/tags/flagpole/Recent content in Flagpole on Gromet's Plaza ArchiveHugoen-us/stories/1/01/01/auction-part-2-locked-inside/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000/stories/1/01/01/auction-part-2-locked-inside/<p>continues from <a href="auction.html">part one</a></p> <p><strong>Part Two - Locked Inside</strong></p> <p>Karen lay on her back in the trunk. It had been several hours since Zoe had gone off to bed and a soft shaft of moonlight lay across the trunk. Karen could see the moon’s blue glow peeking in through the crack where the lid joined the rest of the trunk. Stifling a yawn with her fist, she drew her knees up towards her chest and curled up on her side, trying to get as comfortable as possible in the tight confines of the chest. Gradually she drifted off to sleep, dreaming…</p>/stories/1/01/01/the-secrets-of-shackleton-grange-18-a-clearer-view-of-things/Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000/stories/1/01/01/the-secrets-of-shackleton-grange-18-a-clearer-view-of-things/<p>(story continues from <a href="secretsofshackletongrange17.html"><strong>The Secrets of Shackleton Grange 17: The Party</strong></a>)</p> <p><strong>Chapter 18: A Clearer View of Things</strong></p> <p>When Cathy again saw daylight after the conclusion of the ordeal she and Bethany had shared in the cellar, it was obviously late afternoon. Although the passing of the hours and days was not easy to gauge in her almost continuous state of sensory deprived imprisonment, a quick calculation told her that she had been held here for five days and five nights by this time, which meant that it must be Wednesday. So if Dolores’ assertion that this effort to brainwash both herself and her fellow captive was to commence next week, there were still at least four days in the interim period to be negotiated and survived prior to this form of mental indoctrination being forced upon them. What was going to happen in the meantime? None of the probable scenarios bore too much thinking about.</p>