Chapter Text
She was stupid.
She was so, so stupid…
Rochelle tried to focus on her breathing, but it was hard. She was crunched up tight, stuck in the worst smelling duffle bag, arms duct taped together behind her back and mouth gagged with an old shirt. She could feel someone outside of the bag pressing their foot down on her, warning her to not try and struggle or make any noise… or else.
She was so, so, so stupid!
She wasn;t sure how long she had been in here. Minutes? An hour? However long it was, it was too long for her liking. She winced when the car hit another pothole, bouncing her off the floor mat.
She was so, so, so FUCKING stupid!
Tears tried to find their way to her eyes but she stubbornly forced them away with will power. That wouldn’t help her now, crying wouldn’t do any good.
But then not much she could do would help herself right now.
Because she was being kidnapped.
Because she was so stupid…
The car suddenly squeaked and she felt it turn sharply, thumping on uneven ground before grinding to a stop. The foot pressing down on her lifted, and she heard the door ping as it opened. Then the bag she was in lifted up and out.
Well, they were wherever they were going…
Rochelle swallowed tightly as she felt the bag carried down a set of stairs. Then another. Then another. All the while locks rattled on doors. Sneakers squealed on concrete and Rochelle tried her best to keep track of the turns, only for movement to stop.
Someone banged on a door. LOUDLY.
“BACK AWAY!” A deep male voice shouted above her. “BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR OR ELSE!”
She heard something shift, then a door was unlocked. They started to move again and she tried to listen. She heard whimpering and someone giving hushed orders.
“Alright, good.” The male voice above Rochelle spoke again. “You’ve all been very good this week, so we’re giving you a little party.” He said and Rochelle narrowed her eyes, scared and confused. “Moe’s ordering you a pizza, ain’t that nice?”
Silence. Icy silence.
“Aww, don’t be like that.” The male voice chuckled again. “Besides, it's not the only thing we brought you.” Rochelle felt her bag shake back and forth in the air.
Silence for a second… then-
“God damn it…”
It was a female voice, sounding to be the same age as Rochelle.
The man laughed loudly now, then Rochelle was airborne. She gasp fearfully through the shirt till she hit the ground roughly. She lay still, wincing.
“Well? Open your present.” The man ordered.
Silence.
Nothing moved and Rochelle shivered. She could feel the temperature in the room drop when his order wasn’t followed.
“I said open the bag.” His tone was hard now, not the jovial joking of before.
There were soft whispers off to the side, uncertain and nervous-
“Stop pissin’ around! I said open the fucking bag, so one of you OPEN THE FUCKING BAG!!!!”
Another whimper sounded from the corner but the same voice from before spoke over it. “Ok! Ok, man… We’re sorry. We’ll-... I’ll open it…”
Hesitant footsteps crept over, then hands met the nylon over her. There was fidgeting with the zipper, then light poured in the bag, making Rochelle clench her eyes shut and grimace.
“Shit.” The female voice over her whispered before the man laughed again.
“That's right! I brought you another ‘new’ friend!” He laughed. “Not as nice as the ‘cute widdle kitty’ from last time, but still nice right?”
Rochelle blinked as hands reached in around her and helped her sit up into a more comfortable position. The hands didn’t leave, offering her support as she got her bearings.
“Come on now, don’t I get a thank you?”
The awkward pressure in the air was suffocating, but a small chorus of voices mumbled softly at once.
“T-thanks..”
“Th-thank you.”
“Thanks.”
The man just snorted in amusement.
The hands around her shifted, one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. They pulled her up and out of the bag with some difficulty, causing Rochelle to shift to try and help them. She was soon sitting in another girl’s lap.
“Alright, I’ll take that back!” The man said brightly, taking the duffle before he grunted. “Oh wait! Her ‘excessory’!” The bag rattled before something flew out and clattered on the floor.
Oh, her glasses.
“Make sure you give her a warm welcome! I’ll be back later with food. Tell her all the rules and help her pick out a ‘bunk’! HAHAHA!” The man chortled to himself, amused. “Alright, have fun!”
BANG!
Click, click, click.
…
The girl holding her was silent, but Rochelle could feel her grip tighten and her breath exhale harshly on her head. Nobody spoke for a few second, but the girl holding her eventually broke the quiet.
