The woman identifies herself as Auntie Vicky and asks if the Jaces are at home. She claims to want to talk to her nephew.

These statements are not strictly connected but there is no reason to suspect a kind old lady with such a disarming smile.

There really isn't. Henry explains the situation. He doesn't know when the Jaces will be back. But lets her in so she can wait for them.

Isn't he a sweet young man. "Would you mind making me some tea and keep me company for a little while?"

Not at all.

He asks her to just wait, while he fires up the kettle. He will be back in a minute.

Once he is away from her... he blinks, there is something wrong... what could possible wrong?

Huh...

...in the other room, the old lady notices the sudden raise of concern upon the young's man face. This at least confirms what she suspected.

She reaches for her necklaces and quietly whispers a few words to herself.

Henry just stands still. It's like having something in the tip of your tongue...

She will continue doing this with a bit more vigor, which isn't at her age. But he is untrained. She will win...

Henry blinks. He finds himself back into the room, serving tea to the... Auntie Vicky. He must have zoned out. Yeah, makes sense. He puts on a smile.

She pulls out a handkerchief to wipe away some sweat from her forehead. And accepts the tea with a smile. Now she is curious what a young man like himself is doing all own his own in the Jaces' residence? Maybe he is involved with the charming young man in the house?

Henry quickly answers that they are just friends... and then blurts out that they do have sex with each other.

He covers his mouth.

It's okay, she is old, but not that old. He can tell her everything.

Everything.

Well, see he was raised by his aunt who divorced her uncle because the uncle used to beat Henry. So his Aunt Rose had to raise Henry and her own son Gabe by herself, with little to no skill, all because of Henry. But despite effectively growing up as brothers Henry got involved with Gabe. Rose found out and kicked Henry out. Gabe followed after him, and now the two are effectively homeless, and they don't know what to do next. Henry knows he should keep Gabe with his mother, but he is scared of facing things by himself. The Jaces are nice enough to put up with two random teenagers spending the night, but they definitely can't stay for the long term and-

She... raises a hand to quiet him down, and turns the movement into a pat on his back.

"Hold on," the old lady says. "I have a proposition for you. My family has an old house here in the city," she says. "No one's lived there for quite a number of years, decades really, and it's dirty and full of old junk. Would you be interested in clearing it out and cleaning it up for us?"

"That would be amazing."

She smiles. And they discuss the terms. Room and board, a thousand dollars per week for however long it takes, three meals a day, and Henry can sleep in the house.

They negotiate, or rather, the old lady needs to say she is fine with those terms. Really. He can take the thousand dollars a week. The place is really that much in need of a clean.

He accepts. And asks if it's okay for him to see Gabe outside the house.

Of course, of course. She accepts immediately and excuses herself, it's getting late.

Makes sense. He sees her out.

He cleans things up and thinks about making a note to leave for Gabe or Denis. But suddenly feels very tired... Gabe will probably stay overnight with his mom... yeah, he can just take a nap.

He blinks and discovers that it's early in the next morning. Gabe... is not around. Is the first thing he notices.

The second thing he notices is that the doorbell is ringing. And apparently the rest of the house is sound asleep. So he gets up from the couch and answers it.

It's Auntie Vicky with (presumably) her husband. They came to take him to the house.

Oh, right. He supposes there is no reason to not go now, so he gets in the car. Belatedly, he realizes he should've left a note or something.

That won't be a problem.

No? How come? He really should give some warning, at least something for Gabe...

She touches her necklace and insists that there is no reason to worry.

He opens the door to get out of the vehicle.

No.

The elderly couple looks at each other.

They can leave a message for Gabe, so there is no reason to worry, they should just go to the mansion now.

Something feels off... but... okay, they can go do that.

Handkerchief.

They drive to a part of town that Henry is unfamiliar with, but a lot of old buildings looks like to be a theme. Still, the mansion stands out both in style, size and state of disrepair. Vines cover everything, the front yard is a mess of weeds, the windows are so dirty that it's hard to tell if the black behind them is darkness or some kind of paint.

Still, even for the amateur eye, one can realize that this shadow of a building stood with glory in the past.

The distant past.

"Don't worry. The structure is sturdy, and the utilities are on with no problems. The house just needs a thorough cleaning."

She unlocks the door and waves Henry in.

Henry steps inside. He temporarily awed by the amount of rubbish everywhere-

then he hears the door locking behind him.

"What?"

"Good luck!"

"What? Hello!?" He tries the door handle. It's pretty solid under the dust.

There is no answer.

He slams his fists, and kicks the thing... no response, no sign of the door budging. He supposes that if the door could be easily broken to, it would have been. Fuck.

Is that woman even related to Denis? He suddenly realizes... she knew them, at least, but what kind of trick is this?

After tiring himself out by banging at the door, Henry takes a moment to regain his composure. He will look around and see if there are other options to escape.

