Underground Baseball

"Fuuuuck," Harrison moaned as he slowly became aware of his own consciousness. His eyes were glued shut with dried bits of crust, his mouth was as dry as a desert, and his entire body felt like it had been pushed out of a three story window onto a pile of scrap metal. His right arm was completely numb from how he had been awkwardly sleeping on top of it. He shifted himself to his back and felt a painful tingling sensation in his arm as the feeling slowly started to return to it. He spent the next couple of minutes just laying there, waiting for the dense fog to lift from his aching head.

Once he finally felt like he had some sort of control over his body and mind, he started to wipe away the gunk from his eyes until he could finally open them. When he did, it took several moments for him to realize that he had no idea where he was. He knew he was laying in a bed, but the ceiling above him wasn't the least bit familiar to him. He turned his head towards the right and took in the room around him. It was a very large open room with a stairwell that went up and out of sight behind a wall. The room had a small kitchen area, a toilet and shower that stood partially hidden behind a curtain, a single sofa that pointed at a television, and otherwise just a bunch of junk lying around in various places.

The room was pretty well lit with what appeared to be natural daylight. He looked up at the tops of the cement walls and saw the source of the light, which was a horizontal line of frosted windows that wrapped around most of the room, allowing in a surprisingly decent amount of sunshine. "Am I in a basement?" he wondered aloud to himself, hearing how hoarse his voice sounded in the process.

Something caught Harrison's eye suddenly that seemed peculiar and out of place. A large plastic tube had been installed at some point in the little kitchen. It hung vertically and was attached to the ceiling, hovering directly above an empty surface on the counter. Written down the side of the tube in big red letters was the word "REWARDS".

Other than that, and the random junk that was spread throughout the room, it seemed to be a relatively clean and cozy space.

"Gluh," a voice suddenly mumbled from beside Harrison, causing him to jump. He looked to his left and saw the back of a head that seemed to belong to a female with long, brown hair. She, like him, appeared to be having a difficult time coming out of what must have been a very deep sleep.

"Well, well, well," Harrison said quietly with a smile, very pleased to see that he wasn't alone. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't remember much about the night before, other than that he was definitely drinking in a bar surrounded by plenty of gorgeous ladies. Apparently he had hooked up with one of them last night and she had taken him home to her...fully furnished basement?

He supposed he had heard of places that existed where people rented out their basements to tenants, they just didn't have anything like that where he was from. This girl was probably a college student or something and was getting to live in some family's basement for pretty cheap, he figured.

In reality, he found himself not really caring so much about those details in the moment. He studied what little of the girl he could see, which was just the back of her head and a little bit of her shoulders, the rest of her being covered by the blanket. She appeared to be wearing a white tank top. Her skin looked very smooth and flawless, tempting him to trace his fingers softly where it was exposed to him. He held back though. Even though they had clearly hooked up the night before, he figured that since he didn't even remember this girl's name or what she looked like, it would probably be a violation on his part to suddenly just start touching her.

He took a moment to assess his own situation and noticed that he was not wearing a shirt. He felt underneath the blanket and found that he was wearing underwear and a pair of loose fitting athletic shorts that felt as if they were a couple of sizes too big for him. He wasn't sure where he had gotten the athletic shorts from, as he had definitely not been wearing them the night before at the bar, but once again quickly decided to stop caring about that particular little detail and focus on the hot girl beside him.

She seemed to have fallen back asleep after the inaudible little noise she had made moments before. Feeling only a little bit bad about it, he carefully lifted the blanket up just enough to where he could see underneath it. "Noice," he whispered to himself as he saw that this girl wore nothing but a snug fitting white camisole and a tight pair of powder blue underwear that only seemed to cover barely more than half of her round little butt.

He thought briefly about putting his hand on her hip and snuggling up behind her, but once again decided that he'd be crossing a boundary by doing that. He did, however, scoot himself over towards her just slightly so that he could feel her warmth beside him. He turned his face towards her hair and inhaled, feeling a pleasant tingling course through his body as her feminine scent filled his nostrils. It was a strange sensation, but she smelled very familiar to him, and he couldn't pinpoint why.

"Emp zonk!" she said suddenly, this time lifting her head off of her pillow and staring at the wall in front of her.

"Hey, good morning," Harrison said softly, placing his hand lightly on the girl's shoulder as he turned to face her. The girl swiftly whipped her head around to look at him, and in that moment Harrison suddenly found himself face to face with his sister.

"What the fuck!" he shouted as he quickly got out of the bed, clumsily falling on the floor in the process.

"Harrison, what the hell!?" his sister cried out as she looked around the room.

"Wendy, what are you doing here?" Harrison said in a panic, trying desperately not to think about the fact that he had just checked out his little sister's butt.

"What am I doing here?" she replied as she studied the room. "What are either of us doing here, Harrison? Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know! I thought this was your place!"

Wendy paused and stared at her brother like he was an idiot. "Why the fuck would you think this was my place? How does that make any sense? You know where I live!"

"That was before I knew who you were! I...I thought I was laying in bed with some other girl who wasn't my sister, obviously, and that she and I had gotten drunk and hooked up last night and she brought me back to her place, but..." Harrison's words trailed off as he tried to remember any detail at all about the night before.

"But what?" Wendy took in her surroundings the best that she could, but having just woken up in a strange bed with her brother was making her feel very vulnerable and flustered, so she was having a hard time focusing. She also was having a tough time recalling any details about the previous night. Her short term memory was all in a haze at the moment.

"Wendy, where the hell are we?" Harrison asked as he looked around the room.

"I don't know! That's what I just asked, doofus!"