“Kai? Can you grab the pen we found? We gotta get the ducktape off her.” She spoke, voice getting a bit rough. A hand came up and the shirt was pulled out of her mouth, being tossed off into a corner without concern. “Hey… what's your name?”
“R-rochelle.” She said, mouth dry and aching from behind gagged for so long.
“That's a nice name.” The girl said softly.
It was an odd compliment, but after that hour of hell it was honestly welcomed. “Thanks.”
“Here.” A new voice spoke, then the girl holding her lifted a hand away before they shifted her a bit forward now.
“Don’t move for a second. I gotta stab through the duct tape a few times to be able to rip it off.” She said, hands moving to her own. Pressure increased and she could feel the pen poking through the tape around her arms where there was an opening without her flesh behind it. The stabbing continued for a few minutes, then they tried to rip the tape away. It clung to her skin roughly, and it was starting to itch, but slowly it became looser and looser. Till one of her arms finally could pull out of it, her shoulder clicking in relife.
“There.” The girl holding her said, patting her back. “Better?”
“Much better.” Rochelle assured her softly, rubbing her sore wrist. Bits of tape are still clinging to her in portions.
“Umm, h-here's your- ah- glasses…” Another new voice spoke, holding something out in front of her. Rochelle took them blindly and put them on. She frowned when she realised there was a big crack in one side, but that was the least of her worries right now.
Now able to see, Rochelle glanced around the room she was in. It was a fully concrete room, long and dimly lit. The roof was arched, making it almost a half cylinder shape and some of the walls had a pattern of rusted red metal spots, leaking through. All there was in the room was wooden benches, stretching down the sides and in the middle. Some of the walls also had a platform above the benches, held up by some thin chains to the ceiling and one end of the room had a doorframe that opened into a public restroom looking space. There was a thin layer of grime on everything, and the air was musty…
There wasn’t a single window.
Swallowing tightly Rochelle turned to look at who was holding her. An African-American girl smiled weakly back. Her hair was up in braids, with the end having colourful rings and beads. It was tied up into a ponytail, but the braids seemed to be fraying a bit, showing they hadn't been redone for a while.
“Hey, your arms ok?” She asked softly.
“Oh, y-yeah. Just itchy.” Rochelle nodded, she looked down, realizing she was still in the other girl's lap before blushing and standing up, though her legs were still weak from being hunched in that bag for so long. She staggered for a second before a hand reached out and steadied her from behind.
“Careful…”
Looking back Rochelle saw another girl her age. She was blonde, with the worst bang job she had ever seen, though the rest of her hair was tied back in a ponytail, save for a few loose bits at the bottom. She offered Rochelle a simper.
“So…” The braided haired girl spoke, standing up as well. “I’m Taylor. That's Laurie.” She gestured to the blonde, who waved to Rochelle shyly. “And this is Kai.”
Kai was just behind Taylor, she was also African-American, though her hair was naturally dreadlocked, it was also up in a ponytail. Kai didn’t offer her a smile. She just looked depressed and nodded her head up to Rochelle in acknowledgment.
“Ugh, hey…” Rochelle gulped again. “Is this… what is this place?”
Laurie answered by point to a sign up on a nearby wall. It was filthy, but legible.
‘FallOut Shelter '. Capacity 200. Area Blue.’ with a shelter symbol below it, a circle with three triangles inside.
“Oh…” Was the only thing Rochelle could think to say. “That's… Ok, that makes sense. Is-”
“There's no way out but the door.”
“Kai.” Taylor said, frowning at the shorter girl, who bristled.
“It's true though…” Kai said, voice getting watery.
“Kai…” Taylor said again, this time more empathetic. She reached out and put a hand to her arm, but nothing more was said.
“There not?” Rochelle spoke, getting more anxious. She wandered around the room, happy to stretch her legs. She looked the walls up and down, circling a little. The other girls only watched, likely wanting her to get it out of her system, or maybe they were desperately hoping she’d noticed something they’d missed, no matter however long they had been trapped here already.
Actually…
Rochelle paused to glance back at them. “How long… have you guys been down here?”
The group looked between themselves worriedly. Kai exhaled tightly before speaking. “A week and a few days.”
“Two weeks, almost three.” taylor said softly.
Laurie scuffed her shoes softly on the floor, looking uncomfortable. “I… a month and a half? Maybe?”
“A MONTH AND A HALF?!” Rochelle gasped, spinning to her.
