The bathroom door creaked open behind me, and I didn’t even need to look up to feel the shift in the air.

Coban’s presence very quickly sucked the oxygen from the room like a ck hole.

He loomed behind me as I crouched beside the open boxes, my fingers still resting on the fuzzy edge of the nket they’d given me soft, warm–looking, harmless.

––

Unlike everything else in this ce.

I sensed him staring down at me. His shadow stretched long over mine, and the weight of his gaze made the hairs on my arms stand on end.

He exhaled a dry scoff above me. “Treating you bitches like fucking royalty,” he muttered, voice like gravel scraping over ss as he eyed my things. “As though you’re some heroing in here – when in reality, you’re just a dumb bitch, putting your life in danger.”

I didn’t respond. Allowing his harsh words to settle in.

I just lowered my eyes down to the slippers again – sitting like a cruel joke inside beige, soft, untouched of a box made for my own survival.

But before I could think up what to say back, Coban wasn’t finished yet…

–

“We’re just using you all to get out, you know that, right?” he snapped down at me suddenly, the venom in his voice slicing through the thin thread of peace that I had tried to gather earlier in the bathroom.

My heart quickened, but I kept my face even as I stood up, slowly, dropping the nket back in to its box as I turned to nce up at him.

‘I guess that I’m also using you to get some money out of this though, right?” I said carefully, my tone quiet but steady. “Could be a win–win for the both of us?” I gave a small shrug, but nothing.

For a moment, there was silence and I didn’t quite know if my words had helped the matter or not…

But then his jaw tightened.

Coban’s eyes darkened, narrowing into something far more dangerous than amusement,

“Don’t get smart with me,” he growled, stepping in closer, his height casting a full shadow across my body now. “You might be here for your little paycheck, princess, but if you think for a second that makes us equals in this… then you’re already dumber than you look. This ce is my house, what I say goes, and you’re only going to get out of this alive if I want you to! If I want you gone or swapped for someone else in this project, then I’ll make it happen! So I suggest you learn how to behave!” He concludes firmly.

I swallowed, hard.

His breath was warm against my face now. Close enough that I could smell the faint hint of mint toothpaste from the brush he’d used earlier, and the clean citrus soap left from the shower dispenser on his skin.

He tilted his head, his tone dropping in to a horrifying whisper. “So to make this clearer, incase you don’t understand… If you annoy me enough whilst you’re in here, I’ll be real quick to teach you a fucking lesson before getting rid of you. You understand me?”

“Y–Yes, Coban” I said, fast. Too fast. I hated how my voice hade out in a rushed whisper, breathy and small. “I understand what you’re saying and I’m sorry if I’ve upset you already, I’m just nervous, I’m trying to do b–better.” I admit to him weakly.

“Good.” He stepped back just an inch – but it felt like a mile of air rushed back into my lungs when he did. “There will be rules of course,” he added, eyes scanning mine like a threat was hiding behind them. “Rules you’re gonna follow if you want to keep me happy in here.”

I nodded, not even hesitating this time. “Okay. Yeah. Uhh… that will help. I’ll follow the rules.”

I didn’t even ask what they were. I didn’t need to. Not yet. I’d agree to anything in that moment just to get his mood to stop spiraling toward something worse.

He didn’t borate. Just turned away, scratching absently at his neck whilst yawning as though threatening me had drained what little energy he had left.

He dropped back onto the bed with a grunt.

His body sprawled across it like he owned the entire room – and he sorta did. This was his cell before it became mine.

“I’ll go shower before bed,” I said after a beat, keeping my voice calm, low, and nonthreatening. “If that’s okay?”

“Bed?” He scoffed, suddenly pushing himself up on to his elbows to re at me.

“W–What do you…” I began, before he cut me off again.

“You need to earn your spot on the bed, Be, prison rules. You’ll be on the floor tonight.” He shook his head, chuckling before lying back down again.

“Oh… right, sure… that’s okay.” I sigh, disappointed but knowing that I couldn’t test for another argument.

“Don’t take forever,” he muttered. “In case I need to piss again.” He added, turning his head.

I nodded quickly, crouching back beside the box and pulling out a bundle from thebeled sleepwear bag a simple set of thin grey shorts and a loose cotton white T–shirt. Modest, at least.

I grabbed a fresh pair of underwear and the soft–bristled hairbrush, grateful to feel even somewhat human for a minute. Then I made my way back to the bathroom without another word.

–

As I shut the door behind me and locked it once again, I felt my spine straighten just a little. My heart was still hammering, but this room – this small, sterile box of tile and steam had already be a sanctuary.

A temporary one, but mine all the same.

I turned on the water, letting it run hot enough to fog the mirror. The sound of it hitting the tile was the loudest thing I’d heard since arriving – second to Coban’s voice of course.

—

Stripping off the pink uniform I’d been given the one I’d sweated through since the moment we were dumped off the transport trucks – felt like peeling off a second skin.

My hair didn’t need washed, so I tied it up and stepped beneath the spray and let the heat hit my shoulders, my face, my chest.

For a long time, I just stood there, arms wrapped around myself, letting it wash away the salt of fear, the ache of tension, the grit of silence.

But the thing about water? It couldn’t clean the kind of filth this ce embedded in you.

Still, I used the citrus soap and scrubbed until my skin flushed pink, rinsed the bubbles and then stepped out.

I undone my hair, brushing through the knots until itid straight, and I dried off with one of the white towels they’d so thoughtfully packed for me.

My sleepwear felt foreign. Soft, but foreign. Like it didn’t belong to me.

I brushed my teeth quickly, barely taking a second to nce at myself in the mirror before moving to hurry out fearful again that I was taking too long.

When I stepped out I still sat, hair still damp – I didn’t say anything as I crossed to the corner where my boxes.

After five minutes, I heard his breathing even out, as I bucked up the courage to pay him a nce – he was sound asleep again.

Ok, great… I sighed softly,

I carefully and quietly continued folding my things before gently peeling open the bottom drawer – thankful Coban had left it free for me.

Tomorrow is a new day, and tonight, I’ll have to make do on the carpeted floor…