Day One

A soft knock. Then a long creak. Seconds later, Lauren’s head came poking out from behind the door.”Natalie?”

Natalie rolled over and stretched. “Morning.”

“We - the girls, I mean - are gonna go exploring. There isn’t anything else to do anyway. Wanna come?” Lauren asked.

“Explore…the house?” Natalie stifled a yawn.

“Yeah. I don’t really feel like sitting around, waiting for the kidnappers to come get us �" might as well do something to kill time.”

“Yeah, no, me neither. But you sure the kidnappers aren't here? I'm not sure it's a good idea to poke around...we are in the dragon's lair, after all."

"It should be alright. Adrianna told us she went outside for a walk this morning, and there's no sign of a car anywhere. And considering how remote this place is - if the vehicle isn't here, then they probably aren't too. I mean, there's no way anyone could walk here. Of course, they could've hidden it somewhere...but I don't know. If they're here, I think they would have done something when we were all asleep last night."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Count me in!" Natalie threw her covers aside and finally got out of bed. The flimsy piece of silk she was wearing as pajamas was almost completely see-through, and without meaning to, Lauren found herself staring at Natalie’s pale naked body. Then she almost gasped. On Natalie’s back was an elaborate tattoo piece, intricately designed and coloured in beautiful shades of blue and green. Lauren squinted to take a better look -

Natalie coughed pointedly, and Lauren diverted her gaze in embarrassment. Natalie slipped on her slippers and headed towards the bathroom.

“So, er…meet downstairs half an hour later?” Lauren asked, taking her cue to leave.

“No problem.”

* * *

Exactly 30 minutes later, Natalie stepped out of her room, wearing her cut-off Nirvana tee and Docs, her short hair expertly styled so that it looked as if thousands of little black feather were poking out of her head. The dark eyeliner she wore went beautifully with her chestnut-coloured eyes.

She found the other three girls still sitting at the dining table, eating their hearts out.

Lauren was the first one to notice her. “Hey Nat, over here!” she waved her over.

Nat made her way towards the table. “Hi.”

“Nat, you look amazing. Like a rock chick slash porcelain doll. But the boys are asleep, and it’s not as if there’ll be anyone out there to visit us anyway…I mean, there’s really no need -” Alexis broke off suddenly, realizing how rude she sounded. “Sorry,” Alexis looked embarrassed.

“Nah, it’s okay. I’m really doing it for you guys’ sake, though. One glance at my face without makeup and you’ll be scarred for life…” she laughed.

Alexis pulled out the chair next to her and motioned for Natalie to sit down. “We're sorry we didn't wait for you! I was so hungry...we saved you loads, though. I swear to god, it’s more amazing than anything else I used to have back home.”

Natalie sat, but didn’t touch the food - not the glazed cinnamon rolls sprinkled with sugar, nor the gleaming scrambled eggs oozing with butter, nor the steaming hot coffee. In fact, she didn’t even look at it. "Nah, it's good. I don't have the habit of eating breakfast."

“You sure? You’re missing out…” Lauren said as she took a huge bite of her French toast. “I mean, we are stuck here, and we're probably all going to die, but the free food kind of makes up for it.” she licked her lips, which were covered in maple syrup.

Natalie took a whiff of the coffee, and her stomach groaned loudly in protest. Everyone laughed. She smiled too, but shook her head. “My stomach’s really messed up, so I have to watch what I eat. I avoid food as much as I can, because often I would eat and then end up throwing up half the food. I try not to eat anything except fruits and vegetables, because they’re about the only stuff my stomach can handle.”

“That sucks,” Adrianna said sympathetically.

Natalie nodded. “But hey, there’s an upside; it forces me to go on a diet 24/7. I really don’t need to become any fatter already…”

“But you’re not fat! And I love your curves! You’ve got a great figure,” said Lauren.

“You're kidding! This? I think it would be really nice to fit into those cute little clothes once in a while. Anyway, where do all this food come from? Who made it?”

