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I told U that she needed to eat three meals a day, but she was already aware of that. She told me that she had been making do with her school lunches only because there was nothing else for her to eat.

The continuation of that conversation finally told me how long U had been living alone in that house.

She said it started a day or two before her friend had been torn apart in a traffic accident… Which made that Saturday her 12th day of being all alone. She was a fourth-year elementary schooler, living all alone for 12 whole days. Then again, I had been her captive for four of them, so she technically wasn’t alone the whole time.

At first, I thought that meant she had nothing to eat the previous weekend, and the thought terrified me, but I was wrong. Evidently the fridge still had some food at that point. For the first few days of living alone, U had been emptying the refrigerator for whatever she could scrounge.

I was relieved before I realized that meant she had spent several days only eating raw fruits, vegetables, meats, and ingredients. I couldn’t believe she was okay after that. After expressing my concern, she blandly replied with,

“That’s more or less how I’ve always eaten.”

U was quite the glutton, it seemed.

It took a while, but eventually both U and I were full. U seemed to get sleepy from her full stomach.

“I am going to go take a nap. Have a good night,” she commented, making her way upstairs. Not without closing the closet door, of course. I replied good night to her, and decided to take a nap of my own.

But as far as sleep went, the closet wasn’t a particularly comfortable place for it… Well, it wasn’t a place for spending time in, so it wasn’t comfortable to do anything in there, but sleeping especially. I didn’t even get a futon laid out, just my shirt on the ground. I never did get any truly restful sleep in that closet.

Sleeping in itself was actually hurting my body, and every day when I woke up my joints ached more. The situation didn’t allow me to dwell on it much, so I put it out of my mind most of the time, but it was also a bit much as a captive to expect U to lend me a futon or a bed.

I figured I would wait until Monday, then while U was at school, I’d make my way out of the closet and locate a spare futon tucked away somewhere. It was a big ask, but as necessities went, I didn’t think I was expecting too much. My schedule for Monday continued to fill up with tasks.

As an aside, I’ve lately stopped taking any late-night trains or buses. Back in my 20s, I relied on them constantly, which helped in my survival under such harsh circumstances, but I think people just become less resilient with age. Or maybe I’m just flying high now that I’ve got money to spend, even if it’s coming from such a weird job.

Regardless, it’s only natural that when you’re full, you want to get a good sleep, and perhaps this makes for the perfect lesson on the endless pit that is human desire. To set the record straight, I never did sleep in a bed or futon during my confinement. I might’ve solved the food crisis with my emergency funds and the help of U, but that was an extraordinary victory.

Reality never goes as smoothly as you plan it.

In fact, the last day of my confinement didn’t even offer me a chance to lie down…