Alice
Brighton, UK
Alice lay very still in her prison, curled up on her bed with her back facing the door. Watching the locked barrier had driven her anxieties into overdrive, and she screamed in her head, wanting to get out. She played games in her mind, creating scenarios based on wishful thinking. If she didn’t move, he might ignore her. He might walk past her door and move on to the next person. She prayed he would, prayed he and his friends had grown tired of her.
She buried her head in the mattress, trying to hold back the retch caused by the acrid stench of urine, vomit, sweat, and fear.
She had no one to hold on to, with whom to share her fear. Loneliness affected her, the isolation becoming unbearable. Initially, she’d felt relieved to be in a room on her own, but now she wished she had someone to share with, someone to talk to.