Kidnapped

Sunlight was already peeking through the curtains. Brian stretched and rubbed his eyes. Something felt rather out of place that morning, but he just couldn’t seem to put his finger on what.

He laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a while, when it hit him. He turned and grabbed the alarm clock from the table at the side of his bed. NINE THIRTEEN, the blinking neon letters read. Brian swore and ran downstairs, not even bothering to put on a shirt or change out of his boxers. There was only one thing on his mind: that there was only an hour before everyone else woke up, and if he didn’t get to the kitchen NOW, there wouldn’t be any breakfast that morning.

Brian sprinted down the hallway and when he flung open the kitchen door, his nostrils were suddenly overcome by the scent of…cinnamon? Brian’s mouth dropped open. Standing in front of the giant-sized ovens, with long wine-coloured hair flowing down her waist, was Adrianna.

She turned around at the sound of the door opening. “Oh hey, you’re awake!”

Brian closed his mouth and looked down at himself. He wished he had put on a shirt. Or picked better boxers to wear to sleep last night. Or at least combed his hair. “Uh. Good morning,” he said, when what he really wanted to ask was ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

Adrianna seemed to have read his mind. “I wanted to apologize for the other day. I overreacted – and what I said to you – it wasn’t nice. The truth is, I really appreciate how you’re always here for us when we need to talk – we all do. Anyway…I thought I’d make it up to you by helping you out with breakfast. I wasn’t sure what time you normally started preparing, but when it was nine and you still didn’t show…I figured I had to get started on my own.” The toaster beeped once and four slices of perfectly toasted bread jumped up. Adrianna hurried over, placed them onto a large dish and stuck four new pieces of fresh bread into the toaster.

Brian mentally cursed himself. Of all days, why did he have to oversleep on that particular one? He could have spent the entire morning with her. “You’re forgiven…of course. I should be the one apologizing – I crossed the line. And I slept in,” he said, trying not to look too embarrassed. “I don’t know what happened, usually my alarm works just fine…”

Adrianna smiled a little to herself. Brian didn’t need to know that at the crack of dawn, she had snuck into his room and turned off the alarm function on his clock while he was sound asleep. He needed the rest, and she could handle preparing breakfast for a day. Everyone had noticed how tired he was increasingly becoming – he seemed to be in a state of permanent sleepiness, and there were dark circles under his eyes. But whenever they offered to help, he would firmly turn them down immediately. He was too proud, and too willing to prove himself helpful.

Then several things happened at once, forcing her back to reality. The alarm for the coffee maker went off and it began to wail like a newborn baby. At the other end of the kitchen, the soup for the macaroni was boiling over and the fire crackled and sizzled in protest. Right next to her, the cinnamon rolls were almost ready, and if she didn’t take them out of the oven soon, they would be sure to turn from a nice golden brown colour to a charcoal one.

Brian pointed at the oven, indicating for her to take them out, while he switched off the coffee maker and began pouring them into a thermal flask. Then he rushed over to the stove and turned it down; the broth simmered and climbed back under the lid.

“Gimme…three minutes. I really need to throw a shirt on. Then I’m coming right back down to help, okay?”

* * *

“Everything looks so good,” Adrianna grabbed a spoon and dipped it into a white, gooey liquid. “Hey, what’s this?”

“Porridge.” Brian replied. Adrianna stared at him blankly. “Porridge! You’ve never had porridge?” Adrianna shook her head. “It’s Asian. I think it’s Chinese. People usually eat it when they’re sick, because it’s easy to digest, but lots of people eat it for breakfast too. It’s for Natalie – she doesn’t eat anything at all, so I thought I’d make her this. She just has to eat a little bit – it’s very filling. And the only thing that’s in it, besides rice, are vegetables, so I think her stomach can handle it.”

At times like these Adrianna would ask herself whether this person standing in front of her was a real person or not. Without a doubt, he was one of the nicest, most caring person she has ever met.

Which was why as much as she liked him, she doubted that she’ll ever fall in love with him. Unfortunately.

Brian pushed the last of the bacon and eggs from the pan to a plate. “And…I think we’re done! I think that was record time. They won’t be down until around ten fifteen, so we’ve even got a little time left.”

“I’m ready to talk,” Adrianna suddenly said. "I've kept it a secret for too long anyway."

Brian nodded. He knew what she was referring to.

“Those nightmares – I started having them a year ago. They began a while after I had an abortion.”