Bound to the Past 1

»I hope I didn`t wake you up, Silvie?«

Silvana Dellert smiled. Only her aunt Pauline could ask such a question at 11am. Though being 74, Aunt Pauline seemed to be the only person who expected Silvana to party all night, at least now that she had passed High School.

»Actually, I am awake for some two hours now, but would you like some coffee?«

She wondered why her aunt was visiting their house, though she knew that her parents weren`t there. Due to a combination of accidents and wrong decisions, Silvana now had the house for herself for the next two weeks.

They went onto the veranda, since Aunt Pauline insisted on having a cigarette with her coffee; after some hesitation, Silvana took one, too. She still tried to figure out how she could politely aske what Pauline wanted, when the elderly woman began to rummage through her handbag, producing an old looking folder. Silvana raised an eyebrow (she had trained to do that in front of the mirror), but Pauline just said:

»Congratulations!«

»Again?«

Now, Silvana was a bit confused: the diploma ceremony had been two weeks ago, and Aunt Pauline had been there and already congratulated her. And since she had not passed with superb marks, she wondered what she was about.

»Oh, you are talking about your exams! No, I mean 1000+ subscribers for SiSiCrime!«

Silvana knew that her aunt was quite untypical for a woman her age, but she would not have expected her to spend her free time on YouTube. And sure, her parents had not boasted around about the leisure activity of her and her best friend.

»You – you know our channel?«, she asked a bit lame, but Pauline didn`t seem offended.

»I found it by accident, but of course, I am now one of your subscribers! The first videos were a bit – well, generic, but now, it seems you have developed your own style!«

She saw the true admiration in her aunt`s eyes and felt flattered. Some year ago, she and her best friend, Sibel Güloglu,  had started a true crime podcast, SiSiCrime. It had started like thousands of similar formats, with them talking about well-known unsolved mysteries like Jack the Ripper or the Hinterkaifeck murders. They had gained a few dozen followers, most of them classmates and even a few teachers, but so far, it had been, as Pauline had pointed out, been generic content.

Then, Silvana had had the idea of speaking about local mysteries; these were less dramatic and bloody, but they had the charm of indeed being unknown to most people, and in addition, their style of presentation had changed from »two teeny girls chatting« to something more unique. In fact, in the last month, they had earned some 800 Euro, and they were considering looking for some lucrative sponsors so none of them would have to work beside their studies. Pauline interrupted Silvana`s future dreams and patted on the folder.

»Anyway, maybe, you want to do your next video about our own family. We may lack murderers and bank robbers, but my«, she scratched her head whilst reconstructing the family relationship, »my grandfather`s sister disappeared under quite mysterious circumstances!«

Silvana looked at her aunt.

»That must be over 100 years ago!«

»117, to be precisely! So, even if there was no crime, she will hardly be alive by now! Anyway, when I was your age, I was a bit obsessed about my missing grand-aunt, and so, I did a little research! However, I then had a – change of priorities!«

Pauline was born in 1950, so, when she had been 18, it had been the time of the Hippies and the student revolts. Pauline Dellert had enjoyed the lifestyle of sex, drugs, and Rock&Roll, and in the early 70ies, she had even lived at a commune somewhere in the Himalaya. Still, she refused to behave like a decent elderly woman, and she was the only one who sometimes teased Silvana for being too shy and modest.

Silvana took the folder and opened it. Her eyes fell on a sepia-toned photography of a blonde girl her age. Beside it, she read a name:

»Linda Dellert! Is that my, what would it be, great-great grandaunt?«

»It`s her, though the picture was taken when she was 18 or 19, whilst she was about 30 when she first disappeared!«

Now, Silvana thought she had misunderstood Pauline.

»First disappeared?«

Pauline smiled enigmatically.

»Seems you are hooked, Silvie! Just keep the folder and see if you want to use it! If the video becomes a success, you two owe me a bottle of Absinth!«

***

Sibel came around some hour later. Meanwhile, Silvana had read the information her aunt had collected. It wasn`t that much, but it was at least enough to do an ordinary video.

