Her eyes snapped open and she was confronted by utter darkness. If she could have waved a hand in front of her face, she was confident she would not have been able to see it. As she we’re, that was impossible anyway as her hands and ankles were bound behind her back. She struggled against her bonds to assess their strength and found them to be too tight and strong for her to break by brute force alone.

Michelle closed her eyes again and relied on her other senses to navigate her surroundings. The darkness was complete and sight was useless anyway, so she resorted to rolling around on the floor. It was cold and rough, but not hard like wood or stone, so she decided it must be dirt. She rolled to the left until she struck a wall and stopped to work at her leg binding. The rough stone wall served as an abrasive surface which she used to rub at the strap which held her ankles together.

She found a section which was bulged out from the flat surface and made quick work of the canvas bonds which frayed enough to allow her to break them. She pulled her flexible arms around to the front of her body and waited in meditation for her captors to check on her.

She opened her eyes as she waited and became accustomed to the darkness, gradually perceiving shadows of the room. She felt along the wall next to her and sat up. Her legs were coiled under her to allow her to spring into action should anyone appear to bring her food or water. In this manner she waited. Minutes passed and turned into hours. There was nothing by which she could mark the passage of time, so she waited and meditated to pass the time. Not a sound or a beam of light appeared to clue her to the existence of her captors, whoever they may be, but she was not afraid.

Michelle had trained for situations where she may be captured; it was always a possibility when you are sent into a foreign power’s land to spy on them. What she had perhaps not been prepared for was the boredom which she now faced. She sat on her feet, adjusting her weight periodically to keep them from going numb, and waited. There was nothing she could do but wait. The darkness of this room was as complete as if she had crawled under her bed in a windowless room at night. She was hardly able to distinguish the difference between her hand and the opposite wall when she held her hand before her face.

Still, she must stay awake. The possibility of escape would disappear if she fell asleep when her captors decided to bring her food or water.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps on the floor above, walking across the planks toward the ladder entrance. A bright shaft of light blinded her as the hatch was opened and a stick ladder was lowered into the pit. She rushed forward to incapacitate the captor as he reached the floor and turned toward her. His face lit in the light shining down from the floor above and his startled expression was the last thing Michelle saw.

As she lunged at the man with her hands bound, she took a flying leap to try and knock him off his feet, but he dodged. She soared past him and a knife flew to his hand, then plunged into her heart. The aim of the man was stunning. He drew and plunged the point deep into her chest.

She fell to the floor at his feet and moved no more.

“What a waste,” the man said as he reached to retrieved his dagger from Michelle’s torso.