Part one:

Bright, early morning sunlight streamed through the open blinds of the window in Carol's bedroom. Suddenly, with a start, the teenage girl sat up in her bed. She'd slept in! Why hadn't her alarm clock woke her up?

As the young woman looked around her room, eyes blinking in the clear, early morning light, she suddenly remembered she had school off today, and had turned off her alarm the night before, so she could sleep in.

Carol lay back down on the bed, trying to decide whether or not she should get up, or try to go back to sleep. Her stomach growled loudly and Caroled realized she was starving. Breakfast it is. She thought.

Carol threw off the sheets of her bed to reveal her light blue pajamas. She quickly changed into a t-shirt and some shorts and pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail. She could take care of everything else after she'd gotten something to eat.

The smell of coffee assailed Carol's nose as she entered the kitchen. Her mom was already up and finishing her breakfast. "Good Morning." She said, as she saw Carol enter. "I was wondering if you were ever going to get up."

Carol grunted vaguely, and walked over to the pantry to get her cereal. She filled a bowl and splashed a bit milk on it, then sat down at the table next to her mother.

"I hope you'll be alright by yourself today." Carol's mom said, as Carol began eating. "I'll be at work all day, and I probably won't be home until late this evening. We're close to a breakthrough."

Carol's ears perked up. Her mom was always hesitant to talk about what she did at work. Despite Carol's prying, her mom had never told her what went on at the lab where she worked. To her disappointment, her mom didn't go any further on what this "breakthrough" might be.

"There's plenty of food in the pantry and the fridge. You can have whatever you want, just don't burn the house down, or anything. Maybe you can invite your friend Ashley over as well…"

Carol nodded, grunting appropriately, not really listening to her mother. Her mind was already filled with the possibilities a whole day to herself might offer. She finished her cereal and put the bowl in the sink.

Carol turned and suddenly screamed, as much from shock as fright. A masked man was standing at the doorway to the kitchen. Carol's mother turned and gasped as she saw what Carol was screaming about. She leapt up as the man entered and pulled out a pistol.

"Not another word, ladies." The man growled, menacingly. "I'm not here to hurt you, but I will if you push me. So keep quiet, understand?"

Carol nodded hurriedly. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her mother nodding to. Her eyes were wide with shock and fear. Carol knew she probably looked the same.

"Now, put your hands on your heads and step up against the wall, facing it, where I can see you." The man ordered, gesturing with the barrel of his gun. Hurriedly, Carol complied, stepping up to the wall and putting her hands on the back of her head. A second later, her mom joined her.

The man stepped up behind the two women. Carol twisted around, trying to see what he was doing. "Eyes forward, girl. Study the wall paper." He growled at her. Carol stifled a gasp and turned back to the wall. By now, the shock of a masked intruder had faded. Fear had replaced it.

"Put your wrists behind your back, crossed." The man ordered. Carol complied, knowing what was coming next. He was going to tie them up. She felt gloved hands grab her wrists and a plastic zip tie was slipped over them and pulled tight. Not enough to hurt, but enough that she knew she wouldn't be able to slip them free.

Carol waited while her captor secured her mother the same way. Then, she heard the groan of furniture against the floor as the intruder pushed the kitchen table back. She wanted to turn around and see what he was doing, but didn't want to risk antagonizing him again.

"Alright. Turn around and sit on the chairs." The man ordered. Carol turned and saw that he'd cleared a space in the middle of the kitchen for two chairs, which sat side by side. He'd also closed all of the blinds of the windows, lest a neighbor happen to glance in and see the two captive women. Slowly, Carol sat down in one, her arms now trapped up against the back of the chair by her upper body.
The intruder had set a red gym bag on the kitchen table. He reached into it and pulled out several coils of rope. He started on Carol, first, tying her to the chair with skill. A coil of rope went around her chest and the back of the chair, pinning her against it and trapping her arms even more. Two short lengths of rope soon bound her ankles to the chair legs.

As the intruder turned to tie her mother the same way, Carol explored her bonds. As expected, they were tied with expert skill, tight enough she could tell right away she wasn't moving until he let her, without being so tight they hurt.
Meanwhile, the masked man had dug into his bag again and pulled out several brightly colored bandanas. Two of these, he knotted in the middle. He set those down and picked up a third and scrunched it into a tight wad.

The man turned to Carol. "Open up." He said.

"No…please, you don't have to gag me…" Carol pleaded. "Please…I'll be good. I won't say a word."

"Sorry, but I can't take that chance." The man said. Carol kept begging. Ignoring
her protests, the man waited until Carol's mouth was at its widest and suddenly stuffed the wad into her open mouth, most of it went in, but about half still stuck out of her mouth.

Before Carol could try and spit the wadding out, the man pocked it all the way in with one hand as he picked up one of the knotted bandanas. He stuffed the knot in Carol's mouth, pushing it past her teeth, and knotted it tight.

He turned and did the same thing with Carol's mother. She'd seen protesting was futile, and accepted her gag without protest.

The man stepped back for a second, to admire his two bound and gagged captives. Carol took the opportunity to get her first good look at him as well. The first thing that struck her was how young he was. He didn't look to be much older than Carol herself, somewhere in his early twenties.

He was dressed in casual clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place anywhere, save for the black mask over his head. Because of that, she couldn't see any of his features. With his captives bound and gagged and not likely to try anything, he'd put his gun away, which helped lessen some of Carol's fears.
"Sorry I had to tie you ladies up," The man said. "But I've got my orders. You don't have to worry, I'm not going to hurt you or rape you and I'm not here to steal anything. I've just got to keep you from leaving the house before six o'clock this evening. After that, I'll leave and call the police to come untie you. Just stay calm, do what I tell you, and you'll be no worse for the wear and have a nice story to tell your friends."

Suddenly his voice got grim. "On the other hand, I will do whatever it takes to see to it you don't leave. And if you keep trying to escape, I might have to resort to more drastic measures, and believe me, you don't want that." He raised his hands placating as both his captives moaned into their gags in fear. "choice is yours, ladies. I'm just saying that you better behave yourselves."
That said, Carol's captor found another chair and set it facing his captives. He reached into his bag and pulled out a dog eared paper back and settled down to wait. Carol wriggled a bit in her bonds. Already, her mouth had gone dry from the gag.

A few minutes later, Carol had to concede defeat. With her hands bound with the zip tie, nothing short of cutting it would get it off, and without her hands free, she'd have no chance of untying any of her other bonds.

Even if she could somehow get her bonds loose, with her captor sitting there in front of them, waiting, shed have no chance of slipping away or finding a phone to call the police, with a groan into her gag, she settled down as best she could in her chair to wait as well…