"Adrienne, are you home?" yelled Heather as she entered their apartment.

Dressed in lycra workout gear, Adrienne stepped from her bedroom into the hallway. "Yeah, what's up?"

Heather pointed her thumb toward the door. "I just bought a trunk of craft supplies from an estate sale and need a hand bringing it in."

"Sure," replied Adrienne. "I was headed out to the gym anyway. What did you get?"

As the two headed to the parking lot, Heather said, "Well, since I quit smoking, I've been looking for something to keep my hands busy. I was going to take up knitting like a lot of other girls, but I happened to spot an estate sale going on this morning, and they were selling an entire trunk of macramé supplies for only twenty bucks, so I snatched it up."

Heather opened the rear of her hatchback, and Adrienne whistled. "That's a big trunk!" she exclaimed.

"I know!" beamed Heather. "It's not too heavy as it's mostly filled with colored cord and a few pattern books. The size just makes it too bulky for me to handle on my own."

Grabbing a handle, Adrienne asked, "So what made you change your mind on knitting?"

"I couldn't beat the price on this," replied Heather, grabbing the opposite handle. "Besides, taking knitting needles everywhere seemed like a bit of a pain. I figured even if I end up hating macramé, the trunk itself was worth the twenty bucks."

Adrienne nodded, and the two carried the trunk inside. Once it was in Heather's room, she opened the lid.

"Holy crap, that's a lot of stuff," Adrienne said. "Anyway, You have fun. I'll be back in about two hours. Try not to make too much of a mess."

Heather shook her head. "Nah, I'm just going to fish out and glance over the patterns and maybe watch some how-to videos online to see if I can get the hang of it. Want to grab dinner later?"

"Sure," replied Adrienne. "See you in a bit."

Once Adrienne left, Heather changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants and then began rummaging through the trunk. There were cords and ropes of all thicknesses and colors. The patterns were sandwiched throughout, as if its original owner had just added to the trunk as the supplies were acquired. Heather glanced over each design and tried to sort them by increasing difficulty.

After ninety minutes or so, Heather was nearing the bottom of the trunk when she discovered something unexpected. She found a small wooden box covered in ornate patterns and sealed along the lid with wax. She pulled the box out and looked at it.

"Hmmm, I wonder what's in here," she mused aloud. "Maybe some needles or other tools? Why would it be sealed?"

She went into the kitchen and took a small screwdriver out of the utility drawer. Wedging it into the seal, she pushed and twisted until the seal broke and the lid popped off, followed by a cloud of dust and the sound of rushing air.

Heather shrugged. "That was weird. Maybe the temperature changes over the years created a vacuum or something."

The box itself was empty inside, although the interior was all scratched up.

"Weird..." she muttered, sitting the box on the counter.

Realizing Adrienne was coming home soon, she decided to get changed before her roommate came home so they could go eat. Heather walked into her bedroom and opened her closet.

As she was deciding on her outfit, she thought she felt something tugging at her ankle. Heather looked down and saw some of the macramé cord circled around her ankles -- and it was moving up her legs on its own!

"What the hell?!" Heather screamed.

As if it realized it had been spotted, the cord tightened on itself, pulling Heather's ankles together. The motion knocked her off-balance, and she fell backward onto the floor.

With Heather momentarily stunned, the cord continued snaking around her legs, with more cord streaming out of the trunk to immobilize her. Heather sat up and tried to untie her legs, but more cord shot around her wrists and tightened. More cords began encircling her torso, and another pulled her wrists to her knees and knotted itself in place.

Before Heather could scream, an unseen force pulled off one of her pillowcases and wadded it into her mouth. More cords wrapped themselves around her head and mouth, pinning it in place. Her cries silenced, the cords continued wrapping Heather until she was completely immobile.

No sooner did the cords stop when Heather heard the apartment door open. Realizing it was Adrienne returning home, she tried warning her roommate to get away, but Adrienne either didn't hear or ignored her muffled cries.

Adrienne dropped her duffel bag and walked towards the bedrooms.

"Heather, you still busy with your craft stuff?" she asked.

When she approached Heather's bedroom, she jumped when she saw her bound roommate on the floor. "Holy shit! What happened?!" she exclaimed.

Heather shook her head and tried to tell Adrienne to run.

"Hang on, I'll untie you!" Adrienne said, but no sooner did she step into the room when the cords once again sprung to life and snared Adrienne's legs.

In mere minutes, Adrienne found herself helplessly bound and gagged next to Heather on the bedroom floor.

Now helpless, the women noticed a dark figure slowly taking shape in front of them. The black energy gradually took on a humanoid appearance, although there were no features, and the being was translucent.

Heather and Adrienne squirmed against each other in fright.

The figure spoke in a distorted and not quite human voice. "Thank you for freeing me from my prison," it said. "Too long had I been trapped in that infernal box waiting for release."

"All that remains is for me to regain my physical form which, unfortunately for you, is the sacrifice of two young virgins."

Adrienne and Heather briefly stopped whimpering and looked at each other inquisitively.

Noticing the interaction, the figure leaned in close to each girl, causing each to close her eyes and turn away. Suddenly it stood up and its features became less distinct.

"Argh!" it roared. "Both of you harlots have given up your innocence! I must look elsewhere for pure souls!" After its outburst, the figure shot toward the wall and disappeared.

Although relieved the immediate danger had passed, Heather and Adrienne were now faced with a new predicament — they were still hopelessly bound and gagged, and no one had any idea of their situation.

Origami — That's the way to go, thought Heather as she and Adrienne tried desperately to free themselves.

The End

Credits

• Cover image created with Canva.

• Captive girl image from Sister, Don't Hate Me, by Hank Janson, 1951.