“I- yeah? I mean, I- I think so?” Laurie spluttered nervously. “I’ve been here way longer than Taylor… and we didn’t have a watch until she came, and I can’t see what time it is outside so…”
Taylor sighed and held up her wrist. A simple digital watch with the time and date visible. It was Mario themed oddly enough.
Wait-
“Laurie…” Rochelle spoke softly, looking at the blonde again. “Are you Laurie Lawson?!”
“I- yes! Yes, that's me!” Laurie nodded quickly.
“Yoh, my mom got an amber alert about you! I remember cause it was like three in the morning and my baby brother woke up!” Rochelle said, eyes wide. “That was maybe four and a half weeks ago!”
“Oh, wow really?!” Leisure looked shocked, then a bit guilty. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to wake up your- ah- your brother.”
“I mean, you can’t decide when they’re gonna Amber Alert you…” Rochelle winced, rubbing the back of her head. “I dunno why they did it so late at night.”
“Oh, I was taken at night.” Laurie said softly, looking nauseous at the memory. “I was out late, see my dad has a softball team, the Peaks Valley Climbers, and umm, I’m not very good.” She frowned. “I kept costing the team points in games but my dad was the coach, so he couldn’t just kick me off, so all the other kids were kinda mad at me… and kinda mean… so I was trying to train and get better.” She started to play with her hands. “I would train for hours on the field and one night I stayed out too late, so I started walking home around ten thirty. I wasn’t looking, I was so tired, and then this van pulled up and…” Laurie’s frown deepened and she made a grabbing motion with her arms. “That was that.”
Rochelle cringed at the tale. “Oh, wow. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah…” Lauire sighed, but seemed to brighten when looking at Taylor. “I mean, I’m definitely not a hero like Taylor…”
“Hero?” Rochelle echoed, looking at the next girl, who turned a little red.
“Laurie, I’m not…” Taylor hissed, swatting at the blonde lightly.
“She saved her brother from all this.” Kai explained, looking a little less miserable for the time being.
“I don’t think they really wanted Ira.” Taylor frowned. She grunted and looked at Rochelle. “My brother and I were walking home from school. He was being a little brat, not listening to me or anything, you know… I kinda took his watch to punish him.” She held up the Mario watch again. “He kept running ahead to look at stuff. So I eventually got sick of working to keep him close and just let him go as long as it wasn’t too far.” She looked at the ground. “He ran around a corner and when I finally came over I saw this van had pulled up and a guy was talking to him. Then the back opened and another guy grabbed him.” She huffed. “I ran over to try and save him, but they held him in the doorway for a suspiciously long time. I think Ira was bait for me…” She smirked. “I did bite the guy at least.”
“You did?”
“She did.” Kai smiled a tiny bit. “If Moe comes in here, look at his left arm, there's a big bite wound. Brace marks included.”
“Yeah, but like I said, I think they just wanted me.” Taylor spoke again “Once they pulled me in they just peeled out. Left Ira alone, laying on the sidewalk…” She looked concerned. “I hope he’s ok.”
“Where did you live?” Rochelle asked.
“Place called Mountain Meadow.”
“That's an hour from my hometown.” Laurie added helpfully.
“Anyway, I am happy Ira is safe, but I can’t believe I let that happen…”
“Better than how they got me.” Kai scoffed, rolling her eyes. “They got me with the lost dog stick. It's only one up from ‘get in my van kid, I have candy.’. Can’t believe I fell for it.”
“S’not your fault Kai.” Laurie spoke softly.
“How is it not?!” Kai asked, getting frustrated. “My dad has drilled it into my head, don’t talk to strangers, don’t go places with strangers, and what do I do?!” Kai put on a fake, happy voice. “Oh, I lost my dog, can you help me look for it? Oh sure!” She dropped it sourly. “God! All it took was going deeper into the woods in the park, coming to a service road and they dragged me into a black car.”
“Better than me.” Rochelle grunted, arms swinging back and forth at her sides. “I should have put an apple in my mouth, I pretty much served myself up to them on a silver platter anyway.”
“What do you mean?” Taylor asked, brow raised.
Rochelle groaned. “My moms not good with money. She spurges on shopping and online sales. Plus it's only her working and she's an entry level job at a grocery store… or she was till she quit suddenly.” Rochelle sighed. “She wants to be an influencer.”
