Penny: One Long Evening
By atfirstdawn

*Mature content warning
*©Keira Morrison/ atfirstdawn 2013
*Dedicated to and inspired by silenceyoursword


It hadn’t taken Penny long to get a grip on both her emotions and the situation after breaking down into tears in the trash strewn alleyway; her girlfriend had been kidnapped and the only way to get her back was to deliver the ransom to the kidnapper at the right place at the right time.

In the time it had taken her to dry her eyes, catch her breath and collect herself rationally, Penny had formulated a plan of action; a plan which consisted of not breaking into the university’s art gallery and not stealing the painting of which her girlfriend Charlotte was being held for ransom for… and while Penny’s plan did remove a degree of outlying factors, namely; a criminal record for thievery and breaking and entering, as well as the possibility of being detained by the campus security, if she were not fast enough in her get away, it was still no less dangerous.

Stepping out from the trash cluttered alleyway with her strategy in place, and her scarf wrapped around her neck and mouth to conceal her locked-in-place ball gag, Penny’s first port of call was to be the university’s art gallery. Finding that the painting was something she could easily carry with her had been a lucky break for Penny, but she needed to know the precise size, anything even slightly different in size would no doubt be immediately noticed by Charlotte’s kidnapper…
Upon returning to the third floor of the university’s art gallery, for what she hoped would be the last time, Penny had half expected to see Charlotte’s kidnapper still waiting and staring at the painting of pretension, but thankfully he had moved on. In fact the gallery was rather empty, emptier than it had been just a couple of hours earlier, which was fine for Penny because it meant there would be no distractions, she’d not have to talk to anyone and give away her embarrassing secret… The plaque on the wall beside the painting gave Penny all of the information she needed and more; skipping over the lengthy introduction and description to both the student artist and the painting themselves Penny’s eyes traced over the measurements, saving the measurements and the details of the plain glass sheet frame to a message in her phone, Penny then left the university’s art gallery as quickly as she had entered it not wanting to spend another moment in the presence of the painting.

Penny’s second destination following the university’s art gallery was to be an altogether trickier affair than taking notes in a public place; it’d require social interaction…

The store was just one of over a handful of others in the city which specialised in the same trade; selling frames for delicate paintings of all sizes and orientation. The frame which held the pretentious painting back in the art gallery on the university campus was a simple glass sheet; it would have been framed with something more professional (as they all used to be) had the university’s art budget not been cut, twice. Penny had visited most of the stores more than once in the past for her own works and end of semester finals and knew that most of them relied on speaking to the clerks and requesting which frame should be brought to you, but there was one, hardly professional and lacking the polish of the others, that had its frames stacked by the walls under hand written measurement labels waiting to be picked up and presented for payment…

Penny had used this store numerous times, it wasn’t her favourite and the clerks were largely miserable, but it was cheap and today it was practical. Walking into the small and mercifully empty store, Penny wasted no time in locating the frame and the size that she needed; a double glass sheet held together with silver screws, scooping it up with both her arms and holding it to her chest, Penny took a deep breath and stepped towards the familiar despondent clerk who was sat on a lonely stool beside the till. In any other store the transaction would have been embarrassing for Penny, small talk would have been made, questions would have been asked with answers requiring more than the shake or nod of her head during the payment process: but luckily, in this store, no words were exchanged aside from the price being muttered by the uninterested gangly clerk. Thankfully, Penny’s debit card never existed for too long outside of her pockets meaning that she was able to survive the transaction in silence while the clerk bagged her chosen frame…
As the clerk handed her the bag Penny watched his eyes drift down to her scarf and for a second Penny thought the worst; perhaps her scarf had slipped down, it was warm in the store and she was so busy concentrating on everything else that perhaps she hadn’t realised that it had slid from her mouth just enough to reveal the irremovable ball gag beneath it… with a jerk-like reaction, Penny snapped her hand up to her scarf without thinking about how obvious her action was, it hadn’t moved, it was still covering her mouth. Penny soon realised that the clerk was simply just staring, probably confused as to why she was wearing her scarf the way she was. Penny knew she looked ridiculous with her scarf covering her mouth and touching the tip of her nose while indoors, no one would wear a scarf like that unless they were hiding something but surely no one would expect her to be wearing a locked-in-place ball gag beneath it…. Penny scowled at the clerk before leaving.

