@coinquinatvs gets a plotted starter!
By now she was used to the routine of being alone; make sure the door was locked, don’t answer it for anyone except Orm, and don’t leave unless there was an emergency. While she was there by herself, which wasn’t always so often, she would make the most of her time doodling and drawing on paper, then proceeding to show him immediately as soon as he returned home.
Today was no different, as she sat at the kitchen table, a jar situated in front of her which housed a small makeshift terrarium with a little caterpillar inside, she carefully began to draw the likeness of the critter onto her piece of paper. It was tricky, the pencil crayon wobbled as she concentrated on her work, focused solely on doing the job as efficiently as possible. No animal, insect or otherwise, deserved to stay cooped up inside a tiny jar, and Kay was determined to release it outside as soon as her dad got back.
“It – it wont be that - that long,” she promised the tiny bug, as she peered up at it from her work. “You’ll be out – outside again soon.” With her attention returned back to the piece of paper, she didn’t hear the sound of the front door being jimmied open until it was far too late.
The man had slipped inside unnoticed not long after Orm had left, expecting the residence to be vacant. The point he wanted to make was that Orm wasn’t untouchable, that winning every fight couldn’t stop him from being followed and found. Trash the place, loot it, and get the fuck out, the only thing he hadn’t factored in was the kid he found standing by the kitchen door.
Kay had first been alerted to the presence of someone inside when she heard things being tossed around. For only a minute she’d thought it was her dad returning, that he’d forgotten something and come back, but the moment she was up and by the kitchen door, she saw the stranger and froze in place. Fear quickly turned to panic as she watched his eyes widen as realization struck, then something else crossed his features, unreadable to her, but a plan forming in his mind.
“No!” she shouted and turned to run just as he bolted for her. The stranger was faster, his hand snatching at the back of her hair as the two went crashing down. “No! Stop!” Panic swelled as a pulse built inside her, fingers beginning to ignite with blue static -
I don't want to hurt you!
But no sooner had the thought formed, Kay’s head was yanked back by the hold on her hair, and then brought down against hard kitchen tile. Pain ripped through her forehead, blood seeped out of an open wound and stars danced in front of her eyes as she was pulled back and brought down heavily again, this time the stars went out.
The man had made sure she was unconscious before he put his plan into motion, finishing with trashing the place, he then went and retrieved a blanket. Picking the child up off the floor, he wrapped her up and slung her carefully over his shoulder. Before going he dropped a set of matches on top of the picture Kay had been drawing, leaving his calling card behind. Orm would know where to find them.
It hadn’t been more than twenty minutes before Kay aroused to consciousness by cold smooth side of a blade tapping against her cheek. Groggily she opened her eyes into dimly lit darkness, her head splitting as the sting from the collision with tile began to register. A tall shape loomed beside her, and she whimpered as she slowly recalled what had happened just before waking up.
“Wakey, wakey,” sneered the voice of the man holding the knife, and she snivelled as she felt the prick of it dig into her cheek. “Bet right about now your dads findin’ out you ain’t home.”
“Mmphhm.” Her voice came out muffled, duct taped across her lips, and Kay shifted her gaze to look down, finding her hands completely wrapped tight in it, and as she wriggled she noted her legs were incapacitated as well. “Mmrrrmmm.”
“You can struggle, but you won’t get out.” With the tip of the blade pressed a little harder against her cheek she shrivelled back against the brick building in the alley, her breath quickening in panic, eyes darting around desperately. Dark shapes began to take form around her, and she realized it wasn’t just the two of them waiting for her dad to arrive.