»So, what is it? Let me guess: if your Hippie aunt is involved, it sure has to do with something like the Manson Family!«

The two girls shared a morbid fascination for crime and killers, but Silvana now had to calm down her friend`s expectations:

»Seems like Grandaunt Linda was rather the victim of a crime – or even more than one!«

She began to report to Sibel what she knew about Linda Dellert:

»She was born in 1875, one year after my Great-Great-Granddad! She then became a secretary, but in late 1905, she quit her job, to start a new career in Kiautschou, by then a German colony in China. But she never got there!«

Involuntarily, she had fallen into her SiSiCrime-voice.

»According to a report by the British authorities at Karachi, then British India, she was kidnapped when the ship had to stop there because of engine troubles. The file`s a bit vague, but it seems that she got into the clutches of some Afghan Emir and even ended up in his harem!«

»Wow, real White Slavery! I mean, she really looks like the typical scheme of prey – young, blonde, innocent! She even looks a bit like you!«

Sibel held the photo beside Silvana`s face. There was some resemblance, but Silvana playfully poked her friend.

»I am as innocent as you!«, she pouted. Sibel cocked her head.

»I know, but I can always pretend that my elder brothers are not allowing me to have fun!«

Sibel`s family lived in Germany for some 50 years, and except for her name and a slightly darker complexion, there wasn`t much Turkish heritage on her. Sibel sometimes played with the clichés, however.

»Anyway, it seems that she escaped after some time, and the British even booked her a passage on a ship heading for London. However, when that ship reached Muskat, now Oman, she had disappeared – again!«

As it turned out, Linda Dellert had once again been kidnapped, but freed by British troops – again. The last report had been from Kairo, where she had been reported missing a third time.

»And here, the finally managed to vanish into thin air!«

»Three kidnappings in a row, that even beats Daphne Blake!«, Sibel joked. Then, however, she was as hooked as Silvana and the two began to prepare their video.

***

It had taken them some six hours to produce the 20 minutes video, and after they had cut and rendered it, it was way past midnight. So, Sibel had stayed with Silvana. After they had uploaded the video, both were still in their SiSiCrime costumes: every video started the same: Silvana, dressed like a fake librarian, with a white blouse, a strict bun and fake glasses, was looking at some fake crime files with her looking glass, whilst behind her, the green screen was showing some teasers of the current show. Then, Sibel entered, dressed like a female Indiana Jones, and slammed a folder onto the desk. Then, both girls looked at the camera.

»A new crime report has reached us at SiSiCrime! Hi, I am Silvana!«

»And I am Sibel! Together, we are SiSiCrime! Germany`s number one true crime podcast!«

After that, they had presented a mixture of the sparsely information they had, some general historic facts and some speculations about what had happened. It was a video like they had so far produced 37 others, the only difference was that this time, a family member of Silvana was involved in the presented crime.

»Phew! I will never consider making YouTube videos as an alternative to work! This is fucking work!«, Sibel complained and stretched her back. Then, she hugged her friend. Silvana yawned.

»I hope that we don`t get too many dislikes for using stereotypes!«

Indeed, they had used the White Slavery topic as clickbait, using some images of Otto Pilny that showed what fate expected such slaves on the markets or in what 19th century Europeans considered to be the inside of a harem. On the other hand, Linda Dellert was a white, blonde woman that had fallen into the hands of Afghan and Arab slavers.

Sibel went home and Silvana also turned off her computer, withstanding the urge to update their video every five minutes. She indeed managed to avoid YouTube until the next morning, but whilst having breakfast, she went online and saw that there had been some thousand clicks, some more followers and subscribers and even a few comments. One was from Aunt Pauline, criticising them for being a bit lurid, but leaving a like nevertheless. There were the usual comments wanting her and Sibel to present their show in the nude or finally confessing their love and kissing onscreen. Silvana shook her head. Since both she and Sibel had no boyfriend and always stuck together, quite some people considered them to be a couple.

