Postby KP Presents » Fri Sep 07, 2012 2:54 am
Well, what choice did I have in the matter? I sat back in the chair, making myself as comfortable as I could, and thought about what was happening. Alicia was sitting next to me, the creak of her obviously new cream leather jacket quite audible as she moved about, and I pictured her in my mind’s eye - black leggings, flat black loafers, and the white t-shirt under her jacket.
Then there was Granny, a grey pashmina shawl wrapped around her neck and shoulders as she sat in the front of the car. I hadn’t seen what else she was wearing, but that was not a real problem. Whatever was happening, it had been planned with the usual Craig duplicity - it even made me wonder if Cassie was going to a gymnastics class that day or not.
I tried to count time, but come on - when you’re blindfolded, and you can’t speak that easily, what chance have you got of working out where or how long you have been travelling? I just let it wash over me until the car finally came to a stop, and I felt cool air on my face as the door was opened.
“Watch your head,” Granny said as she helped me to get out of the car, and guided me to the next destination, my feet crunching on something as we walked. As I felt the ground change to some sort of stone, and then heard the click of heels on a wooden floor, I realised that I had been brought into a building - but where? I could hear movement, but no voices except Granny as she said “We’re going up some stairs now,” and I raised my feet, one at a time.
Eventually, I was stopped as Granny said “Just stay there for a few minutes.” I heard a door closing behind me, and tried to twist my head round, in a vain effort to get the sleep mask off my eyes, but it was no use. Then I heard the door open and close again.
“Hsssthhr,” I mumbled as I turned my head in the direction I thought I could hear footsteps from. At first there was no reply, and then I heard a giggle - a very familiar giggle.
“I don’t believe it - you actually did manage to kidnap her. And aw, doesn’t she look cute in that photograph.”
“MRREEEE!!!!!”
The sleep mask was pulled off, and as I blinked I saw I was right - there, standing in front of me with the biggest grin I had ever seen on her face, was Mary Holmes. She stood there, her arms folded as she laughed, in her striped vest top and cut off shorts, her legs safely covered in a pair of sheer leggings.
“Yeah - and look at what she did grow up into.”
I groaned inwardly as I turned round and saw Cathy standing there as well, her eyes wide under her glasses. She was wearing a sleeveless light green blouse and a knee length denim skirt, with short black felt boots on her feet with those buttons on the side.
“Lsshmgnnkllu,” I mumbled as I looked round to see Alicia standing by the door, her arms folded and a big, evil smile on her face. “Hey, don’t blame me totally,” she said eventually as she walked towards the three of us, “I just went along with the plan.”
“Ndwhhttprrtell is the plan?” I said as she gently peeled the tape away from my mouth. “Kidnap Jenny and make fun of her day.”
“Half right,” Alicia said as she unlocked the handcuffs. “Kidnap Jenny and give her the greatest birthday ever is the general idea. Mary and Cathy and I have had the devil of a job keeping this from you - especially, you young Catherine.”
“Hey,” Cathy said as she took off her glasses and wiped them, “Just one little mistake, and I covered my back, didn’t I?”
“Barely,” Mary said as she hugged me. “So, Jenny, how does it feel to be one of the old ones?”
“Hey, you’re only a couple of weeks older than me,” I finally said with a laugh. “So, what’s the plan for today?”
“For now, it’s just the four of us,” Alicia said, “and we have the whole of the Manor Day Room to ourselves.” It had taken me a few minutes to get my bearings, but I had eventually realised where they had brought me - Holderness Manor. After all, if Alicia had a hand in this, where else would she come?
“Where are Mum and Granny?”
“Talking to Grandma and Mrs Bridges - we’ll see them again at lunchtime. The others will join us later.”
“Others?”
“Oh yes, Jennifer Alison - today is your birthday party, and have I got things planned for you. In fact, I thought we would start off with a karaoke contest - I just need my able assistants to bring the equipment in.”
“We’ll go and find them,” Mary and Cathy said, and I watched as they left the room. This was good - I had a few questions for Alicia. Questions such as “what the hell are they going to say when they see the games we play,” as soon as the door was closed.
“Hmmm - oh don’t be such a worrywart, Jenny. I’ve been preparing those two for the last few weeks for this day.”
Well, I knew Alicia well enough to believe that, but that did raise another interesting question, which I did not hesitate to ask.
“Why?”
“Mary was asking me about what happened over the summer, because she had seen the report of a robbery at the Manor House. I didn’t say much, but she seemed very interested in the idea that Grandma was tied up. Something tells me she might enjoy playing some very simple games with us - at first anyway.”
“And Cathy?”
“Ah - now that’s a bit more of a wild guess. You’ll have to trust me on that one - I’ll explain later.”
“Can you trust them not to tell the others?”
“Let’s find out,” Alicia said as the door opened, Mary and Cathy walking in with two other people I recognised instantly. Angela, Alicia’s older sister, was carrying a speaker in her hands, which she set down on the ground before saying “Happy Birthday Jenny” to me.
