Auction Part 2 - Locked Inside

continues from part one

Part Two - Locked Inside

Karen lay on her back in the trunk. It had been several hours since Zoe had gone off to bed and a soft shaft of moonlight lay across the trunk. Karen could see the moon’s blue glow peeking in through the crack where the lid joined the rest of the trunk. Stifling a yawn with her fist, she drew her knees up towards her chest and curled up on her side, trying to get as comfortable as possible in the tight confines of the chest. Gradually she drifted off to sleep, dreaming…

Karen was ten years old and her family was moving to their new home. The movers had come already, taking all the furniture and most of the boxes. Only a few things left to be packed that they’d be loading into the station wagon to take to the new house that afternoon. Her mother was giving the kitchen a final cleaning, her father was doing the same with the upstairs bathroom. Kevin had a soccer game that afternoon. Karen’s grandparents had offered to pick him up after the game and meet them at the new house. 

Karen’s job was to go through all the rooms of the house and collect up any sheets, bedding, leftover boxes, anything that had been left behind and still needed to be moved. Pretty quickly Karen found that she wouldn’t have much to do, the movers had been very efficient. All that was left was some old curtains that had been tucked in the back of an upstairs closet, an old sleeping bag from the basement, and some leftover cartons and packing tape that the movers had left behind. 
“Dad! What should I do with the stuff I find?” she asked. 
“Just box it up and leave it by the front door. We’ll take it with us when we go.” 

Karen went back downstairs. Grabbing the tape gun that the movers had left behind, she managed (after a few clumsy attempts) to assemble one of the moving cartons and tuck the curtains and sleeping bag inside. After taping the box shut, Karen wandered around the dusty, empty house. 
“Mom? Can I do anything else? Do you need any help?” 

Her mother looked down from her perch on the counter where she was busily scrubbing out the kitchen cupboards. “No sweetie, I’ve got my own method for cleaning these things. I’d just be bumping into you. Grandma and Grandpa called while you were upstairs. I asked them to pick you up on the way to get Kevin and take you both to the new house while we finish cleaning up.” Karen’s mom knew how much Karen liked to help out so she reached into her pocket and tossed a black felt marker down to her daughter. “Here, while you’re waiting why don’t you label those boxes that you packed.” 
“Okay Mom!”. 

Trotting back into the front room Karen marked the box she had just filled ‘CURTAINS – SLEEPING BAG’ in big letters on the top. Putting the lid back on the pen, she slumped down and leaned against the box to wait for her grandparents. Looking over to the corner of the room she spied the other empty cartons that she had collected from around the house. An idea began to sprout in her head. Tiptoeing over to the cartons, she pulled out one of the larger ones, folded it together, and gently taped the bottom in place with the tape gun. As she was finishing, she heard a car pull up and saw her grandparent’s sedan sitting out in front of the house. 

“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” she cried. “See you later sweetie.” “Bye pumpkin!” she heard behind her. Walking out the front door, she pulled it softly closed behind her so that it did not latch completely. She rushed down the porch steps to her grandparent’s car and leaned in the open window on her grandmother’s side. 

“Hi Grandma, Hi Grandpa. Mom and Dad say the place is messier than they thought and they need my help to clean up. They’ll meet you for dinner at the new house a little later. Is that okay?”
“Certainly darling but would your mother like some help? We don’t mind pitching in.”
“Oh that’s okay,” Karen continued nervously, “I like to help.”
“It’s alright, mother, they can handle things here,” her grandfather said gruffly from the driver’s seat. “Besides, we still have to pick up Kevin.”
“Oh that’s right. Well, you have fun dear, we’ll see you later.”

Karen stood outside the house and watched as the car pulled away. Creeping back up the porch steps, she slipped back through the front door and gently closed it behind her. In the front room, she very carefully marked ‘KARENS ROOM – FRAGILE’ on the top of the box she had made, then capped the pen and laid it on the carpet beside the box. Climbing inside the box, she crouched down and hugged her knees to her chest then reached up above herself and softly folded the flaps at the top of the box into place. Hugging herself in the darkness, she waited with nervous excitement, kind of like a game of hide and go seek. Would she be found?