Among some comments that were referring more to the video, she also found a few of her former classmates, but also one that stood out for simply saying:

»I will report the video if you won`t put it off immediately!«

Silvana frowned. They hadn`t used copyrighted music or images, not violated the rights of living persons, and they had also not been obscene or something. And yet, the threat sounded a bit too casual for the usual internet troll. Silvana clicked at the user, but it was just »User0815«, with an almost blank profile. It seemed as if he had generated the account only to tell them to delete their video.

At that moment, Sibel called her. She had also seen the comment, and after a short discussion, the two girls decided to just wait what would happen. If they had violated some of the restrictions, and »User0815« would report their video, YouTube would tell them, by either demonetizing or blocking it.

However, it seemed that the platform didn`t consider their video to be offensive, for there were no strikes, and though the user demanded that they deleted the video a few more times, nothing happened. Quite the contrary, others told him to shut up, and it seemed that the discussion generated them even more clicks.

»We are going viral, Silvie!«

That was a slight exaggeration, but they had gained 217 more subscribers, and so, they made a second video in which they thanked their audience, interacted with the chat and also spoke about what they thought had happened to Linda Dellert. Again, it was about midnight when they left the stream and went offline.

»Five more minutes, and I would have gone hoarse!«

Still in their costumes, the girls checked the house bar of Silvana`s parents. They were at Tenerife for the next two weeks, whilst Silvana and Sibel had originally planned to go to Bulgaria with some of their former classmates, but then, they had quarrelled with some of the boys and decided to stay at home instead. At least, they now had the house to themselves and so, they fell asleep on the couch after they had had two cocktails each.

When Silvana woke up as she had to go to the bathroom, she saw it was 5 am.

»Fuck! We have holidays!«

For a while, she tried to persuade her bladder that she would let her sleep a few hours more, but finally, she tapered into the bathroom. As she relieved herself, Silvana heard a muffled cry from the living room.

»Did Sibel fall from the couch?«

She chuckled and sneaked back to see what had happened. To her surprise, the light had been switched on.

»Sibel, what the-«

The words died on her lips. Sibel was standing in the middle of the room, a black gloved hand covering her mouth. The hand belonged to a masked man standing behind her and pressing a gun at her temple. Before Silvana could react, she was grabbed from behind and her mouth was clamped shut, too.

»We warned you to take off the video!«

For a moment, Silvana felt a wave of relief. The two intruders had to be some of their classmates who were enacting a practical joke! Then, however, the grip on her arm tightened painfully and she was pushed forward in a way none of her friends would have treated her.

»Now, you have to learn the hard way!«

Silvana noticed an accent in the man`s voice, but she had no time to concentrate on it, for now, both she and Sibel were made to kneel on the carpet. Then, she felt the barrel of a gun push against her chin.

»Open your mouth, Blondie!«

She obeyed, and from behind, something large and soft was wedged between her teeth. Silvana retched and tried to push out the gag with her tongue, but the masked man held the gun to her temple. Opposite to her, Sibel was gagged, too, and Silvan a could see that something like a large blue nerf ball had been stuffed into her mouth. The two men secured the gags with two rounds of duct tape; then, they placed two chairs from the dining table side by side and made the girls kneel on the seat, so they were facing the backrests.

The man now forced Silvana to put her arms over the backrest, and he taped them to the wooden rails, so she had to keep her arms stretched and the edge of the backrest dug into her collar bone. Then, he taped her ankles together. Sibel was fixed to her chair the same way, and both girls found out that if they struggled too much, they risked toppling over.

Now, one of the men said something in a language that sounded Arabic. His accomplice chuckled and they went for the couch table, picking up Silvana`s fake glasses and Sibel`s Fedora. One put the glasses on Silvana`s nose whilst the other arranged Sibel`s hat in a jaunty angle. Then the two stepped behind the two girls.

»Hhrrrmmm! Mmhhmmph!«

»Uuuhhmmmph! Nnnngggg!«

Both girls mewed with alarm and squirmed in their bonds as now, the man standing behind Sibel opened her belt and pulled down her jeans whilst the one behind Silvana pulled up her skirt, revealing her panty-clad butt.

