“Alright Sue...” Kristi said, sitting down at the kitchen table with her mug of coffee. “What’s the horoscope say for today?”

“Give me just a sec...” The blonde woman said, getting out her phone and pulling up the horoscope app.

From the other side of the kitchen, the third roommate, Allie, hurried to finish pouring milk in her cereal bowl and went to join them. The three of them had met a couple years ago when they all went to the same college and became friends. Not long after, they had discovered they all had birthdays in September.

It was Allie who had first started checking horoscopes, sharing them with the others. Just for fun, really, none of them actually believed what they read would come true, but after a while it had become just a fun little ritual for the three friends to start the day.

“Okay, let’s see, Virgo...” Sue quickly scanned the writing. “okay...Today you will Meet a tall, dark stranger...”

“ooh!” The other two said, in synchronization, which soon turned to giggles.

“Hope we’re not all meeting the same man!” Kristi teased.

“Alright...” Sue continued. “You will leave on a long trip. Did any of you have a vacation planned you didn’t tell me about?”

“No...” The both said, then began speculating where they’d like to take their trip. “Anything else?”

“Yeah...um...A new career opportunity awaits.”

“Nice!” Allie said, smiling.

“Like they’d ever put anything bad in a horoscope...” Kristi replied. “Today you will get hit by a bus...today you will lose all your money...” The girls laughed.

“Well, I need to get going...” Sue told the others, putting her phone away. “I’ll let you know if I meet that tall, dark stranger...” She rose from the table to the giggles and jeers of the other girls and started towards the kitchen door. She’d just reached it, when the door opened and a tall man in a dark coat stepped into the room. Sue froze, face going pale with fright. In the man’s hand was a large pistol, the bulk of a silencer projecting from the end.

“Please...stick around a little longer.” He said, in a pleasant tone of voice. It changed suddenly and he snapped, “Stay where you are! Don’t say a word!” This was directed to the other two girls, who had started to rise from the table in alarm.

“You!” He told Sue, “over there with them!” He waved the pistol. Trembling with fright, she moved back over to the table. The man followed her, reaching into his jacket. He drew out three brightly colored ballgags and dropped them on the table. “Put them on!” He ordered.

Glancing at each other, nervously, the three girls each picked up a ballgag. Hesitantly, Sue raised her gag up to her lips, opening her mouth wide as possible to slip it between her teeth. She whimpered, pulling the straps around behind her head. Her friends reluctantly did the same.

“Up!” He ordered sharply. “Over to the wall. Hands where I can see ‘em.” Whimpering uncomfortably through their gags, the trio walked over to the far wall of the kitchen, hands raised. “Now, take off your clothes. All of them.” The three grunted back in outrage, but the ballgags made any sort of argument impossible. The gun pointed at them was a strong counter anyway.

Faces red, the girls began to slowly remove their pajamas, followed by their underwear. They stood uncomfortably, trying without much luck to cover themselves with their hands.

“Turn around.” He ordered. “And put your hands behind your backs.” As they did so, they heard a metallic rattle as he went to each in turn, slipping a pair of handcuffs around each of their wrists. “Now, to the back door...” He said, poking Kristi in the back with his pistol as she stumbled after the other two.

“I’ve got a ship waiting to pick the three of you up. Soon you’ll be starting new lives someplace far away...” Sobbing in fright, the captive girls shuffled out the door followed by the tall dark man they met...