Author's Note: this story involves non-consensual sex.
The car trundled into the driveway and parked.
Laura got out, grabbing her backpack and purse from the other passenger seat.
Her brother had stayed behind while their parents had picked her up from campus, and when she opened the front door, she saw why.
"Welcome home!" he yelled, along with a few members of their extended family and some of her friends who had already returned home.
"Aww, you guys," she said, setting her bags by the door and going over to them, "you didn't have to do this."
"We know," her brother said, "but we wanted to."
Her family and friends hugged her one by one.
A thump over by the door caught her attention after the last hug. She looked over to see her dad walking back out to the car to grab more of her stuff.
"Wait, Daddy," she called, starting after him.
"Don't worry, hon," he answered over his shoulder, "there're only a couple bags left. I got it."
She turned back to the group, and then glanced around the living room.
"Where's Rufus?"
"The backyard," her brother answered.
She padded through the rest of the house, the group just behind her, and slid open the screen door leading into the backyard.
"Oh, Rufus!" she yelled out. "I'm home!"
A bark came from the corner of the backyard, just outside of her range of vision.
A second bark was followed by a golden blur as Rufus raced towards her.
She crouched, and the golden retriever jumped into her outstretched arms, the impact knocking her onto her butt. As she giggled, Rufus wriggled and barked excitedly, a manic ball of loving energy, his nose knocking against her face as he sniffed and licked her.
When he finally calmed down enough to just look adoringly at her, the group went back inside.
"We ordered from Paisan's, by the way," her brother told her.
"Yes!" she exclaimed, pumping her fist. "I missed Paisan's. Couldn't find any good pizza by campus."
"Welcome back," he said, hugging her again.
"Did you grow more?" she asked incredulously, pulling back to get a better look. "You weren't taller than me last time I saw you."
"Yeah, a little bit," he answered proudly. "Now you're my little sister."
She laughed and ruffled his hair.
"Like hell I am, smartass."
"You just got home," her mom playfully admonished, "and you're already calling each other names?"
"Hey, I didn't do anything," her brother said quickly, "she started it."
Laura stuck out her tongue at him, fighting back a giggle at the dramatically scandalized look that was his answer.
++++++++++++++++++
The welcome home party was over, and Laura was tired.
Her friends, and those extended family members, had left, and her parents had gone to bed. Now, it was just her brother and her in the den, her on the couch, him on the recliner, Rufus on the floor next to the couch.
"I'm going to bed," her brother announced, following his announcement with a yawn.
"Yeah, I should probably go too," she answered, following that with her own yawn.
He nodded absentmindedly, heaved himself from the recliner, and trudged from the den.
"Night, love you," he called over his shoulder. "Night, Rufus."
"Love you too, night," was her half-yawned reply.
She stretched out on the couch.
"Time for bed," she murmured down to Rufus, who was already dozing.
When she got up, he stirred, and when he saw her leaving the room, he followed.
Her bedroom was just as she had left it the last time she had been home, which had been the last day of winter break.
She realized, as she changed into sleepwear, that she had not actually slept in her bed since leaving home for her freshman year of college late last August.
During a weekend back here in October, she had slept one night at a friend's house when a reunion had become an impromptu sleepover, and then had slept on the couch the next night because she had been too lazy to go upstairs to her room. Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving weekend had been spent at her maternal grandparents' house across the country, so she had not had a night at home, as she had flown out by herself from an airport closer to campus and flown back also by herself to the same airport. Her winter break, except for the last two nights, had been spent in London, with her flying there right after finals alongside her British roommate, and her parents and brother flying over a few days later to spend some of the break with her. The second-to-last night had been spent at another reunion-turned-sleepover at a friend's house, and the last night she had slept on the couch, again too lazy to schlep herself upstairs. Spring break had been spent down in Miami with her college's Habitat for Humanity chapter.
Rufus leapt on the bed and settled to the side.
Now wearing a tank top, and boxer shorts with nothing underneath, she slid into bed, giving Rufus an affectionate pat before lying down and closing her eyes.
