Chapter 3: Nude And In Solitary

Then Lisa followed Hatchet-Face to a small door in a corridor leading off from the main hall. The door was opened and she had the first sight of her cell, which was far tinier than she had imagined. She insinctively recoiled, but brought herself quickly under control and walked in, her head held high and her back straight. The guard had time for one last lustful look at that delectable puppy fat which she would only see on screen for the next two and a half years (Lisa was bound to earn herself many extra weeks, poor girl), and the door clanged to behind her. Lisa calculated that it was just after midday. Her meal would be in nine hours and she must stay on her feet all that time, despite having eaten very little for breakfast. Her stomach rumbled. She looked around. So this was to be home for two years - if not longer!

Her cell was certainly minute. She was frightened at the tiny space where she was to be trapped for so long and panic started to rise inside her, threatening to make her scream. As the horror of it began to sink in and her forced bravado in front of Hatchet-Face evaporated, she wanted nothing more than to howl and beat on the door, tearfully begging for mercy. But she knew this was useless. She was here for the next two years at least - probably quite a bit more - and must be brave and, above all, level headed through each and every day they kept her here. Only the strongest of people could survive this ordeal and that meant she must be strong. She looked around her cell again.

It was longer than it was wide, being a doubtful six feet by a little less than four. She would just about be able to lie full length at night without touching the door or the rear wall. The ceiling was high and out of her reach. The walls were smooth, as was the floor, which felt icy cold against her bare and rather tender soles. There was a light, set high up in the ceiling, not enough to read comfortably by, but sufficient to let her see every detail of her cell. In the corner was a hole, into which she supposed she must deposit her bodily wastes. She recalled the injunction to keep her cell tidy at all times. That could only mean not pissing and shitting on the floor! There was no furniture of any kind, just the marble floor, the white ceramic tiled walls and the door at one end. But at least it was clean and she had every intention of keeping it that way!

By the time her evening meal arrived she was faint from hunger and her legs were on fire with pain from being so long on her feet. She had spent a lot of the time pacing up and down the all too short length of her cell. Once, near the end of this first day, she stumbled and only saved herself by steadying herself against the wall. Somehow, she just knew they had spotted this! So she already had two extra weeks here and her first day was not yet over. The evening meal consisted of one pint of water and three thick slices of brown bread, together with a miserably tiny apple. She ate it it quickly and the grille soon opened and the remains of the meal were whisked away. Noting some crumbs on the floor she knelt down and licked them up greedily.

Realising that she must on no account let her body go to seed in the long and lonely months ahead, she did fifty press-ups, feeling herself perspire for the first time in the hours she had been confined. There was a slight draught of cold air coming down from vents in the ceiling and she realised that the primitive cells she had read about in these third world countries and which she had envisaged being confined in when sent down here, might not be as bad as this high tech contraption. This cell was modern and sophisticated, but designed only to torture its occupant, mentally by its tiny size and physically by its cold discomfort. All through the night she kept waking. The floor was hard and her body was still soft. The air was uncomfortably cool. She wondered how she would take the gradual reduction to fifty degrees fahrenheit! Finally extreme tiredness triumphed over physical discomfort and she slept.