Mountains of gratitude to honeywldcat for her editing of this entire series.
*
I arrived at Danielle's house just as dusk was falling. It would have been a beautiful home if I didn't know how it was tainted. It did indeed look like the home of a professor. I saw the car pull from the driveway with three figures in it.
I fired up the laptop and configured the cell phone, connecting to my computer at home and starting to stream. Hanging the bag on a branch of a thick tree, I slipped down the side of the house. I pulled the ski mask over my head and searched for the back door. I needed to get in and get out as quickly as possible. They may have just left, but they could be back at any moment. Not only that, but my camera and other devices had a limited battery.
I found the back door unlocked. Strange, considering that they had a very big secret they wanted to hide and had proven that they were very smart. I was immediately on my guard, on the lookout for any dog or other human presence.
My heart pounded in my ears, praying that Danielle was still here and not taken somewhere in the car. I slunk up the stairs, each one seeming creak louder than any other stair in existence, save for the one immediately after it. My assent was painfully slow, making as sure as possible that I did my best not to be detected. The second I was found out, all bets would be off. But until then, I needed to be as quiet as possible, and that unfortunately meant moving slowly. I really wanted to tear around the house, shouting Danielle's name, but I knew that was unwise.
At long last, I arrived at the top of the stairs. I tiptoed down the hall, opening each door as I came to it, searching for people. I didn't consider Danielle in any mortal danger, so my first priority was to make sure I was alone, at least in my close proximity.
The first room I came to was small, and apparently unused as the guest room. It was empty. The second room was clearly her brother's. It was covered in sports posters, the floor covered in an undergrowth of dirty clothes and dishes. I would have liked nothing better than to destroy everything in that room, but the thought of Danielle somewhere in the house drove me to the next room.
This was Danielle's abode. I nearly lost my composure and broke down as her unique scent bombarded my olfactory senses. The pink walls and the large bed assaulted my eyes. My heart thundered anew as I thought of the atrocities that had taken place in that room. I forced myself to move on.
I reached the end of the hall, coming to her parent's room. It was a boring as the guest room. It too was vacant.
I made my way back downstairs, searching the kitchen and living room for any sign that Danielle had been there at all. In the downstairs office, nothing yielded any clues.
I lost all hope. I had searched every room in the house and didn't find her. I had to face facts: She wasn't here. I sighed heavily, the heaviest sigh I've had the displeasure of sighing. I made one last search of the house, ending my investigation with the closets. The front closet made me stop.
The back of the closet was a cleverly disguised door, the hinges and handle hidden by the arms of hanging coats. I opened the door and was greeted with a dark staircase. I could only imagine what was at the bottom of that rank set of steps.
I steeled myself before descending, all sorts of terrible ideas flooding my mind. What kind of extra perversion needed a secret door when they were perfectly happy to rape their family upstairs? Were there whips and chains? Some sort of bondage dungeon? Or was it somehow worse than that?
I reached the bottom of the stairs, a concrete floor exuding cold air. I stepped forward, running my face into a string with a weight on the end. I gave it a tug and the grim scene before me was bathed in harsh light.
At the far end of the room, there was a table, one end of which had stirrups to hold someone's legs open. Someone was meant to be strapped into the table, unable to move. That someone was Danielle.
My heart leapt up out of my throat. I charged down to her, hoping against hope that she was alright, ripping my mask off.
"Danielle." God dammit, now is not the time for my voice to quaver. This is the time that I need to be the strongest.
"Toby!" Tears poured from her eyes and down her cheeks. I bent down and kissed her over and over.
