22

I couldn’t eat the food in portions, as it turned out. Despite my greatest efforts, once I started eating, all the food was gone before I could stop myself. It wasn’t even a full meal.

I had been so sidetracked by everything else that I hadn’t acknowledged my own hunger, but I was quite famished. The milk was hard on my parched throat, but I gulped it all down in one pass, which was definitely not healthy.

I couldn’t help but be astonished at my own weak willpower.

It was something I needed to reflect on for the future.

I had gone so far as to eat the yakisoba and seaweed with my fingers, but didn’t have anything to wipe my hands off with. I couldn’t find any tissues in the closet, and even if there were any in the house, I didn’t have the courage to ask for them.

I ended up wiping my hands on my jeans like I was an elementary schooler. I figured that would be better than using my shirt, but the sticky residue didn’t entirely get off my fingers, since I didn’t have any water.

After I was done eating, I even said something like “I am finished eating,” though I was pretty sure U wasn’t listening for it on the other side of the closet. Suddenly, I found myself with nothing to do.

I had decided to spend the day waiting for the parents to get home, but there was no sign of them, and no evidence that they were expected to come back. I was already half and half on them making it back by sundown.

The rationalization that followed was that they were out on a trip. That would explain why U chose a closet to imprison me. It at least made more sense than her trying to “take responsibility” for a human being right in the house where her parents would inevitably find me. But in that case, they would still get back someday… Then again, perhaps all that thinking was more logical than the girl was capable of.

It almost made sense that the girl would imprison someone in the place of least resistance, her house, following along her priorities. She only noticed something was wrong when the situation had already gone wrong, much like how she only realized her “failure” after I had already seen her that day.

Of course, her actions were less of a “failure” and more of a “mistake”… but she probably wasn’t old enough to understand the difference yet.

But, in the interest of moving things along, U‘s parents did not return that day.

Nighttime came, and I went to sleep.

All that bluster I’d built up about waiting till the end of the day then calling the police if nothing happened crumbled to dust yet again.

The longer it all went on, the less I wanted to make a big deal out of it, which of course meant I didn’t want to call the police… even after she threw a knife at me… and even after feeding me little more than food scraps. I had actually begun settling down in the closet where I was being held captive. I can’t honestly describe exactly how I was feeling at the time. Any normal person would scream at me to just get away… myself included, looking back on it.

The imminent danger was more than obvious, so I don’t know why I was being so carefree about everything. Best I can remember, I was conjuring up excuses like, “I’m too exhausted today, so I’ll just do it tomorrow,” or,” I’m getting sleepy, so I’ll do it tomorrow”. The kind of stuff I’d say if I was rationalizing why I failed a school assignment. I was definitely too nonchalant given my very life was at stake, but maybe there was something else going on inside me. I sure hope there was, because otherwise my actions (or lack thereof) were astoundingly nonsensical.

Oh, wait. There was one reason why I didn’t call the police that day, or later that night. Granted, even if I didn’t have that reason, I probably still wouldn’t have done anything, but it sounds nice enough to have a reason.

It was, oh, what time… Probably around 9 or 10 PM? U’s parents hadn’t returned, so I took my cell phone out of my pocket. At that point, I had made up my mind to go ahead and call the police.

I was ready to do what I had to do. I had called emergency services many times in my life (such as after witnessing a traffic accident), but I had never specifically called the police, so I was a bit nervous. I was putting together the order that I wanted to tell my story in, and just as I was going to press the power button on my phone, as if it was perfectly timed–

“Have a good night.”

I heard U‘s voice from outside the closet door.

I immediately put my cell phone back in my pocket (she didn’t have X-ray vision or anything, but I still felt like she was seeing through me), reflexively returning the, “have a good night”. I wasn’t predicting that she’d lose her temper again if I didn’t, it really was just a reflex. Not really all that different from U, I just did it because I was supposed to. I don’t tend to be as particular about manners in everyday life as U was. Regardless, my response seemed to satisfy her (I think, it wasn’t like I could see her), and she walked away from the door. From the squeaking of the stairs, I surmised that she had gone up to her second floor bedroom.

I didn’t think about it much at the time (due to the aforementioned being tired of thinking), but as far as manners went, I don’t believe U would have gotten terribly angry if I didn’t respond to her, “Have a good night”. Given how the rules worked for her, she had to have come by the night before to say good night before going to bed. I was probably dozing off at that time, and didn’t reply, but she didn’t yell at me or throw a knife. She probably prioritized a rule along the lines of “Don’t wake up someone who is sleeping” or something. Regardless of my response, she probably would have assumed I was asleep and left since she couldn’t use X-ray vision to see me through the closet door.

But that night, I returned her call.

We bid each other good night… I don’t want to insist too heavily that that was my reason, but I never did take my cell phone back out of my pocket that night.

Maybe I didn’t want to disturb U‘s sleep? We had said good night, after all… no, I won’t try to fool anyone with that.

The truth of the matter is I just found the whole process too draining. That’s the kind of person I was back then, and the kind of person I still am, and the kind of person I will always be.

So ended the second day of my confinement.

Which continued into the third.