Chapter 2, enjoy!
Okay, so in the first chapter in the introduction I meant to write dysgraphia! ;w; The writing disorder with an ironic name.
Warning: When I said, in the summary traumatic, I meant it, damn it. Allusions to traumatic events including brief mentions of child abuse, kidnapping and torture. I didn't write it, I can't stomach it, right now.
Can You Keep A Secret?
Chapter 2
Second Shadows
"You know, I've heard the people who don't dream often can't because they're under a lot of stress, Stephanie, my dear friend, are you under duress, please, blink once for yes or twice for no," Stephanie Plum rolled her eyes and turned her back on her friend as she reached up for a bag of flour, "Come on, you mean to tell me you don't dream?!"
"No, and there's nothing wrong with that, the biggest stressor here is you, demanding we get the ingredients make cookies, instead of buying already made dough!" Stephanie said, as she placed the flour in the cart and pushed it down the aisle, "Why don't you be useful and go get some eggs, I'll get the baking soda and powder, and meet you in dairy."
"How dare you ask a baker to get premade dough, unless it's pastry dough, you uncultured swine," Stephanie's friend hissed as they turned and made their way to the eggs, "Generic will do fine, but the chocolate chips cannot be generic, got it, get the most expensive brand!"
Stephanie watched her friend flounce off and she grumbled about how she wasn't that uncultured. She huffed and puffed and went to get the required items. There were two things Stephanie didn't like to talk about to anyone, save the friend that ran to get eggs and that was her inability to dream and her mother.
Her inability to dream was just something she just got along with. Though, when her creative writing professor, during college asked them all to write about one dream they had, when sleeping she had to write a defensive paper about how she couldn't dream and had never had dreams as a child, citing sleeping disorders. Everyone had thought her weird that she didn't dream but she had shrugged it off and said something about bad genetics.
As for her mother, well, the day after Helen Plum confronted Stephanie about what Joe wrote on the bathroom stall, during breakfast, they got into another fight, this time about what Helen had said to Stephanie. Stephanie knew the night she got slapped was the night she stopped seeing Helen as her mother and the morning fight had solidified that intense feeling. Her father, Frank Plum had been getting ready to go to work at the post office, when he heard Stephanie screams of pain and rushed into the kitchen to see Stephanie nursing an injured arm, her mother having thrown a kettle at her face. If she hadn't had protected her face with her arm, she would have been seriously injured, most likely blind!
Frank got Stephanie out the kitchen, called off from work citing a family emergency. He took Stephanie to the hospital for a fractured arm and some minor burns and while there made some calls. An hour later, Edna Mazur had arrived, her face set. She had given her youngest granddaughter a fierce hug, looked at her and said, "You're coming home with me, baby, your dad packed your things, he's dealing with your mother, you're coming to live with me."
Living with her Grandma and Grandpa Mazur had been what Stephanie needed. Two days, after the fight, with her mother, and the hospital visit, The Mazurs had packed up their house in the 'Burg, put it up for sale (it sold rather quickly to a young couple with twins on the way,) and moved their grandbaby down to Northern Virginia, where they bought a house, just outside of Washington D.C. Stephanie thrived with her grandparents, joining the volleyball team, excelling in her classes and making new and good friends.
The first friend she had ever made was still her closest, best friend. On her first day at her new school in Virginia, Stephanie had been introduced to her new classmates and was told to sit by a girl, who was looking out the window, watching the clouds go by. She turned to Stephanie, with different colored eyes, (one a light brown ,the other a pitch black,) and said, in a serious tone, "Hello, I'm Brittany, if you hang out with me, I promise you, you'll be in for boredom and long study hours."
Stephanie had thought the girl strange but found she had nearly all the same classes as her, save for history and some elective classes, she was in a few advanced classes, so she stuck with her and they became fast friends. Brittany had been anything but bored, the middle child of an eccentric family that Stephanie came to love, Brittany had inherited that eccentricity and a love for baking. Everyday Stephanie would be treated to cakes, cookies and small pies that the other girl would make and in return Stephanie would help her with her math homework and drag out to places in the city they lived in.
When Stephanie had finally told Brittany why she was living with her cool grandparents and not her mom and dad, Brittany had scoffed and said, "Your mom's an idiot, nothing about you is wrong or off, save for your love of tasty cakes, I can make you better ones."
