Mason POV

Distant whispers pull me from the darkness.

They sound soft and muffled, like voices underwater.

My head throbs, like someone is using a hammer to pound my skull.

I wince, forcing my eyelids open. At first, everything is blurry.

I blink severally before my vision clears. Rough walls stare back at me. They are cracked and the plaster is peeling in strips. A single bulb hangs from the ceiling on a frayed wire, casting weak yellow light over a dirt floor scattered with ...