Spring Break!

To [personal profile] lilfluff‘s commissioned prompt in my Call for Prompts: A story in which both parties believe they are the abductor and the other is the abducted.

Sections of 83 words, because it pleased me to do so.

“Come away with me this weekend.”

The words had sounded so innocent, and been so permanent under the surface. Spring Break. No schoolwork to worry about (other schools might try, but a state school knew better than to bother), parents who weren’t going to ask where their kids were going, in case they accidentally found out, and she’d lied to her friends about her secret plans for the weekend. By the time anyone realized they were gone, it would be way too late.

“With you? Sure.”

That made everything both harder and easier. He’d been working out a plan, but hadn’t expected the opportunity to jump into his lap like this. He didn’t have all of his details in place; he was going to have to wing some of it. He came up with a lie for his parents and another for his friends, and packed his special bag inside his normal suitcase. He really hated winging it. It left way too much up to chance.

“It’s just down this road.”

Away from everything, secluded, private. Far enough away that nobody would hear them. Far enough away that even finding them would be tricky, unless you knew what you were looking for. Her uncle had built the place. She had never asked him why; she didn’t really want to know. She’d bleached it roof to basement when she inherited, and waited for the family to forget about it, and him, and her.

They’d been more than willing to oblige.

“This place is really out there, isn’t it?”

More than out there, it was the sort of remote he hadn’t known existed this close to the city. They’d been driving for half an hour since the last gas station (she’d filled up there, much to his relief), and the houses were few and far between, nestled into hillsides. Often, all you saw was the mailbox, lone and lonely-looking. He tried to memorize everything; he didn’t want to stand out, lost, when he left.

“Now that we’re all alone…”

With her touch, the cabin had become pretty cozy. She’d pulled all the drapes and lit a fire, leaving them enveloped in wood-paneled hunting-lodge charm. Even a passing hiker wouldn’t nothing anything, which was good, on the rare occasion that things went sour. Uncle Thomas had really planned for everything.

(She’d left the flower bed alone. She didn’t want to know who was under there, any more than her parents wanted to know where she got her money).

“Quite alone.”

The place reminded him of a couple of his bolt holes. It was well-situated, well-provisioned, and cozy, with what looked from the outside like a full basement. Somebody had put some money into this place. And now, here he was, locked in it (she hadn’t noticed when he pocketed the deadbolt key) with his quarry. Cuddled on the couch like the college kid he was pretending to be.

The only trick was going to be getting out of here with her.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/116723.html. You can comment here or there.

13 thoughts on “Spring Break!

      • Well, they both seem more worried about getting out of the cabin alone and unseen. This indicates the abductee not getting away in a rather … final… fashion.

            • Yeah, me as well. My reading of the end is that he expects to grab her and get her out of there (to one of *his* bolt holes perhaps?) but doesn’t want to be seen doing so (isolated location could be good, but also very bad if someone saw him well enough to recognize him). While she I think is maybe planning on keeping him there long term. Hmm, the full basement is perhaps a fully furnished basement? For devious definitions of “fully furnished”?

  1. It sounds to me like they deserve each other. Despite him having the key she does have the home turf advantage. Both of them have the advantage that neither knows what the other is. It may come down to who makes the first move and what that move is. It could even turn into a match made in Hell.

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