Hot Pursuit

My feet felt like lead as I stood up, pencils and pens now ignored were again strewn around the floor. Fear and curiosity assaulted my judgement. What the hell was going on? Then the long documented strange occurrences snapped into place. I knew I had to figure out what was going on. My brain couldn't shake how the sports bra and yoga pants clung to curves of her toned body despite my fears.

I willed my body into action. Footsteps thundered up the stairs in a fast cadence. I followed. My heart pounded in my chest. Motes of dust and light buzzed with energy like falling snow drifting and swirly faintly around me. I heard the clanking of metal coming from Tommy's Mom's bedroom as I reached the top of the stairs. I dashed towards the sounds.

I entered the bedroom faintly lit with an eerie glow to see a light on in the closet. I heard the rattling of metal again. I slowly entered. It was a large walk in closet with drawers, shelves, and long racks to hang clothes. A hidden door was ajar towards the back where the jingling sounds of metal were the loudest. I pushed the hidden wall panel open.

What my eyes expected to see was a haphazard hidden room meant for some clandestine purpose. What they actually saw was more than my brain could comprehend.

The room was much larger than I thought, filled with high shelves encircling the top half of the room. The shelves were full of trinkets, statues, and vessels ranging from precious metals, pottery, to hand carved ancient woods. The lower walls were adorned with woven tapestries, upright obelisks, taller statues, and displays of ornaments. The room appeared backlight but I couldn't figure out where the light was coming from.

There also stood a table of fruit and a tall crystal pitcher of a dark red liquid in one corner. I scanned the room and my eyes widened in shock. I backed into the door which closed behind me with a click. That's when Tommy's mom looked up to see me. Our eyes met. She had a frantic look in her eyes as she heard the audible click.

"That door has a 24 hour time lock. You've doomed us both," she whispered.

I swallowed hard as I looked at Tommy's mom. Instead of a black yoga pants, she was wearing a short skirt of deep indigo trimmed with gold embroidery held into place loosely over her hips by a belt of entwined golden rings which tinkled softly at each movement. The skirt was extremely short and showed off her toned legs and inner thighs. Her full breasts were covered only by a thick fanning mantle which obscured a half moon shape through only the center of her chest. The fanning mantle consisted of long ivory dowels approximately 5 inches long held together by gold wire and jade beads. Her hair appeared to have been quickly piled up on top of her head and pinned in place with long jade pins. Her forehead was adorned with a band of indigo and gold embroidery matching her skirt.

Tommy's mom looked like some ancient princess. However, my eyes not only observed her natural beauty and attire, they also noticed the chains which now connected her to the walls by her wrists and ankles.

My mind raced for an explanation. Tommy's mom looked into my eyes. I saw the fear and desperation and knew something terrible was about to happen.