The relief as the two now stepped beside them, leaving their panties in place, was short-lived, as they now raised their arms. Almost synchronously, their palms landed on the girls` buttocks. Both Sibel and Silvana screamed through their gags, and when the spanking was over, both had tears in their eyes.

»Never again ignore a warning!«

The two frightened girls now heard the men rummage through the house for a few minutes. Then, the door fell shut, and they seemed to be alone again.

»Mhhmm! Uuuhmm!«

Sibel stared at Silvana, pointing at the direction of the entrance with her chin. Silvana shrugged. She was still trembling, and her buttocks tingled from the assault, but she also wanted to get free. She looked around and saw that she was quite close to the couch.

»It should work!«

She tensed her muscles and then, she let herself fall to the side. As she had hoped, the couch upholstered her fall, and now, she could get her feet to the floor, though her arms were still tied to the chair. In a clumsy move, she managed to hop closer to Sibel, and now, they could pick on each other´s bonds. A few minutes later, both had freed their hands and could try to unwind the tape from their mouths without taking too much of their hair with it.

»Uuuargh!«

Sibel, who had taken less care of her hair, had ripped off the tape and plucked the nerf ball from her mouth. Some saliva dropped onto the carpet. Moments later, Silvana could also ungag herself. Panting, the two girls stared at each other. Then, they hugged and cried, only interrupted by Sibel quickly pulling up her trousers again. Silvana rearranged her skirt and felt her still hurting buttocks.

»What the hell was that?«

Before they could answer, there came a sound from the corridor, and the two girls screamed. Silvana grabbed the chair and raised it.

»S-sorry! I-I just wanted t-to see if you are okay!«

The woman standing in the open door looked almost as scared as the girls. She was wearing a bathrobe and plush slippers, and her hair looked a bit dishevelled.

»Marlene? What are you doing here?«

Marlene Gutermann lived in the townhouse next to the Dellert`s. She and her husband had recently divorced and currently, the 37 years old was trying to find a buyer for her house, or a job that would allow her to keep it. The expression of true sorrow and barely hidden curiosity in Marlene`s eyes made Silvana step over to her and sink into her neighbour`s arms.

»Oh my God, it was so terrible!«

Ten minutes later, all three were sitting in the kitchen, where Marlene was preparing cocoa for each of them. Being a former primary school teacher, Marlene considered cocoa a cure for almost all dire situations, but neither Sibel nor Silvana said a word against her motherly care.

Before, they had collected all their courage and searched the house, armed with a kitchen knife, a big Maglite flashlight and a rolling pin. It turned out that both the folder and Silvana`s laptop had been stolen.

Sipping from their hot drinks, they now told Marlene what had happened and also about the video that had caused the assault. Sibel shook her head.

»These bastards don`t even know how computers or the internet work! I mean, the video`s still online, and the files are on my laptop, too – oh my God!«

She jumped up and rushed for her cell phone. Sibel had just remembered that her laptop was at her home, where her family was sleeping. After a short conversation in Turkish, the girl seemed relieved, however.

»My father told me the next time I wake him up that early on his day off, he will spank my butt for the first time in his life! But at least, nobody attacked them!«

Involuntarily, Silvana giggled.

»That would be two spankings a day!«

Her buttocks still tingled. The slaps would leave no marks, but the two men definitely hadn`t just played games!

»But, what now? Will you call the Police?«, Marlene asked. The two girls looked at each other. Then, Sibel scoffed:

»Four months ago, I got molested in the Subway! And the Policeman only asked me whether I was drunk, or what I had been wearing! I don`t need that ordeal a second time!«

»Besides, we have no clue who it could have been!«, Silvana added. Marlene frowned.

»But, they came to your house! So, it must be someone who knows who you are!«

However, that didn`t narrow it down too much. The teachers and pupils at their school, plus some parents, at least knew Silvana and Sibel from seeing, and most of those even knew about their true crime format. In addition, it could also have been someone seeing their picture from the exam ceremony and associating it with their YouTube activities. So, there were at least 1000 people who could know who they were and where they lived.

