Now, my dear prisoner, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?
The bad news? Yes, I suppose that’s a good idea. Hear that first, to get it over with.
Well, the bad news is that the rest of your life is going to be spent down here, and it is going to be utterly miserable. Your hands will stay cuffed behind your back like that forever, and the hobble chain between your ankles isn’t going away either. You won’t be able to stand up, or even crawl, but you should be able slowly to wriggle around, like a maggot, to get across this cold stone floor. You can scream and shout if you like. No one will hear you. Not even me, and there’s no one else for miles around.
There’s more bad news too. In a moment I’ll be leaving, and I’m going to switch off the light and close the door. So it’ll be pitch dark down here – you’re now in the last few moments of light that you’ll ever experience.
That’s right – look at me. This is the last time you’ll ever see anything. Remember me.
More bad news, I’m afraid. You’re going to die down here. But not immediately. There’s plenty of water and I’ve left some piles of food around. Some of the food’s fresh, so if you can find it, as you inch around in the dark, I’d eat that first, as otherwise it’s going to start rotting. But there’s quite a lot of dry food that should be edible for a few months.
But then that’s it. One day, you’ll be painfully wriggling across the floor in the dark; sniffing and licking wherever you go to try to find more food, and there just won’t be any left. But of course, you’ll never be sure that you’ve found it all, so you’ll probably keep trying, as you get weaker, hopelessly dragging yourself back and forth trying everywhere in this pitch black cellar, until you starve to death – alone, in the dark, with no one to care.
So that’s the bad news.
The good news? Oh – erm, yes, now there was some good news. What was it? Goodness, it’s completely slipped my mind. Oh I don’t suppose it matters. Whatever it was, I’m sure it didn’t really concern you anyway.
Goodbye.
Anyone else notice the hole in the plot.
She's locking him in and turning out the light, and explaining the situation with food and water. If the light is on when she says that, he can see how much food there is and where it is!
unless he's blindfolded. Did you forget to mention that?
If I was her, I'd leave him plenty of food for a year or two, enough time to give him hope he may be discovered and rescued. Canned food can last a long time in a cool dry place………
Not easy to open with your hands behind your back though!
Another good story servitor, despite its faults! Keep them coming!
Thank you, Mistress Cassie.
Well – the author certainly didn't notice that plot hole.
I'll confess do sometimes find it hard to concentrate, I feel I lack a certain… oh I don't know, call it self-discipline – sometimes when writing And so faults, misdemeanours, what have you do seem to creep into my writing. If only I could discover some way of correcting such behaviour before it gets out of hand…
Shuffles slightly nervously, and fidgets while staring at feet…
No food in the room, just a hole in the ceiling to to throw down food waste one or twice in the month.
The good news : "I will never beat you again".