The house is cluttered with all kinds of rubbish, but he can navigate the first floor just fine. He can even find the door to the back garden, the plants have long overgrown from where they should've been. He can hear birds in a nest.

Henry will ignore the bird, he checks and notices that there are walls to both sides of the house.

He will try climbing some vegetation that looks sufficiently sturdy to hold his weight. That step is easy enough to do.

But the walls are too high.

He goes back inside and tries the door again. Then he remembers the windows and hits himself in the forehead.

There is more than enough things to throw at the glass frames, and it's not like this doesn't count as kidnapping.

He picks up something metallic (A statue? A lamp? It doesn't matter) and throws at the windows from a safe distance.

The lump of rusty metal hits right in the middle of the glass.

Not a single crack. It just hit the window and fell to the ground. That blue haze was probably just a trick of the light. Or he is seeing things because of the panic.

Henry picks up the object again. And throws at the window.

Same effect, even the blue haze. It... it must be a trick of the light again.

He picks up the thing and throws a third time putting all his body into the motion. The thing bounces off and Henry can't see where it lands.

He has no idea what to do.

The interior of the house does not offer any ideas, unless you count "being so filthy that one is compelled to clean it".

Henry is actually considering it. Mainly because he isn't sure what else to do. Maybe the elderly couple is senile and thinks this is a reasonable sort of arrangement? Actually, maybe he should try to clean things up at least to see if he can find anything useful. Or not need to get a tetanus shot when he inevitably falls in a pile of something in the dark.

He starts cleaning... the actions is oddly meditative, and fulfilling, like giving a bath to a pet that is enjoying it.

Amidst the cleaning he finds a broom that is very effective at its job. One might even question how it works so well, given that the dust and grime just disappears...

...except that when he stops to think about it is already night. And he is too tired to do anything but sleep.

Yeah, Henry will just... go to bed. Too tired to fret over whatever tricks his mind is playing on him.

Well, "bed". It's actually a bunch of the less dirty blankets he found around the room.

He wakes up in the next morning to the smell of something hot and delicious coming from the vestibule.

Apparently the three meals a day might not have been a bust after all.

So, he isn't going to starve. Good.

He wonders if he there is some way to hurt the lady through the mailbox where the bowl of porridge and apples was delivered through. But... no, it's built in such a way that one side is always closed. He ruffs in frustration, but decides to eat his breakfast. Might as well benefit from his kidnappers' work.

What to do next?

His bladder answers that for him... He remembers a bathroom in this floor and also remembers it was just in no condition to be used.

After watering a flower bush in the garden, Henry decides to get the small bathroom in the first floor into usable conditions. He uses the extremely efficient broom. It remains capable of apparently vanishing dust. Apparently, was the key word, he thought. It can't actually make matter vanish. Maybe it's some kind of rich person broom that does something that makes the dust harder to see?

He is distracted enough by trying to think a reasonable explanation that he loses track of time. It's probably the middle of the afternoon before he remembers to check the mailbox for lunch. And sure, there it is, an egg sandwich with a banana. He eats them quietly. Wondering what is the best way to keep track of time. Maybe he should look for a clock.

He eventually finds a working clock or at least one that ticks when wound up.

It has been a day and change. The police ought to have been contacted by now, right? Not that Henry expects them to find them today.

Best case scenario a camera caught the lady at the Jaces' house or Henry with them. But Henry doesn't think that is a likely scenario.

He decides to go back to cleaning. It's meditative and calming enough that it beats despairing over the situation. Or Gabe's situation.

By the end of the day, he will find himself with a clean bathroom and some salvageable toiletries that were mercifully (and maybe mysteriously?) salvaged from the years of accumulated grime: a bar of soap, a toothbrush, a roll of toilet paper, a washcloth.

One roll of toilet for a year? It's not the worst thing about the situation, but it's surprisingly disappointing.

He remembers to check the mailbox, and... yeah, it already contains his dinner salad. Considering it's dark already he shouldn't be surprised.

Henry decides to not touch the salad before washing his hands. He might as well enjoy the spoils of his day of hard (and disgusting) work.

He washes his hands and face.

He blinks at the face in the mirror, cleaning his eyes. Okay, that was definitely an optical illusion and not his face turning shifting before his eyes. Maybe the food is laced with something?

Ultimately, Henry decides to eat the salad anyway. Mostly because he knows that starving doesn't make one less likely to see things. Then he goes to sleep.

It takes a while, he can't stop thinking about what Gabe must be doing right now. At this point even Gabe might be getting desperate.

He is restless and his sleep suffers, the next morning he wakes up knowing it's too late to catch the lady delivering breakfast. Sigh. Maybe he should search to write her a note. For all the good that might do.

It takes a while to find the materials for a note. Most paper around would probably just be considered garbage or an attempt to inconvenience his kidnappers. And they control his food.

