Cough, cough, spat!
Eiko awoke in a bed of dust bunnies, dirt, and grime after hitting her head on the entrance of the vacuum bag; she coughed up a handful of dirt.
"Jane!? Danielle!? Where are you!?"
As Eiko screamed for her friends, she suddenly felt something grab onto her ankle.
"Ah!"
"Don't worry," Jane spoke, digging her way out of all the dirt and dust that buried her, "it's just me."
"Where's Danielle?"
The girls looked around.
"Danielle!" Jane yelled out.
"Danielle! Are you alright!?" Eiko began digging through all the dust bunnies and tiny bits of trash.
After moving a bit of trash to the side, Eiko found her unconscious friend, Danielle.
Eiko sat Danielle up, grabbed both her shoulders and began shaking her, "Danielle, wake up! Danielle!"
Jane put her hand on Eiko's shoulder, "let me."
Eiko stepped to the side and let Jane hold Danielle by her shoulder. Jane drew her right hand back and slapped Danielle across the face as hard as possible, leaving a red hand mark on Danielle's cheek.
"Wake up, Danielle!"
Danielle's eyes popped open, "ow, what the hell!"
"Sorry, Danielle, I didn't know any other way to—"
Danielle pushed Jane away, drew her arm back, and punched Jane right in the eye.
"Ow! I was just trying to wake you up!" Jane screeched, cupping her hand over her eye.
"You two stop fighting," Eiko placed her body between the fighting girls, "we need to find a way out of here before Daniel comes back."
"How?" asked Danielle.
"Oh, I know," Jane perked up, "maybe there's a reverse button somewhere that will make the vacuum spit us out!"
Eiko and Danielle looked at each other, then at Jane, who had a stupid smile on her face.
Danielle placed her hand on Jane's shoulder and said, "why don't you leave the thinking to the smart people, okay?"
Jane placed her hands on her hips and huffed; she didn't have a comeback. The girls looked around and thought in silence, pacing back and forth around the tiny space as they brainstormed ways of escaping the vacuum cleaner.
"Why don't we just wait here for Daniel to come, then when he grabs us, we all bite the crap out of him all at once" Danielle pounded her fist in her hand, and a smirk crept across her face.
Eiko rolled her eyes, "there's no way he would let us bite him, especially not after how hard you bit him. You drew blood. Besides, any idea what we'd do after that?"
Danielle sighed, frustrated that there was nothing more she could do to Daniel at her current size.
"Wait a minute…"
"What is it, Jane?"
"I just thought of a way to get us out of here!"
"Jane," Danielle piped up, "didn't I tell you to leave the thinking to the smart people?"
Jane ignored Danielle, "the vacuum bag doesn't seem that thick. I bet we could find something sharp that got vacuumed up and tear a hole in the bag!"
Wide-eyed, Danielle looked at Jane and said, "that's probably the smartest thing you've said since I met you."
"Thanks!... I think?"
The girls began digging through the trash, looking for any stray sharp item that could've been sucked into the vacuum cleaner while Daniel was chasing them. Just then, Danielle looked up at Jane and gasped.
"What is it, Danielle? Did you find something?" asked Eiko.
"No, but I did just find something sharp that could help us. Come here, Jane."
Jane walked up to Danielle, who reached for a multi-colored flower hairpin in her hair. She unclipped the pin and began punching the vacuum bag with it hoping to make a puncture.
"Careful, that's my favorite hairpin! You'll break it!"
"If it means punch getting out of here punch that's a risk punch I'm willing to take punch!" Danielle continued punching the plastic bag with Jane's hairpin until finally—
POP
"Yes!" Danielle celebrated as she sliced downward, making a slit in the vacuum bag tall enough for them to escape.
Meanwhile, at the dinner table, the Hall family was still enjoying the meal Luna and Mr. Hall cooked for Daniel's homecoming. Jenna had finished her meal; she basically inhaled it and went back to her room.
"Did you guys hear that?" asked Luna.
"I didn't," Daniel responded, "what did it sound like?"
Luna squinted her eyes, "like a pop of a balloon or something."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Mr. Hall announced, "it's probably just the neighbors setting off fireworks or something."
Luna scratched her head, "I don't know about that, dad. It sounded like it came from upstairs."