Stephanie wanted to keep Brittany forever for that statement and for her take on butterscotch tasty cakes as well. They made friends with other people but when graduation from high school came, both of them went off to the same college, a small private one in the mountains but was close by to a big party school so Stephanie and Brittany made a compromise. Brittany would join Stephanie on adventures at the big party school twice a month and Stephanie would buckle down with her studies with Brittany's help. Luckily, Stephanie enjoyed her business and communication major and graduated with honors, alongside her friend, who doubled majored in government and history, graduating at the top of their class.
The both went on to graduate school, Stephanie stopping at her Masters and Brittany getting her Doctorate, before settling down on the outskirts of Washington D.C. and getting great jobs. Stephanie got a job in the P.R. department for the federal government and Brittany became a professor at the university close to the house they lived in together. One of Stephanie's co-workers asked if the two were lesbians, but Stephanie had shut that down, saying, "Not with that one, she's in love with her stand mixer."
So this is where they were now, in their 30's, in the middle of a grocery store, picking up things to make cookies because Grandma Mazur needed about 7 dozen of them for her friend's bingo charity event. She went right to Brittany, saying to Stephanie, "I love you, grandbaby, but you can't bake."
Fair enough, but she was not uncultured swine! Stephanie tossed several bags of chocolate chips into her cart and made her to the back of the store, where Brittany was grabbing a carton of eggs to place into the cart.
"Grab the good butter, please?" Brittany asked as she grabbed another carton of eggs, "Say, what are we having for dinner, better yet, what are you cooking tonight?"
Stephanie was cook in the house, she still couldn't believe someone who was a natural at baking could be so awful with cooking. Grandma Mazur had been very patient with Stephanie, teaching her the basics and by her Senior year of high school, she was cooking dinner, often and bringing lunches for her and Brittany.
"Something simple, since we're doing a lot of baking tonight, how about pasta?" Stephanie asked and Brittany sighed and nodded her head, "I'll make it super fancy tonight, besides we have to bake 100 cookies for tomorrow and I know you haven't graded any of those papers yet."
"You're right, damn it, alright pasta it is," Brittany sighed as they grabbed the rest of the things needed for the great bake off tonight, "Let's go!"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Women are being advised to be careful in the NOVA area of Virginia, in the last two weeks, 4 women have been reported missing, all from well known universities. They range from students, faculty to visitors," the man on the local news reported, his face grim as the pictures of four women were shown on the screen of the 7PM news, "The only known connection between them all was that they were reported to be seen last on college campuses. Local police and campus police are urging women to be careful and for everyone to report suspicious activities. If you have any tips to the suspect or the where about of the women, please call the crime hotline now back to-"
The man tuned out the news, happily basking in pride as he readied his bag. He did that, he was the reason why women were fearing to go out and socialize, he was the reason why there was heighten sense of fright on campuses.
What had started off a spur of the moment thing, years ago, when he had been young had turned into a game for him. He would spend time in a town, a college town. He would carefully pick his victims, carefully track them, watch their every move, learn their lives, become the second shadow they didn't know they had and then strike, whisking them away to play with them. Oh how he loved playing with them, hearing their screams for help, their pleas for mercy to be let go until those pleas became one for death. He relished in watching their eyes dim as their lives were taken from them. He loved it, it was his high, his addiction.
He couldn't get enough of it. He needed more, four was not enough for this go round, in this new town. Four women, he had chosen because he wanted short victims, this time around, petite women who would be unable to fight his stature and his girth. He decided to kidnap two at once and play with them together, making them watch one another as they were used by him, watching the realization creep in the watcher's eyes as they knew that they were next, they would be toyed with for days, just like their hapless partner.
His playroom was empty now, the last four victims didn't last long enough for his taste. Their bodies taken care of any trace of them gone. His playroom was lonely, he needed more play things and he found the perfect one.
A petite woman, a professor at some hot shot university, with such strange eyes, different colored eyes, he loved it, maybe he would take them and keep them as his own. She had been walking alone, on the campus, without a care in the world, her head stuck in the clouds. Such ignorance would be her downfall, he thought as he pulled his gloves on. As he played with his toys, before they expired, he followed her, became her second shadow. He watched her as she used public transit to go home to a nice house in the trendy part of the city. He watched her as she attended lectures, as she baked and spent time with friends. She didn't have many, she seemed to prefer solitude to anyone else. Perfect, just perfect. The cake was almost finish and the cherry on top of the perfect cake found was that she lived with another woman.