++++++++++++++++++
Laura woke up.
A growl came from next to her. She squinted over to see Rufus standing on the bed, his attention fixed on the floor, another growl coming out.
"What's wrong?" she asked blearily, surprised at his demeanor, none of his customary goofy playfulness apparent.
A third growl followed.
She leaned over and turned on her bedside lamp. A check of her phone showed her that she had only been asleep for a few minutes.
A fourth growl came, and she hesitated before peering over the edge of the bed.
There was nothing there besides floor.
"What is it?" she asked Rufus, but he only stared down at the floor, lips drawn back to reveal his teeth.
When she eased herself off the bed, he leapt down onto the floor and poked his nose underneath the bed.
She knelt and followed his lead.
There was nothing there besides more floor.
"What is it?" she asked Rufus again, rubbing at his back, glancing over to the space under her bed one more time.
There was, again, nothing there besides more floor.
Over the next few minutes, Rufus kept growling at the space under the bed. Her soothing comments and affectionate pats did nothing to calm his strange, newfound ferocity.
She had been perplexed at first, but that quickly gave way to annoyance in the face of her need for sleep.
"Alright," she grumbled, "let's get you out of here."
She stood and headed to the door. After one last growl, Rufus followed her.
The hallway was dark and quiet, as everyone else was asleep.
As soon as Rufus slipped past her, she jumped back into her bedroom, closed the door, and locked it.
"Sorry, buddy," she murmured through the door, "but I'm tired, and there's nothing under the bed."
His desperate whines made her hesitate, but she finally went back to her bed, turned off the lamp, and burrowed under the blanket.
A scratching came at the door.
"I'm fine," she muttered, turning onto her side.
She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pitiful noises coming from outside her door.
And then something wrapped around her mouth, muffling the subsequent squeal of surprise.
Her eyes flew open, but before she could turn to see what was happening, the blanket flew off her, and two more somethings wrapped around her, one pinning her arms to her sides, the other bringing her legs together at the knees. She tried to peer over her shoulder but was restrained by the strength of that something around her mouth.
To her horror, the somethings pulled, and easily dragged her back towards the edge of the bed. She squirmed helplessly, more muffled squeals coming, Rufus now barking frantically.
In seconds, she was over the edge of the bed, suspended in mid-air. Her eyes were adjusted enough to the dark that she could see there was no one in the room but her and nothing out of the ordinary but these strange somethings so easily restraining her. She struggled to no avail, her panic giving way to fear.
The somethings lowered her, and then she was pulled to the side.
Through the fear, she realized that she was being dragged under the bed. That realization made her think of how ferociously Rufus had been growling at that space.
Once she was entirely under the bed, her field of vision restricted to the underside of her bedframe, the somethings pulled her down.
There should have only been a few inches in between her and the floor, but to her surprise and confusion, she did not meet that hard surface, nor any hard surface. It felt like she was sinking; she noticed dimly that darkness was creeping in from the edges of her field of vision, the underside of her bedframe receding further than should have been physically possible.
Darkness soon completely surrounded her. Her brain could not quite interpret where she was, physically speaking. It felt as if she were somehow suspended in mid-air, but there was no tactile reference point.
The somethings loosened, and then slipped from her. She yelped, expecting to fall, but she instead stayed somehow secure on some sort of surface in this space of amorphous darkness. Despite the brief instinct to stand, she stayed lying down, unsure of what might happen were she to try, instead just supporting herself on her elbows so she could at least look around.
"Hello!" she cried out, not expecting an answer.
"Hello there," a voice answered, right next to her.
She shrieked in terrified surprise and glanced over to see nothing but darkness.
"Don't worry," the voice continued, "I won't hurt you. At least, I don't want to hurt you."
She mewled, fear throbbing through her.
"Thank you for getting rid of that mongrel. I'm sure I could've taken you anyway, but it would have put up a fight."
The fear made it hard to think. She just squirmed wildly, glancing around for the source of the voice that was somehow so close.
"You probably have a lot of questions."
She mewled again.
"You also probably don't remember me."
