It had been a day and a half since Ezekiel Turner had abducted Noah Alexander Manning from his home, and through that past day and a half Noah had yet to wake up. He knew Noah knew it was coming, and he was sure that when his little friend woke up, he’d be very happy that he had finally been taken from his mother’s godawful home. Zeke loved Noah, more than anyone in the world… even though he was only thirteen years old. Noah reminded Zeke of his younger brother, and because of what happened to that boy when they were young, he vowed to never let another soul touch who he loved—including himself. He vowed to not do anything to Noah that he didn’t want until the boy was older.

Currently, Zeke was sitting on the couch in the living room of his home, smoking a cigarette as he read Crime and Punishment for the fifth time. He was just about to get up and make himself some lunch, when he heard a thudding sound rattle from the basement. Good, Noah was finally awake. He set down his things, running his fingers through his hair, before walking over to the door that lead to his basement and unlocking it. In a separate room in the basement was another locked door, and in that room a locked trapped door. Noah was in the cubby under that door.

“Hold on, Noah, I’m coming.” He called.

—

Noah had just woken up from his day-and-a-half slumber that was a result of the drug Ezekiel had given him before he’d abducted him. The space he woke up in was a 5-feet by 5-feet cubby beneath the floorboards of Zeke’s basement spare bedroom, the height barely tall enough for Noah to stand up in. In the hole, Zeke had put down a few blankets onto the concrete floor as well as some pillows to make it more comfortable, but nothing more than that. Clearly the space was just to hold Noah until he woke up, since his mother, though he doubted she would since she was so uncaring of Noah, may have sent the police to search for him.

Noah groaned a little as his eyes blinked open, adjusting to the dark space as he tried to sit up, but instead hit his head on the unfinished floorboard ceiling, and was forced to lie back down. Panic started to set in as he realized where he was, and a soft voice called out, already knowing why he was here. It wasn’t that he was scared that he’d been abducted, because he knew Zeke was planning on doing it and Noah honestly wanted him to, it was just that he didn’t like how cramped and dark it was in the cubby space beneath the trap-door.

“Zeke?” He called, but when he got no reply, he started to bang on the floorboards a bit—as to which he heard doors beginning to get unlocked and Zeke’s voice saying he was coming.