»I just don`t get what this is all about!«, Silvana blurted. »I mean, all this happened more than 100 years ago! So, even if Linda Dellert fell victim to a yet undetected killer, he has also died decades ago! Why is someone so angry about the video?«

Marlene put her mug onto the table, causing a noise that made the girls look at her.

»Would you like coming over to me?«

As Sibel and Silvana looked questioningly, she added:

»I would like to see your video, too! And besides«, she smiled a bit apologetically, »I don`t want to go back to my house alone!«

One or two neighbours who were up that early could then see a strange group get from the Dellert`s to the Gutermann`s house: a blonde girl in a white blouse and a grey skirt, another one in jeans and a black leather jacket, and a woman in a bathrobe. The three were armed with a knife, a rolling pin and a flashlight.

Marlene connected her laptop to the TV and so, they could watch the video on the big screen. Following a sudden intuition, Sibel scrolled down the comments, only to see that »User0815« had deleted his account.

After watching, Marlene commented:

»I can`t see the problem! No offense, girls, but that`s just one among hundreds!«

»Oh, I would be perfectly fine if everyone would see it like that!«, Sibel replied, her voice sounding a bit shrill. They looked at the screen, as if the images of themselves grinning into the camera could give them an answer.

»I mean, it doesn`t depict some Afghans and Arabs in the most positive way, but what has happened to you wasn`t just a few Social Justice Warriors on the rampage!«, Marlene concluded. Also, it was unlikely that people from the countries where Linda had been kidnapped would have reacted by an assault, at least not without uttering more threats first.

»Something tells me that it has to do with Linda Dellert herself! Silvie, you should call your aunt!«

Only now, Silvana thought of Aunt Pauline, and a shiver ran down her spine. What if she had been attacked, too? She quickly called her aunt, surprised that, despite it being 7 am now, she answered the call immediately.

»Silvie? What a surprise! You won`t believe what has happened!«

She didn`t wait for Silvana to speak and quickly told her niece that the day before, she had had an accident when getting out of the bus. There was no one to blame but her own clumsiness, but now, she had a broken leg and was in the hospital.

»At my age, such things take a little longer! But in a few weeks, I will be like I have been before! The only problem now is that I can`t get to the smoker`s corner!«

Silvana decided not to tell her aunt what had happened. Pauline might be a tough and unconventional old Lady, but she was 74, and she sure didn`t need fear for her grandniece in addition to being hospitalized. She looked at Marlene.

»Could we ask you for one favour?«

Half an hour later, all three had showered and changed into normal clothes. They were sitting in Marlene´s small car, heading towards the house where Aunt Pauline had her small apartment. Since her aunt loved travelling, Silvana sometimes looked after her post and took care of her plants, and she had an extra key to the apartment.

»We have to pack a few things for her anyway, and maybe, we will find something helpful! After all, it was her who started the whole Linda thing!«

Sibel rummaged through her handbag. Since the incident at the Subway, she had bought herself some pepper spray, and she was determined to use it on any criminal lurking at the apartment.

The house was a grey concrete block with some 100 apartments. It didn`t fit Pauline, but it was cheap, and due to her unruly lifestyle, she only had a small pension.

Silvana wasn`t sure what she had expected, but the apartment looked as usual – a bit messy, filled with memories from her aunt`s long and eventful life, and smelling of cigarette smoke. Marlene immediately opened the door to the small balcony whilst Sibel looked at a potted plant.

»Cool! Is that-«

Silvana nodded.

»Aunt Pauline thinks that it`s a panacea against almost all diseases – and obviously, she prefers self-gardening to running to some dealer!«

Marlene interrupted the girls` admiration of the plant and they started to search the 36 square meters of the apartment for nothing in particular. Marlene, who felt a bit strange about stumbling through a strange woman`s apartment, took a bag and began to collect some nightgowns and other clothing Aunt Pauline would be needing at the hospital, whilst Sibel and Silvana looked through some photo albums.

