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Fried was awoken by a low and pungent drum hum coming from deep within the castle, like a single heart beat from the lowest core of the castle he found himself trapped in.

He got out of the bed and looked out the window. Nothing had changed from the last time he looked. The mist hadn’t dissipated, he still could not distinguish any real shapes through that dense carpet fog.

He stared at the scenery below a little bit longer, while trying to hear for the sound that woke him, but he heard nothing.

Eventually he decided to try exploring again. He went over to the door and opened it slowly. He was immediately startled to see Grumpy standing there, silently waiting.

Fried tried to get past Grumpy but couldn’t. Even with all his strength he hadn’t even made Grumpy budge out of his place. He wanted to fight it more but he knew it was pointless, a far greater force wanted him to remain here.

As if acknowledging Fried’s resignation, Grumpy started gesturing at him. The gestures were meant to resemble eating. As soon as he was done, Grumpy started making its way towards a spiral staircase that Fried was certain hadn’t been there before.

Fried hadn’t really noticed until now but he was slightly hungry, which was a good sign for his recovering health. He decided to follow Grumpy down the stairs and quickly found that he had a very poor sense of hustle how far down they would be going. They walked down the stairs together for quite a while before Fried felt the need to break the silence.

“You know what, I’ve decided Grumpy isn’t the name for you after all. You honestly make me feel like a prisoner, so from now one I think I’ll call you Warden.”

The creature formerly known as Grumpy didn’t seem to react much to his statement and simply shrugged its shoulders as it lead the way. Fried assumed the gesture was for his sake rather than a conscious acceptance of its new name, which then made him feel just a little worse about his situation.

After an uncomfortable period of silence Fried could finally start seeing the first hints of light at the end of the stairs, which he celebrated in his mind; this must mean they are almost in the main body of the castle.

To his surprise they exited the staircase into a large dining hall, where food was already prepared and primed for consumption.

The table was set for a feast, it was large enough to sit at least ten people and the amount of food at his disposal could undoubtedly feed a whole family for a week.

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Fried, now properly becoming aware of how hungry he was, didn’t wait for the Warden to invite him to the table to start digging in. The Warden, as if anticipating this would happen, made no effort towards Fried whatsoever and simply remained at guard.

Friend stuffed himself like a swine. He forgot all his table manners as he was consumed by the hunger of several skipped meals. He could not remember how often he had anything to eat during the nightmare fuelled feverish nights of the last few weeks. As he was binging the feast he had occasionally looked up from his plate to look around the room and spot the Warden, however this time the Warden had disappeared.

Being both relieved and worried at the Warden’s disappears, Fried took some time for the first time since arriving to observe his surroundings properly.

The tonight area was very large and richly decorated. Small silver chandeliers were hing at steady intervals across the walls of the room, beautiful velvet drapes divided the room and gave the impression of windows where none existed. At the ends of the room he could see portrait frames hung though no portraits were housed inside, they simply framed a piece of wall.

While Fried was thinking about everything he has seen, he thought to himself how the castle itself was in amazing condition, yet seemed abandoned. He had not seen dust, the floors and walls were clean, he was even served food fit for an army, yet he neither heard nor saw nor smelled a kitchen. All of this was quite disturbing to think about, but he was still too hungry to think it all through right now.

It was around half an hour before Fried was completely convinced he had his fill. He sat back into his chair and unbuckled his belt. An immediate wave of relief washed over him. He enjoyed the feeling of relief for a little bit while he confirmed the Warden was still nowhere to be seen. He seemed all alone again, so he decided it was a good time to try exploring.

He got up, tightened his belt a little, and headed towards a door that he was certain hadn’t been there when he walked in. He opened the door and there was room to take a few steps, then a thick velvet drape blocking further progress. He walked up to the drape and tried to push it out of the way. It was so much heavier than it seemed and he needed to muster all the bloated strength he could just to move it aside. As soon as he managed to walk past the drape he found himself upon a familiar sight just ahead of him. He had found himself on the landing just outside his room once more. In a panic he tried to back up through the drapes only to hit a wall where the door had been, his means of egress had vanished.

Depressed with this unfruitful endeavour he walked back into his room and let himself drop back into bed, one eye set on the window.

The sky never seemed to change. No cloud in the sky ever changed shape, nor were they carried on any wind. The time of day had been consistent every time he was awake, it was always a grey and overcast afternoon.

He let out a deep sigh. Partially in defeat, partially in satiated hunger.

As he was lying in bed awaiting the inevitable sleep he tried to think clearly of his situation. He was being kept here for a reason, and whatever the reason, it seemed they wanted him alive and well, which was a relief in itself.

He looked around the room one last time to check whether his Warden had shown himself but he was alone in the room. With nothing further to distract him, as well as his initial worries for his safety fading, he fell asleep with ease.

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