Daniel did not know how much time had passed since he was captured.
The darkness in the tunnel meant he could not tell day from night, only dim lights that sometimes flickered as if about to go out, and the sound of water dripping from the clay ceiling.
At first, he tried to count the days by the few meals he was given, but he soon lost count, and time became a shapeless mass.
Yusuf was his only daily contact.
He would enter with steady steps, carrying a bottle of water and a piece of stale bread, place them near him without saying a word, and then sit in a distant corner.
His eyes were sunk in heavy silence, as if his presence here was a punishment, not a task.
On the first night, Daniel tried to mumble some Hebrew words, to ask:
"Where am I? When will I be released?"
But Yusuf did not even lift his head.
It was as if his voice could not be heard.
On the third day, Daniel was lying half-stretched out on the cold ground when he heard Yusuf whisper to a companion near the entrance:
"This is not my place... I am not here to guard prisoners. Our place is in the field, not here."
He didn't understand all the words, but he caught enough: not my place... prisoners... the field.
Daniel felt a chill.
Even his guard didn't want to be here. What did that mean? Could he suddenly be left to his fate?
The following days passed with agonising slowness.
Yusuf remained a wall of silence.
Whenever Daniel tried to talk, he was met with silence or a harsh look that ended the attempt.
In those early days, the tunnel was like an open grave:
the smell of damp earth. Distant moans from another soldier detained in a side passage. The voices of the guards exchanging short words in Arabic, which Daniel did not
understand.
The creaking of the floor whenever someone moved.In his isolation, Daniel began to hear his inner voice growing louder:
Why am I here? What is the meaning of all this? Will I stay alive to get out of this hell?
But he always returned to that face – Yusuf's – who entered and exited silently, as if carrying a secret heavier than the walls surrounding them.