A crash of thunder echoed through the night sky, shaking Belle from her pleasant slumber. The young woman sat up in the large, comfortable bed, and glanced around the pitch black room, her sleepy mind trying to figure out what had roused her. Nearby, rain lashed against the shutters of the window, as a strong wind howled outside. A brief flash of lightning lit up the window, throwing shadows across the walls of the room for a split moment. A second later, another crash of thunder roared above.

Belle sighed, rolling over. "Only the rain…" She thought to herself. It was in that moment, before she again drifted off into pleasant slumber, that the noise, echoing down the corridors from a distant part of the house, reached her ears. It was much softer than the loud thunderclaps had been; only a momentary lessening of the downpour had enabled her to even hear it, but the sound was definitely that of glass breaking.

Belle sat back up, listening intently now. The second crash was softer than the first, but she was listening this time, and the sound was unmistakable. Belle bit her lip, thinking for a moment. With a groan, she threw back the covers and slipped out of bed. As she stood, the sheer fabric of her nightie slid down across her slender body. She was still wearing the silk gloves and stockings from the ball that evening, but apart from that, she was bare.

Her stocking-clad feet padded silently on the thick carpets of her bedroom as she crossed the room to the door and stepped out into the hallway. It was just-as, if not darker than her bedroom had been, pitch black save for the occasional flashes of lightning, but Belle knew the layout of the corridors well, and she had no trouble finding her way down them without bumping into anything.

"It sounded like the noise was coming from the library…" The young woman thought to herself. Fearlessly, the groped her way through the darkness, her outstretched hands feeling across the old, worn wood of the library doors until she found the brass handle. The library was also dark, but after a second, another flash of lightning lit up the rows of shelves and the large glass windows. Belle had just enough time, before she was plunged back into darkness, to spot the hole someone had broken in one of the lower window panes!

Belle stood in darkness, trying to decide what to do. The sound of her heart, pounding in her chest seemed loud, even against the sound of the rain running against glass windows. Her first instinct was to run away, flee back to her bedroom and hide under the covers. But Belle was never very good at running away… Quietly as she could, Belle found her way to where she knew one of the large fireplaces was. Her feeling fingers soon grasped the reassuring cold iron of a poker.

Thus armed, Belle turned to confront whoever was in the process of robbing her home. Face set in grim determination; she called out, "Hello? Who's there!?!" She injected a trembling note of fear into her cry. Let them think her a scared, trembling woman…at least until they got close enough. She grinned, gripping the handle of the poker tightly.

Her cry did not go unanswered. In the darkness of the library, she heard a muffled oath, followed by the scuffling of feet on the carpet. "There you are…" Belle thought to herself, creeping slowly towards where she thought the intruder was…

All of a sudden, a hand reached out of the darkness, and clamped tight over Belle's mouth, cutting off her startled cry. A moment later, she felt the cold barrel of a pistol digging uncomfortable into her back through the thin fabric of her nightie. "Make that, intruders…" She thought to herself, giving a frightened groan. "Shit…"

"Just keep quiet, don't struggle, and I won't have to hurt you, Miss." The man whispered into Belle's ear. "Oy, Gus!" He called out to his partner. "Bring some light over here, and let's see what we've caught!"

The flare of a match was bright in the darkness, a moment later, a lantern lit up the library, carried by a short man dressed from head to foot in black cloth. His eyes lit up as he saw Belle. The young woman's face flushed red as she saw his eyes run up and down her trembling body and she realized just how sheer her nightie was.

"Let's make sure our little snoop here won't interfere further." The first man said to his partner.

"Sure thing, Jim." Gus said, setting his lantern on a nearby table. He shrugged off his backpack and set it down. Opening it, the burglar quickly produced several neat coils of rope. He tossed one to his partner, taking up a second himself.

"Not a sound now, Miss." Jim warned, stuffing his pistol in one pocket. Reaching over, he plucked the fire poker from Belle's unresisting fingers. The young woman was beginning to regret her earlier bravado, as the two crooks went to work tying her up. While Jim twisted her arms behind her back and began lashing them together, Gus quickly bound her feet. A rope was run between the two, leaving the helpless woman hogtied.

