In the garden, Caldera crouched down amidst the bushes and waited. After anesthetizing the dogs she had left the dart rifle behind, planning on moving forward as lightly as possible. It had already grown dark: the old lady seemed to take her time to go to bed.
Through her binoculars, she peered at the old house again. The light was still shining from a single window on the second floor. She would have to wait just a little longer.

She was nervous. Would she be able to find her fellow agent there and if yes: how? In what state? The best she could hope for was that he was kept captive in one way or another. The other scenario made her stomach turn. Taking a deep breath she tried to brush that idea away. She had to behave as a professional! There: the lights were off!

Picking the lock of the basement hatch had been child's play. Once in, she kept quiet for a few seconds, waiting in the dark. After her entrance, she waited for the faintest whimper, a small sign of life, but nothing stirred. Dammit, if he was being held captive, the basement would have been her best guess! Now, she would have to go through the house floor by floor.

The ground-floor door wasn't locked, and she entered the hall. Her next best guess would be the attic, and she went for the stairs, as she picked up on a deep zooming sound. Her first reaction was to dismiss it and move on, but it didn't sound like a washing machine or anything else familiar. It came from what appeared to be one of the living rooms.

It was a large room, lavishly furnished with easy chairs of different sizes and shapes, and round low tables. Large paintings on the walls, landscapes, and portraits. All visible in the moonlight, shining through three high windows on the opposite side of the room.

Again, she waited, trying to hear if anything else was happening in the house. But there was nothing: only the zooming sound, and it was definitely in the room! Now that she was closer she heard it was not completely monotone. She detected a slight pulse, like in some sort of pump. Cautiously, she started to move around, trying to detect the source.

In the end, it didn't take her long to find what she was looking for. She stood in front of a large, antique chest with double doors. Here, the sound was at its strongest. She hesitantly reached for the handles, afraid of the sound that these old panels would make. She would have to move slowly, carefully... But as soon as she even touched them the doors sprung wide open without a sound, and a band of green light was thrown across the floor!

She stood, frozen, in total disbelief, in denial even! Paralyzed, she could only stare, watching him float in front of her! For his part, he seemed to be just as shocked, seeing her standing on the other side of the glass. All of a sudden, however, his eyes went even larger.

But she didn't recognize the warning, caught like a deer in the headlights. And so, first, there was a sharp pain in the back of her head, and then came the darkness.

With her husband gone for a three-day business trip and their son visiting a concert downtown, Mrs. Hughes had decided to take the afternoon off for sunbathing. She took her bikini top off, leaving it behind on the sofa, and strolled into the garden. It was vast and perfectly secluded.
Ten yards from the house, she sat down in the grass. She lay down on her back and spread her legs, her hands behind her head. The sun shone radiantly, and she looked forward to receiving her husband again with a perfect tan. Music came from the house, through the open slide door, Radio Four. She closed her eyes and drifted away.

After fifty minutes she rolled over for the third time. Lying face-down with her head resting on her folded arms she felt the warmth on her back again as if a soft blanket was covering her from head to toe. Again, she dosed off.

"Hello Mrs. Hughes!"

She was shocked, she had not heard anyone coming! She looked up over her shoulder. Three boys were standing watching her. Two were friends of her son, the third one she didn't recognize. They were dressed in nothing but swimming trunks, and the effect that the near-naked body of their friend's mother had on them was alarmingly obvious.

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"So Thomas: when did these feelings first become manifest? Do you remember?"

Oh, he remembered it all too well! It had been at a party of Paul, one of his classmates,in summertime. At ten years old, he had been the youngest boy in the room. He had skipped two years in school, being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, and all his friends were three, sometimes four years older.

It had been a great afternoon. The boys had stayed inside, playing Nintendo and PlayStation games. There were drinks and the video was playing music clips. The girls had gathered outside, in the garden, also drinking and having fun. They were dancing to the music from a large ghettoblaster. At first, he had thought he would never forget this day because he had had his first beer, then and there! But things would turn out differently.

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Abby tried to avoid looking at the grown-ups at all costs, sitting with her back to the rest of the scenery. Yet she knew she was never going to un-see this image of her grandfather. It had been imprinted on her memory forever as she glanced around the room after she was hurled into it.
Her father seemed to be the most annoyed with the situation, she thought, judging from his muffled noises. He was furious: sounded as if he was on the verge of crying! She could hear the creaking and squeaking of the rubber bodysuit as he was trying to free himself.

The door opened again, and this time... it was her mom who entered. Pushed forward, nearly stumbling over on a pair of absurd high heels, she ended up standing next to her father as the door slammed shut again. Abby's heart sank: now there would be nobody left to call the cops! Their mother had been her last hope. She quickly turned her head back to the blank wall again. Behind her, she could hear her dad go ballistic now, roaring like a madman. And she couldn't even cover her ears, being trapped in this rubber blow up... thing! Why was this happening to them? Who were these boys? And what did they want?

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