“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Tanner ranted while being carried away. He continued to shout out for Marcelle to free him, unsure if she could even hear him. Not that she’d care either way. His only grasp of what was happening around him were through the muffled noises he heard from within the bag and the motions of Marcelle. The drop off in elevation signaled she was going downstairs, followed by the sound of the front door closing meaning she was outside, and finally the sensation of his feet on solid ground once she entered the car.

“Sorry about that Auntie, I almost forgot to pack something.” Marcelle apologized with a very believable falsehood. She was already sure the odds of Ivory hearing Tanner were slim to none, even so she eliminated the remotest of possibilities by turning on the car radio to ensure he was drowned out.

The unsuspecting Ivory thought nothing of the sentiment beyond assuming her niece’s forgetfulness almost led to her forgetting some luggage. “It’s alright, we still have plenty of time.”

“Mom! Mom! MOM!!” Naturally the trapped Tanner was in a frenzy, frantically running his hands against the interior of the bag hoping there’d be a way to escape. It wasn’t long before he deemed his reconnaissance futile and was left shouting for Ivory until exhaustion.

“Crap…” He panted. It was no use, he heard Marcelle turning up the charm to keep Ivory’s attention occupied with small talk. As Tanner stood still to catch his breath did the perils of reality start to truly dawn on him. Marcelle kidnapped him! Tanner’s heart raced, this wasn’t like her normal acts of torment or bullying, she was making a serious effort to take him with her and was well on her way to succeeding! But why!? What was the point of this- Right as he tried to pin down a motive he came to an epiphany.

“It’s my fault.” Tanner mouthed out. Why else would this be happening? He blackmailed her out of the house and for his transgressions she’s taking him. What if this was her plan from the start? What if he has to live with Marcelle!? … Live with Marcelle. The mere thought sent shivers up his spine and put him on the verge of mental pandemonium. Her occasional visits throughout the year were already more of her than he wanted to see. Having to wake up day after day knowing he was in her possession was a scenario straight out of his nightmares.

The conniving young lady already made it crystal clear that she in no way saw him as an equal, citing his stature as too measly for her to pretend that she even respected him. While harsh, that was something he already inferred after being treated like her personal plaything and demeaned by her more times than he’d like to admit.

What was still jarring him was her comparison that likened him to a pet, stating if he lived under her roof that’s exactly what he’d be. Tanner didn’t dare go down the rabbit hole imagining that kind of life. By her own admission Marcelle wasn’t amoral enough to crush or eat him as she threatened/implied before, that didn’t change the fact she still had all the means and willingness to make his life a living hell. The worst part? Without Ivory or Ingrid to interfere she’d have all the time in the world to do it.

“What was I thinking?” Tanner buried his face in his palms. Laying his cards out on the table and talking his best game to Marcelle left him feeling quite courageous in the heat of the moment. Looking back with hindsight he pictured himself with a shovel digging himself into his own grave. Now after mustering up all that moxie to try and act big, Marcelle was retaliating with due diligence reminding him that he wasn’t.

“Don’t act like you’re small huh?” Tanner slumped down continuing to muse about his predicament. He almost had a tough time believing it was Blake of all people to deliver such an insightful message that encouraged him to stand up for himself, something he never believed he’d attempt at 3 ½ inches tall and to Marcelle of all people. Then there was Gail who commended him for facing the tribulations of a world where he was constantly dwarfed, referring to it as brave. A word he thought was the farthest thing from an accurate assessment of his character.

At face value he wanted to dismiss both their insights as hollow platitudes that he’s heard before from other people. Yet the further he reflected upon it and the genuineness they spoke from did their words resonate with him. As early as last week he would’ve been terrified at the thought of confronting Marcelle, believing history would repeat itself with him succumbing to her intimidation, shaking at her feet while she seemed to infinitely tower over him, capped off with her laughing at the hilarity of his feeble effort. Sure, he was still scared even during his exchange with his worst tormentor, but because he found his courage and didn’t waver, things were different. Marcelle took him seriously (more or less). Now there was a parallel between Blake’s past and what was happening to him in the present. After telling Marcelle he wasn’t going to take tolerate her pushing him around anymore this was her counterattack to put him right back under her thumb and you know what? He was not going to let her have that satisfaction, somehow someway he was getting out of this jam. The million-dollar question was how.