From inside the backpack, Gus produced a pair of, none-to-clean rags. The dirtier of the two was stuffed in Belle's mouth; the second was folded into a strip and used to gag her. Leaving her to struggle, the two criminals returned to their work. The light faded, as they carried the lantern to a far corner of the library.

In the darkness, Belle trembled with fear. What were they going to do with her? She thought to herself fearfully. All sorts of horrible images ran through her mind, each more unpleasant then the last. She felt her cheeks flush red as she recalled how the second burglar, Gus, has looked at her. She knew that look, knew what he wanted.

Belle squirmed, twisting with all her strength against the ropes holding her captive, in a desperate chance to escape. Her slight strength was not up to the task of freeing her, however. After a moment's furious exertions, she slumped down, defeated. All she'd succeeded in doing was to rub her wrists and ankles raw, even through the stockings and gloves, and drench herself in sweat. She was no closer to getting free five minutes later, when her captors returned.

"That's all we came for?" Gus said to his partner. "Just a bunch of dumb books."

"Believe me, to the right collectors, these books will be worth a fortune." Jim told him,
"I doubt more than a dozen copies of these tomes exist in the entire world."

"I still don't see why we don't see to the rest of the place. There's got to be plenty of stuff worth stealing in a place like this."

"No. I don't want to spend any more time in this place then is strictly necessary." Jim replied. "We've got what we've come for, and it'll be more than worth our efforts here." They came to a halt, standing over their frightened prisoner.

"What about her?" Gus asked, glancing down at Belle, hungrily. She cringed, hoping the answer would be "leave her here." Her hopes were crushed a moment later.

"We can't leave any witnesses." Jim said his voice hard. "Grab her and let's go."
Belle groaned into her gag in fright as she realized the implications of his words. They were going to kill her! She struggled for all she was worth, as Gus reached down and picked her up. Despite her thrashing about, the man had little trouble throwing her over one shoulder. She wailed in fear as she was carried out the broken window and across the grounds.

The rain was still falling hard, and in no time at all, Belle was soaked to the bone. The thin silk of her nightie clung tight against her pale skin as she was lugged to a waiting car, parked nearby, and unceremoniously dumped in the trunk. The car ride seemed to last forever. Belle shivered, partly from the cold night air and her wet clothes, but mainly from fear. She knew what lie in store for her at the end of this one way journey…

All too soon, the car pulled to a halt and the trunk was opened. "We're here." Jim said, looking down, cruelly at his helpless prisoner. Belle struggled, screaming into her gag as she was pulled out of the trunk. Glancing around, fearfully, Belle realized where she'd been taken, the City's Waste Transfer Center!

From inside the trunk, Gus pulled out what proved to be a clear, plastic bin-liner. Opening it up, the two burglars's quickly wrapped Belle up in the thick, clear plastic, tying it off at the top. The young woman was picked up and carried a short distance. "Bye, bye!" Gus said with a laugh. Belle screamed in fright as she was dropped into a large bin. She landed on a number of large plastic bags of garbage similar to the one she was trapped in.

Belle struggled to keep calm, breathe slowly. She only had a limited amount of air in the bag with her. She knew exerting herself struggling would quickly use it up. She concentrated on trying to tear the bag, to open a hole in it, but the heavy duty liner refused to tear. The slick plastic slid underneath her desperately twisting hands.

Above her, Belle heard her captors locked in heated discussion, their words too muffled to make out. "What are they talking about?" She thought to herself. A second later, everything began to shake around her. A moment later, the walls of what she'd taken to be a bin, began to compress, squeezing the bags of trash. She was trapped in a large garbage smasher!

Over the noise of the machinery and the crunching of garbage being compressed, Belle heard a car's motor as the crooks drove away. The young woman cried out in fright, close to panic, as the metal sides closed in one her. She'd be nothing but pulp in minutes, unless she somehow managed to escape!

Belle struggled furiously, panting fearfully, as she squirmed in her tight bonds, but the ropes remained as stubbornly tight as before. It was beginning to get hard to breathe, as she used up the last of the air in the bag. The young woman felt woozy, her vision began to blacken as she started to pass out. On either side of her, the walls closed in inexorably…