Chapter 1: I'm a Little Teapot

Everything has to start somewhere. It's just that now is not exactly that time.

Chapter 1 I’m a little teapot

“I’m a little tea pot short and stout, here is my handle here is my spout.” A soft pink teapot started to whistle shrilly. Steam rushing from its spout like Old Faithful. A young woman with cropped red hair smiled to herself as she poured the hot water into five teacups.

“When I get all steamed up hear me shout! Just tip me over and pour me out.” Her pinked frilled dress rustled quietly as she put some tea packets into the cups. The steamy smell of tea wafted from the cups as the packets contents started to settle. A soft groan came from one of the occupants of the chairs that sat tucked neatly underneath the small decorative table.

The woman smiled sweetly, "Oh goody, you're awake! Just in time for tea. Now, would you like some honey or sugar?" She asked just as sweetly.

The man, bound and gagged looked at her with bleary eyes. Confusion was clear in his expression as he struggled to remember what had happened to him.

"Honey tastes better with this kind of tea. It’s an old family recipe that my mother always used to make." She said, answering for him as she poured a little honey into his already brimming cup. Gaining some of his bearings the man looked around him, his scream muffled by the gag in his mouth. The woman looked at him in confusion. Following his frantic gaze she saw what had scared him so bad. The life size glass dolls that she had custom made sat around the table, painted smiles and glassy eyes looked straight in front of them.

“Oh they’re here for the tea party too! I tried sending you an invitation as well but you just threw it away.” She pouted at the man before taking a seat across from him.

“Your name is Rick right? I’m Clarissa but you can call me Clare for short.” She giggled, taking a sip of tea, watching the man as he struggled to speak.

“Would you like me to take that out of your mouth?” She asked innocently after a full minute of his muffled words. He glared at her but nodded his head in affirmation. The woman stood up and made her way over to him. Taking a knife out of the folds of her dress she sliced through the cloth, allowing Rick to finally speak.

“What the hell do you want?” He yelled at her as she sat back down.

“Well that’s not a very nice way to talk to your hostess,” Hurt glistened in her eyes. Under normal circumstances Rick would have regretted yelling at her but he had been kidnapped, bound and gagged by this demented woman. He felt that she sort of deserved it.

“If you be a good little boy and drink your tea I will tell you why I invited you to my tea party.”  The hurt, obviously feigned, was quickly replaced by a seriousness that a lawyer would use when talking to his client. Rick looked at her skeptically before looking down at the cup in front of him. A short straw leaned in his direction. He hesitated, wondering if this was some sort of trick. Finally Rick’s burning curiosity got the better of him, despite his choking terror. He leaned down as best as he could and grasped the straw with his lips, but didn’t take a drink. Rick didn’t trust the woman one bit; especially after seeing the elaborate get up she had going on.

