Regularly Irregular

CHAPTER 18 - Winter

Winter decided to settle in the day you just so happened to be tied up in a freezing cold room. Your hands were tied behind your back, the tough rope chafing your skin every time you moved the slightest bit. Your feet were bound with the same rope. A thick cloth was tucked into your mouth, wrapping around your head and tied tightly at the space where your skull met your neck. You didn't speak less you risk choking on the saliva soaked rag. Much to your surprise, you weren't blindfolded.

Although it was dark, all it took was a few minutes for your eyes to adjust and you could clearly see the space you were trapped in. It was without a doubt a basement; an empty one at that. The walls were made of a dull grey stone, and it wrapped around the entire room. The floor was nearly the same color, differing very little only because it felt more like cement than stone. Wooden pillars erected from the floor and reached to the ceiling in various places, standing strong to support the weight of the floor above it. You could make out a small window at the very top of the wall furthest away from you.

Covering it was a thin grey sheet, most likely purposed to help it blend in with the wall. The sheerness of the fabric gave it away, the white light from outside that peaked through being the only thing that illuminated the dark basement. You could see small circular shadows falling on the other side of the window. They descended at a steady pace, moving down the small square of light before disappearing all together.

Just yesterday it was sunny, though admittedly it was pretty chilly. Today, it was snowing. How you wished you could have been in your own room, looking out your window to see the first snowfall of the year. Watching those first few white flakes dance through the sky had been your favorite part of every year since you were a child. This was the first time you were missing it.

Tears welled up in your eyes, spilling over your cheeks without much hesitation on your part. You were terrified. You had no idea where you were or who had kidnapped you or even why they would want someone like you. You were no one special. You got into fights with all the boys, and most of the girls at your school avoided you simply because you stole the attention of their crushes. Sure they verbally threatened you sometimes, but none of them had the guts nor the strength to straight up kidnap you. Your only friends were Kakyoin and Jotaro, the latter of whom you only started getting along with recently. The only thing setting you apart from everyone else was your newfound Stand powers, but the only people who knew about them were the aforementioned boys and Miss. Holly. 

You shivered not only from fear of what was to come of you, but also the pure coldness of the room. There was no source of warmth where you were, only the icy sting of the hard ground under you. It didn't help that the only thing you had on was your school uniform. Your upper body got the smallest amount of heat from your sweater, but your legs shook from the lack of coverage your skirt offered. Not only that, but you were missing a sock and shoe on one foot.

Your teeth chattered from the coldness and your sobs, but you quickly silenced yourself when you heard footsteps walking on the floor above you. You started at the empty ceiling, following the sound with your eyes as the footsteps continued to move. After a few feet they disappeared, but they could still be heard somewhere else in what you guessed was a house above you. Your eyes wandered around the open basement, landing on a door at the top of a staircase nearby.

Your body went rigid when you noticed the shadow of someone from the space between the door and the floor. A quiet conversation was happening behind it, but it was impossible to hear what they were saying. Terror started to creep in heavier this time, making it difficult for you to breathe normally now. You were convinced you were going to die, alone, in a stranger's basement for some reason that probably didn't even concern you. Your mother and father would never know what happened to you, and you would never be able to see Jotaro or Kakyoin's face again. At this point you would do anything to see the two of them. You would do anything even if it meant only getting to see their faces for a split second. Even if you could only see one of them, and it had to be Jotaro's blank face, it would be more than enough for you.