Back in Daniel's room, Eiko and her friends made their way out of the vacuum bag. Despite being free from the bag, they were still trapped in the clear, plastic container of the vacuum cleaner that held the vacuum bag.
"Great," Danielle began to complain, "the bag is taken care of, but now we have to deal with this dumb wall." Danielle looked at Jane, "you don't happen to have any more ideas, do you?"
Jane shrugged. She couldn't think of what to do next. Eiko pushed her hands against the plastic wall before them, examining every inch of it. As she pushed against the wall, she looked up and noticed something.
"Hey guys, look up there," Eiko pointed to a small, gray latch holding the door of the vacuum closed. "You two see that latch? Watch this."
Eiko pushed up against the wall again, and as she did so, the latch wiggled. She pressed up against it sever times, demonstrating how the latch wiggled when she put her weight up against the door.
"I think if we all kicked the door a bunch, we could jimmy the latch loose and get out of here. We just need to kick it at the same time as hard as we possibly can."
Danielle and Jane looked at each other, then at Eiko, and nodded.
"Alright, count us down, Eiko!" Danielle sat down and put her feet against the plastic door; Jane and Eiko got in position.
"On three! 1…2…3!"
BAM!
The girls kicked the door.
"1…2…3!"
BAM!
"1…2…3!"
BAM!
Back at the dinner table, Daniel was sweating bullets – he was unsure if the pop Luna heard earlier was the sound of Eiko and her friends escaping or if it was really nothing to worry about. Daniel stretched his arms above his head and let out a fake yawn before hopping to his feet.
"Welp, this was a nice dinner. Thanks again, Luna, dad. But right now, I'm beat. I should be heading to bed."
"Wait, already?" Mrs. Hall giggled, "it's only 8pm. The last thing I would want to do on my first day back home for summer vacation is to go to sleep early."
"Well, I have all this stuff to unpack, and that's probably going to take an hour or two. Not to mention eating such a big meal made me sleepy, so I should be heading upstairs."
"Well, wait," Mr. Hall spoke up, "your mother's right. Why don't we play a game of scrabble before you lock yourself in your room? You still owe me a rematch, remember?" Mr. Hall spoke, getting up from the table, "I'll go get the board from the hall closet."
Daniel began to panic as he crept closer to the living room doorway, "uh, how about we play tomorrow? I really just want to get back to my room."
"1…2…3!"
BAM!
"1…2…3!"
BAM!
"1…2…3!"
SNAP!
Finally, after several kicks, the latch of the vacuum cleaner popped, and the door flew open.
"Great work, guys; let's get out of here!" Eiko cheered.
The girls high-fived each other and began climbing down the vacuum cleaner. The girls then headed for the door and slid underneath the frame.
Just as Daniel turned around, Mrs. Hall called out to him, "wait a minute, young man," she stood up, grabbing his plate and empty glass, "you know the rules. You have to wash out your own dishes."
Daniel slumped his shoulders, "right, I forgot."
"Oh," Luna exclaimed, "don't worry about your dishes, I'll handle it. After all, it is your homecoming. Just this once, though, next time you're doing your own dishes," she laughed.
"Right, right, thanks, sis!" Daniel turned around, booked it up the stairs, and busted into his room like a police officer busting down someone's door.
He walked up to the vacuum cleaner and noticed the popped latch and torn plastic bag.
"Damn it!" he fell to his knees, checking under the bed with the flashlight on his phone.
He scoured his entire room, looking for Eiko and her friends. He checked under his desk, under the bookshelf, between the books on the bottom shelf, in his closet, and everywhere they could hide. By the time he finished searching for the girls, Luna's hard work had gone to waste – his room looked like a tornado had flown through it. Books were sprawled across the floor, his duvet was balled up, his desk was now 20 feet away from where it originally sat, and dust and dirt from the vacuum cleaner were spilled onto the floor. Daniel knew that wherever the girls were now, they definitely weren't in his room.
Knock, knock, knock
Daniel nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden knocking at the door. He wondered if the girls managed to find help from one of his family members, and now they were there to confront him. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and opened the door.
"Oh, uh, heeey, Luna. What brings you here?" Daniel tried playing it cool and was failing miserably.
