Raissa's Quest (part 2)

-- read part 1 here --



"What do you want from me?" Raissa asked, her voice shaking with fear.

"Well, I have a little task for you. A quest, you could say." The metallic voice giggled.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then who knows how long you and Francesca will stay captured? I don't think you'll get out of your clothes easily now, do you? But there's more. While I was there, I've connected some little electronics to the thermostat in Francesca's house. I can now control it from where I am. I'm sure Francesca is warm enough in her closed down suit and sleeping bag right now. But at least the heating is off. I do wonder how she would feel if I turned it to the maximum though!"

"You can't do that! That's torture!" Raissa gasped.

The voice laughed again. "I'll give you one out of two there. I agree it's torture. But you're most certainly wrong about the other part. So, do I have your cooperation?"

"Just tell me what you want."

The voice directed her to a table where a map of the city and a bus ticket were placed. On the map a route was drawn towards a nearby bus station, the bus line she had to take, where she had to get off and where she had to go after that. Raissa pleaded with the voice - surely he couldn't mean for her to go outside like this, in public? But the voice became serious now, and threatened to turn up the heating if she didn't go on her way right now. And so it was that moments later, Raissa closed Francesca's door behind her and was on her way, on her unknown quest to free Francesca.

Raissa walked clumsily in her thick clothes and oversized Moonboots. Because the suit had attached feet, the Moonboots were several sizes too big. She wasn't used to wearing such huge shoes, and a couple of times she almost tripped. Raissa discovered she had to keep her feet well apart to make sure the Moonboots didn't touch, making her steps awkward. It was still quite early in the evening, so the streets weren't empty, and she felt very embarassed by the stares of other people. She steeled herself and told herself she did it all for Francesca. Whenever she felt like turning around and fleeing back towards the house, she thought of Francesca, chained up in a down suit without openings and a heavy sleeping bag. This way she managed to make it to the bus stop.

The bus ride was worse though. The bus was half full, and when Raissa sat down she heard the young couple behind her whisper and laugh. She tried to look out of the window to not have to see the people looking at her, but she was confronted with her own reflection and turned away again. Meanwhile she could feel sweat running over her back and her face. She was so hot already - she had no idea how Fran could stand this,  and even enjoy it.

Eventually she got to the stop that was marked on the map, and walked through another street as she had been directed. She was quite far from the city center now, in an area with large houses surrounded by spacious gardens. Everything was quiet, the streets were deserted - except... A figure in a bulky black down coat approached Raissa. Under the hood, a black balaclava with only a slit for the eyes was visible. But even the eyes were hidden by a sort of veil. 

Raissa's heart was beating heavily. This must be her captor. What would happen now? The person remained silent but made a motion with its gloved hand to indicate that Raissa should turn around. She did, and a moment later there was a click as the lock on the Glosssuit was opened. The hood was unzipped and pushed down. The person placed Raissa's hands on the Glosssuit's hood to indicate that she had to hold it down, then untied the orange down hood and put it down as well. From a pocket the figure produced a big red ball gag and showed it to Raissa. "No... no... I won't..." Raissa stammered. The silent person just shrugged, took a phone from its other pocket and showed Raissa a picture. She saw Francesca's bed, with the big sleeping bag still chained to it, but on top of it, a down blanket had been spread over her. Although she couldn't see anything of her captor's face, Raissa thought the figure was grinning as it looked at her reaction.

Did she have a choice, now that she had come this far? Raissa realized Francesca was still at the mercy of this unknown tormentor - and so was she. She obediently opened her mouth and the person gagged her, pulling at the straps that went around her head to the back, over the top of her head and under her chin, so that the red ball was firmly wedged into her mouth. After that the person put both hoods up again and locked the Glosssuit. The hoods were tied so that only a small slit for her eyes, hidden deep inside the hood of the Glosssuit, remained. Now Raissa was off even worse than before, as the person took her arm and walked her further along the empty street.

Finally they arrived at a closed gate, which presumably gave access to the terrain of one of the villas. The figure in the black coat took a final item from its pocket: a leash for dogs. Quickly it was attached to Raissa's neck, and then, to Raissa's amazement, the other end was tied to the bars of the gate. Then the person pushed the bell button at the side of the gate and immediately walked away! Raissa shouted in her gag, but little sound escaped her hoods. She was being left alone at the gate of a foreign house, gagged and locked into two layers of down, and this was how she was about to be found by the owners of the villa! Desperately she tried to unknot the leash, but with her hands in the thick mittens of the Glosssuit she couldn't manage it. And now somebody was approaching the other side of the gate...

-- on to part 3 --







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