He was not in school, of that at least Sean was sure. That and, from the dark sky he could see from the window above, it was far too late for him, he should be home by now, mummy and dad would be worrying where he was.
The man had led him to what he called "toilet" – a hole in the dusty ground, not so far away from where he was sitting now. Then he had put a glass of orange juice onto a table, some biscuits next to it, and had left Sean alone there, not without cuffing his ankles to the table leg. Sean had tried to pull away but it had only cost him most of the juice. Now he was a little less thirsty, but still very hungry, and he didn't dare touch the biscuits because they were so dry.

"Hey, you little bastard! What's wrong with those?" Sean jerked as the woman appeared out of nowhere. Angrily she nodded towards the biscuits. "You don't decide to die in here, I say when you die!" She shoved the dry pieces towards the little boy as she walked over to the window. It was made out of very thick glass, nobody had heard Sean scream though he had tried his best. And it was so high! Even the woman had to tiptoe to reach the ledge with both hands. Sleekly she pulled herself up. "Lot of cars out there" she commented, "your daddy seems to haunt the whole city on us."

Sean closed his eyes tightly. He wanted to go home so badly that even the mentioning of his dad almost made him cry. He wanted to be with him, and with Jack and mum. He didn't want them to worry, and he didn't want his mother to cry. He had seen her crying twice, once after he had woken up from his bike accident and then once when dad had been involved in a heavy shooting and they believed him to be hit badly. In the end it had been the gangster's blood on his coat, though, and all had ended well.

"Poor baby."
He gasped as the woman's voice appeared right at his ear. "I can only imagine how it must be for you. Alone in the darkness."
"I'm not afraid of the darkness, it's natural" Sean quipped defiantly, "and my dad will find me so either you bring me home by yourself or you're in big trouble."
He was too angry in the moment to be afraid. You don't frighten people like this, coming up at them when they had their eyes closed! He hated it when Jack was doing this, and his brother loved shock him like that.
The woman laughed. She had a very thin face and blonde hair, and her eyes were black. "What a gentleman to worry about my problems, honey. Isn't he a real gentleman?"
"Darling." Sean turned to the new voice. He hadn't heard the door opening, but there was the man and he looked tired. "I've finished with those two from last week. Let's go up. One after the other." He nodded towards Sean, "you okay, lad?"
"He won't eat" the woman said before Sean could answer, "I'm not gonna let him starve, just so you know. Not him."
"Of course not." The man stepped in. He was older than the woman, much older. He actually looked a bit like grandpa Henry, just way more evil. Sean bit his lips. The old man had kidnapped him as well, for he was kidnapped, he knew it, but he was nice sometimes. He had given him something to eat after all. And he didn't sound so bad and spiteful as the woman did.
"I don't want to eat this" he said softly, directed to the man. He just hoped the woman wouldn't slap him. He hadn't ever been hit in his life.
She only snorted.
"And why is that?"
"They're so dry and I have no juice left. My brother says you die first of deha… hidro…"
"Dehydration, you're talking about dehydration" she snapped and reached out, but didn't touch Sean. She just took the cup and left the room.

The man nodded slowly. "Clever boys, both of you."
"Please" Sean plucked up all his courage, "can I just call my mum? I know her number, I just… I just want her to know I'm okay. Please?"

The old man chuckled. "No. Let's get her worried, shall we?"