[Author's notes: I'd like to show my gratitude to Inkstaine for her continued help in editing this story. Thanks Inkstaine!
All characters in this story are over the legal age.
Thanks again for your readership. Please take the time to comment!]
*
Tuesday evening...
After dinner, Michael's voice came over the speakers. "Good evening, ladies. Nice to see you're in such good moods. Now, since you've both been so well behaved today, I was going to let you have the rest of the night off. However, I thought I'd give you the option of an extra-credit assignment."
"Oh boy, extra credit!" Sara quipped.
"Now, now, Sara. At least wait until I tell you what it is. First, the reward:. If you do what I ask tonight, I'll let you both send a letter home, or where ever you want."
"Wait a sec, how do we even know you'll send it?" Sara asked.
"You don't," Michael said flatly. "You'll have to trust me I'm afraid, but I have no reason to lie. You can write the letter, and I'll send it out in the morning. Not from here, of course, but your recipient will get it just the same"
"What do you want us to do?" asked Charlotte.
"That's the easy part. All you have to do is kiss," Michael replied.
"A kiss?" said Charlotte, "That's all?"
"He doesn't mean a good-night kiss you'd give to your mom, Charlotte." Sara then turned her attention to the nearest camera. "Do you, Michael?"
"Sara is correct. For the kiss to count, it has to be a good one. Open mouth, full, and not short."
"Nothing else?" Sara asked, not sure if she believed him, "You can't change the deal on us."
"No, Sara, nothing else. Just a kiss, but if you make it extra-good, I might throw in something special on top of the letter. We'll have to see."
"Give us a minute," said Sara.
She looked at Charlotte, who was next to her on the couch, brow furrowed in thought. Sara thought of her mother; she'd be beside herself in grief by now. In the least a letter would give her hope. Sara didn't doubt that Michael would do as he said. There would be no reason not too.
Charlotte looked up and caught Sara's eye. "Do you think he'll really send the letters if we do it?"
Sara nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I mean it could be a lie, but I think he'd just try to force us or offer some other kind of bait instead."
"I guess after this morning it wouldn't be so bad." Charlotte said. "I'm sure Crissy and her folks are really worried about me, and I know Ma is. Maybe Papa too. It would be good to let them know I'm okay."
"I think so. Well?"
Charlotte bit her lip, then nodded. "Let's do it," she said with a devilish grin.
Sara looked up at the nearest camera. "Okay, we're in. But you better not be messing with us."
"Very good," Michael replied. "Whenever you're ready, ladies."
Sara took Charlotte's hand; it was cold and damp with nervous sweat.
Charlotte smiled and said, "Maybe you should take the lead. I...I've never kissed a girl, and I've never really kissed a boy before, either. At least not the way
he
wants us too."
Sara turned to face Charlotte on the couch, sitting on her legs and leaning forward. Though her hand trembled in Sara's, Charlotte's face was open, welcoming. Her lips parted just enough to show a glimmer of white. Sara caressed her cheek, brushing a stray hair behind the girl's ear. Her fingers traced lines through her hair before circling around to palm the nape of her neck. She pulled Charlotte close, their lips almost touching. Sara could feel Charlotte's breath, quick and hot, on her lips. She quickly closed that narrow gap and kissed her, drawing Charlotte's succulent bottom lip between her own. Sara left the girl's hand in her lap and drew their bodies together with an arm around her waist. Charlotte was rigid, perfectly still. Her hands found Sara's hips, but parked there like a shy teenager on a first dance. Sara slipped the boundary of Charlotte's mouth with the slightest flick of her tongue. The hands on her hips squeezed. The body that had been so stiff began to melt onto hers. Charlotte's mouth opened, their tongues met. Sara could feel the beating of the girl's chest next to her own, the heat rising between them. Charlotte sank back into the folds of the couch, and Sara followed her down, legs entwined, hands moving freely across the curves of their bodies. At last out of breath, Sara broke the spell of the kiss, sucking Charlotte's lips and planting light kisses on her chin; slowly bringing them back down to earth. Sara tried to pull away, but Charlotte held her there with a hand between her shoulders. "Not yet," she whispered. "Just...for a minute, don't let go." They laid there, forehead to forehead, nose to nose, until Charlotte finally looked up at her and chuckled.
...
Sara read over her letter one last time before stuffing it into an envelope and licking the adhesive. She then flipped it over, sealed it, and wrote her mother's address on the front. If Michael sent it off tomorrow, she'd get it by the next day. Hopefully then she would rest just a little easier. At least she'd know her only daughter wasn't rotting in some dumpster somewhere. At least not yet. Sara tried to be upbeat, confident that her captor would do as he said and release her once she and Charlotte did what he asked. Until now, she had avoided thinking about that question. What was Michael really planning? Was he a killer? She didn't know. Would this be the last thing she ever said to her mother? Sara shook her head. It didn't do a lick of good to dwell on it, one way or the other.
Charlotte was finishing her own letter when she looked up and caught Sara watching her. "What?" she said with a smile.
"Oh, nothing," said Sara, "just thinking."
"Penny for your thoughts."
"Well, I was just thinking about what you said the other night, about how you were glad it was me you're stuck here with."
Charlotte chewed the end of her pencil and smiled. "Yeah."
"Well, I'm glad too. You're a great girl, Charlotte. I'm sorry you're in this mess, but I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be here."
Charlotte blushed and went back to her letter.
...
Wednesday.
By the third day of her kidnapping, Sara Kierson no longer carried herself like a captive. She went about her new routine without the slightest glance at the ever vigilant cameras. She chose her outfit according to which gave her a sense of power. She exercised. She ate her breakfast. She enjoyed Charlotte's company.