He already checked the interior perimeter of the bag for escape openings, so now all he had left was the slew of items in her bag. It may be a long shot, but he had to bet on something being able to help him. There was a small opening from above where Marcelle didn’t zip the bag shut, a calculated move so he wouldn’t die of oxygen deprivation during the commute. While it was nice not having to worry about suffocating, this opening also provided him a sliver of light.

Getting to work, Tanner rummaged through each item in his vicinity for anything that might be useful. Based off the limited visibility available and touch he deducted that many of the items around were probably cosmetics. Putting down what he likely thought was a pocket mirror he heard a distinct rumbling-like sound, a vibration.  In awe he turned around to face the bright light emitting behind him and it was coming from the one device that would be his ticket to thwarting Marcelle, her phone.

Scurrying through the other objects Tanner eyed its presence like a thirsty traveler in the desert seeing water, unsure if what they were seeing was real. Despite all the trouble she’s caused, he almost wanted to hug Marcelle right now for making such an oversight. Touchscreen technology may have been cumbersome for him to utilize, but not impossible.

Though this breakthrough was enough to warrant some relief, Tanner knew better than to preemptively celebrate. From within the bag he had no reference to deduce how far Ivory was from the train station, so he had to assume time wasn’t in his favor. With urgency racing through his veins Tanner maneuvered himself to the side of her phone and pressed the power button to turn on the screen. Now for the difficult part, getting the device to recognize his touch and from his experience the only one way to make that happen was via sheer persistence.

Several times Tanner swiped his palm horizontally against the glass screen that continued to taunt him with its stubbornness in refusing to grant him access to the homescreen. Eventually his will proved greater than the phone’s and he was rewarded with Marcelle’s homescreen featuring none other than her own breasts as the background image appearing like they were struggling to be contained within the wallpaper dimensions and would burst through the screen at any moment.

“Classy as always.” He scoffed. With more diligent probing of the screen Tanner navigated to her contacts where he located both Ivory and Ingrid. This is where things got tricky. The temptation was there for him to attempt a phone call; however, the risk was too high. Ingrid would be out of the question; she was in the middle of school hours and would only have periodic instances to check her phone. That and what are the odds that she’d accept a call she thought was coming from Marcelle of all people? Alternatively, if he called Ivory, there was a high chance she’d ask Marcelle why she was calling when they were next to each other. It would be an instant giveaway to his captor what was going on, he had to be subtler.

Selecting both Ingrid and Ivory, Tanner started a text message. It’d be great if he were able to swiftly type up something succinct like, “Help, this is Tanner and I’m trapped in Marcelle’s bag at the train station, save me.” However, with a looming time constraint he couldn’t afford to type something so refined. Rapidly jabbing at the screen Tanner did his best to convey a coherent message that would at least raise suspicion when read. Subtlety his plan needed, but he needed some luck as well. Poking at the screen a final time his message was sent.

“I don’t know Auntie, college is cool and all, I’m just not sure if I’m the scholarly type.” Marcelle mingled.

“You always want something to fall back on incase modeling doesn’t pan out.” Ivory suggested, pulling up beside a gas pump. “Hold on, let me fill my tank right quick.”

Marcelle had half a mind to check on her ‘passenger’ once Ivory stepped out of the car, that is until her attention was diverted by her aunt’s phone display turning on from the dashboard mount with a text message appearing on screen, the sender identification caught her eye.

From: Marcelle

 “What the fuck.” Initially perplexed, Marcelle froze as she read the message in the text box.

Help tanner in purse, train station.

Marcelle’s mouth hung open while she connected the dots. That runt can use a phone!? He even managed to send out a text!? She reluctantly wanted to acknowledge his resourcefulness. Nonetheless, the top order of business was making sure Ivory did not see that text. Working fast she leaned over to the screen and with nimble fingers she reached the message in question with the sole purpose of deleting it. She kept the bulk of her attention on Ivory to make sure she wasn’t looking her way or coming back to the vehicle, only turning focus back to the phone in the final seconds to press the trashcan icon and confirm the deletion. Avoiding disaster, she returned the device back to the homescreen. With seconds to spare she leaned back to a nonchalant position right as Ivory came back to the car.

“Like I said, what’s another three or so years of university in the long run?”

“But college classes are so boooring.”  Marcelle resumed right where they left off in discussion.

