Chapter 237

Ringing.

For a while, I can’t hear anything else except loud ringing in my ears.

It fills my whole head, drowning out whatever’s happening around me, and underneath it I’m aware of shuffling feet moving around the room. Then a sound I can’t place immediately, something wet and solid being hacked, followed by long commands to put a head in a box, followed closely by the door closing.

I can’t breathe.

I can’t think.

My brain is foggy and my ears are ringing.

I squeeze my eyes shut underneath the blindfold, willing myself to wake up from what must be a terrible terrible dream.

It takes a few moments before I realize that someone is behind me, untying my wrists.

The bindings fall away but nobody says anything to me. The footsteps retreat unhurriedly, the same businesslike calm they arrived with, the message apparently delivered exactly as intended, and then there’s a door, and then there’s nothing. No footsteps. No voices. Just me, alo