open and bright light blinds me.

“Who are you talking to, brat? You working on escaping? No place to go from here, brat, so just shut up. Boss’ll be back soon to give you a little lesson on what happens to dissenters!” The g-man slams the door, and I hear the lock fall back into place.

I don’t sleep again, and I don’t hear Ryan and James again, either. Maybe it was all just in my imagination. But does the box have the power to let us talk over long distances in our minds? I wonder. What did the fat man say about “certain circumstances”?

My thoughts trail off when I hear a door slam. I lay down and pretend to be asleep. I’ll be brave and see what I can find out—I want to get even with these thugs for being mean to...

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