomach groaned constantly now. “Hello?” she called, voice cracking. “Is anyone there?” Silence answered. Only the faint hum of the cameras.

Images had run through Maddie’s mind, her parents, the monster, her schoolfriends. At times she had thought she was at home, or somewhere else. She started to lose the sense of whether she was asleep or awake.

Maddie shut her eyes tight, curling into a ball on the thin bed, her thumb slipping instinctively into her mouth. The lights were too bright, even through her lids.

In the control room, Pembroke watched. Maddie was small and fragile on the screen, her movements slower now. “Her mind must be screwed now,” he murmured to himself.

Pembroke leaned back in his chair, savoring the power coursing through him. It had been so easy to dismantle the McAllisters’ lives—so satisfying to break them apart. Now Maddie was his, her mind unraveling under his control. Soon, her body would follow. He felt like a god.

“Mummy! Mummy!” Maddie’s sudden wail pierced the silence, raw and desperate. She bolted upright, her face streaked with tears, her voice shaking as she cried out again.

Pembroke smirked, watching her spiral. “Perfect,” he muttered. She was breaking faster than he’d hoped.

He waited a while longer, thinking that Maddie must not have eaten now for over 48 hours. Maddie was wondering if she would die here, of hunger. It felt like she had been here for a week.

“Hello, Maddie,” the voice said suddenly, smooth and calculated.

Maddie’s head shot up as though startled from a dream, her tear-streaked face scanning the blindingly bright room. The voice had returned. But where was it coming from?

“Who—who’s there?” she stammered. She clutched her knees tightly drawing them up to her chest.

The silence stretched for a moment before the voice spoke again, calm and cold. “How do you feel, Maddie?”

“I want to go home,” Maddie whispered, her voice small as she wrapped her arms tightly around her ankles.

“You are home, Maddie,” the voice replied, calm and unyielding.

“No,” she said more firmly. “I want to see my parents. I want to go home—to Edinburgh!”

“You are home,” the voice repeated, its tone devoid of emotion. A pause lingered before it spoke again. “Now, how do you feel, Maddie?”

Maddie didn’t feel like answering. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Do you remember, Maddie,” the voice said, its tone dripping with controlled menace, “when I told you about nice, polite, obedient girls? The ones who speak only when spoken to, who answer when asked, and who do exactly as they’re told?”

The words hung in the air as Maddie did not answer.

“I like those kinds of girls,” the voice continued, colder now. “And I think you’re not being that kind of girl right now.”

More silence.

Maddie though about cursing the voice but had no idea who it was. She felt frightened, and hungry.

“I’m hungry” Maddie said, finally, her voice breaking, surprising even herself.

Pembroke grinned. Good. He turned off the microphone.

Maddie looked up after a minute had passed. “Hello? Hello? Are you there?”

About an hour later, the voice struck again. “Hello Maddie. You can open the door. Push it.”

Maddie’s stomach, empty as it was, knotted itself as she got up ad approached the secure door. She was surprised that now, when she pushed it, it gave. She opened the door and came out.

Maddie felt a chill run through her as she took in her surroundings. The space was much larger than she’d realized—an expansive office-like area with no windows, just stark walls and harsh fluorescent lights illuminating every corner.

Doors lined both sides of the corridor, each leading to smaller, unknown rooms. At the far end, the hallway opened into a wider, empty space. Suddenly, Maddie wanted to stay in her room.

“Walk down the corridor to the end, Maddie,” the voice boomed, reverberating through the cavernous space.

Maddie prayed, maybe there were others here, maybe her parents? Maybe the voice, or the monster, or someone else.

She felt her heartbeat echoing around her ears as she walked down the corridor to the end. The space was empty, eerily so, but her eyes were drawn to the details: hooks dangling ominously from the ceiling, their purpose unclear but deeply unsettling.

Against one wall were a few tables—metallic and sterile, disturbingly reminiscent of operating tables. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all stark white, an unbroken expanse of concrete that felt oppressively blank.

“Do you see the two handprints on the ground on the corner Maddie?” the voice said.

Maddie’s breath caught as her eyes fell on the ground: two black handprints painted onto the smooth surface, perfectly aligned next to a pair of cuffs attached to small, raised mounts.

“Go over there,” the voice commanded, booming with cold authority. “Kneel, Maddie. Place your wrists and hands on the markers.”

She stared at the cuffs glinting ominously under the fluorescent lights. Beside them, the outlines of hands looked inhuman, like marked for an animal.

“No,” she whispered fearfully. “I’m not doing that.”

“You will,” the voice replied, calm and certain. “You have no choice. No food until you comply.”

Hunger clawed at her, weakening her resolve.

“Do it,” the voice insisted, sharper now. “Or you’ll regret it.”

Tears blurred her vision, but she wiped them away angrily. She wanted to fight, to scream, to demand answers, but the gnawing hunger and the voice’s implacable authority chipped away at her will. Slowly, she walked to where the handprints were.

“Kneel,” the voice repeated, more forceful this time. “And place your wrists on the markers.”

Her breath hitched as she lowered herself onto her knees. She hovered over the slightly glowing handprints, her instincts screaming at her to pull back.

“Do it,” the voice commanded. “Press down.”

With a shuddering breath, Maddie closed her eyes and placed her hands onto the markers. The instant her wrists touched the surface, the cuffs snapped shut with a sharp, metallic click.

Her eyes flew open as panic surged. She yanked at her wrists, twisting and pulling, but the restraints didn’t budge. The cuffs held her fast, biting into her skin with a cruel finality.

“Good,” the voice said, colder now, laced with triumph. “Now, you wait.”

“No!” Maddie screamed, struggling harder. “Let me out!”

Her wrists throbbed from the effort, her breathing ragged as she collapsed forward, pressing her forehead to the cold floor and her bottom up in the air.

The room was silent except for the faint hum of the lights. The voice didn’t speak again, but she could feel its presence. Watching. Waiting.

After what felt like another hour, the lights suddenly went out. The darkness was immediate and absolute, swallowing the room in an inky void. After the relentless brightness, it like plunging into a deep, black ocean. Maddie blinked rapidly, her eyes straining for any hint of light, but there was none.