The chamber of secrets

Tom picks up your limp body in his arms. He's actually quite strong for an older gentleman. All you can do is look on at him in horror. You look over at Greg, and he's still completely out of commission, as he now begins to snore. "Don't worry about him, Katherine. I've already taken the liberty of calling a cab to come pick him up, and take him back to his place. I also have someone picking up your car at the restaurant. It was so nice, and convenient of you to drive your car there. It makes things so much easier. Don't worry, they will be bringing it back here for you, where I'll keep it nice and safe. That gives us all night to be together. Maybe I'll even keep you a bit longer." He chuckles.

"Where are you taking me?" You hate yourself for asking such an obvious question, but it's all you could think of.

"To your new home away from home. It's my little play area" Tom says proudly. "I think you'll love it after you get used to it. That is, should I decide to keep you for more than a few hours."

"Someone will miss me" you quickly say. "James will miss me. He'll come looking for me! Someone will!"

"Relax Katherine" he says in a soothing voice. "No one will come looking for you. The new school superintendent is going to sign off on that paid temporary leave of absence you will request tomorrow. You see, my dear, I have it all figured out." He chuckles to himself again. "Greg may owe you, but he owes me more for giving him the job. He'll do anything I tell him to."

"You're mad!" you lash out. It's probably the weakest thing you could say to him right now, but you're really not in a position to do much of anything else as he carries your limp body out of the parlor, and through another room you could only imagine as being a grand ballroom of sorts. Two grand staircases split off to either side of the room at the far end. They lead up to the wrap around balcony that overlooks the entire room from the second floor. If the Jeffersonian walls could speak, you wonder what they would say.

"No, I'm not mad" Tom says to you. "I just know what I want, and that is you. And now I've got you." He doesn't carry you up the staircase, but bypasses it and walks through an arched opening that leads to yet another room. It's like a small study with a full sized bookcase on one wall. He carries you over to the bookcase, and pulls on a copy of "Of Human Bondage", then pushes it back in place with a click. "The beauty of these old houses is you never know what to expect" he says. The bookcase silently swings open, and reveals a hidden passage that takes a downward spiral. The passage ends at a solid steel door that has bars where a window would be. He takes a thick, heavy keyring from its hanging place on the wall beside the door, and unlocks it.

You are further horrified by what you see once he pushes the door open, and takes you inside. There's all kinds of sadistic looking equipment sitting around the room. In the center of the room is an exam table, which he lays you on. "What are you going to do to me?" you scream in anguish.

"Relax" Tom says in a soothing voice. "I won't hurt you. But since you'll be incapacitated for about the next hour, I'm going to take the liberty of removing your clothes. I need you naked to give you a thorough exam."