"I just wanted to—" Luna's gaze strayed away from Daniel and focused on the mess he'd caused.
"Daniel," the disappointment in Luna's voice was clear, "what happened to your room. I spent so long making everything nice and tidy!"
"Uh, yeah, about that," Daniel stuttered, "I'm sorry, sis, I was looking for…uh…I was just looking for one of my inventions! Couldn't find it anywhere."
Luna's gaze was burning a hole through Daniel's skull, her disappointment turning to anger. She pushed past him and walked over to the untouched dresser in the corner of his room.
She pointed to the drawers, "Daniel, I know you must have noticed the labels I placed on your dresser drawers."
Each drawer had white rectangular strips of paper on it with neatly handwritten words written on them. The labels read "underwear, pants, shirts, and inventions."
Daniel stared at the dresser, then back at Luna, "right, I'm an idiot. I should have checked there first. Anyway, I'll get back to what I was d—"
Daniel tried to close his room door, but Luna stuck her foot between the frame and the door.
"Hey, not so fast."
Daniel huffed in frustration, "is there something you need?"
"Geez, no need to rush me out. I just wanted to know if you wanted any more chocolate cake before dad and I devour the rest.
"Nope, you guys are free to have the rest! Okay, bye!"
Daniel began pushing Luna out of the room. Just then—
"Luna! Luna over here!"
"Did you hear that?" Luna heard tiny voices calling her name. She was unsure where the sound was coming from, but as soon as Daniel heard them, he began to panic.
"Uh, hey, sis, I changed my mind. I think I do want some more cake!" Daniel pushed Luna out of his room and began shoving her down the stairs, talking loudly to drown out the sound of Eiko and her friends calling out to her.
"Damn it! We almost got her attention," Eiko kicked the wall.
"Now what?" asked Jane.
"Duh," Danielle slapped the palm of her hand against Jane's forehead, "we find someone who can help us. Doesn't Daniel have two sisters?"
"Right, Jenna. One of these rooms has to be hers," Eiko turned around and noticed the two doors at the end of the hall, one on the right and another on the left.
The girls were unsure which door was Jenna's, and as they stood there mentally debating, Daniel's voice caught their attention as the giant's footsteps grew closer.
"Thanks for the cake, guys, but I should be heading to my room now!" Daniel began running up the stairs.
Daniel now knew that the girls were nowhere in his room. As he ascended the stairs, he looked around each step to ensure he wasn't overlooking them.
"Shit, here he comes! Let's just split up," Danielle pushed Eiko in the direction of the door to the left and grabbed Jane's arm, leading her to the door on the right.
Eiko managed to slip under the door frame before Daniel reached the top of the stairs. As Danielle pulled Jane's arm, Jane tripped on a piece of the carpet. Her foot became entangled in the stray threads of the rug. Danielle was right in front of the door, all she had to do was slide under the frame, but it would mean leaving Jane behind. Danielle stood there, mentally debating what to do. If she went back for Jane, she knew helping her would likely mean Daniel would catch them.
"Danielle!" Jane called out, reaching her hand out, "help!"
Danielle was about to help Jane until she saw the top of Daniel's head as he walked up the stairs. Danielle began to back away slowly, then dove underneath the door frame, leaving poor Jane to fend for herself. Jane's eyes grew wide, shocked at Danielle leaving her – she felt deeply betrayed. Just then, Daniel reached the top of the stairs and noticed Jane caught by the strands of the rug.
"Well, well, well, look what we have here: one of my little escape artists," Daniel approached Jane, his menacing presence looming over Jane. Jane fought with the strands of the carpet, trying to break free. She looked up at Daniel, and all the color drained from her face, fearful of what he would do to her. She noticed the bulge in his pants – he was getting aroused by the chase.
"What are you doing all alone?" Daniel bellowed, grabbing Jane tightly in his grip.
"L-let me go, please," Jane was nearly in tears, almost too scared to speak.
Daniel looked at Jane closely; he could see the tears welling up in her eyes. He knew he didn't have to do much to scare Jane into talking.
"Hmm, let you go, huh? Maybe I will if you do me a little favor."
Jane stopped wiggling in Daniel's grip, "a…favor?"
