Hours had passed - perhaps even days. Effie couldn't tell anymore. Similar to how it had been in the prison, time down here in the cellar didn't make much sense as there was no sunlight and no other way to accurately gauge its passing.
The one thing Effie did know for certain, however, was that with each moment that passed, the excruciating pain in her joints and ligaments grew more intense under the strain of her body-weight dangling from them, stretching them beyond their limits. Sometimes she would try to shift her weight onto her knees, but that would only work for so long before the hard-packed gravel floor beneath them would begin to slough away the skin, leaving raw under-flesh exposed and bleeding.