Unlike the petite woman, she was taller, maybe 5'7 or 8, with curly reddish-brown hair, instead of the black hair the other woman sported. She had blue eyes, nothing special about them, nothing different, but she had such lovely white skin, unlike the petite woman who had brown skin, it was like the were complete opposites of another and that was perfect, he loved playing with opposites.
They had gone out, during the evening to go shopping. He knew how long it would take for them to get to the market and come back, he had plenty of time to sneak into their trendy house, to hide and then spring into action. It was time to go get his new toys.
That trendy house had a small flaw, the basement window sometimes didn't latch properly, and so, he snuck in that way. He made his way into their living room, admiring their décor, their lives, the pictures on their mantle and walls. He loved the one of them in their graduation cap and gowns and so…he took it, a token to remember them by, should they die too soon. He set the plan in motioning, opening their refrigerator and spying the pitcher that held what they would drink tonight. He added a little extra to their drinks, they would be like helpless little babies, in a matter of minutes.
He slunk into their side closet and waited and he didn't have to wait that long. They came into the house, in ten minutes, talking and laughing, the petite woman heading into the kitchen with bags of groceries and the taller woman using the powder room before heading into the kitchen as well. He heard them get out glasses, say something along the lines of, 'Cheers to all night baking!' and began to prep for something that they would not even start because a few minutes later, he heard the petite woman slur, "S-stephanie, s-something-"
"Brriiii-" The taller woman responded and then there was a crash of glass hitting the floor and the thumps of bodies hitting tile flooring, perfect, just perfect.
He wanted 20 minutes and then began to turn off the lights and locked the house up. He grabbed the taller woman's car keys and made his way to the garage that was behind the house the held her car. He made sure to turn off the security outdoor light as he did, carrying the taller woman, with ease to the garage, no one the wiser, due to a very festive event going on down the block. With the taller woman in the back of the car, he went back in the house and picked up the petite woman, his true prize and carried her out the house, locking it up and taking her to the car. He was in and out of the house, in 15 minutes and was driving carefully down the road, heading to the highway, not the ones with tolls, no they had cameras, the back ones, going to his playroom and after he got to his playroom, he would get rid of this car.
Soon, it would be time to play, who would he play with first, well, he would see who would wake up first.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Her head hurt, Stephanie thought as she drifted in and out, what happened? One minute, she and Brittany were in the kitchen drinking and getting ready to bake and then the next minute, nothing. She couldn't remember. She could recall maybe being carried, street lights going by, the listlessness of riding in a car.
Stephanie tried to reach up to rub her temples but found that she couldn't what? She struggle slightly and found that her hands were bound, her feet were bound as well. Panic began to set in, true fear and she let out a ragged, almost silent whimper as she tried to blink away the cloudiness that covered her mind.
She turned her head slightly and found Brittany beside her, still passed out, her hands and feet bound as well. They weren't in their house, they were in room, with no windows, just a single metal door a wall lamp that was on now and a mattress on the floor and a bucket in the corner. What-what was going on?! Where were they?! What happened!?
Stephanie shifted and twisted and as she did, the door to the room opened and a masked person, a man most likely walked into the room, he was tall, towering over six feet and bulky. He was dressed from head to toe in black, all of his skin was covered so she couldn't see. He lifted up a hand to his chin and then, in a distorted voice, said to Stephanie, "So, you're the first to awaken, a shame, I wanted to play with the petite one first, no matter, I get to play with you both, either way…"
The fear that bit at the back of her throat rose as the man walked over to her and crouched down, grabbing her chin and turning her head to and fro, clucking his tongue as he did, "Pretty thing, aren't you, but you weren't my target, I want small toys, you're average size, but you will do," Stephanie's eyes widened as the man took out a hunting knife and ran the blunt side of it against her face, making her whimper in fear, "Shhh…I'm not going to hurt you yet, it's a bit too early in the morning for that, and I have places to be and things to do, when I come back, I know the petite one will be awake, then we can play, then we can amuse one another, doesn't that sound fun?"