About an hour later she heard her parents gathering up their cleaning supplies and getting ready to leave.
“All done?” her mother asked.
“Spic and Span! You could eat off that floor. Is this all the stuff that Karen found?”
“I guess so. Oh, it looks like she forgot to close that one up.”
“I’ll get it,” her father called. Karen heard a whoosh then a Shlap-Flap Shlap-Flap Shlap-Flap as her father picked up the tape gun and ran strip after strip of tape across the top of the box, sealing the flaps closed and her inside.
“No way that one’s coming open. Alright, let’s get this stuff loaded up.” 

Karen heard her parent’s footsteps moving away as they began loading the cleaning supplies and the empty cartons into the back of their station wagon. Slipping down onto her back she tried to push up on the flaps above her with her feet but the tape held the box lid down tight.
“You grab the curtains, I’ll get this one” her Dad called. “Ooof! What is in here?”

As the box lifted up into the air Karen couldn’t help herself. A tiny giggle came out of her. Quickly she put her hand over her mouth to try and stifle the laughter. She felt the box slide into the back of the car then heard her father’s overloud voice.
“I think this one should be marked Handle With Care.” Catching Karen’s mother’s eye he mouthed the words ‘Karen’s Inside’ and pointed at the box. 
Shaking her head and smiling she mouthed back ‘That Girl!’.
“In fact,” her father continued, “I think I’ll punch some holes in the top, just in case.” Taking a screwdriver from the toolbox in the back of the car he gently made four holes in the top of the box, each about an inch across. Karen heard the back hatch of the car slam shut then the car was moving. 

About fifteen minutes later, she felt the car stop, then the box was lifted out of the back of the car as she felt herself being carried into their new home.
“Hi everyone! We’re home!” her mother called.
Karen felt the box slide to a stop and realized she’d been placed on the kitchen counter.
“Where’s Karen?” her Grandmother asked.
“Oh, I don’t know” her Mother replied, sounding surprised while pointing at the box. “That’s too bad she’s not here. We were going to take everyone out to MacDonald’s after the long days work moving everything. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to go without her.”
“No, wait Mom! Wait for me! I’m here! I’m in here! “
“I know sweetheart. Such a silly girl.” Then the sound of scissors as her parents cut away the tape to let her out of the box she’d stuck herself into…

“… I’m here! I’m in here!” Karen mumbled as she slowly came awake ..

“I know that, silly,” Zoe said from outside of the trunk. “I’m helping keep you in there. How are you doing Karen?”

“Okay, I guess,” Karen yawned, coming awake and stretching as much as she could inside the box. “Just a little bit stiff.”

“I’m glad that you’re doing so well. I thought since it was such a lovely sunny Sunday morning that we could have a nice brunch together.”

“Did the keys come already?” Karen asked hopefully.

“Oh no, the people at the auction house said not until Monday. So I guess I’ll be having the brunch and you,” Zoe purred, stroking the lid of the trunk, “will be my brunch table.”

“Oh, you are evil!” Karen chuckled.

“Hey, nobody forced you to get in that trunk, roomie. But I figure as long as you are, I’m going to enjoy it.”

Karen heard Zoe’s footsteps padding out of the room then returning as she set her brunch up on top of Karen’s trunk. A purple linen tablecloth was spread overtop, giving the light which reached Karen through the crack of the lid a soft purplish glow. Zoe set a small vase in the middle of the cloth with fresh flowers from the garden in front of their building. Her brunch included Belgian waffles with fresh strawberry topping, a warm poached egg, succulent bacon, and fresh squeezed orange juice, all of which she took great delight in describing to Karen in intimate detail.

“Zoe, you’re making me so hungry.”

“Well, I guess hungry girls should think ahead before they go climbing into strange boxes. Besides,” Zoe laughed as shed dabbed the corners of her mouth daintily with a napkin, “it’s all gone now anyway.”

“Oh you cruel, cruel witch.” Karen giggled as she kicked at the lid of the trunk, but to no avail.

“Seriously Karen” Zoe began, leaning her face down close to the lid, “If you really need to get out I could probably pry those locks open with a screwdriver or something. Do you want to get out?” 

Karen thought for a minute. “No, I got myself into this. I guess I have to live with the consequences. I’d be worried that the locks would get broken if you tried to force them. Besides,” she said as she stroked the underside of the lid that sealed her inside, “It’s fun in here. You should try it some time.”

Zoe toyed with the small brass padlock that kept Karen safely locked inside. “Oh, I think I prefer it out here, my dear. Well, I’m off to the gym.”