The train station wasn’t much farther from where Ivory stopped to get gas and Marcelle was beaming. No one knew Tanner was gone, she handled his last-ditch effort to reach out for help, all that was left was boarding the train and she was in the clear. After Ivory parked, both women stepped outside.

“Thanks for the ride Aunt Ivory, I’ll let you know I’m back home. Tell Tanner and Ingrid I said bye one last time for me.”

“Hey, you don’t have to be in such a rush to get rid of me. Your train won’t be here for another 15 minutes. I can at least wait to see you off.”  Unbeknownst to Ivory what she meant as a joke was precisely what Marcelle wanted.

It wasn’t worth drawing Ivory’s suspicion if she appeared too insistent on make her leave, another 15 or so minutes shouldn’t be a problem. “I appreciate that.” Marcelle smiled.

The station didn’t appear busy with a handful of people scattered about waiting for their respective trains. “I’ll be right back Auntie; I’m going to use the girl’s room.” Marcelle notified before heading to the bathroom making sure to enter the last stall so she could make sure the others were empty.

Tanner for the most part heard the general gist of what was going on, specifically that Marcelle was aiming to get Ivory out of the picture just to have another potential problem out of the way. As expected, she also did not come to the bathroom to relieve herself when he heard the bag unzipping and was greeted with her massive hand retrieving him out of the purse.

“Enjoy the ride?” She whispered keeping in mind the chance that someone else may enter.

If Tanner had to look at her smug simper any longer, he might gag. In a sick way it was worthy of praise how often she outdid herself in proving to be the ultimate bane of his existence. Each time he thought he experienced the worst of her behavior she managed to cross the arbitrary line again “…Really?” He plainly asked.

“Really, what?” Marcelle parroted.

“Kidnapping me? Do you have ANY idea how much trouble this will cause?” Tanner was aware of the direness of the situation, but dare he say he was morbidly curious as to how she rationalized this?

“I bet your peeps are going to lose their shit.” Marcelle inferred treating it as if it were no big deal.

“And has it not occurred to you that you’ll be the prime suspect once someone realizes I’m missing!?”

“Or maybe, the step-sister that you recently had a falling out with.” Marcelle redirected. “And even if I was, what proof would they have? Without anything directly connecting me to it, your disappearance is more likely to be attributed to an accident, you running away, or just sheer carelessness.”

Freaking incorrigible. “So now what?”

Marcelle snickered, maneuvering Tanner flat on his back and began kneading his body with her thumb for no reason other than to make him uncomfortable, she easily overwhelmed his efforts to fight her off.

“Now it’ll be just the two of us, no one to help you, no one to stop me.” Marcelle’s whisper dropped in pitch producing a faint trace of a growl and she brought the boy closer to her mouth, watching him grimace with each rough nudge and prod of her thumb. “You’ll be my little pet. I’ll play with you whenever I want. I’ll play with you however I want. I’ll play with you with whoever I want...” Marcelle paused to bring him as close as possible to her lips, making sure he’d feel the full effect of her hot minty breath over his body and the power of her voice shaking his very being. “I’ll make you do whatever I want.”

There was no hiding that her last declaration rattled Tanner who fidgeted at the sinister delivery. “You’re out of your mind.”

Marcelle closed her hand around her new pet as punishment for his backtalk. “That’s no way to speak to your owner, I see it’s already time to start disciplining you.” Marcelle grinned and began unbuttoning her jeans. Tanner had a hunch where this was going and prepared himself for the worst as he watched her pull at her black lace panties and lined him up with the space that would leave him sandwiched between them and her crotch.

“Better get comfy, my stop won’t be for an hour.” She mockingly advised and released her grip on his body.

Tanner yelped and flailed his limbs in freefall until he came to a slight bounce when he landed in her undergarment. After gathering himself from the disorientation, he looked up to Marcelle who blew down a kiss. “Enjoy the ride.” She winked and redid her jeans, trapping him once and for all.

“Mmm…” She moaned, relishing the sensation of her prisoner struggling against the sensitive skin at her groin. “No tickling.” She giggled and rubbed her hand over her pants in the area Tanner resided until he settled down.

Marcelle was all smiles and triumph until she stepped out of the stall. Being no stranger to ruffling feathers and drawing the ire, today was the day she was happy that looks couldn’t kill when the first thing she saw standing across from her was a fuming Ingrid.

“Give him to me.”