You turn over in your sleep, grumbling confusedly in your half-awake state as the motion doesn’t feel quite as you’d expected. The sheets, and even the bed itself, both feel… *different,* somehow… Unfamiliar…

…You try to recall your last waking memory, only to come up blank.

Suddenly much more awake, your eyes snap open and you bolt upright, finding yourself in a cold, tiny, bare room you’ve never seen before. You are tucked snugly into a small twin-sized bed, itchy cotton sheets pulled up to your chin that falls into your lap as your posture shifts. A weight pulls your right ankle uncomfortably with your jerky movement, and the musical clinking of chains informs you that you seem to be SHACKLED to the meager metal bedpost in front of you.

There is one door, that you are facing head on with the bed at the center of the room, and there are no windows. The walls are cracked and dirty, and a single dim lightbulb hangs forlornly overhead.

Panic immediately claws at your chest at the many implications this horrifying situation brings to mind, none of them pleasant, and yet before you can even finish throwing off the sheets to frantically explore your prison, the sound of approaching footsteps makes your heart freeze in your throat.

So many new fears, questions, and warring emotions roar through your brain too quickly to process, and you wind up having no reaction at all aside from gaping stiffly at the door as your presumed captor makes his way cheerfully inside.

A man enters humming a cheerful tune, tall and slim with a short cowlick of chestnut hair. His gaunt skin is pale and freckle-splashed complexion, and his sunken shadow-ringed flint grey eyes are framed by a thin pair of circular glasses. “Hello!” He greets you pleasantly, as if you were good friends who’d known each other for years.

“Who-How-? *Why* am I here?! What’s going on, why did you do this?!” You stumble over your words, too overwhelmed by the suddenness bizarreness of everything to string a proper sentence together. You debate lunging at him, your posture unconsciously coiling up in preparation to do so like a snake coiling to strike.

“Woah now!” Mystery man said, throwing his hands up placatingly and taking a step back out of range. “Well, I supposed your confusion is understandable, I s-suppose to have to explain… you see,”

The man explained in a matter-of-fact kind of way, almost sounding… *embarrassed?* “I am something of a hobbyist. Music, writing, art, I’ve dabbled in a little of it all.”

“My most recent passion has been plants, as well as taking care of living creatures in general! Though,” his sunny demeanor dimmed slightly, “I’ve not much of a green thumb. Recently, whether due to that recent cold snap or my own… forgetfulness… even the hardiest of my green friends have sadly passed away.”

You arch a brow, having curled into a loose ball at the friendly man’s unnerving cheerfulness and unhinged ramblings. “Uh… I don’t really see what the weather killing your plants has to do with me waking up here…” Alone. Against your will. With no memory of how you got here… *Chained like an animal.*

Your host gave a one-shouldered shrug and grinned, as though it were obvious. “Well, long story short, now that all my plants have died, I need a new diversion. You struck me as one of the more interesting strangers I passed during my latest walk, so! I simply knocked you out, grabbed you up, and took you home to be my newest pet project!”

“Think of it as an indefinite, surprise vacation, where I shall wait on your every need and bond with you as your new friend!” The kidnapper crowed, throwing his spindly hands up excitedly as if announcing an all-expense paid trip to a theme park.

Swallowing to moisten your suddenly bone-dry throat, you croak out, “When… Wh-When Will I go home?” Your captors cocks his head to the side like an owl sizing up it’s prey, beaming wide enough to show all his teeth. “My dear friend, why would you ever want to leave, with me taking care of you?”

You give a silent shudder as a chill shoots down your spine. Hopefully, you wouldn’t meet the same fate as your captor’s previous… friends.