Karen heard a tiny thud Zoe let go of the lock, then a gentle wobbling sound as it swung back and forth on the hasp. Alone in the apartment, Karen decided to explore the inside of the trunk again to see if there was any possible way out. Twisting herself around again, she managed to slip her legs along the side of the trunk until she was able to crouch down on her hands and knees, as though she were crawling across the floor. Pushing down with hands and knees, she arched her back and tried to push up the lid with her back. It was no use. The locks and clasps were so secure the lid didn’t even budge. She could only imagine what it would be like if someone ever tightened the leather straps that wrapped around the trunk, too. Reaching her arms forward, she tried pressing against one end of the trunk with her hands while pushing on the other end with her feet. Once again, to no avail. She thought she could feel the wood that made up the ends bow give slightly but nowhere near enough to ever set her free. Exhausted from her exertions, Karen once again twisted herself back onto her back and, propping her feet against the end, she settled down to wait for Zoe’s return. Sleepy…

Now Karen is sixteen. Her junior high school class is on their annual one week camping trip up to Tyler lake. Once all the campers were in their cabins for lights out, the teachers and other counsellors would usually gather down at the dining hall, to hang around in the kitchen and play cards until late at night. This gave Karen and her cabin mates plenty of time to plan and carry out the practical joke war that they had been having with the boys in cabin C. As usual, the boys had started it, loudly and boldly storming the girls cabin the first night on a “panty raid”. Adding insult to injury, the girls found the undergarments the boys had stolen passed round on display the next morning at breakfast. It was Karen who had come up with the perfect revenge.

The previous night the girls had waited until even the counsellors were asleep, then slowly and silently crept into the boys cabin and stole not just a few pairs, but every single piece of underwear in the whole cabin. In its place, the girls left pairs of enormous pink “granny panties” (one for each boy) that Karen had picked up when she went into town to help the cooks with the food shopping. At breakfast the next day the boys were late and clearly uncomfortable when they finally did arrive and took a seat at the only remaining table, right in front of the kitchen. As Karen passed their table on the way to bus her breakfast tray, Dylan (the ringleader of the boys) accosted her.

“Hey, very funny! Now where are our underwear?”

“Oh they’re not hard to find. Just check which way the wind is blowing”, she giggled.

As Karen moved away to drop off her dishes she saw the boys heads turn towards the window where they could see all of their underwear tied together in a large pennant which flapped in the breeze at the top of the camp flagpole. Mortified, the boys sat down to continue their breakfast. Karen stayed by the kitchen to coordinate the second part of her plan. Once all the girls in her cabin had dropped off their dishes they slowly made their way behind the bench where the boys of cabin C were sitting eating their breakfast. With a cry of “Wedgie!” each girl reached into the back of one of the boys shorts and grabbed the pink frilly granny panties that they had been forced to wear, yanking the panties into view for all to see. An overwhelming wall of laughter came from the other campers (and even some of the counsellors) as they pointed and laughed at the spectacle before them. 

As Karen and the girls were high fiving each other, Dylan came up to her. “We’ll get you for this. This isn’t over, Karen!”

“Okay, panty boys. We’ll be waiting for you.” She laughed and turned back to her cabin mates to enjoy their moment of triumph.

Now it was the last night of camp. Clearly the boys hadn’t been able to come up with anything, just like she thought. Karen was almost asleep when suddenly the door to their cabin burst open and a wave of boys stormed in, not just those from cabin C – they’d recruited cabin B to help too. Two boys to a bunk, they held down the struggling girls who were trying to come to her rescue as Dylan and three of the biggest boys in the camp came over to Karen’s bunk. Without a word, one of them held her in her sleeping bag while the others zipped it up and laced the mummy hood tightly around her head. Wriggling around, she figured she could still easily unzip herself when she saw them opening another sleeping bag next to her bunk. Lifting her up, two of the boys carried her and slipped her head first into the other bag while Dylan and the other boy pulled it up her body. 

In the warm darkness at the foot of the second bag, she could feel it growing tighter as the zipped it up then drew the drawstrings around the top (which were now overtop of Karen’s feet). “Let’s go boys!” Dylan called. “You guys keep them here until we get back”

Hands grabbed the bag from the outside and Karen felt herself lifted up and carried out of the cabin. Amidst the bumping and jostling she wasn’t sure which direction they were headed until she heard Dylan’s voice again.
“So, you like running things up the flagpole, eh? Well, I think we can top that.” 

