Virginia had Harold move sleeping Sandra to the only bedroom on the main floor. She stood in the hallway and watched while Harold gently laid Sandra down on the bed and then locked the door behind him. The two of them then walked into the kitchen.
“This is going to be a great party. We’ve never had this many honored guests before, have we?” Harold rubbed Virginia’s shoulders.
“No we haven’t, and the humorous thing is that they fell right into our laps,” Virginia laughed.
Harold smirked, “so, who do you think is going to be first?”
“Well, you know that he prefers to eat in the greenhouse and that’s where Charley is at the moment,” Virginia said.
“True, but that Lou guy is already tied up down in his room,”
“Well, maybe Lou will be his hors d’oeuvre,” Virginia laughed again.
While Virginia and Harold prepared for their party, Brandi struggled to get out of the shackles. She twisted and pulled and wiggled her wrists so much that they both began to bleed. I got to get out of here, she thought. Brandi rested for a few minutes and then pulled her right wrist down as hard as she could. The pain was excruciating but she managed to get that hand free. She ripped the Duct tape off of her mouth and took the gag out. With her adrenaline now pumping, Brandi pulled down her left arm. Her blood trickled from her wrist as she groaned in pain.
“Come on,” she grunted, “it’s too tight.”
Brandi stopped and rested again. She looked around the attic and noticed that it had started to get darker up there. Most of the light was now coming from the lamp that Harold left on.
“I’ve been up here almost all day. I wonder what happened to everyone else.”
Brandi continued to work on her other hand, while Sandra in the bedroom downstairs woke up. She sat up on the bed and looked around until she realized what had happened. Did she drug me, she thought. Sandra jumped up off the bed but then felt dizzy. She carefully walked over to the bedroom door and found it locked.
“Hey, let me out of here,” Sandra pounded on the door.
“It sounds as if Sandra is awake,” Virginia smiled.
“Do you want me to drug her again?” Harold looked anxious.
“No, our guests will be arriving soon and we want her to be as energetic as possible… In the meantime, I’m going to go change into my evening attire,” Virginia walked out of the kitchen.
“Oh, and have Buzz bring the pig in and make it look pretty. We haven’t seen our friends in a while so I want to make a good impression,” Virginia turned and headed to the staircase.
“Hey, I hear you out there. Let me out,” Sandra yelled through the door.
“In due time my dear Sandra, in due time,” Virginia laughed.
Harold used the intercom in the kitchen to tell Buzz in the basement to bring in the roasted pig. While Buzz did that, Harold prepared a large platter for it to be served on. Out of the refrigerator Harold pulled out some apples slices and some parsley for garnish. He then went upstairs to quickly change into his evening suit.
In the cool and musty smelling basement, Lou sat tied to a wooden chair. Their were three dimly lit sconce’s that hung on two of the walls. There was only enough light to see in the room that he was in. As Lou tried to get himself untied he heard some strange rattling noises coming from down the hall.
“Who’s there? Can you help me? I’m tied up in here,” Lou squinted to see, “hello?”
The strange noises persisted but no one came to his aid or answered him. So, Lou continued to wrestle with the tight rope around his hands and waist but it wouldn’t budge.
“Help, can anybody hear me?” Lou yelled.
Lou couldn’t do much of anything except try to get loose. He didn’t know what was going on or who was in the other part of the basement.
Down that back path and in the greenhouse, Charley was strapped to a cement table. He had been trying to get loose most of the day but couldn’t. As he looked up through the glass top roof, he could see that it was just about dark outside.
“Help… Help me,” Charley called out.
Charley was very tired and thirsty. He had been calling out for help a good part of the day after he awoke from being drugged. Virginia had drugged his shot of whiskey that she enticed him with earlier in the morning. Charley was so infatuated with Virginia’s beauty and charm that he didn’t even realize how far away from the house she took him.
Charley sighed and glanced to the left side of him, “where is Brandi? I hope that she’s okay,”
The two dim lights that turned on comforted Charley a little bit. At least I’m not in the dark, he thought.
Please join me again for chapter 9 of: The Guests.
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