“We have no idea,” Alexis admitted. “Adrianna and I were the first ones to wake up, and when we got here all the food was already here, waiting for us. I felt like I was in a Harry Potter movie.”

“And you guys didn’t even check to see if the food was safe before digging in?” Natalie had to laugh. “I mean, we ARE in a strange place away from home; there could be cyanide in the food for all you know.”

“Everything looked so good…I couldn’t resist.” Alexis replied guiltily.

“Well, none of you is blue in the face or anything…” Natalie teased, “let’s just hope there’s free lunch as well. Anyway, shall we get going? It’s almost…” Natalie looked over her shoulder to glance at the old grandfather’s clock, “eleven.”

“Yeah, sure,” Alexis said, getting up. The other girls followed suit. “Let’s just stick our plates back inside the kitchen first - we can do the dishes later. Oh, and has anyone seen the boys? Should we ask them to come with us?”

“I passed by Lance and Luke’s rooms on my way down �" well, at least I think it’s their rooms, I can’t really remember . Anyway, they were both snoring like a pig.” Natalie rolled her eyes.

Alexis laughed. “C’mon. Who needs guys to have fun?”

 

* * *

 

“Okay. What do we do now? Left or right?” asked Alexis.

They had only been walking for less than a minute when they came to their first ‘crossroad’. Their arms were already growing tired from carrying multiple dirty dishes each.

“Oh god. Why are all the hallways in this place so freakin’ long? It’s just one long stretch of darkness, and we can’t even see what’s at the end. There must be like hundreds of rooms here…” Lauren groaned.

“Okay, okay. What about we settle this the old-fashioned way? Anyone has a coin? If it’s heads, we’ll go right; if it’s tails, we’ll go left.” Natalie suggested.

“Hey, my lovely damsels-in-distress.” There was suddenly a masculine voice.

The four girls jumped and immediately turned around. “Worry not, Brian to the rescue.” He held out his palms. When none of them moved, he reached forward to take the plates out of their hands.

“I think we can handle carrying a few plates,” Alexis protested, and tried to wrench her plate back.

“True. But it’s what a gentleman would do.” Adrianna passed hers to him and gave him a grateful smile. “Besides, you guys have no idea where the kitchen is, do you?”

“We’re…in the process of figuring it out.” said Natalie.

“With your in-built GPRS system?” he looked skyward.

“Oh, and you know?” Alexis shot back.

“As a matter of fact…I do. You guys just walked past it, actually.” Brian pointed to the room behind him. The door looked exactly like all the rest �" made of wood, with a coat of shiny varnish, and a golden handle �" except it was a little bigger. Brian walked towards it and kicked the door, which was slightly ajar, open.

“…Wow,” was all Adrianna managed.

“You can hold a cooking class for thirty in here.” Alexis remarked.
Natalie pointed at all the cooking utensils in indignation. “Why on earth would anyone need so many pans?!”

“These aren’t all pans,” Brian corrected her. “These over here are woks, and that’s obviously a pot…”

“Whatever,” Natalie rolled her eyes. “They all look the same anyway.”

“How did you find this place, anyway?” asked Lauren.

“I was hungry this morning, so I wandered around the house in search of food. Heck, I’d rather bump into one of the kidnappers and have him shoot me than let myself starve to death. So I just tried opening every door I saw �" I think this was the fifth door.” Brian opened the fridge �" which occupied one whole wall and stretched all the way to the ceiling. It looked more like another door itself. “Juice, anyone?”

“I’ll pass.” said Natalie. The other girls shook their heads too. “I can’t eat or drink anymore,” said Lauren. “We had the most amazing breakfast just now �"“

“Oh thank you,” Brian bowed. “My culinary skills aren’t too bad, eh?”

“Wait, what? YOU made us that breakfast?” Natalie’s mouth dropped open.

“Yeah, ‘course I did. What, you think our kidnappers made that for you? Or all the food just magically appeared out of thin air?”

“That was sort of what we thought, yes.” said Alexis.

“You even baked those cinnamon rolls?” Lauren had to ask.