Karen felt a bump as she was placed down on the ground then a strange tightness around her ankles, knees, waist, and shoulders. She realized that they were lacing her up into some sort of harness made of rope. Karen began to squirm and wriggle as hard as she could inside the two sleeping bags. All of a sudden she heard Dylan’s voice very close to her ear. He pressed his face down close to where her head was encased and whispered “It’s okay, Karen. I learned this harness on my industrial first aid course. Don’t worry. You’ll be very safe. Just relax and enjoy. ‘Cuz if you struggle you could get into trouble”.

Not really knowing why, Karen stopped struggling and lay still as the ropes were snugly tightened around her. With a soft squeaking sound, Karen felt herself lifted off the ground and realized that they had attached her to the flagpole and were now lifting her up to hang from the top of it. Up up up she went, swaying and spinning in the breeze, then the squeaking stopped, the rope was tied off, and she was alone, dangling fifty feet up in the air. Gradually she lost track of time as she floated in her warm, womb like cocoon.

Later she learned that she’d spent almost four hours hanging from the flagpole. The other girls from her cabin had rushed out to find her once the boys left but no one thought to look up. It wasn’t until the cooks came to make breakfast the next morning that someone noticed her hanging up in the air. Dylan and the boys got in a lot of trouble over the incident. Karen didn’t have the heart to tell anyone that she really hadn’t minded being up there all that much. The sleeping bags kept her warm and cozy and Dylan was as good as his word, keeping her nice and safe in the snug rope harness. When he was forced to apologize to her as part of his punishment, all Karen could do was look away and shyly murmur, “That’s okay Dylan…Thanks for taking care of me…”

“…care of me. Mmmm….thanks for taking care of me…”

“Hey sleepyhead,” she heard from outside the trunk. “I was getting worried about you. Lucky I could hear you breathing.”

“Zoe?”

“Yep,” she smiled, patting the lid,, “and hey – no need to thank me. You’re actually pretty easy to take care of, packed up like that.”

“Yeah,” Karen laughed. “I guess so.”

Zoe stayed with Karen all through Sunday evening. She brought her homework into Karen’s room and used the trunk as a makeshift desk so that Karen could hear the soft scratching of ink on paper as she worked.

* * *

“Wow Karen. It’s after midnight,” Zoe yawned. “I’ve got to hit the hay. Early class tomorrow. How about you?”

“Oh, my directed studies advisor is away this week so I’m working on my own. Good thing, huh?”

“I guess so. Otherwise we’d have to call UPS to get you to class. Well, holler if you need anything. Good night Karen.”

“Good night Zoe”. Pat pat pat of her footsteps going away, darkness as the light was turned off, then a dim blue glow as Karen’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and the faint shimmer of moonlight in the room. Slowly her eyes closed to as she drifted off to a sweet, dreamless sleep.

* * *

BUZZZ!!!! BUZZZZ!!!

“Oh crap, crap, crap!” Zoe yelped, leaping out of bed. “I overslept!”. 

Rushing through her shower she quickly brushed her teeth, pulled on a sweatshirt and jeans, and drew her hair back into a quick ponytail. Passing Karen’s room she called in, “Karen! I’m running late. I have class until noon then a meeting with my advisor. I should be home around 2:00, okay?”

“Okay” Karen called from the darkness of the trunk “Have a good day…”

SLAM!

Karen heard the front door bang closed and once again she was alone in her prison. Drifting in and out of sleep she experimented with some Yoga poses, seeing if she could achieve any of them inside the trunk to keep her muscles from growing too stiff.

Around 11:00 (by her very handy Indiglow watch) Karen heard a buzzing of the front door, then a voice calling, “Crosstown couriers! We’ve got a delivery for Karen Henderson. Hello! Anybody home!”

Oh no! The Keys! Quickly, Karen cleared her throat and called out as loud as she could. “Sorry! I’m in the shower! Can you put it through the mail slot!?”

“I’m supposed to get a signature, lady.”

“You’d really be helping me out. I’m running really late. Please?!!!” In the trunk, Karen crossed her fingers.

“Oh, alright, but don’t go bitching to the office if there’s a problem with the package.”

Karen heard a Shoonk-Thud as the envelope slipped through their mail slot and landed on the carpet by the front door. So Close! she thought. If only I could get out of here I could… well… get out of here. Hmmm. I’m getting a little punchy.