The other person was Bobby, Suzie’s older brother. He was carrying a CD player and a microphone, as well as a small duffle bag which he put on the floor. “Hi Bobby,” I said as he plugged in the player to the speaker.
“Hey Jenny,” he said as he looked up, “Where’s that pesky sister of yours?”
“Supposedly at a Gymnastics class,” I said as I looked at Alicia. “She is - she’s coming later with Suzie. You can have your fun with her when they get here.”
“Fun?” Mary said as she looked at us, but I just shook my head. “I’ll be back in a minute,” Bobby said as he stood up, “I just need to ring Colin and find out when he’s arriving.”
“Colin?”
“Colin Hampton - a friend from school. We have a project to work on for school, and the only time we can get is today, so he’s coming over later.” Bobby walked out of the room as Angela handed a file to Alicia.
“Right then,” Alicia said as she looked at us, “we’ve got an hour or so to kill until lunch, so I thought we could have a Karaoke session - with a difference.”
“Oh - What’s the difference,” Cathy said as Angela walked out of the room, passing Bobby as he came back in. “Make sure they have fun,” she said with a wink as Bobby closed the door behind her.
“The twist,” he said as he opened the duffle bag, “is that we’re going to ask you if you want to try singing while something tries to stop you.”
“Hang on,” Mary said as she sat down, “You mean we’ll need to put something in our mouths.”
“That’s right,” Bobby said with a smile. “Unless, of course, you’re chicken.”
“What is it about boys that make them think they can call us Chicken,” Alicia said, but she gave me a wink as she said this, as I began to see what her plan may be. “Well, I’ll prove him wrong. Unless one of you want to go first?”
“So what’s the idea - I sing with something in my mouth and you try to guess what it is?”
“Got it in one,” Bobby said as he rummaged around inside the sack. “So, who’s the least chicken amongst you?”
Well, I can take a hint, so I said “I’ll do it.” Bobby smiled as he pulled out a large handkerchief, and handed it to me. Folding it neatly, I pushed it into my mouth, turned to the others and put a set of headphones over my ears. As Bobby pressed the play button, I took the microphone and started to sing along.
Urinscrrr, dntknwwhtfrr,
Urtrnghdswhnualkthrtdr
Dntndmkp Tcvrp,
Bntwattursnff
frenlsntrmmcnst,
frenlsbtu,
The other started singing along as I continued my mumbled attempt
Baby you light up my world like nobody else,
The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,
But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,
You don't know,
Oh oh,
You don't know you're beautiful,
“All right, I get it now,” Cathy said with a smile as I stopped signing, bowed and pulled the now quite wet cloth out of my mouth. “But how did you cope keeping that in your mouth?”
I was so tempted to say “Usually I have at least three other layers as well,” but decided that would not be a good move at this time. Instead I watched as Mary stood up, took the mike and said “All right, Robert, what have you got that I can use to muffle me.”
He gave Mary a look that could have caused trouble, but instead he just smiled sweetly and pulled out a small cloth bean bag, no bigger than the palm of his hand. “Try this,” he said as he smiled his sweetest smile - a sign that mean it was worried for Mary if things progressed.
She didn’t see this, as she opened her mouth, put the bean bag in and started.
Icmhm Lkstn
NdIfhfenturms
Thssdsfdstwshwvknwn
LLblweewftsnsn
Ndllknlldwn, wtfrnw
Ndllknlldwn, wtfrnw
“I didn’t know Mary was into Mumford and Sons,” I whispered to Alicia as we sat there.
“Yeah - she’s kinda into that sort of thing,” she answered as Mary finished and Cathy stood up. She rather nervously took a sponge ball from Bobby and popped it into her mouth before she started singing.
I recognised the words to the Franz Ferdinand song, and started to sing along as Cathy smiled and sang her mumbled version. As she finished, Alicia stood up and said “My turn now,” looking at Bobby and saying “What have you got for me?”
Now I knew I could see the look in his eye as he brought out one of Suzie’s old small headscarves. Alicia said nothing, but folded and pushed the cloth into her mouth. Before she had a chance to take the microphone, however, Bobby quickly pulled her hands behind her back, and I heard the sound of tape been pulled off a roll as he secured her hands together.
I wasn’t sure if Alicia knew this was going to happen, as I looked at her staring back at me. She gave nothing away, as Mary stood up and walked round her. “Wow - you really can’t move your hands apart, can you,” she said with a low whistle as she stood in front of Alicia.
I knew for a fact she could if she wanted to, but instead she just slowly shook her head from side to side. Cathy stood up and looked a swell, so I decided to play along and did the same thing.
“Have you done this to her before, Bobby,” Cathy said quietly. Bobby put on his ‘sweet and innocent’ face, and said “I just wanted to see if I could do it now.”
I looked at the other two - I could see where this was going, but didn’t want to say anything. Finally it was Cathy who broke the ice, and said “Do you think you could do that to me as well.”
I saw the smile on Alicia’s face when she heard that - one that said just one word.
“Gotcha.”