Once she made it into the side door, she slipped off her heels and tiptoed through the large kitchen snatching a fresh baked biscuit off the granite toped island and ran into the dining room, hurrying around the long dark polished oak table. She paused at the entryway to the den, eyes darting around for the butler.
When she saw him dusting her father's desk in the library, she ran as quietly as she could around the corner and up the left side of the white marble double staircase in the foyer. She tiptoed through the long hallway, past the master bedroom, and slipped behind a large oak door at the end of the hallway.
Marie shut her door with a sigh of relief.
"Made it," she said to herself.
She looked around her room chewing on the biscuit.
Her room had European style décor with original artwork; the colors of the furniture were chocolates and whites and her walls a light beige. A sofa and loveseat sat across from the plasma television, which sat above a modest sized white marble fireplace.
To the left of the door her queen sized canopy bed was placed against the wall with a dark wooden nightstand holding a photo of her and her friends from school, and her journal. On the far right of her bedroom, was a set of oak double French doors that opened onto her private balcony, giving her a beautiful view of the city.
A desk sat in front of a large French window and contained her laptop computer, schoolbooks, pencils, pens, a black desk lamp, and a printer, and under the desk sat her backpack.
To the left of the desk was her private full sized bathroom; a marble vanity holding a black makeup bag, silver platted toothbrush holder with an electric toothbrush, and other toiletries was on the left wall. A Jacuzzi tub sat on the far wall next to an arched French window, a large walk in shower to the right of the tub, a toilet, and to the left, a large walk in closet.
She quickly changed out of her party clothes and into a long sleeved baggy tee shirt and shorts. She hurried into her bathroom and washed off her makeup and brushed her teeth to rid her breath of the smell of liquor. Exhausted, she walked back into her room and yawned.
"Maybe I can get some sleep before mom comes up here," she said, talking to herself once again.
And with that, she crawled into her bed and pulled the white blankets over her head and fell into a deep sleep.
-a few months later-
"Whatever! He is not!"
"He so is! Do you even know him that well?"
"Marie, I've been friends with him my whole life, he would have told me something like that," argued Alex on the computer screen.
"Whatever you say, Alex," sighed Marie, her bright blue eyes looking across her large room at the alarm clock on her nightstand.
It read 6:30 p.m.
"Hey I'd better go. I've got to get ready for my date," said Marie turning back to the laptop on her desk.
"Yeah me too. Bye girl!"
"Bye!"
Marie closed the laptop and stood up from her desk.
She walked across the polished wooden floor to her walk in closet and opened the door.
Gazing down the line of clothes she pulled out a short pearl white dress.
She changed from her school uniform into the dress.
It had thin straps over her shoulders, crisscrossing in the back, the top of the dress dipped down showing off a little bit of cleavage, a matching white band under her breasts tied at the back, and the material hung loosely from below the band to mid thigh.
She finished just as she heard a voice calling from downstairs.
"Marie, we're leaving"
Marie hurried out of her room and down hall to the top of the stairs.
"You're leaving already?" she asked eyeing her parents.
Her father was in his fully decorated military uniform, his medals and shoes shining flawlessly in the light of the chandelier, the General of the Marine Corps. He carried his hat in his left hand and his right arm was around her mother's waist. Her mother was wearing a deep purple satin dress that reached the floor and showed off her slender body. Her beautiful curly red hair was in a bun, a couple of loose strands framing her delicate olive toned face, and diamonds dangled from her ears.
"The banquet begins in thirty minutes and your father needs to arrive early," said her mother.
"Oh, cool. Well, have fun."
"You need to be home at three at the latest."
Marie nodded and her parents walked to the door disappearing from her view.
"Marie, the butler had to leave for a family emergency for the weekend. Come set the alarm, and don't forget to set it when you leave," called her father.
"Yes, sir."
The door clicked shut and Marie sighed.
"I wish I had told Richard to come earlier," she mumbled as she trudged down the marble staircase.
She punched in the security code and stared at the screen until it read 'SYSTEM ARMED'.
Marie turned and walked back up the marble staircase and into her room. Shutting the wooden door with her foot, she walked across the room and grabbed her remote, turning on her plasma television.
Marie flipped through several channels before finding a movie playing. She then walked into the bathroom to fix her hair.
A slick black car stopped in front of the spiked black gate in front of an elaborate, two story mansion.
The men looked over the house in front of them.
"Wow, We have to find her in there?"
"This outta be fun."
After 15 minutes her long strawberry blond hair was curled and pulled half back into an ornate silver clip, and she finished up her makeup.
She reached for her jewelry but stopped as she heard a car coming up the driveway.
Marie ran to the stairs.
"Richard is earlier than I expected!" she said to herself going down the stairs.
The door handle jiggled.
"I'm coming, I'm coming."
She hurried to the door.
She turned off the alarm system and unlocked the door.
Marie quickly pulled the door open.
"Hey Sexy, why are you…so…"
Marie froze.
A gun was pointed at her head.
"Come quietly, and you won't get hurt," ordered the man holding the gun.
Three men stood next to him.
Marie slammed the door shut and nearly locked it before the door flew off the hinges. She screamed.
"Get her!" yelled the tallest of the four.