* * *

“Karen! I’m home!” Coming inside Zoe felt the front door catch on the package that the courier had delivered. Tearing open the yellow bubble envelope she tipped its contents into her hand. Two small silver keys, barrel shaped with a cloverleaf on the end. Each had an intricate little tab of metal on the round barrel end which she knew would actually dislodge the locking mechanism. Holding the keys in her hand, Zoe once again got a little shiver of excitement thinking of the power she held over her roommate. Closing the keys in her fist she made her way into Karen’s room.

“Hi Zoe. Did you find the keys alright?”

“Yep. I’ve got them. Let’s get you out of there.”

Zoe knelt down next to the trunk. First, she fished the key pendant out of her shirt and unlocked the tiny padlock, gently slipping it out of the hasp and tucking it in her pocket. Next, she flipped down each of the three latches, slowly and carefully, going left to right, listening to the tiny creaking sound each one made as it came open. Finally she took the keys and slid one into each of the locks, holding them in place with the forefinger and thumb of each hand. Then, she hesitated.

“Zoe? Is everything all right? Do the keys fit?”

“Oh yes,” Zoe whispered, relishing the power she held over Karen just a little bit longer. “I was just trying to think of a really good reason why I should let you out of there, you naughty thing.”

Karen was very excited by her room-mate’s control. Unfortunately, other factors made her pipe up: “Uh, Zoe. How about the reason ‘I really really have to pee’”

Zoe burst out laughing and quickly turned both keys, folded down the locks and lifted the lid. Karen peeked out, blinking at the sudden brightness. Then she leapt to her feet, climbed out, and waddled as fast as her cramped legs could take her.

“Oh man…Gotta pee, gotta pee, gotta pee!”

Zoe laughed and sat down on the bed. After a moment, she heard the toilet flush then the shower start up. Clearly Karen was going to be taking a little while to clean off the sweaty feeling of being in the trunk for so long. Falling back onto the bed Zoe took a long relaxing stretch then relaxed as she lay down, enjoying some rest after her hectic morning. Lying on her back, she found her eyes drawn back to the trunk.

“What does Karen find so appealing about this thing?” she wondered.

Sitting up, she draped her legs over the side of the bed and stared at the trunk some more. She was finding it almost mesmerizing. Hearing the water still running she thought, “I suppose I could try it, just for a minute.” She was slightly embarrassed by her curiosity, after all her teasing of Karen but she knew she had to try. Gently, tentatively, she lifted one leg then another into the trunk. She was surprised how scared yet thrilled she was and had to hold onto the side of the trunk for balance. Her knees began to wobble and her hand slipped on the edge before she was able to catch herself on one of the latches on the front of the trunk. She was so shaky she didn’t notice how catching herself had caused the latch to flip up. 

Slowly, sensuously, she lowered herself down into the trunk. Her skin felt cool and tingly, as though she were lowering herself into a pool of bubbles. Listening carefully to make sure Karen was still in the shower she reached up above herself and slowly lowered the lid into place. It came down ever so slowly and perched on top of the flipped up latch as Zoe delicately moved her hand down by her side. Then, with a sudden <SKREEK>-<BUMP> the weight of the lid pushed it past the latch, sealing it shut as the latch locked into place. Zoe was enjoying the cool darkness of the trunk so much that she didn’t notice. Then Zoe noticed a change in the sound of the apartment. The shower had stopped. Quickly, she pushed up on the lid so she could climb out before Karen got back. At first she thought the lid was just stuck, then as she pushed harder she could hear the two sides of the latch clicking against each other.

Karen wandered into the room towelling off her still damp hair. She was dressed in a cozy pink flannel robe and her fuzzy bunny slippers. Hearing a noise from the trunk she called out, “Zoe? Are you in there?”

A sheepish voice came from inside, “Uh, yeah. I was just trying it out and I had a little accident. Could you open it up and let me out please?”

Karen knelt down in front of the trunk. “Well, I don’t know. I’m just trying to think of a really good reason why I should let you out of there, you naughty thing.”. She smiled to herself as she flicked up another one of the latches.

“I don’t suppose you’d believe I really need to pee?” Zoe called out plaintively.

“Oh, I think you’ve had plenty of time for that, Zoe,” Karen smiled as she closed the last latch.

“Pretty please?” Zoe tried.

“Oh don’t worry,” Karen whispered, snapping the first lock shut. “I’ll let you out. But first,” <SNAP> went the second lock. “I think I’ll have some bacon, poached eggs, and delicious strawberry waffles. See you soon Zoe.”

 
 

05.12.03

story continues in part three - bagged & packed

o0o