“Oh, my sister wants to do that!” Laurie said suddenly, interrupting. She froze after she realized and withered. “S-Sorry…”
“S’ok.” Rochelle shrugged. “I mean, s’not ok, she’s basically putting our livelihood in jeopardy, but that's my mom.” She hummed. “I got worried, so I started to make some money in case we needed it. I tutored other kids, worked at a snack stand in the park, I kinda helped some kids cheat. I did manage to save up one thousand four hundred dollars. Only our rent and expenses come to, like, two thousands. I wanted to stash that much away, just in case.” She scowls and crosses her arms. “Then, of course, my mom had to splurge on me. She bought me these Red Valkyries-”
“OH MY GOD! Valkyries?!” Taylor gasped this time and even the other girls perked up in amazement. “Those are sold out EVERYWHERE! For like months!”
“The red ones are the hardest to get! Sometimes you can see the green or blue ones in stores, but they go kinda quick.” Kai added, eyes wide. “The red ones don’t even make it on the shelves!”
“Aww man! I heard they’re only made in Scandinavia! They use actual leather and everything!” Laurie gushes as well, shaking her hands out. “So lucky!”
“I- I guess so.” Rochelle admitted, kicking her leg back and forth, her old shoes on her feet. She tried to ignore the cold air coming in through the broken seems on the side. “I just… they're so expensive, and she wasn’t working anymore…”
“Oh yeah.” Taylor looks more empathetic now.
“Well, I decided to sell them without telling her, you know? I put them for sale online. Buyer offered four hundred for them and I just had to deliver them and pick up the money.” She scowled. “Met them behind an old, abandoned Sears. They pretty much wrapped me up and stuck me in a bag like nothin’.”
“How did they know it was gonna be you, or a kid at least?” Kai asked curiously. “Not like an adult or something?”
Rochelle frowned “I’m not sure. Maybe…” She paused, thinking before blinking and groaning. “Ugh, my mom made a video showing me opening the shoes! She posted it online! They must have known it was us…” She sighed. “They literally picked me out online!” She moaned miserably and slumped to the floor. “God, why did she have to post so much! Why did she quit her job?! Why did she get those stupid shoes! Why was I stupid enough to meet some rando on the internet in person!?” She started to breathe harder, pulling on her hair.
“Hey, hey, hey.” Taylor spoke calmly, kneeling in front of her. “Relax ok? You made a mistake.We all did, but blaming and shaming isn’t gonna help us right now. We need to stick together and look out for each other.”
“Everything is gonna be ok Rochelle.” Laurie knelt as well, looking still queasy but hopeful. “ I have faith we will be brought through this!”
“It's not fully hopeless yet.” Kai agreed, sitting on the floor hugging her knees. “It's bad, don’t get me wrong, but we still have a chance to get home.”
Rochelle whined a little. “I - yeah I guess so.”
“Here, just take my hands ok?” Taylor said, offering hers. Rochelle hesitantly took them, relaxing a bit at the warmth of the other girl’s touch and blushing lightly. “Now breathe with me. In and out.”
Rochelle did, inhaling for ten seconds, and out for ten seconds.
“Good. Now again.”
Inhale for ten seconds, and out for ten seconds.
“Great. Now one last time.”
Inhale for ten seconds, and out for-
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Everyone jumped, turning fearfully towards the only exit.
“BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR LADIES!” The same man from before shouted.
Then the other three girls were up and moving. Taylor grabbed Rochelle under the shoulders and hefted her up to her feet. The four scuttled back to the corner near the bathroom before Taylor forced everyone behind her, holding her arms over them defensively.
Something slid. A peephole opened up and the man looked around, making sure they were back before opening the door. He was a large, burly man, wearing a scary looking mask of a wide grinning face with whitened eyes. He stepped into the room, holding a box of pizza.
“Here you go girls! Something to welcome your new friend! A pizza party!” He said in the same happy tone from before. Rochelle just shivered, remembering how quickly he could turn nasty. Her hand came up to rest on Taylor’s back.
“Awe, come on now. Who wants a slice? We have half cheese, half pepperoni.” He came closer, holding the box open. The pizza did smell good and Rochelle felt her mouth water a little. She hadn’t been eating much, too anxious about how much money they had to spend on food. So she only had an apple before she left the house this morning. Looking at the other girls they looked even worse off. When was the last time these monsters fed them?