Two of them documented Pauline`s life as a Hippie and later in the Indian commune; under other circumstances, the sight of a much younger Paulina and other men and women dressed in nothing but their long hair and obviously stoned as fuck would have amused the girls, but they quickly disposed the albums and chose one that looked older and contained black and white photos.

A blank spot told them it was the one from which Pauline had taken the photo of Linda Dellert. There were a few more images showing the mysterious ancestor, but nothing that looked suspicious of anything.

»Damned! Nothing we hadn`t known already!«

Then, Silvana thought twice and she stepped over to the shelf from which they had taken the albums. One by one, she put them back, and when she looked closely, she could see a gap between the books, albums and folders. Pointing at it, she whispered:

»Here! That must be where she kept the folder she gave to us! So, maybe-«

Silvana went on all fours and reached under the shelf. She oppressed a shriek as something with more than four legs ran away, but then, among some dust, she felt a piece of paper. Slowly, she brought it to light. It was a yellowed sheet from a newspaper, folded twice.

»I hope that this isn`t just an old article about Woodstock!«

Again, she had lowered her voice and thus, they could now hear the steps from the corridor. In a house with so many inhabitants, this was hardly a surprise, but now, it seemed that whoever was outside was standing in front of the door. Then, the three could hear a faint sound, as if someone was staggering inside the old-fashioned lock with a piece of wire.

»Oh my God!«

The door sprang open, and their eyes fell on a tallish man who looked at them with astonishment before his expression grew angry.

»I told you bitches-«

Whatever he wanted to express was drowned by a yell of pain and anger as Sibel raised her arm and emptied the pepper spray into his eyes. The man cried like a wounded animal, but now, Silvana kicked and luckily hit his balls. He staggered against Marlene, who, swinging the bag like a weapon, hit his head. As the man landed on the carpet, the three women rushed out of the apartment and down the stairs, not bothering waiting for the elevator.

Either the man`s accomplice didn`t notice them, or he had acted alone, for they reached Marlene`s car undisturbed. The former teacher kicked on the gas, so the car jumped forward and she nearly hit a passer-by before she regained control over the vehicle and managed to steer it away from the house.

»Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!«

Somehow, they managed to get back to their street without causing an accident. Here, Marlene almost dropped the bottle she took from her shelf with trembling fingers. Then, she took a sip and sighed. Sibel took the bottle from her and also drank.

»Phew, what`s that? Drain cleaner?«

Marlene giggled.

»Caraway Schnapps! The only reminder of my ex father in law! Sorry, I haven`t got anything else!«

»At least, it works!«, Sibel grunted and took another sip. She then handed the bottle to Silvana, but the girl was trying to unfold the newspaper sheet with her still trembling fingers.

»Allow me!«

Years of doing handicraft with kids had trained Marlene in handling fragile things with care, and so, she managed to unfold the sheet. Their eyes fell on a picture of rather bad quality. However, though more than ten years had passed, it showed Linda Dellert.

»German Woman Victim of an Abduction?«

The article described that Linda, together with three other women, had been at the Grand Hotel where they had been recovering from a »recent ordeal«. Two days before the article had been printed, the women had been drugged with Champaign, allegedly sent by the British Military. Some hours later, a hotel maid had discovered the three other women »bound, gagged, and in an inappropriate state of undress«. Linda Dellert, however, had vanished.

»Some more details, but we already knew that!«, Silvana murmured. Sibel, however, pointed at the top of the sheet.

»The ›Cairo Gazette‹, November 2nd 1906! So, this is the last sign we have from Linda Dellert!«

»And yet, someone`s still very interested in her right now! But why? What makes a kidnapping that happened more than a hundred years ago make some thugs attack us, and leave us ›bound, gagged and in an inappropriate state of undress‹!«

Sibel slammed her fist on the table.

»Maybe, it`s the Caraway Schnapps speaking, but right now, I feel rather curious than scared!«

***