    The entire room looked like that of a little girl’s. The walls were a soft pink color; white trimming outlined them, while framed photos of running horses were spotted here and there. A queen size canopy bed sat to one side. A variety of stuffed animals took up the whole space. There was a sky blue couch with butterfly and flower pillows hugging the far wall. A white plush rug sat before it and an oval coffee table with a single daisy adorning a vase in the middle finished up the room.
    Rick turned his attention back to the woman sitting before him. She watched him look around her room with a look of displeasure.
    “You’re supposed to drink it, Rick. Not just sit there like a lump on a log and insult my intelligence by pretending to drink.” Her current demeanor made Rick think of a spoiled child who was born used to people doing as she said. He pulled back into a sitting position, already his back was protesting from being bent at such an odd angle.
    “And don’t insult mine by pretending that there is nothing in the tea!” He snapped back, his terror beginning to subside.
“And why would I put something in your tea? You are my guest after all.” She said with a small smirk.
“How should I know why crazy people do what they do? I’m not some psychologist that knows everything about the human mind!” Anger slowly replaced his fear.  
“Oh so now I’m crazy, what happened to the spoiled brat?” She countered smoothly. Rick looked at her in disbelief; did she just read his mind or something? “No, I can’t read minds, just you. You are an open book to me; I can see what you are thinking.”
“…I…how?” He rasped as he mentally kicked himself for being so childish as to think that she was reading his mind and for actually believing it.  
“Drink your tea and I will explain that as well.” Clarissa ordered again, regaining her serious demeanor.     Rick looked at her stubbornly. Finally Clarissa sighed and reached over to take his cup of tea. Careful so not to spill it she took a sip, making a show swallowing it and showing him that she did so. When the cup returned to him it was no longer threatening to overflow its rim.
“You see, there is nothing wrong with your tea.” She reassured once more, “Now drink.”
Again Rick hesitated but finally he leaned down to grasp at the straw and took a tentative taste. The sweet honey covered the bitterness of the tealeaves. Only when she was satisfied that he had drank some tea did Clarissa start to explain things.
    “First off I invited you to my tea party because you overwork your self for such petty reasons. You have a family I know but they will soon leave you. Because of your greed and selfishness. You come home every evening and all but ignore you children and wife. It really is saddening to grow up with a father who is never really there. And to have a mother who is starting to lose herself to the bottle.
“I brought you here to fix that little problem. When you leave you will have a different view of things. And your family can be happy for once. Your wife will have the chance she needs to escape the bottle and your children will have a new father. One that will be there to love them and their mother.” Clarissa smiled at the hidden meaning of her words. “And to answer your second question as to how I know what your thinking. You see, everyone is simply an open book that is just waiting to be read. Whether it be done aloud or silently to ones self. I can see your thoughts in your eyes, in the set of your mouth, in the tone of your voice. People’s body language also speaks thousands of words at once. It is just a matter of interpreting it, but when one practices for years it becomes like a second nature. Just like breathing.” Her smile grew wider,     “Right now you’re thinking that is impossible. That you are merely dreaming a bad dream, and that you will wake to find your self next your wife. The very same wife that you so bluntly take for granted.
“Rest assured, sweetie, you only wish that you were dreaming. And now you are in shock, barely noticing the slight pain in your gut. The pain that is slowly trickling upwards, moving along your spine.”
Rick looked at her in horror, “You b***h! You did spike my drink!” he screamed at her as she continued to watch with amusement.
    “That is the problem with men, you are so downgrading towards women. Though I did put something in your drink. It is a virus that I have specially engineered. It has no cure, there is no way stop it. It is also selective, choosing only those with certain traits. One of which you happen to have. Now,” Clarissa casually took another sip of her tea before setting the now empty cup down, “you need not worry. I will say good by to your family for you.”
    A ragged scream escaped the man's lips as the virus worked it's way up through the maze of bone and nerves. It relished and even wriggled in ecstasy as the man cried. His screams rising in pitch until they fell silent. His lungs gasped for air and his blood thickened in the narrow passage ways; making his already straining heart beat even harder. Crippling agony made Rick thrust his belly forward in weak attempt to lessen the pain. The virus hit a nerve throwing it's victims body into a convulsing mess.
Clarissa watched with silent mirth as she watched Rick's features contort in terror and suffering.

"This, Rick, is what happens when you stray down the road of temptation. You're time is up and it's time to collect." Leaning forward she placed the tip of her finger over his hear and traced up his neck and over his chin. A ball of glowing light, solid yet at the same time translucent, seeped from the small crevasses between Rick's perfect teeth. It hovered for a second, collecting the last straggling bits of it's self, and glided into a thin, curved vial around Clarissa's neck. Gently she corked the vial and stood.

"Let me know when you have finished with him, Nex." She said not glancing back at the bound man. Her only answer was a strangled shout as the virus snapped at another set of nerves.

Tears of pain spilled down his cheeks. The once cold and stoic man had been reduced to nothing more than a weeping child. One that was too young to quite understand how to beg for the pain to stop. As Clarissa left the room Rick gave another strangled shout of undecipherable words. Desperate terror overwhelming him as he watched the girl leave.

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