I felt warmth on my forehead, soothing beads of water trickled down my face, some pooling in my eyes; causing me to blink. My eyes felt sore and heavy, waking from a deep sleep, even the blinking of eyelids felt rusty and uncoordinated. The warmth on my forehead moved around, a warm cloth stroking an aching head. My eyes opened like little slits, vision blurred through the water. My entire body was aching—painful and rigid, every little twitch an act of excruciating labour. I moaned loudly, like a baby in the middle of the night, insecure and unaware of his surroundings. I grabbed at the arm that stroked my forehead.
“Take it easy, my friend,” the voice said.
I relaxed my grip. The light filtered in, burning my eyes. Focus returned gradually as I concentrated on the figure in front of me, a familiar figure, the bald dark man who had been in the market, the one in the bar, the one who had been gazing at me so intently. His face was soothing to look at, big brown eyes, intelligent with a hint of concern, of caring; not like many of the dull eyed brutes that I had encountered in the city.
“Lie down, my friend, lie down.” The man was holding my shoulders. I didn't even realize I was trying to sit up. “You’re in no condition to start jumping around right now; believe me, it’s for your own good. You have to relax.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Samuel. You're safe.”
I lay back again, trusting in my keeper. I glanced around at my surroundings. It was a comfortable looking room. There were shelves of old-style paper books everywhere, or at least that was all I could see from my limited vantage point. I was on a comfortable sofa, and in front of me was a desk with paper. I looked around again, noticing there were no windows. Off to one side, near the farthest wall filled with books, was a staircase leading up to the ceiling; leading up to a trap door, a trap door through the ceiling of the large room. No windows, just the warm glow of artificial light.
“Welcome to my humble abode,” Samuel said, laughing. “It’s nothing terribly extravagant, but it suits my purposes.”
"Where are we?"
"Safe--you can be assured of that."
It was enough. I drifted off again, sleep not just coming easily, but falling on me with weight too cumbersome to fight.