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in the chair he had pulled further back to give me space. When I moaned, he’d place a damp cloth on my forehead. When my stomach growled, he brought me food. He kept a glass of water by me, filled at all times. I never made eye contact with him. I could tell when he was looking at me because he would take in a breath as if about to say something but he would pause and let it out. I didn’t acknowledge him. When he moved toward me to move the cloth, I closed my eyes. The silence was getting on my nerves, and one of us was going to break it soon. The tension in the air was so thick that we almost needed to open the door to let some of it out.
    One afternoon, I was staring up at the ceiling, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw James stand up. In response, I closed my eyes. I felt him standing right next to me, and after a moment he sat down on the bench. I was very aware of his hand right next to my knee, but he didn’t touch it. He cleared his throat, which I ignored. He cleared it again and again until I finally opened my eyes and looked at him. He still didn’t say anything, and when he reached his hand toward my forehead, I didn’t flinch. It wasn’t until he bypassed the cloth and moved his hand under it did I realize why he waited until my eyes were open. I immediately tensed, but stayed still. He didn’t press his hand to my forehead; he barely touched it, just as he had when he had placed it on the back of my head when I hit it against the wall.
    Before I knew it, my mouth was open and told him my name. “Andrea.”
    He lifted his hand away. I saw that there were scratches and calluses all over it that I hadn’t noticed before. He reached beside him and took hold of a wet cloth to replace the one on my forehead.
    “But only my father calls me Andrea. Everyone else calls me Andy.” I noticed my voice was very raspy as the cloth was put back in its place.
    He leaned toward me, but was reaching for my water glass next to my shoulder. At the same time, I sat up a little, which brought myself closer without meaning to. He caught my eye and froze. His eyes were much darker than I had thought. The hair that hung on his forehead was very thin and had light brown streaks in it from being in the sun, or so I assumed. I wondered what he noticed about me this close.
    His hand suddenly appeared between our faces. It took a moment for my eyes to focus on what he was holding. It was my water glass. I shouldn’t have been surprised since that was what he had been reaching for. I didn’t take my eyes off it when I held it and put it on my lap. I wasn’t thirsty anymore.
    He stayed where he was, however, and I still felt his eyes on me. “You’re head is still a little warm. How are you feeling?”
    “Better.”
    “Are you dizzy or lightheaded anymore?”
    “No.”
    He leaned back. “Look, about the other night, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”
    I glanced at him. He seemed honest and as he stared back at me, I could tell he was hoping I would respond instead of remaining quiet.  “Can I ask you something?”
    He nodded.
    “Why did you take me if you didn’t even know who I was? You didn’t know anything about me, so did you just see me and decide that I was in danger or something that I didn’t know about?”
    “I was under orders. We’ve been doing this sort of thing for a few years.” He spoke slowly and kept his eyes locked on mine. His voice was soft when he said, “I told you this before.”
    “I know, but I’m still trying to understand. I mean, kidnapping girls from their lives? What do you do with them once you’ve got them?” I was genuinely confused and curious, even if it felt like we kept going in a circle.
    “Well, most of the time they’ve been kidnapped by pirates, so we put them back with their families. For the ones who don’t remember their families, we do what we can to find families who have lost a child and who are willing to take someone in and care for