Lunch was a ham sandwich and chips. Milura left me alone for an hour to go eat his own lunch, then came back and asked me to step out of the cage. I did, and he made me sit in the chair. I expected him to make me write again, but he zip ties my wrists to the armrests and my feet to the legs of the chair. I desperately wanted to ask what was happening, but knew I'd find out eventually.
When I was tied down, Milura pulled out the red tub from beneath the table and opened it. Inside were rolls of tape. Duct tape. He grabbed one and closed the lid, then sat on it. He pulled a strip out and tore it off, then looked at me. "I am going to put this over your mouth, then I will put a blind fold over your eyes."
"Why?"
"The tape so you can't keep cussing me out," he chuckled. "And the blindfold because I am going to try something."
"What?"
"Nothing that will hurt you. Just some sensory stuff."
He taped my mouth then grabbed a piece of cloth from the table I hadn't noticed and tied it over my eyes. I felt very vulnerable. Very exposed.
"Caroon." I jumped at the closeness of his voice right in my ear. "We will only do this for ten minutes. You will feel different objects slide against your skin, but none of it will harm you."
I was frozen, anxiety washing over me at the thought of what he could possibly use.
"Nod if you understand, Caroon."
I nod.
Silence.
Then, a soft tickling on my arm. I squirm and give a squeak at the sudden sensation. But it goes away as soon as it had appeared.
A long moment passes. At first, I don't feel anything, but then, I furrow my brow. Was it dirt? Some kind of powder? Milura was sprinkling something on my arm. It was soft and very fine. I couldn't tell. He continued to sprinkle it another minute and stopped.
I jolt at the feeling of cold liquid being splashed in my face, spluttering and shaking my head to dry it the best I can. I felt very cold and shivered now.
Several more things were either put on my arms or on my face. By the time the ten minutes were finished, I wanted to throttle him. Milura lifted the blindfold and ripped the tape off my mouth. I went to begin raging, but he said, "Do that and I will hose you down for five minutes."
I shut my mouth.
Milura began cutting the zip ties and threw them away. "Stand up."
I obeyed.
Milura grabbed what looked like a harness and handed it to me. "Put this on."
Again, I obeyed.
He then took my arm and led me back to my cage where he then clamped a shackle onto the harness. It was uncomfortable though and dug into the spot between my legs. "Hold on," he said and hurried out.
I listened to him rifle through something, then return with a ladder and a chain with a shackle much too big for my wrists and ankles. He got up on the ladder, hooked the chain around a bar, then bent and put the shackle about my neck. Milura got down, moved the ladder away a few feet, then seemed to do nothing. However, the harness tightened and I felt myself being lifted by the waist until I was horizontal and staring at the ground.
Milura came over and rested a hand on my back. "You're quiet, Caroon."
"Yes."
"Don't you have questions? Maybe something to say?"
"No."
He chuckled. "Go ahead and cuss, Caroon. Get it out now."
"Why now? Won't you make it worse?"
"Not this time. I will give you two minutes to hit me with your worst."
I say nothing. Time passes and Milura waits, but I stay silent. I don't trust him. I don't trust myself to stop if I begin.
"Thirty seconds."
I close my eyes. I breathe.
Milura sighs. "I am truly disappointed you didn't say anything. I was hoping to hear some new words!"
"I have a question."
"By all means."
I open my eyes and look at him. "What was the second thing you put on my arm earlier? It was soft and fine. So fine, I almost didn't feel it."
Milura thinks for a moment. "Sugar."
"Sugar?"
"Powdered sugar. Why?"
"I couldn't figure it out."
Milura walked around the cage and said, "I was testing your sensitivity to touch. Seeing what your reactions were, how something affected you."
"Why the blindfold?"
"It heightens your other senses."
I believed that. It seemed my senses were on high alert once my eyes were useless. "It's interesting," I say thoughtfully.
"I find it fascinating myself." Milura goes behind me and clamps a shackle to one ankle. "Because you were tied down, blindfolded, and unable to speak, it made you vulnerable in a whole new way no one realizes until they experience it."
"Because we take our senses together for granted," I say as he grabs the ladder and climbs it.
"Precisely. When we lose just one of the five senses, it makes us disoriented and scared."
"Even taste and smell?"
"Maybe not as much, but yes."
I feel my right foot being lifted as he hooks the chain to a low bar. "Why are you answering these questions? Won't you destroy the affect it will have?"
"No. You'll be aware of my answers, but later, when we do these again, it won't matter what I've told you."
"Why not?"
He comes around to face me. "What do you think would happen if I had left you sitting there for ten minutes, not touching you or making a single sound?"
"I'd go insane, wondering where you are and what you might do."
"Suspense, Caroon. It can be thrilling and chilling. It makes a person want to jump up and end the torture because they can't take how it makes their heart pound or their breaths get caught in their throats. And when that suspense comes before pain, it makes even that seem ten times worse."
"But won't I stop feeling anxiety after every suspenseful moment before you make a move?"
"Not if you don't know when I will keep you waiting in suspense." He smiled. "If I do it just right, you will always give the responses I want, always have a stronger reaction to what I do."