I think my best course of action is to act passively. I have no idea what is happening or how I got here. I should just wait and see what they do before trying to communicate or escape. Shit, someone’s approaching me. Actually, most of them are. They seem cautious, but curious. Not all are moving forward; a few in the back seem to be celebrating, but they’re all wearing smiles.

One of them approaches me further, so that he’s within arms reach. He leans down and peers at me with an intense curiosity. I study his face, attempting to commit as many features as necessary in case I end up going to the authorities.

Tan, thin face. Short brown hair, but messy, like he cut it himself. Thin nose, leaning a bit to the left at it’s tip. Light freckles. Bright blue eyes. Thin lips curled into an excited smirk.

He begins speaking to me slowly, as if he’s trying to get me to understand what he’s saying, but it’s a language I don’t understand or even recognize. So my location is fully unknown, then. I don’t even know what continent I’m in, thanks to this strange speech. I feel like I’d be able to at least recognize if the language being spoken was Asian, African, European, and so on, but this sounds like none of them. And their appearances don’t give much away, either. They seem ambiguously tan.

I have a strong feeling that this is deliberate. The more I observe, the more reasons I have to believe I’ve been abducted. But why do they look so excited that I woke up? Hmm. He’s repeating his speech now. Starting from the beginning of what he said, slower this time. However, he isn’t simply repeating a pre-memorized script. The inflection is different, and it looks like he’s occasionally saying a different word or two.

The more he talks, the more I get the feeling that this is simply a made-up language. This isn’t just because I in no way recognize it; I don’t know everything. It’s also about the nature of this. I doubt I could have been flown overseas if I were abducted, and I doubt I could have even been driven out of North America, so the most likely ethnic group that isn’t North American to abduct me would be from South America, and I would have absolutely recognized any of those languages.

One of my main theories right now would be that they’re speaking a modified version of their original language. I would almost certainly have picked up a commonly used word, syllable, or even speaking pattern - such as rolling R’s or not speaking a certain letter sound - that would tip me off to the language, but I’m not getting any of that.

At the same time, though, if they were simply speaking a modified version of a language, I do feel that many of those core structures of the original language would persist into the new modified version. Considering that, I guess it could be entirely possible that these people invented an entire language just to deceive me. The fact that their race is so difficult to discern helps that theory. Of course, they could also simply be from a country which is culturally irrelevant to the United States.

The man stops speaking to me and turns to some of the other people and says something to them. He is speaking much more quickly and with less clarity, so I can assume that’s the natural sound of the language. Yep. Nothing. I’ll hold off on trying to figure that out, and focus on the rest of my scenario. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room are a dirty stone, with some blood on the floor. Some of it is wet, but lots is dried on, so this room has probably been used for whatever is going on now multiple times in the past.

My naked body presses up against the stones. They feel rough, unlike any other I’ve felt used in flooring. It’s like they just pried them out of a riverbed and laid them down here. They haven’t been sanded down or anything. There’s no wet blood where I lie, but there is dried blood caked into the cracks between the rocks. It’s rough and sticky.

While I consider this, one of the people - a young woman - responds to the speaking man. He takes a moment to think, then turns back to me. He points to himself, and then - very slowly - says “Itor,” emphasizing the syllables heavily as if he were talking to a baby, or an animal. Then he points to me with a questioning look on his face. Hm, I guess that’s his name. Itor.

I’m wondering if this is a test of intelligence? Since I wasn’t responding to his speech before, I guess he’s concluded that I don’t understand the language, but that leaves the question of whether or not I have critical thinking skills to begin with.

Of course, there’s the possibility that this is all a manufactured situation in which they selected me intentionally and fully understand who I am and that I don’t understand the language. And by speaking to me they were only trying to give off the impression that they didn’t have any information on me.

In that case, him speaking his name to me would serve two purposes. One, it would simply continue the illusion that they don’t know me. But most importantly, two, it would act as a test. If they selected me intentionally, they would likely know my name and voice. So, if - in an attempt to preserve my anonymity - I gave them a false name or spoke to them in an altered voice, they would know that I don’t trust them and could act upon that information.

Considering these possibilities, I need to weigh my options. Pretty much, I can lie or tell the truth. Obviously, if I lie, I need to come up with exactly what I’m being dishonest about, but before I even get to that I need to figure out whether or not I’m being truthful in this response..

So, honestly, I can’t think of any specific benefits of lying off the top of my head, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discredit the idea. When you have an enemy, it is always a good idea to try to deceive them and simply give them the least amount of information possible, in case they gain an opportunity to act on that information in the future.

But that information is a double-edged sword. After all, if they know my name and are testing me, then I end up giving them information by lying - the information being that not only am I wary of them, but also that I am mentally capable of coming up with the plan to lie about my name in such a short amount of time.

I mean, on the other hand, it’d honestly be pretty hard for them to not already be aware of my relatively remarkable intelligence if I were specifically targeted; that would probably be why I was targeted in the first place. So I guess in the event that they know me and are testing me, I don’t need to worry about surrendering the information that I am intelligent. Regardless, in the unlikely event that this was a random attack, it would be unwise to let them know that.

The limited knowledge I have right now pushes me to the side of caution - caution being complying and being honest. But at the same time, if this was a targeted attack, but they needed to confirm my identity, this would be a perfect trap to prey on my caution and make me confirm it for them. I don’t think there’s any sort of riskless answer that runs no chance of giving them any information.

A common trap people might fall into would be to pretend they don’t understand what this “Itor” man is saying, and not respond at all, but not saying anything is actually just the same as giving a false name. If they know who I am and they don’t actually need to confirm my identity, and thus, this is simply a test, then they would know about my mental capabilities and know for a fact that I would understand this gesture as them asking for my name. So in that case, if I said nothing it would be the same display of distrust as giving out a false name.

So, I think that giving out a false name is off the table in terms of my options. Currently, my most likely theory is that they know who I am - and, in that scenario, giving a false name is the incorrect option.

Being truthful is also very risky, but less so. Not only is it less likely to be the incorrect option, but it also surrenders less information. While surrendering any information to the enemy is always unfortunate, simply understanding that I have basic cognitive abilities and learning my first name would only give them the most basic of new options.

So, if I’m going to surrender that information, just how much should I surrender? Responding with my entire legal name is obviously ridiculous, nobody expects me to do that. The most obvious answer would be to give them my first name only, but what other options do I have? Giving my last or middle name could work, but I think that can be easily interpreted as me attempting to give an alias by someone who already knows me - which, again, is the most likely option here.

But what if I gave only my first initial? It’s been a while since I’ve gone on any sort of record, so they wouldn’t actually know if I go by any sort of nickname. So, if they know exactly who I am they may just assume that’s what I go by now.

If they targeted me specifically but don’t know if they actually got me and are trying to confirm my identity, a first initial wouldn’t end up being enough to fully confirm my identity. Sure, it would definitely make them a lot more confident, but if they’re looking for a one-hundred percent guarantee, this wouldn’t give it to them.

And, of course, if they just legitimately want to know my name, if they don’t speak English, then the name of a letter isn’t any different from the name of a person to them. So in that case it wouldn’t make them suspicious of anything. Yeah. That’s what I’ll do.

“M.”

I fight back a smile. What a thrilling situation.