He takes the time to evaluate what he can do to improve his chance of escaping and survival. Maybe at some point they will come inspect the house to see if he is working? Henry is not at all sure if they are actually keeping him in to clean stuff, but... he is at loss. It's not like there is any money to be made with a ransom. His minds wonder in the vague direction of "human trafficking" but that too is weird given he is being kept here. He might not have figured out how to escape yet, but a house full of stuff is not a place to store a would be slave. Ugh.

Investigating the ground floor, Henry finds a room which he suspects is some kind of pantry. There are piles of hard-to-identify clutter blocking his way, but he is pretty sure that is some kind of preserved fruit there in the back? With similar jars. Those can last a long while.

On the other hand, maybe the kitchen will have food as well?

Or maybe he should work on the garden...

Or maybe, he can work on the vestibule instead. And try to catch when the old lady delivers the food. Now that he thought about it that sounds more immediately useful.

He will even clean the place for the old hag. Better than staying in a small cramped room that has been used to store the dirt from outside. Or at least it is how it has been "used" lately. How does a house get so dirty while vacant?

It's a mystery. The vestibule doesn't really provide further answers. Only evidence of how much mud, dust and random debris a place can accumulate in a small area.

Time passes him by. There is no sign of the mailbox being open or disturbed from outside.

Henry gets distracted with cleaning. Once he gets a sense it's around noon he decides to check. No lunch. He goes back to cleaning. A short while later he checks again.

Yup that is the sandwich.

He... probably just didn't hear. It must be that. He will try again around dinner time.

Henry eventually finds a piece of paper that still can be used without being thrown away immediately out of revulsion. And among the random assortment of stuff there is what appears to be an inkwell. He even finds feathers to complete the set, but decides to use a stick instead.

He tries to think of a note. "Dears kidnapper" is a waste of space. And dangerous.

Pleas for help won't do anything he doesn't think.

Calling them both bastards, won't be cathartic enough if they cut off his food.

Let my family know that I am alive.

Henry doesn't immediately go back to cleaning. But it's not like there is anything to do.

So he just sits on a piece of presumed-furniture, staring into space. With the inkwell flask still on his hand for a while.

Gabe would probably use it to draw dicks on the walls. Because he was still a teenager, even if he had been eighteen for a few months longer than Henry. Also, because he unashamedly liked them. At they least they were very nicely draw dicks. Henry debates trying doing that himself, but isn't enthusiastic about the idea. Gabe would've done that from day one.

Maybe Gabe would even have thought of a way out. Or more likely would've poked Henry about the possibility instead of being resigned to his fate like Henry is. How long it took Henry to give up banging on the doors? How long have him being here?

Starting a calendar might be... useful? Practical? Better than not and lose track of time. He cleaned the Hall on his first day. Then the bathroom on the second day, yesterday.

He gathers the rejected-for-the-note papers, and stabs them through a coat hook. Then he writes:

Day 3

After staring at it for a while he resumes cleaning.

It's something to keep himself occupied.

Day 6.

Henry wakes up to find his breakfast warm and smelling delicious, reaching all the way to his nose where he was sleeping. Which is good. Because it means that his kidnappers didn't take yesterday's outburst too badly. Or maybe they don't actually come by to deliver the food, and have some automated method or something hidden in the mailbox? It's too early to think of that. And he is hungry after throwing yesterday.

He starts eating his breakfast very slowly, letting the food pass through his throat without hurting it further.

Day 8.

Henry decides to start talking out loud to be sure his voice doesn't fade away with misuse or the next time he has an outburst. He starts by counting out loud the payment he got from the old lady.

Then he talks at length how freaking bizarre the situation is and how disheartening it is to be under the control of a clearly insane person. He stores the money. There is a very well ingrained instict to save money stilled in him through years of counting every penny's worth.

Day 9.

Not having many topics to discuss in his isolation, Henry experimentally decides to just talk whatever comes up in his mind.

There are a lot of variations of "If Gabe was here".

Day 10, is the day of a surprising appearance.

Yeah.

That is sure a cat with a fancy hat and cape.

He just finally finished cleaning the vestibule when the critter slides out of the mailbox. Did the old woman left it there?

The cat stares at Henry like it can read his confusion, then looks frustrated with something. That said, it also deigns to rub itself against Henry's legs.

It probably just wandered off. Maybe it didn't like its owner taste in pet clothing?

The cat leaves out a huff of disapproval. Like it thinks its clothes are dashing and fashionable, thank you very much.

It tries to climb Henry's legs.

Henry picks her up...

She allows to be picked up. She has an engraved collar with the name "Tama" engraved. But no address or contact information.

Tama purrs in his arms.

Henry chokes and starts crying.

Oh no. Kitty snuggles.

He eventually sits down and lets the waterworks wash away. Quietly, just minutes of letting himself cry.

Once he is done he feels vaguely self-conscious for getting so emotional in front of another creature.

The another creature will just snuggle up while Henry is at it. Then pats the tears away.

Sad chuckle. What a good kitty.

Tama is an excellent kitty.