𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 ℂ𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 ➶

𝕋𝕨𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕪-𝕊𝕚𝕩: 𝔹𝕒𝕓𝕪 'ℕ𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕖𝕕

Valentina woke up slowly, oh so slowly. Like after she took a couple too many Benadryl and conked out, only to awake twelve hours later with crusty eyes and a string of saliva connecting her to the pillow.

She was dizzy and disoriented, didn't know where she was for a moment, just that it was so dark that she couldn't tell if her eyes were really open.

The gravity of the situation didn't fully occur to her until she reached up to rub her eyes only to find she couldn't separate her hands. They were bound, from the wrist to the elbow. She reflexively kicked out, only to find her legs tied up as well, from the knee to the ankle.

That's when it hit her. She'd been abducted from her dorm room.

But how? Nevermore prided itself on its security. It constantly reassured the parents of its students that they would be kept as safe as any normie, if not safer.

And why? She was hardly the most desirable student they could have kidnapped. She was pretty but not as pretty as the rest of the girls, wealthy but only upper-middle class.

It didn't make sense! But then it occurred to her that it didn't have to make sense. A motive wasn't going to get her out of the situation she was in.

Valentina started thrashing her bound limbs, only to realize how small and cramped the pitch-black space she was enclosed in was. She banged frantically at the sides of it, shouting, begging, "Hello? Someone, help! Get me out of here! Please!"

Nothing. She screamed herself hoarse, cried so hard she thought she was going to throw up. It was impossible to tell how long she spent in that little corner of hell, not knowing where she was, who had taken her and why, just that she was in danger. It felt like an eternity...

But, some indeterminate amount of time later, the vessel she was in jerked suddenly, causing her to roll forward and then back. It reminded her of the times she wasn't wearing her seatbelt when the car she was riding in suddenly stopped. Was she in the trunk of a car?

It checked out. She heard the sound of a car door opening and closing, followed by muffled voices. They sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place them or make out what they were saying.

She tried shouting again, despite how raw her throat was, "Someone, please! Let me out!"

Her wish was granted. The trunk was opened.

At first, the light --so bright and white-- blinded her. She blinked rapidly, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Only to see--

"Gomez? Tish?" She asked, astonished.

She could hardly believe it, but there stood her boyfriend and girlfriend, wearing matching manic grins.

"Mon bébé! Did you have a nice nap?" Morticia cooed, leaning forward to comb her fingers through Valentina's hair, straighten out some of her bedhead. The feeling of nails gently grazing her scalp gave her full-body tingles. Under different circumstances, she would have lost herself to the feeling. But she was too tense to fully enjoy the sensation.

"It's been so long since I indulged in a proper kidnapping!" Gomez said, with bright, sparkling eyes, like he was talking about a fun game or his favorite sport.

"Wh-- What-- Why--" She stammered, unable to form a complete thought, let alone string together a coherent sentence.

"You said so yourself, mia bambina. You wanted to spend winter break with us, but your mother wouldn't allow it. This is the best solution!"

"Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission," Tish tacked on for good measure.

"What is wrong with you?!" Valentina demanded once she could finally trust her voice. She couldn't help herself. Fury rose in her throat like heartburn, until she thought she was going to puke.

"No diagnosis, as of yet," He sighed, shaking his head in what appeared --nonsensically-- to be disappointment. "There's still time for modern medicine to catch up, though."

"Oh, I have a diagnosis for you alright... You're both insane! No one else but a crazy person would decide kidnapping is the logical conclusion to your girlfriend's mother not approving of you!"

There was a beat of stunned silence. Then, "Your mother doesn't approve of us, mon chou?" Of course they were stunned for the wrong reason.

"That's not the point!" She shrieked, thrashing her limbs wildly, smacking Morticia's hand away. "This-- This is not okay! I demand you let me go, this instant!"

Another beat, this one where the two of them blinked at each other before looking back at her. Gomez inhaled sharply through his teeth like a doctor about to administer some bad news. "I don't think you get how this works. See, we abducted you, so we get to tell you what to do."

"This isn't funny, Gomez!"

"But it is fun," Morticia added. "Although, how much fun you have this vacation depends on how well you behave. Normally, we'd be fine with you throwing a tantrum, but, well, we'll have company. And company tends to overreact when they learn one of your dinner guests is there against their will."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Yes, of course, but only a little," their boyfriend said with a shrug.

Valentina couldn't believe her ears. This was absolutely mad. Then again, it wasn't out of character. No, this was just like them.

"You're going to be in so much trouble once we get back to Nevermore," she hissed. It was the best threat she had at her disposal. A poor weapon, but the only one in her arsenal.

"We'll see," Morticia replied, dismissively waving her hand. "Now, the rules are simple..."