Blue Moon

Valeriana had been walking one of the back alleyways that night. Her mother and father had another argument that led to her mother yelling at her to leave. She took that as a hint.

She hadn't actually meant to get lost in the back alleyways. She had been trying to avoid going home until her parents calmed down and made up. It was her usual way of handling her parent's arguments.

She pulled her jacket close to her, seeing her breath on the cold night. She should have been celebrating New Year's Eve. With friends that had invited her, but her parents had wanted it to be “family time”. That had turned into a large argument.

Valeriana brushed the hair out of her face as she thought about going home. She shouldn't have gotten lost in one of the alleyways. She heard a sound behind her, making her whip her head toward the noise. She saw an overturned cart and brushed the hair from her face again so that she could see.

She gulped slightly and turned around, crashing into a bulky figure. She peeled her face off the chest of the bulky figure.

“Sorry...” The man grabbed her by her arms and revealed a more brutish face that she wouldn't have seen by the poor light of the alleyway. She gasped and struggled. “Let me go!”

She flailed her legs and tried to shrug off his hands. The man tried to keep a grip on her, easily setting her on the ground and grabbing her hands and cover her mouth with one hand.

“Enough. There's no use. If you don't want to get hurt, you'll come quietly.” His voice was gravelly to her ears, causing her to shudder and struggle.

Her muffled screams weren't getting anyone's attention. The man seemed to be waiting as she struggled to get free, trying to pull her wrists out of his hands. It was like trying to pull a semi, nearly impossible. She heard the chime of a clock, marking it at midnight and fireworks started to go off.

The man removed his hand from her mouth and pulled out a roll of duct tape. She screamed, as much as she could to get anyone's attention. The man worked and got a piece over her mouth. She kept trying to get out of his grip, making it harder to get bound. But he easily over-powered her, starting to wrap the duct tape around her wrists. When he finished, he put the duct tape away and pulled her up by her waist to put over his shoulder.

She started to beat on his back and kicked, but that seemed to be doing nothing. About an hour or so later, she gave up and they were out of the town's limits. She was exhausted from trying to fight him.

What is he planning to do? Her mind was still trying to register why. If he had wanted to do something, he would have done it in the alleyway.

He had started to head up a dirt road just outside of town and they came upon a car. She started to struggle again, not wanting to be put in a car. He opened the trunk and set her in there as gently as he could before slamming the trunk and going to start the car.

Valeriana kicked and kicked, anything to get someone's attention of the kidnapping going on. It was a long while before she stopped kicking out of exhaustion and long time after that for the car to finally stop. She tried to take deep breaths to avoid having a panic attack that she was prone to having and would be within her right to actually have.

When the car finally stopped, Valeriana had been shaking and the man finally got out of the car. He opened the trunk and Valeriana could still see the night sky. The guy's stoic face and her gag kept her from asking questions. He seemed to be watching just past the car and waiting.

A few moments later, the bright light hit the man's figure and Valeriana moved herself back against the back seat in the trunk. A howl made her flinch and the man's gaze seemed to follow it. She gulped as he reached in for her.

“Come on. You'll be waiting for him when he comes back.” She struggled as she was taken out of the trunk.

He threw her over his shoulder again. She noticed the forest first. It was dense and didn't seem to have an end. Then the mansion came into view. It was huge and was something out of some Victorian fairytale book. The man took her into the house and walked so briskly that Valeriana only saw the 3 story ceiling and a feeling of emptiness.

He took her toward the back and opened a door that led down to a dark room. Valeriana caught the smell of animal musk and the smell of rust and something that made her wrinkle her nose. He set her down and unlocked some door of a cage, something that was barely visible in the dark.

His burly hand had caught onto her shirt before she could get up. She was dragged into the cage and he grabbed her hands and grabbed the shackles. She flinched at the sound of them rattling and struggled to get out of his grip. He pulled the shackles to just below her wrists, cutting the duct tape and clinking and locking the shackles on her wrists. He stepped back and put the keys back into his pocket as she tried to get the shackles off.

“Now, the young master will be back when it gets dark. You will meet him later. For now, it would be wise to keep quiet and accept your fate. Time will tell if you come out of this.”

The man shut the cage door and headed back up the stairs out of the basement. He slammed the door shut behind him. She could even hear the lock bolt being slid shut. And she was alone.

Will my parents know I am gone? Who is this “young master” he was talking about? Why was I brought here? She knew that the answer to that was probably not. She tried to move her shackles into a more comfortable position. She had more of a problem just trying to get free of the bonds. Since they were old, they probably hadn't been through a lot of strain.

She felt something run over her legs and she bucked and flinched away from it. Her breathing became more of hyperventilation. She couldn't even handle how scared she was. She wanted to know what was going on. And why this was happening.

For once though, her panic attack gave her a black out from this nightmare.