He came closer, just in reach. Taylor didn’t move but Rochelle could feel her shaking a bit under her hand. Even if Taylor was the tallest out of them, the man still towered over her.
The man chuckled. “How about this, you come get it.” He put the box down on a nearby bench. “But to make sure you all follow the rules and get one, I’ll stay right here until you all come up for a slice.”
Rochelle swallowed, staring up at the hulking figure, his mask leaving a stone in her stomach. He cocked his head and Rochelle swallowed tightly again.
Then Taylor stepped forward, head down, face screwed up. She approached and stood before him.
“What is she doing?!” Rochelle whispered to the other two, eyes wide.
Kai just shook her head. “She’s following the rules.”
What?!
Taylor stood before the tall man before bowing a bit.
“May I… please have some…?”
The man chortled and reached out his hand, landing it heavily on Taylor’s head where he just ruffled her hair roughly, though Taylor stood as tense and stiff as a stone.
“Of course.”
Taylor quickly snatched a pizza slice from the box, but didn’t flee back to them yet. She just grimaced, breathed and looked back up at the man.
“Thank you… sir.”
“Such a good girl.” He said eerily.
Taylor recoiled and crept back to them.
“Kai, Laurie, one of you go.” Taylor ordered. “Just be as fast as you can. Rochelle, just copy what we do.”
Kai went next, approaching the man and the pizza.
“May I have some… please?” Kai asked, staring pointedly at the man’s chest.
Again he reached out and ruffled Kai's hair now. The girl was shaking the entire time.
“You may.”
Rochelle felt her mouth go dry. “Do we- do we all have to do that?”
“Yeah.” Taylor frowned. “Sorry I’d get you one and do it twice, but he stopped finding that cute when it was just me and Laurie.”
Rochelle looked up, watching Kai returning after thanking the man for the food, but she wasn’t eating yet. Neither was Taylor actually. Rochelle leaned over as Laurie hesitantly walked up to him. “Do we, like, wait till we each have one?”
“Yeah, that's another rule.” Taylor sighed, but seemed to scowl after a second. “Unless someone is being punished and made to go without. Then they sit and watch us eat all the food so they know we don’t share any.
Rochelle grumbled at that as well.
Laurie came to a halt before the masked man, quivering a bit. She rubbed her am and looked up at him. “M-may I have some food please?”
He ruffled Laurie's hair and she winced in pain.
“Of course you can, pretty girl.”
Laurie flinched, but slowly held her hand out, reaching into the pizza box-
WHACK!
Laurie yelped, hand flying back to safety, but thankfully she was only startled, the man having snapped the box lid down on her hand harmlessly. The man, however, roared in laughter. “Ahhahahaha! Did you see how high she jumped?! HAHAHA!”
Laurie whimpered.
Rochelle watched in disgust as the man settled his laughter and patted Laurie on the head again. “Oh, oh. Ok gorgeous! Go ahead and take a slice! For real this time!”
Laurie swallowed tight and went for the pizza again. Her eyes darted from the man to the food nervously. She froze with her hand halfway in, looking up at him again, clearly waiting to see if he’d do it again.
The man didn’t move.
After a second she kept going, taking a slice and pulling it out. She shuffled back to him and spoke.
“T-thank you-”
“GRAHHHHHHH!”
“AHHHH!” Laurie jumped when the man jolted at her, screaming. She fumbled, the slice landing on the floor. Again the man began to roar with laughter, but Laurie just sniffled and grabbed the ruined slice, running back to the group quickly. Taylor put an arm around her shoulders and glowered angrily at him.
“Oh, oh it's so easy with you Laurie! It's just so easy!”
Laurie sniveled.
Then all eyes fell on Rochelle.
She withered, looking back at the other girls. They looked sympathetic and willing to wait for her, but they couldn’t eat until she had her own, and they looked way hungrier than she was. Rochelle took a breath and started walking, staring up at the huge, masked man as she went. He was silent when she stood before him, dwarfing her in his shadow.
“Can-” She said, voice cracking a bit. “Can I have some food please?”
The man chuckled. “I dunno, CAN you?”
Rochelle scowled, but breathed again. “MAY I have some food please.”
A cold, heavy hand ground roughly into her hair, twisting her braids and hurting her scalp.
“Sure thing honey.”
UGH!
She took a slice, starting to back away.
“AH, AH, AH!” The man said, stopping her. “What do you say?”