The men chased Marie up the stairs. She reached the top before them and grabbed a book from the small table next to her, throwing it at the closest one. It hit the raven-haired man in the center of his face shocking him, and he fell down the stairs. She quickly grabbed another one and slammed it into the second one's face. He stumbled backwards and the third man managed to grab the front of his shirt to prevent him from falling down the stairs.
She ran into her room and grabbed the baseball bat lying under her bed. She waved it in front of her defensively.
The two men laughed.
"You really think that is going to- uff!" the blond man doubled over as Marie swung the bat into his stomach, and then slammed it into the brunette's shin.
She darted out the door, running into the man she had knocked down the stairs. She screamed and swung the bat at his head but he caught it and tore it from her hands.
She ducked under his swing at her head but couldn't move fast enough to escape the swing to her back. Marie flew into the wall and gasped in pain. Before he could hit her again she slammed a door into his face and ran down the narrow hallway pulling doors open to block the pathway to slow him down. But he just rammed into the doors breaking them down.
Marie slid around the corner and slipped into a nearby closet as the man continued running down the hall and down the back staircase. She quietly walked out of the closet and went back up the hallway and stood at the top of the staircase. Marie looked around the living room; there was no one in sight. She hurried down the stairs and towards the door.
Marie froze.
One of the men was blocking the door. She turned to run into the dining room but another man stood in the doorway. Turning to run around the other side of the staircase she stopped seeing the third man blocking her path. Marie turned to run back up the stairs but ran into what felt like a brick wall.
She slowly looked up; he was tall and muscular. He wore a black mask that only reveled his cold, piercing blue eyes. He was clad in solid black with leather gloves and army boots; he looked like a hit man.
Marie tried to run.
"Where do you think you're going, young lady?"
The man grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.
"Escort Ms. Wilson to the car. We have a schedule to keep."
She was shoved to the blond man who roughly grabbed her arm.
She began to scream.
"Help! Somebody help me!"
"Shaun, Keep her quiet!" hissed the taller man,
The blond man clamped his hand over her mouth.
Marie began to claw at his exposed hand drawing blood and pulled it low enough on her mouth and bit into his hand.
He yelled and let her go.
She ran out the door away from the men.
Suddenly she felt a white-hot pain in her right shoulder. Marie screamed and fell to the ground in pain clutching her arm.
Tears ran down her face. She looked at her shoulder; blood was seeping through her fingers and running down her arms.
The tallest man walked up to her, gun in hand.
He leaned down and grabbed her injured arm, jerking Marie to her feet.
She yelled out in agony.
He put the gun under her chin lifting it up, forcing her to look into his eyes.
"Where are you running off to? The car is this way," he said mockingly.
"Let me go…please," she begged, weakly trying to pull away from him.
He tightened his grip on her arm, his fingers digging into her wound.
She cringed and whimpered.
"Come on," he hissed, pulling her to the car sitting in the driveway.
He put the gun back in its holster.
"No! Help me! Help! Hel-mph!" Marie was cut off by the man's hand covering her mouth.
"Alex, leave the letter on the door. We're running late," he ordered the men.
The brunette man taped a letter to the broken door and they hurried to the car.
The tallest shoved her into the backseat and got in next to her. Shaun got in the drivers seat; Alex in the passenger seat, and the raven-haired man sat on the other side of Marie.
"Gag her and bind her wrists, Charles."
The raven-haired man quickly tied her wrists together, then stuck a piece of cloth into her mouth and taped it shut.
Shaun started up the car and tore out of the driveway.
Marie screamed into her gag and kicked at Charles.
The tall man grabbed her wound and pulled her close so she was barley inches from his face.
"Settle down," he hissed, "or I will throw you in the trunk. Understand?"
Marie just looked at him, her eyes wide with fright.
"Understand?" he asked menacingly, tightening his grip on her injury.
Marie quickly nodded her head; tears running freely down her face.
"Good girl," he smirked.
He shoved her back into her seat then tore a strip off the skirt of her dress and tied it tightly around her bleeding arm.
Marie's arm felt numb. She looked at the cloth and it was already soaked in deep red blood. Her eyes ran down her arm following the blood trail. Her dress had deep red blood drops and splotches and her left hand was coated in dried blood.
She felt queasy.
"Uh, Jake, I think she's about to be sick," said Charles.
Jake looked at her; she looked green.
"Pull over," he ordered.
The tall man quickly took her gag off.
The car stopped and Jake pulled her out of the car with him. She immediately threw up onto the road.
"Feel better?" he asked when she was done.
She nodded her head.
Suddenly Marie kneed him between the legs and ran down the road.
Jake cursed and quickly adjusted to the pain.
He took off after her. Furious.
Marie looked over her shoulder to see him catching up.
She tripped on a hole and fell face first into the pavement.
Jake stood over her and watched her try to push herself off the ground.
"You done running now?" he mocked kneeling down to her and lifting her chin to look at him.
Her face now bore a deep red road rash across the right side of her face.
Marie spit blood onto his mask, nearly getting it in his eye.
Jake's right hand shot out and his fingers wrapped around her neck and lifted her off the ground.
"I asked if you were done running," he hissed.
Marie nodded her head as best she could.
"Good girl."
Jake delivered a swift punch to her temple and dropped her to the ground.
She was immediately knocked out.
Jake grabbed her good arm and dragged her back to the car, throwing her in the trunk of the car.
He got back in the car.
"Drive."