## Stormy nights, or beware of little old ladies F/ff

Post by lasse672000 » Sun Jun 16, 2013 5:40 am

It was pitch black outside. The wind was howling, the branches of a nearby tree banging on one of the windows upstairs, and the rain came pouring down. Frequent thunder and lightning completed and enhanced the nightmare scenario.
On the floor in the living room, 13-year old Lucy and her 15-year old cousin Hayden lay, dressed in pink, footed plush onesie-pyjamas, reading horror novels. Every once in a while one of the girls would read something out loud, so the other one could understand how truly horrific the story was.
Suddenly, there was a power outage, and the house and the neighbourhood went black.
The girls, who had been reading especially scary passages in their books, immediately started screaming. They screamed once more and louder, when there was a sudden knock on the door. Together, and holding hands, they carefully opened it, screaming a third time when there was a particularly loud thunderclap and a bold of lightning hit a tree further down the street, turning it to match-sticks.
Outside a little old lady stood, soaking wet and carrying a large carpetbag.
“Good evening, girls,” she said, as if talking to someone possibly hearing impaired.
“I know it’s a rude thing, barging in like this, but would you mind terribly if I stayed here until the storm blows over? Yours were the only house with the lights turned on. At least it was, until the power went. And might I also use the phone, to call a taxi?”
Lucy and Hayden looked at each other, and Lucy shrugged.
“Sure,” she said,” please come in. We were just about to get some candles so we could continue reading. I’m Lucy, by the way, and this is my cousin Hayden.”
Hayden gave her cousin a “We were?”-look, but then nodded.
“Thank you, dear,” the woman said and entered. “I’m the lady Asquith, but you can call me Eleanor. I’ve never been in this part of town before, and I seem to be lost.”
“Are those pyjamas? They look mighty nice. ”She asked peering inquisitively at what the girls were wearing.
“Yes ma’m, they are.” Hayden confirmed. “Please have a seat, while I go and get the phone.”
She left the room, to go and get the cordless phone.
When she came back a minute or two later, she was shocked to find Lucy sitting in a chair, with her wrists behind her back. Lady Asquith or whoever she was, turned towards her and smiled:
“Ah; you’re back! How nice of you to bring the phone. That saves me the trouble of finding it later. Please sit down next to your friend, and I’ll try to make it as comfortable as I can for you, while I’m here.”
Shocked and speechless, Hayden did as she was told, and she soon had her wrists crossed and snugly tied together behind her back. The woman then kneeled in front of the girls and tied their ankles together and to the legs of the chairs. Lastly, she tied ropes around their waists and the backs of the chairs.
By now, both girls had recovered enough to start speaking.
“Why do you do this?” Hayden asked, at the same time as Lucy asked:”Who are you; really?”
“None of those things are any of your concerns, really, but I’ll tell you anyway. My name really is Eleanor Asquith, but I’m no lady. Not in any sense of the word. I’m just your bogstandard burglar, who just happened to be in the neighbourhood, when the lights went out. I decided to try my luck at this house, as I saw the lights were on before, and I suspected there would be someone at home.
Why this house, and not one where there’s no one at home, you might wonder. Well, that’s an easy enough question to answer. If there’s no one at home, I have to gain entrance by using force, thus leaving tell-tale signs that there’s been a burglary.
However, if there is someone at home, I usually just have to ring the bell, and be let in, as I did just now. The people living in the house tend to get so embarrassed by the fact they’ve been robbed by a little old lady, they don’t often go to the police, for fear of getting laughed at. And even if they do, I usually have time to get rid of the loot, before anyone comes knocking on my door.
Well, enough chit-chat for now. I will now gag you two, so I can take what I want without being disturbed by any hollering. Then I’ll call my partner, so he can come and get me. By the way; if you’re thinking of tracing me by tracing the phone-number; don’t bother. It will be disconnected and all traces of it erased, as soon as I’ve used it.”
She put he hand in the bag and took out a large napkin which she scrunched up, and a scarf. “Now, open wide!”
Of course none of the girls did, so she pinched Lucy’s nose. When she had to open her mouth to breathe, she put the napkin in her mouth, and tied the scarf around her head to hold it in place. Then it was Hayden’s turn. She opened her mouth without putting up a fight and was soon as securely gagged as her cousin.
The Asquith-woman started walking towards the door separating the room from the rest of the house, but suddenly turned around, slapping her fore-head. “Oh, I must be getting old,” she said, “because I almost forgot one thing! If I leave you like that, you might be able to get at the knots and undo them! And we can’t have that; now can we?” She reached inside the bag, and took out a roll of duct tape. She went back to the girls and covered not only the ropes around their wrists, but also the scarves with generous amounts of tape.
“Now, you two sit quietly there and let me work in peace.” she said, holding up her index-finger.
She left them, and they could hear her go through cabinets and drawers in her search for valuables, as well as using the phone.
When she came back, she looked kind of sad, and said: “You’re not rich are you? Well, I’ve now taken more or less what I wanted and called for my ride, who should be here any minute.
Good bye girls. I hope someone soon comes and set you free.”
Whazzzz up!.