She'd been staying late in her classroom, getting things together for an activity the children would be doing the next day, and everything had seemed so normal. (She only remembered later - alone in the dark - that moment when she'd paused at her desk and looked around, feeling as though someone was almost there. But the moment had passed and Irina had brushed it off.)
She was unlocking her car when he'd grabbed her from the back. There had been a quick needle scratch at her neck and then the next thing Irina knew, she was waking up in the darkness. Above somewhere she could hear the sound of people talking - eventually she realised it was a TV - and footsteps just over her head.
Tape was retaining her - over her mouth so she couldn't yell, around her wrists behind her back, connecting her somehow to a... pole? the end of a piece of furniture? It was hard to feel out and the room was pitch black.
Sometimes there would be a sound of loud shuffling and then a creak and a square of light would open in the roof, blinding Irina. She squinted against it and against the flashlight that would suddenly be in her face.
Then off when the light and closed went the door.
The man never came down further than that into the basement.
Irina didn't know how much time was passing, and she didn't know what was going to happen to her. She mostly slept, her body responding the lack of food and water.
When she heard the voice it was loud and surprisingly and Irina lifted her head.
-needs help? Irina head and she tried to make a noise through her taped mouth, but her throat was dry and it was barely anything. But she didn't want to die down here, didn't want the stranger to go away and so she slammed her head back against the pole behind her with a reverberating thud and then she did it again and again, praying her would realise that it was a person, that it was the only way she could call for help.