All the Little Raindrops

Since Noelle Meyer woke up in a dark cage, she has not been able to keep track of time. Bread and water are delivered to her at irregular intervals. Her cage is six by four feet and contains only a toilet. She was on spring break during her senior year of high school, waitressing during the day while her father worked at night, when she was abducted.

A sudden burst of light reveals someone being deposited into a second cage. This person cries for help, and Noelle answers. His name is Evan Sinclair, and he was taken while leaving his gym. His family is wealthy, he says, so he wonders if someone plans to ransom him, but this doesn’t explain Noelle’s abduction, as her father doesn’t have money. Noelle reveals that her mother died when Noelle was 12, privately recalling how her father drained his savings to pursue justice, but the case was ruled an accident and left him a shadow of his former self. As Evan and Noelle talk, they realize that they know each other already because Evan’s father, Leonard Sinclair, “killed [Noelle’s] mother” (9).