“Aw, c’mon. Bakery ones taste horrible…”

“Well…thank you. That was very nice of you. You’re an incredible chef,” Adrianna smiled at him.

“And thank you for the compliment. It means a lot.” Brian grinned widely.’

“Uh…hate to interrupt this, but don’t we have some exploring to do?” said Alexis.

“Yeah, we’re going to take a look around the house. Wanna join us?” asked Natalie.

“Sure,” came a voice from behind. Standing at the door was Jake, still in his boxers. “Mornin’,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “I heard noises. Lance and Luke are still sleeping.” He walked over to the refrigerator and swung the door open. “Hey, there’s low-fat yogurt!”

“Gay,” teased Alexis. Jake glared at her. “Let’s go wake them up,” he suggested. “Since the rest of us are all here anyway. You guys said something about exploring?”

“Yeah. Let’s go. But seriously, can you guys make your presence known the next time you’re behind us? Like, can you make sure I can hear your footsteps or something?” Natalie grumbled, heading towards the door. ”I swear, if one more person scares me from behind again…”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, this door’s not locked.” Lance called out. The others gathered round him as he turned the knob.

“Oh. My. God.” Alexis whispered. “It’s a f*****g library.”

Shelves and shelves of books. All alphabetically arranged according to author. Alexis felt like bursting into tears.

“Hey, this is a great spot,” Lauren sat on the carpeted floor next to the window, which made up a whole wall. “Look, you can glance out the window when you’re tired from reading…that’s a beautiful garden. And that little fountain. I feel like I’m in Beauty and the Beast or something…”

“Wow. I think this is the first time I’ve ever been inside a library. Anyway, can we get going?” asked Lance.

"Have you ever read a book before?" asked Natalie curiously.

"Does Playboy count? Sports Illustrated?"

"Those are magazines, you doofus."

“You guys can go ahead. I’ll just stay here all day…oh god, they have all the Kurt Vonneguts!” Alexis picked up a book and collapsed onto the nearest sofa.

Brian dragged her out of the chair. “Plenty of time to do that later. C’mon, let’s see what other treasures this house has got…”

* * *

“A pool and tanning beds?” Lance whistled. “Good thing I’ve got my trunks.”

“And I was so worried about my tan. Guess this solves the problem,” said Lauren.

“Of all the things to worry about �" getting killed, getting raped, not being able to ever go home again �" you worry about your tan?” Luke asked in disbelief.

“Hey, I’m shallow. Get over it,” Lauren shrugged.

“And is that a hot tub? You freaking serious?” Natalie laughed.

* * *

“Okay, it’s official. I’m in Beauty and the Beast.” Lauren announced.

“Are you sure it isn’t the Handsome and the She-Beast?” Lance asked.

“Really? That’s the best you can come up with?”

“But seriously, guys, look at this ballroom. It’s so f*****g big!” Brian shouted. “Big! Big! Big! Big!” The ballroom echoed in reply.

“Everything in here is so gold,” Adrianna commented. “I think I’m going to wait for you guys outside…I feel kind of dizzy…”

* * *
“Look at all these instruments! Look at the grand piano! And -” Natalie gasped. “A Schetcher guitar! I’ve never been able to afford one of those back home…”

“D****t, is that how my hair has been looking all day? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Lance grunted, running his fingers through his hair and trying to get it to stand up.

“That’s one pretty badass stage. Anyone wanna go up there and perform something for us?” asked Adrianna.

“Why don’t you?” asked Brian. “I’m sure you’ll be amazing…”

“Born with two left feet. And I’m practically tone deaf…”

“Aw, that’s okay. Nowadays the entertainment industry’s all about the looks anyway. YTrust me, your milkshake will bring all the boys to the yard…”

* * *

“What is this even supposed to be?” asked Jake.

“It’s a pool table. Haven’t you played pool before?” said Luke.

“Wait, is this a trick question? If it’s called pool, aren’t you supposed to play it at the pool?”

“You cannot be serious,” Luke laughed. “Tell you what, I’ll teach you…”

* * *