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[ this episode includes potentially disturbing content, reader discretion is advised ]

Season 01 - Episode 11

‘every direction forever’

Black.

Deep, thick, endless black.

In every direction.

Forever.

Ri thinks there might have been a time before the black but if there was, she can't remember it. Everywhere she looks, all around and upwards too, there is nothing but empty black, stretching out forever. She finds the boundless space calming. There is peace in the emptiness.

Beneath her is a hard metal floor and somewhere nearby, sat on that floor, is a bucket over which she sometimes squats. These are the only objects in her world besides her body and her chains.

Her chains are heavy. They run from her wrists and ankles to a large ring attached the floor. When she moves slowly, the chains whisper. When she moves fast, they sing. These are the sounds of the black.

But now there is another sound. A familiar sound. A creaking that gives birth to a tall, thin line of light. It swells sideways to form a blinding block of piercing white. It hurts her eyes but Ri doesn't turn away. She pulls a face and squints.

The oblong shrinks sideways and disappears again. Before it goes, Ri sees a shape in the light. A sharp edged shape in black. The shape of a man. The black is back but no longer empty.

“Hello sweetheart,” says a voice. The sound comes from ahead of her with footsteps beneath. A moment later there is the sound of breathing nearby and a smell. It is the smell of a body.

“How are you today?” asks the voice, almost at her ear. Ri she does not respond.

Something is placed on the floor. Something else touches her lips. Ri opens her mouth and the food slips inside. She eats mechanically. Always the same. The voice rumbles on, chattering away, holding a conversation all on its own.

She finishes eating. There is a sound of splashing then a presence of hands. One holds her arm, the other applies a cloth, warm and wet. The cloth rubs over her skin. The hands and the cloth move on. They touch her all over. Carefully. Methodically. Thoroughly. They touch her everywhere.

There is more talking and now the hands again. Another cloth, this one dry. They follow the same path. All over her, all over again. Then there is more food, more words, on and on. Then finally, more footsteps.

The line of light appears again. The block appears again. Ri blinks and glimpses the figure, then the black returns. She thinks about the man and the food and the wet cloth and the dry cloth. She wonders what they mean. She wonders if they are real.

In the black it is hard to tell what is real. Perhaps she imagined the man and the food and the wet cloth and the dry cloth. She can't tell so she doesn't try. Instead she stares out into the endless black. She finds the boundless space calming. There is peace in the emptiness.

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