The steady creak of the door hinge broke the deep silence and stirred Ellie from a shallow and fitful slumber. She rolled painfully onto her side, her little-used joints and muscles shouted out in protest at the movement and she groaned in discomfort. As the orange light yawned itself into the room, she turned her face away. It was likely dim yet after her prolonged period in the choking darkness it burned at her retinas as fiercely as if she’d stared directly at the midday sun.
For the first time, she began to make out the size and shape of the room in which she was held. To call it a room was being generous, it was more like a cell. Small, cramped and square. No more than fifteen feet from one side to the next and totally devoid of furniture, save for the old grubby mattress on which sh