Daniel opened his room door and gently sat Jane on the soft duvet. He began rubbing her hair and looked her sweetly in the eyes. "All I need you to do is tell me where your little friends went."
"Um…I don't know where—"
"Jane," Daniel spoke sternly, "don't lie to me."
Jane looked up at Daniel and thought about how she had reached out to Danielle to help her; her resentment for Danielle grew. She thought about how Danielle always talked to her, calling her stupid and mocking her – Jane began to wonder if she could even consider her a friend. After all, Jane was only friends with Danielle because they were mutual friends with Eiko. However, she knew if she ratted out Danielle, Daniel might figure out where Eiko went. Jane stayed silent.
"Nothing, huh? Your friends obviously don't care for you. After all, they left you behind, tangled in the carpet. Surely if they were your friends, they would've come back for you."
"You're wrong! Eiko is my friend; she would've come back for me. Danielle was the one who left me!"
"Oh, so Danielle is the one who left you behind. I bet you're pretty mad at her."
"Of course I'm mad at her! I yelled at her for help, and she just left me!"
"Mhm," Daniel nodded, "where did she go again? The door on the left or right?"
"On the right," Jane blurted out of anger, "uh, I mean—"
"Ah, so she's in Jenna's room. Thank you for that," Daniel smirked, "and I'm guessing Eiko went in the opposite direction."
Jane gasped, "please, don't do anything to Eiko!"
"I won't. You have my word," Daniel lied. "Alright, Jane, you've been of good use to me. I'll remember how you've helped me."
Daniel grabbed Jane and went into the hall. In Jenna's room, she was blasting KPop songs through her earbuds and dancing around the room, singing into a hairbrush like a microphone. She hadn't noticed Danielle trying to get her attention.
"Damn it, Jenna, down here!" Danielle screamed, frantically waving her arms. "There has to be a way to get her attention…"
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Danielle stood in the middle of the room, facing the door, as she waved her arms, thinking the person on the other side of the door would be able to help her. The door flung open, and there stood Daniel.
"Crap!" Danielle looked for a place to hide.
Jenna's box spring was on the floor, and there was no way to get underneath her nightstand. She was out in the open with nowhere to run.
"Well, hello, Danielle."
Danielle looked for any hiding place, then booked it towards the door when she realized there were none. She tried to run between Daniel's legs, but he quickly closed his legs, causing her to crash into his feet.
Jenna spun around, copying one of the KPop choreographies she'd learned.
"Omg!" She noticed Daniel mid-twirl.
Jenna's face grew red with embarrassment, dropping her microphone brush.
"Get out of my room!" Jenna screamed.
Daniel bent down and grabbed Danielle, who Jenna still did not notice.
"Gladly," Daniel rolled his eyes.
Daniel left Jenna's room, holding Danielle by the hair to ensure she didn't bite him again.
"Ow, let me go, you jerk!" Danielle shouted, trying to break free from Daniel's grip.
"Oh, Eiko!" Daniel yelled out after entering the room across the hall – it was his parents' room.
"I have your little friends! If you don't want Jane and Danielle to be my little toys, I suggest you come on out!"
Eiko was hiding underneath the bed, hoping to stall long enough for Daniel's parents to show up.
"You said you wouldn't do anything to Eiko!" Jane cried.
"True, but I never said I wouldn't do anything to the two of you."
Danielle, still dangling in Daniel's fist by her hair, looked up at Jane, "Jane, what is he talking about?"
"Um…I may have hinted at where you two were."
"You idiot!"
"Idiot? You're a backstabber! I can't believe you left me to fend for myself!"
"I left you behind for the greater good! We would've been out of this mess if Jenna had seen me."
"But she didn't, and now we're caught."
"Ugh," Daniel groaned, "I'm so sick of you two arguing."
Daniel unzipped his pants and shoved Danielle and Jane in the crotch of his boxers. He began searching the room, checking under the TV stand, in his parents' bathroom, and in the closet. He didn't check under the bed as he felt that would be too obvious of a spot, but he began to consider looking there as he was running out of places. Meanwhile, Eiko was sweating bullets. She knew Daniel would eventually look under the bed, and she wasn't sure help would arrive. She had to take a chance and find help. She peeked from underneath the bed; Daniel was still rifling through the closet. He was throwing around shoes and clothes in his search for her – now was her chance. She ran towards the door, and heard footsteps coming her way; Mr. and Mrs. Hall were walking up the steps. Eiko began yelling, waving her arms frantically to get their attention.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hall! Down here!"
