Kidnapped

Mornings at the house were falling into a nice little pattern. At around ten every morning, they would be awaken by the smell of freshly-baked bread, French toast, and coffee – courtesy of Brian. Within ten minutes they would all be downstairs, for each of them felt sure that all the food would be gone if they didn’t hurry up. The only one regularly missing at the breakfast table was Natalie, who often chose to sleep in until eleven, though she, too, would sometimes join them for a glass of orange juice as she enviously eyed the others, happily munching away. Then they would head off to their assigned chores for the day – they had drawn up a list a couple of days ago, after it became clear that though everyone had expressed their willingness to contribute, the distribution was still somewhat uneven; Brian helped with almost all the chores while Luke did absolutely nothing.

Afternoons were a little more unpredictable. Sometimes they would choose to engage themselves in individual activities. Alexis would be in the library, reading a book. Brian would be in the kitchen, enthusiastically preparing dinner hours in advance. Lance would usually disappear into nowhere; no one could catch sight of him until it was time for dinner. Natalie would be at the pool; sometimes, she would also sneak into the music room and play the piano with the door shut and the soft pedal depressed. Jake would be at his own room, staring at the ceiling or gazing out the window, daydreaming. Luke would be jabbing away at his PSP buttons frantically, with the seriousness of Alexis hard at work. Lauren would walk around the house restlessly, bothering each one of them in turn. Adrianna would take a nap; she had trouble falling asleep after her nightmare every night and needed the extra hours.

Other times they would do something together; in the past week, they have had a pool party, a twister contest (Jake won with a combination of long limbs and sheer luck for getting an easy position on every spin) and even a scavenger hunt (the goal was to find the kidnappers - to everyone’s immense relief, no one succeeded). They also spent one afternoon just sitting at the balcony, watching the moor-like landscape before them, wondering in silence what they would do if one day the food ran out and still no one came for them.

At night they would have dinner together. Dinner was regarded as the most important affair of the day. It was alright to skip breakfast or lunch, but everyone was expected to show up for dinner. With Alexis and Lance (who was gradually proving that he was neither ignorant nor illiterate as was initally believed) bickering over politics and social issues, Brian offering second helpings to everyone (and glaring at them when they tell him they’re really too full to take another bite), Lauren sharing incredible pieces of gossip from her school, Natalie fangirling over bands that no one at the table has even heard of, Adrianna gently coaxing more food onto Natalie’s plate despite her protests, and Luke and Jake engaging in a competition of ‘who can tell the worse jokes’, they were starting to get the feeling that though they had only known each other for a short while, they shared a bond closer than friends – they were family.