Stephanie's throat worked itself as the knife slid down her neck across her collarbone. The man let out a noise of approval and said, "We're going to have so much fun, just the three of us…just like the last four…"
The man stood and then walked out the room, before coming back with two jugs of water and several packages of food, "You two will be in here for a bit, I hope you think of some fun games we can play, if not, we'll be playing some of my games."
Stephanie flinched, as the door closed and she let out a sob then leaned against her friend's still form. She tried to work her brain, to remember something, she saw on the news, about women missing, that had been a big topic at her job, but, everyone had laughed it off, the odd of them being a target were low. However, here she was, most likely the 5th victim of this madman. She tremble and shook and when Brittany woke, dazed, confused and her own fear settled in, they wept together, knowing that they would most likely not make it out of this alive.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Do you trust me?" Stephanie was huddled in a ball, shivering from could and perpetual fear, the only noise in the room were Brittany's sobs of pain, the man was far rougher on her than Stephanie. How long had the been down here? How long has it been since the hadn't felt anything but pain? Thank the stars the man hadn't sexually assaulted them yet but, he made hints that that would come, soon, very soon, for now, he was fine with causing pain, so much pain…she just wanted it to stop…to stop…"Stephanie, listen to me, do you trust me?"
Stephanie blinked, looking through her one eye that wasn't swollen shut. Was she hallucinating, had she finally gone crazy? Because standing before her, in the darkness of the tiny room they were in, clearly visible despite no light, was a woman, dressed in an elegant gown of blue, with long hair and a golden tiara nestled in her curls of black. Why did Stephanie have a sense of déjà vu, with this woman?
The woman walked closer to her and crouched down before her, not caring that her dress was getting dirtied from the filth on the floor. She rested a cautious hand on Stephanie's shoulder, ignoring the flinch from the beaten woman and asked, once more, "Do you trust me?"
Stephanie licked at her cracked lips and asked, in a weak voice, "W-who are you?"
"A friend, now is not the time for any questions, you called to me, I woke and came to you, now, please, hurry, answer my question, do you trust me, yes or no? He is coming soon, you both will not survive what he plans next to do, please, let me help you."
"I-I don't have a choice," Stephanie's voice was so weak from screaming and from lack of water, when was the last time she ate or drank? "I-I trust you…"
"Give me your hand," The woman said, holding her hand out, "Let's fix our bond, I will save you both."
Stephanie reached out, with her broken arm, she had to grit her teeth, whimpering in pain as she reached out with her bruised and mangled fingers, letting the woman's small brown hand wrap around her own battered flesh.
The moment the woman grabbed her hand, said woman seemed to leave, in a small flash of light and the metal door to their cell opened and the lights came on. Stephanie blinked at the sudden harsh lights and she heard Brittany's breath quicken beside her and the woman whimper, "No-no-no-no…" please, Stephanie thought, as the man looked at their battered bodies, leave them alone!
"Enny…meeny, miny, moe…which one of you will be the first…to…go….you…blue eyes," the man's disorted voice said and Stephanie let out a whimper as he grabbed her by her arm and jerked her out the room, "Now, settle down, let's get little petite, we have a new game to play and she needs to know the rules."
Stephanie lay on the table she had been thrown on, watching, with hazy eyes as Brittany was sat into a chair, her face turned to Stephanie's form. The man's gloved hand gripped the woman's chin as he hissed in a low voice, "Watch, little lamb, you're next for the slaughter…" he kissed her mouth with his masked covered lips and then let go of the woman and went over to Stephanie's form and turned her so that she lay on her back, looking up at the dim lamp on the ceiling.
The man hummed a tune and said, "I want to have a different fun with you two now, I'm a man with needs, you know, you two have the tools to satisfy that itch, come look at the nifty tool I have," the man held something up that had Stephanie's eyes widening in terror and Brittany whimpering out, "No, no, no, please…don't do it."
"I bet you this will get a round of fresh screams from you," the man said as he adjusted Stephanie on the table, "Now, let's count to three and on three, I'll start, one…two…th-"
"Three, it is my turn!" a woman's voice sharply cut in, it wasn't Stephanie or Brittany who said it, Stephanie didn't know who said it, but as the woman shouted, Stephanie's vision whited out and she seemed to fade into a bath of warm light. She heard a man screaming, felt the heat of warm liquid on her battered body, was she moving? She didn't know. She heard Brittany's broken cries and screams of shock and terror and then, there was nothing, nothing at all until…
"Ms...Plum…." Stephanie felt her head turn, by gentle hands and she let out a whimper of terror, "It's okay…you're safe, you both are safe…we…here…to….he-" Stephanie faded out again, falling once more into the warm bath of light.