Mr. and Mrs. Hall were so wrapped up in their conversation that they initially didn't hear Eiko yelling their names. As they ascended the stairs, they noticed something at the end of the hall.
"Huh? Hey, sweetie, do you see that?" Mrs. Hall stopped and squinted.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hall!"
"Yeah, what is that? I think it's calling our names."
Mr. and Mrs. Hall began approaching Eiko slowly, unsure if their eyes were deceiving them; they couldn't believe they were looking at a tiny person.
Mrs. Hall bent down and picked Eiko up. She examined her and realized she looked familiar.
"Hey, honey, look at her. Doesn't she look just like one of the missing students from Silverlake Academy? We saw her picture on the news, remember?"
Mr. Hall squinted, "you know what, she sure does."
"Eiko!" Eiko shouted.
Just then, Daniel rushed out of his parents' room, "m-mom! Dad! I, uh, I see you found one of my uh…inventions!"
"Don't listen to him. I'm Eiko Jin, Ms. Jin's daughter—"
Daniel snatched Eiko out of his mom's hand, muffling her. He then began stiffly moving her arms and legs like an action figure.
"One of your inventions?" asked Mr. Hall.
"Y-yeah, one of my AI-powered dolls! It can walk and talk all on its own. I modeled this one after my friend, Eiko. It's a shame she went missing. I was going to give her to Ms. Jin when I was done. Y'know, to help her with grieving," Daniel shoved Eiko into his pocket.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall looked at each other, then back at Daniel; he wasn't sure they believed his lie. He was waiting on the response with bated breath.
"Well would you look at that," Mr. Hall patted Daniel on the back, "our son, the genius! You make all sorts of cool little things in that room of yours. You could get an investor for one of your dolls. I mean, it looked so life-like! Want me to ask one of the guys at my job and see if they're interested?"
Daniel let out a sigh of relief, "nah, they're not quite ready yet. I still have a few kinks to work out."
"At the very least," Mrs. Hall perked up, "you should let me call Ms. Jin and invite her to see your little tribute to Eiko. I'm sure she'd love—"
"NO!" Daniel screeched.
Mrs. Hall was taken aback.
"Uh, I mean. Sure, maybe one day. But she's not really ready for that. Again, I have some kinks to work out."
Mrs. Hall shrugged, "well, let me know when you get those kinks worked out, and I'll give Ms. Jin a call."
Dumbfounded that his parents believed his lie, Daniel slithered past his parents and quickly went into his room. He closed the door and leaned against it, sliding down to the floor as he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. Daniel couldn't believe that worked – then again, an AI-powered doll was much easier to believe than a tiny human. He pulled Eiko out of his pocket and removed Danielle and Jane from his boxers.
"Well, well, well, you ladies sure caused me a lot of trouble tonight," Daniel spoke, looking underneath his bed, "but now it's time to stop playing games."
He pulled out an old, blue guinea pig cage and unlatched the door.
"Welcome to your new home. Considering you three have seen nothing but the inside of a glass jar for the past week or so, I'd say this is an upgrade," he laughed.
Recklessly, he dropped Danielle and Jane into the cage and kicked it back underneath his bed.
"As for you," Daniel brought Eiko up to his face, "I would like to have some fun with you before putting you away."
Daniel smirked evilly, picking up one of the boxes from the floor and dropping it on the bed – it was labeled "toys." He took a box cutter out from his desk drawer and sliced through the tape. As he opened the box, Eiko's eyes grew wide with fear – the box contained dildos, fleshlights, restraints, various sizes and shapes of vibrators, and different scented lubricants. There was also a small section of the box dedicated to sexy costumes that Daniel fantasized about putting Eiko in. He unzipped his pants, dropped his boxers to his feet, and took off his shirt, his massive, erect cock finally free.
"Now then," he slammed Eiko onto the bed, knocking the wind out of her, "let's have some fun."