Rochelle stalled, gulping. “Oh, sorry… umm, thank you sir?”
“That's better.”
Rochelle hurried back to relative safety, the other girls huddling around her.
“There we are, are you girls ready to eat?” The man said, sounding like he was enjoying himself. Rochelle went to take a bite, hoping he’d leave them alone after, but Kai shot her hand out, stopping her. She blinked until she heard the man chuckle again. “Not yet!”
What? There was more?!
Rochelle looked at the others, confused, but they just looked tired and miserable.
“Not yeeeeeetttt!” The man repeated in a sing-song voice, and Rochelle watched Taylor grit her teeth angrily.
What was he doing? Rochelle squinted at the man. Why was he just making them wait-
Wait…
Rochelle froze when she realized. They were just waiting for the sake of waiting. It was some kind of sick, hierarchy, dominance, power move for him. He was enjoying this. Scaring them, making them do what he said. He was enjoying every second of their forced obedience and submission.
Rochelle felt her face pinch, a miserable pain blossoming in her chest.
They had to do whatever these people wanted and there was nothing they could do about it.
“Ok!” The man clapped his hand. “Go!”
Kai and Taylor quickly started to eat, looking famished. Laurie just held hers up to her mouth. It was hard to tell from here, but it looked like she was just pretending to eat. Rochelle shakily took a few nibbles of her pizza.
Tasted ok. Nothing strange.
“Now isn’t that yummy?” He asked, watching them eat. “What do you girls say?”
“Thank you…” Was the choired response.
He just chuckled. “Good, very good.” She straightened and turned, walking back to the door. “You girls enjoy the party but remember, lights out in two hours! I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early with a ‘new’ surprise.!”
He paused when pulling the door closed and chuckled darkly.
“You girls keep being good, and maybe I’ll tell you what the news is up top.” He cocked his head. “One of your families just increased their tip line reward, isn’t that nice? I’ll let you guess which one of you it is!”
He laughed again before finally, finally shutting the door and leaving them be.
Thank god.
Once the door locked three times they all exhaled. Kai crammed the rest of her pizza into her mouth before speaking. “ ‘m gettin’ ‘nother pi’ce.”
“Ok, there should be enough for all of us to get two.” Taylor sighed, sitting on the floor. Laurie and Rochelle join her. Rochelle gives her slice a thorough inspection, but it's just a cheese pizza. Nothing seemed strange or odd looking. Taylor seemed content to finish her food, though at a more leisurely pace than Kai, who was almost inhaling their second slice as well.
“Is Kai ok?” Rochelle asked, worried.
Taylor stopped eating for a second to sigh. “Oh… yeah. She just hasn’t eaten for a bit. She said something under her breath and they didn’t let her have anything last time.” Taylor glanced back at Rochelle with a frown. “By the way, don’t try to walk away without thanking him next time. I think he let you get away with it cause it's your first day, but next time he will take the food right out of your hands. He did that to Laurie a few times when she got nervous or forgot to thank him.”
Rochelle turned to Laurie, but the girl had her head bowed and hands clasped together, pizza sitting in her lap.
Oh, she was praying.
Rochelle jerked when Taylor nudged her. “Hey, eat your food ok? When they come back to turn off the lights they take anything we haven’t eaten.”
“And don’t try to hide stuff.” Kai spoke as she returned from the pizza box, finishing off the crust of her second slice. “If they find anything when they clean once a week, nobody gets any food next time.”
“H-how often do they feed us?” Rochelle asked, worried.
“Every two days.”
Rochelle coughed on the bite she had been swallowing. “Only once every two days?!”
“Yeah, I think us being hungry makes it more likely that we obey.” Taylor mumbled. “And sadly I think it's true.”
Rochelle felt a shiver run up her back. “Geeze, but why are they even doing this? What are they gonna do with us?”
Taylor had a momentary look of fear flash across her face and Kai swallowed her last few bites of food audibly. Laurie, who had started eating now, went rigid.
“I- we don’t know for sure.” Taylor said with her voice soft, hands toying anxiously. “They haven’t said and we’ve been too scared to ask.”
“If they’d even tell us the truth.” Kai muttered.
Taylor spared Kai a sad glance but kept speaking. “To be frank, I know they don’t want us for anything good Rochelle.”
“Maybe they’re gonna ransom us back for money. They keep talking about the rewards our families are offering for information.” Laurie suggested, though her slightly strained expression showed her lack of confidence in the idea.