"Stephanie Plum," Stephanie blinked opened her eyes, finding herself looking up at night sky, a warm wind caressing her face. She wasn't in pain now, in fact, she felt pretty nice, "Stephanie…"
Stephanie wiggled her fingers, moved her arms and legs and then slowly sat up, finding herself looking around, in an endless field of dark blue roses. She was naked, she had been naked in that torture room, but there were no marks on her, no signs of beatings or cuts or blood or filth. As she looked at her body, confused, she heard a person move to her and she startled, looking up at a woman, the same woman she saw in the room, in that same dress, with that same tiara. So she hadn't been a last death vision, or maybe she was and Stephanie was dead now...
The woman settled down before Stephanie and smiled softly at her, "It has been such a long time, since I've seen you, Stephanie, my, you have grown. I am sorry we had to be reunited under such circumstances, but your call was strong enough, your want for survival, was all I needed to wake up to help you."
"Who are you?" Stephanie asked the woman who ran a hand over her face and smiled once more.
"A very old friend of yours," The woman said and then she laid Stephanie down in the field of dark blue roses, "You are very weak and severely injured, rest now, I will heal the majority of your wounds and your friend's wounds and when you wake, you will be in a safe place and when you sleep, once again, I will be here."
"Brittany-where's my friend?" Stephanie was starting to panic, she heard her screams, "Where is-"
"She is safe too, do not worry, I saved you both," the woman said, soothing Stephanie, "You two are safe, I promise you."
"That man was a monster," Stephanie whispered, tears filling her eyes and the woman nodded her head and then said, in a very low voice.
"A dead monster," she laid Stephanie back down in the roses and said, her fingertips glowing over Stephanie's face, "Now…sleep and heal."
Stephanie woke to the sounds of beeping. She let out a groan of protest and then the beeping got louder until footsteps came rushing in and the beeping stop. She heard a woman say to her softly, "Ms. Plum, can you hear me?" Stephanie nodded her head and then the woman said, "Good, I'm nurse Jodi, you're at Fairfax Regional Hospital, how are you feeling?"
"W-water," Stephanie whispered opening her eyes to see a dim hospital room, seeing a woman, the nurse looking over to her, "T-thirsty."
"Here you are," Stephanie felt a straw press gently against her lips and she took a few sips, almost crying at the cold sensation of soothing water going down her throat, "There we go, dear, are you in pain?" Stephanie shook her head and the nurse nodded her head, "Now, you don't worry, rest and relax dear."
"Brittany…she was-" Stephanie croaked, wincing at the way her voice sounded and the nurse's eyes softened and she motioned to the other side of the room, where another hospital bed was, and her friend was there, asleep, "Thank god…"
"She was in a rougher state, but she's stable, hopefully she'll wake soon," Nurse Jody said to Stephanie and Stephanie leaned back in the pillows, "Relax, you don't need to talk, I'm you and your friend's personal nurse, you're in a private wing, the press can't get to you or try to get pictures."
"Press?" Stephanie asked, frowning and the nurse nodded her head, "What press?" She yawned and blinked her eyes owlishly, "Why the press?"
"When you and your friend are awake and able to stay awake for a bit, the FBI agent in charge of the case will explain it all to you," Stephanie looked at the nurse with confusion but she just clucked and fixed Stephanie's blankets and pillows. The repeating motions lulled Stephanie into a sleep and for the first time ever; she dreamt.
She was back in the field of blue roses that smelled of sweets and the woman was sitting amongst them, looking at Stephanie, with expectant eyes. Stephanie fixed the hem of her hospital gown and slowly sat down beside the woman and said, "In that room, when you gave me your hand, you called yourself my old friend and you said it again, before the nurse came into the room, who are you?"
"…That is a very long story, but I suppose, we have time for it," The woman said as she plucked a rose and looked down at it, "Where do we start but at the beginning, when you were five and broke your arm…
TBC….
Had to get it going somewhere, but somewhere it started! Next chapter, the aftermath