After a long day of grading, Dr. Douglas Dyer was almost done. 'Never again', he vowed to himself, 'will I give four essay finals on the last two days of finals week. It's just too much.' He could get one good night's sleep, and double check his formulas, and file all his grades comfortably before tomorrow's deadline of noon. He was very tired of grading.
He checked his email. "Don't forget that you still have an incomplete left over from last semester," read his latest. "Even if the grade converts to an 'F', you have to fill out the remove incomplete form."
He growled at himself. Hannah's incomplete. She had begged an incomplete from him last semester, pleading family reasons, and like a softy he had just given it to her. Then she promised to make an appointment, and disappeared into thin air.
It still bothered him. She once had a solid 'A' going, but never handed in her final project, or even showed for the final exam. He would have to make a special trip to the Records office to fail one of the best students he had ever had.
It didn't help his mood any that she also had been the prettiest student he had ever had. She kept missing class because she worked at a daycare and kept getting sick with kid germs, but she was conscientious about coming to office hours to make up missed work. He felt sorry for her. She was hard working, and smart, and that was partly what he found so attractive about her. She really wasn't trying to play off her incredible beauty; she just kept coming and sitting her beautiful self next to him, asking insightful questions, and working hard. After she got to know him, she started asking him personal advice, and she listened just as intently as he tried to help her deal with her bum of a boyfriend, as she did when her grade depended on what he said.
Being single, he had actually had trouble keeping his hands off of the pleasantly plump but incredibly beautiful young woman who sat close to him and looked at him with those soft blue eyes. In point of fact, technically, he hadn't kept his hands off of her. After a while, somehow he had found himself hugging her when she came to his office, and hugging her again when she left. He had barely restrained himself from kissing her several times. He knew that was out of line. If he had been caught kissing a student in his office, that would have been the end of his chance for tenure. He had no business even thinking about kissing one of his students.
He decided a cold shower would be the way to wash the grading out of his mind, and relieve his stress about the girl he was still dreaming about.
The next morning, he turned in all his regular grades electronically, then walked over to the Records to, reluctantly, file a failing grade for the young woman who had been his favorite student ever.
Sally, the secretary who ran the Records Office under the reign of the Registrar, waved him over when he walked in. "Dr. Dyer, I got the strangest phone call this morning. It was from Hannah, your incomplete."
He just looked at her, and then sighed. "I hope she had a really good story," he said.
Sally gave him an odd look. "Actually, it was a very good story, or very bad, depending."
"What?"
"She was calling from the police station. Apparently, the strange boyfriend of hers, who told you she had just disappeared, had kidnapped her." Sally shook her head. "It was not a pretty story. Anyway, she wanted to talk to you. Here's a phone number."
He took the number, and shrugged. "I'll sign an incomplete form," he said, "and call you later to let you know what grade to fill in. I hate to do it but..."
Sally nodded. "You have to check out her story. I know. But the caller ID really did say the police station, just so you know."
"Police station, desk sergeant Mullen speaking."
"Excuse me Sergeant, this is Professor Dyer from..."
"Oh, you must be the professor the kidnap victim needs to talk to. Terrible shame, what happened to her. Um, she's meeting with one of our victim counselors right now, but she said, let me see... 'Please tell the professor that I would REALLY appreciate it if he could come pick me up at the police station. It's very important. Tell him I'll explain when he gets here, but if I ever needed help, today would be the day.'"
"OK," he said. "I'll be right over." 'Once upon a time', he remembered, he had said, 'if you ever really need help, call me.' He should live up to his promise.
He walked into the station, and saw the policeman at the desk had 'Mullen' on his name tag. "Excuse me, Sergeant Mullen, I'm Professor Dyer to see...."
Mullen nodded. "Down the hall, room 3. Knock, and then enter. She should be done by now."
Speak of the angel. Hannah was in there. "Professor?" She practically threw herself at him. She had a fresh bruise on her face. She had lost a lot of weight. She looked more upset than he had ever seen her. She looked like she had been through hell, and the hell of it was, she looked more beautiful than he had thought was possible.
"Hannah, what happened?"
She held him tight. "I'm so sorry; I didn't get back to you. I'm not sure you'll believe me, but it really wasn't my fault."
She didn't let go, and part of him was really pleased at how close she was to him.
"Hannah, talk to me."
"When I tried to break up with him, my boyfriend decided he didn't want a girlfriend after all. "
"What did he want?"
She blushed. "He wanted a ... sex slave."
"Go on, if you want to talk about it."
"He, ... locked me in his basement. There was no way out. If I wanted to eat, I had to..." she blushed furiously, "gratify his desires." She was almost gasping. Like a fish out of water. "I had a sink, a toilet, and a mat he used to ... take me over and over again. Finally, after forever being abused as his sex toy, I got the nerve up to do what I had to do."
"Do you want to tell me? Do I want to know?"
"I need to tell you. I need to tell someone. I BIT him. That is, I BIT IT. I nearly bit IT off. I think he must have been bleeding badly, but I didn't stay to see. I ran, naked, to a nearby house, and called 911. The police arrived at the same time as an ambulance that he must have called."
"At first they didn't want to believe me, but there was evidence enough to hold him for rape. I'm going to testify. I hope they lock him away until he DIES."
She still hadn't let go, and now she started sobbing on his shoulder. "I was done with everything else from the semester. I just wanted to finish up my work for you, and before I could, he grabbed me and locked me in his basement. I don't know what you must have thought. I kept dreaming about you. I dreamt about how happy it would be when I finished, and then I wouldn't be your student anymore, and maybe I could be your ... your... friend. But I couldn't escape!"
"You're safe now," he said to the warm bundle who was holding him tight. "You're safe with me."
After a while, he said, "then what happened?"