Penny knew that she had been lucky thus far; she hadn’t met anyone who would have recognised her in the university’s art gallery, the clerk in the store may have frightened her a little bit but she hadn’t needed to speak to him or reveal what lay under her scarf. With the frame that’d pass for a decoy for the original painting, Penny was almost ready to put her plan into motion but this was the leg of her mission that she would need help with…
Penny and her friend Sophia didn’t share the same classes but were both always present at the same time of every day in others meaning that when Penny had no classes, neither did Sophia. Penny knew that her decision to get Sophia involved could land both of them in danger but Sophia would also be the only one to help ensure that they were both safe and that Charlotte was rescued, a necessary evil on Penny’s part.

Fishing out her phone from her pocket Penny proceeded to write a series of long winded messages a requested that Sophia join her in the forgotten alleyway that Penny had sought refuge in earlier.
A handful of short minutes passed, which felt like hours to Penny, until Sophia finally veered the corner of the alleyway and found penny with the frame in hand and her scarf pulled up high.
In her messages Penny had told Sophia everything; she had told her about Charlotte’s kidnapping, about the ransom and about the ball gag perpetually tied around her own mouth, but it was obvious due to Sophia’s expression  that she hadn’t thought Penny’s messages were serious…

Penny felt herself blushing as Sophia moved further in the alleyway and closer to her, her confused eyes probing for answers from beneath her dark rimmed glasses. Placing the recently bought glass frame against the brick wall of the alleyway, Penny met Sophia’s confused gaze and slowly pulled down her scarf to reveal her locked-in-place ball gag. Sophia parted her lips to talk but no words escaped her mouth, her head nodded and shook at the same time with a confused constant, she didn’t know what to say or do, she only knew that she didn’t envy Penny’s position.
Penny took a breath in preparation to speak, she could probably be understood under the ball gag, just, and trying to speak would perhaps save time, but instead Penny changed her mind at the final second and dove back into her phone. Moments later Penny was holding up her phone for Sophia to read what she had written, the plan that’d help them rescue Charlotte.  

With each message presented to her, Sophia would ask a question and receive the answer on a glowing screen until she was able to recite Penny’s plan to the letter. With a nod from Penny, whose cheeks were flushed and burning red in the presence of her friend, Sophia understood all that she needed to do. Both girls knew that it’d be dangerous but they both knew that Charlotte’s safety depended on them; Sophia would help Penny be in two places at once, summoning help and rallying support, communicating with the people that Penny couldn’t…

With their roles clear to them, Sophia fished out her own phone from her own pocket and took a picture of Penny for reference, she’d need it to show the authorities and other who could help. Having her picture taken with the gag in her mouth was truly embarrassing for Penny, especially when other people were going to see it, but she knew it was necessary. Noticing Penny’s embarrassment, Sophia leaned in and kissed her forehead and told her that she looked cute and that everything was going to be okay. Returning her words with a hug, Penny and Sophia then went their separate ways; Sophia headed to where she had been told to go by Penny, and Penny herself began an adrenaline fuelled walk home…

Once home Penny sat on the edge of her bed and recollected everything so far; everything seemed to be in order and everything seemed to make sense, she had been clear with Sophia and the frame was definitely the right measurements… standing and stepping down to the foot of the bed, Penny began to unbutton and pull away the duvet cover, once it was free she wrapped the glass frame within it, the cover wrapped around the frame several times, it’d take Charlotte’s kidnapper a good few minutes to carefully unwrap it, and those few minutes are what Penny needed to rescue Charlotte and have Sophia arrive with help… that was if everything went according to plan. Penny didn’t know the kidnapper’s mind, she didn’t know if she’d be contacted again by him with a change of plans, perhaps he had followed her and saw what she had done; her plan to use the wrapped frame as a decoy and buy herself some time…
Penny pushed the thoughts out of her head, it was too late to change anything, instead, all Penny focused on was the long night ahead of her…