Money. Shit. Rochelle paled at the idea.
“I mean, maybe?” Taylor shrugged. “That's the best case scenario though.”
Shit…
Over the next two hours they slowly consumed the pizza and sat together on the floor. Taylor kept watching the time and they all mostly talked about home. Kai was an only child who lived with their dad and grandma, their mom had passed away a few years ago and their dog, a Dachshund named Slinky, had passed away a few months ago. Laurie had an older sister and her parents were newly divorced, like still moving stuff out of the house fresh, at least since she had been there more than a month ago. Then Taylor had her parents and brother, as well as a pair of guinea pigs named Pip and Pop. When it close to 9 pm Taylor had them get up and move to a pair of benches shoved together in the corner. It had a small, wadded up pile of clothes on it. A few shirts, a bandana, a scarf and a bright red wind break. The words Peaks Valley Climbers were embroidered in black on the back, so Laurie must have been wearing it when she was taken.
“It's the bed.” Kai explained, kicking her shoes off and climbing up. “No mattress, but it's better and warmer than the floor.”
“Here.” Taylor came up, throwing the shirt that had been in Rochelle’s mouth earlier onto the pile. “Let's get comfortable before we can’t see anything.”
“What do you mean?” Rochelle asked in worry.
“Lights out means lights out.” Laurie sighed, climbing onto the ‘bed’. “The pitch darkness is kinda… suffocating at first? You get used to it.”
Oh.
“Here we go.” Taylor climbed up to the pile and compressed it together, then she lay down on her back and got comfortable. “Come get comfy.”
Kai and Laurie joined her, using Taylor as their pillow instead. Kai went right for Taylor’s shoulder, curling into her and Taylor threw an arm over them in return. Laurie took one of Taylor's legs. Laying down sideways so her thigh was under Laurie's head. Taylor looked up to Rochelle once the three settled.
“Pick any spot Rochelle.”
“Oh. Ok?” Rochelle muttered, getting red again. She climbed up on the surface and came closer. There was a spot beside Laurie she could use, but that had her head on Taylor’s stomach. “M-maybe I should just sleep on my own over here-”
“You can try, but it's super uncomfortable.” Kai said, nuzzling deeper into Taylor’s side. “Plus it's cold without all of us huddled up.”
“It's up to you Roch.” Taylor spoke, watching her stand over them. “Whatever is more comfortable for you.”
Rochelle puffed out her cheeks. Sleeping alone seemed less embarrassing… but it was kinda cold down here. She ended up lying down with her head on Taylor's stomach, looking down at Laurie quietly. Taylor’s hand pressed up against her back and she tried to relax, just for a second.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Everyone tensed.
The locks rattled and the door opened. A new man entered, wearing the creepiest Winnie the Pooh mask Rochelle had ever seen. He also had a large Mohawk on his head and looking down, Rochelle could make out a scar on his left arm, clearly made by human teeth.
Moe then.
He came into the room and took the pizza box, stared at them, and then turned to leave. Rochelle could feel Taylor gripping her shirt with her fist now, though if it was because she was mad or trying to be ready to move them all if things turned ugly suddenly, she had no idea.
Once at the door the man turned and stared at them. Rochelle felt the other girls move around her.
“Goodnight.” The three spoke robotically.
It seemed to be what he wanted, as the man shut the door, locking it back into place.
PEEEeeeew!
Then the lights cut out and everything was black.
Rochelle froze. It was so dark she could have held her hand up in front of her and never seen it hit her face. She tried to focus on breathing even, but the weight of the darkness just added to the weight of the situation and at night, there was nothing worse than to be alone with your thoughts. She was kidnapped. Trapped. Nobody knew where she was, let alone herself.
Was mom looking for her?
Pain floated in Rochelle’s heart at the thought of her mom desperately trying to find her.
However in the darkness there was something else to focus on. Her head gently raising and lowering with Taylor's breathing was a comfort. As was the feeling of Laurie’s back against her knees. In the shadows Kai’s hand found her hair, gently brushing her fingers along her braids.
Rochelle hummed and pressed into Taylor, clenching her eyes shut to pretend the darkness wasn’t from a lack of light, but her own eyelids. Laurie was right, it was smothering…
Rochelle had a feeling sleep wouldn’t find her tonight.
Nore would anyone else.