Her eyes felt too heavy to open, her head felt like it was cracking and her body felt like it was dead. In the midst of her confusion, Ana could hear voices from afar but could not understand a single word that was being said. “This is what being buried alive must feel like.” Feeling like stuck in a bad dream she was starting to panic, she had no clue about what was going on and feared she was no longer in her apartment. The voices in the distance were getting closer as she slowly began to regain control of her body, she could now move her fingers. She heard the people clearly now and still, she could not understand a word. They were speaking in the native language, one she did not speak. She could move her head now and her eyes did not feel so heavy anymore, she opened them in fear and discovered she was alone. She was definitely not in her apartment anymore and she had no idea about where she could be.“This is not happening!”  The people outside continued discussing whatever, as Ana looked at her surroundings. It was a filthy, dark, small room. No windows, no air circulation that she could see, no escape. Several types of scenarios rolled in her mind as to what this situation could be, but the truth was that she was clueless. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe she was not the one that they wanted, yes it had to be it. The feeling of her body was now completely recovered and the ropes around her wrists and ankles were biting on her skin. They had her laid down on her back in a bed, hands tied behind her back, ankles tied together and to the feet of the wooden bed. She was dressed in the same clothes she had when she went out for dinner the night before, or so she assumed it had been the night before. She remembered having dinner and arriving at her place, but nothing else. It was like she blacked out. Her head was pounding in pain. She was sure she had been drugged sometime that night. A drop of water fell down on her forehead and she looked up at the rotting ceiling, it was very possible that it would fall on her head and kill her before she could find out where the heck she was. Another drop of water fell on her forehead and she pulled on the ropes that bound her in frustration. There had never been a time where she felt more afraid then right now. A sob came out of her mouth and she had started to shake. “You need to calm down and figure out a way out of this.”

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She tried to track down in her memory, every detail of her stay since her arrival, anything that could give her a clue on to why she was there and who were those people and what they could want from her.

*****

Ana Aguiar, 38, Portuguese. She had arrived in the country about a year ago, hired by a prestige university to teach the Portuguese language.

Although she did not speak a word of Korean, she accepted the challenge confident that with her extensive knowledge of the English language she could live a normal life in the country. Of course, learning Korean was in her urgent to do list, but in truth, her teaching was consuming so much of her time, she had not yet found the energy to do it. It turned out that she loved the country, she loved her job and she loved her present life.

She had lost her parents very early in her life and she did not have any other family. Being the only person to count on in the whole world gave her a different perspective on life. She had to start working early before she finished her studies and life was not always easy on her, so she was always on survival mode, a tough cookie. But she managed just fine, the only concerning problem was she had only one friend in her entire life, back in Lisbon, and she never had a long term boyfriend. At that question, she would only say “No time, no patience.”