The two of them just sat still for a moment, Harrison on the floor and Wendy in the bed, and continued to search for some sign of familiarity. "Why don't we have a look around and try to figure this out," Harrison suggested after a long moment of them just sitting there.

"Okay," Wendy replied, pulling back the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Eek!" she shrieked as she suddenly realized that she was bottomless except for a very small, very unfamiliar pair of light blue panties. She quickly grabbed the blanket and threw it over her legs once more. "Harrison, why the hell were we in bed together?" she moaned, her voice breaking partially from dehydration, and partially from her simply feeling overwhelmed and confused. "And why am I just wearing underwear and this little shirt? And where is your shirt?" Wendy looked back an forth between herself and her brother, a horrifying thought crossing her mind as she did. "Harrison, we didn't-"

"Don't even go there, Wendy," Harrison said, cutting her off. He knew what she was thinking, as it had briefly crossed his mind, too.

"Because that would be, like, the worst thing in the world, you know?"

"Oh believe me, I know. But nothing happened. It's not like we're naked or anything. So like I said, let's just not go there."

"But what the hell IS going on, Harrison!?"

Seeing the look of panic on his sister's face shifted Harrison straight into big brother mode. "Wendy, you know just as much about this situation as I do," he said calmly as he finally stood up off the floor. "Let's just focus on one thing at a time, okay? How about we just get ourselves dressed, and once we do that, we'll get the hell out of here, okay?"

Wendy nodded, thankful towards Harrison for taking the lead and easing her mind a bit.

"Do you see our clothes anywhere?" Harrison asked as he looked under and around the bed.

"No."

"Well can you get up and help me look?"

"I don't want you to see me in my underwear, Harrison! Hell, it's not even my underwear to begin with!"

Harrison looked at her. "What do you mean it's not your underwear?" he asked.

"I mean just that. It is literally not my underwear."

"Are you sure?"

"I know what my underwear looks like, Harrison, and this ain't it!"

"Well how the fuck did that happen!?"

"I don't know! I'm trying not to think about it too hard, because that's gonna make me hyperventilate!"

"Well...could you just wrap the bed sheet around your waist for now so you can help me look for our clothes?"

"Ugh, fine," Wendy said as she did just that. They spent the next several minutes searching the room everywhere for any sign of their clothes.

"There aren't even any clothes in this room at all, let alone ours," Harrison said as he looked around the room perplexed. "No dresser, no closet, nothing."

"Well it's a basement. Why would there be?" Wendy asked.

"It's a basement with a bathroom and a kitchen and a living area. Clearly this is someone's living space, but they don't have any clothes here? Seems strange."

"So what the fuck, we just have to walk out of here wearing what we've got on?"

"Guess so," Harrison resigned. They both looked over at the stairwell that went up and out of sight behind a wall and slowly made their way over to it. When they got to the bottom of it, they looked up and saw a large, metal door at the top. Harrison slowly began walking up the steps, Wendy trailing close behind him, keeping the sheet pulled tight around her waist.

"It's hard to see up here," Harrison said once he got to the top of the stairs. The windows did not extend to the part of the wall with the stairs on it, so there was very little light for them at that point. "I can't find the door handle." They spent the next couple of minutes feeling all around the metal door, neither of them able to find any kind of handle or knob. The whole door was just one large hunk of metal.

"Let's try pushing on it," Wendy suggested. Together they pushed gently on the door, first trying one side and then the other. It didn't budge. Again and again they tried, each time putting more and more force behind their bodies until they were trying with all their might to make the door open, but it didn't move.

"Did you see any other ways out of here when you were looking around for our clothes?" Harrison asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice as he spoke.

"I didn't," Wendy replied, her voice beginning to really crack.

"Well let's look again," Harrison suggested as he led them both back down the stairs. They looked carefully over every inch of the room, but just as they suspected, there was no other way out.

"What about the windows?" Wendy asked as she looked up at the top of the walls.

"What about them?" Harrison asked.

"You think we can crawl through them?"

"We can't even reach them!"

"Maybe if I stood on your shoulders or something?"

"Even if you did, those aren't the types of windows that can be opened. They're just...there, embedded in the wall. No handles, no openings, just like the fucking door."

"Well can we at least just try?" Wendy said through the tears that were starting to pool in her eyes.

Harrison sighed. "Yeah, of course," he relented, even though he could tell it would be a lost cause. He walked over to a blank spot on the wall and put his back to it, then cupped his hands together in front of himself and looked at Wendy. "Ready when you are," he said.

She walked over to him and placed her bare foot in his hands, putting one of her hands on his shoulder while keeping the other one tightly on the sheet that was still covering her lower body. Harrison lifted her part of the way up, but then she lost her balance and started to fall.

"Fuck, I can't do this with one hand!" she complained as Harrison caught her and helped her regain her stability.

"Then just take the sheet off for now until after you've looked."

"No, I don't want you to-"

"Wendy, I'm not trying to look at your underwear, I promise!" Harrison said in a stern voice. "All of my focus right now is on trying to get us out of this basement. I assure you that the lower part of your body is the absolute farthest thing from my mind right now."

"Ugh, alright," Wendy said as she slowly took the sheet off of her body and tossed it on the floor. "But I'm putting it back on when this is done."

"Great, I'll log that information in my journal," Harrison said blandly. Now that she had both of her hands, Wendy was easily able to get herself up Harrison's body and stand on his shoulders. As she climbed up his front, he closed his eyes so as not to accidentally catch a glimpse of Wendy's panties-clad front side right in front of his face.

Using a tiny little ledge at the bottom of the window for stability, Wendy was just barely able to peer out the very bottom of the window. "I can barely see anything at all," she complained once she got up there. "This glass is all textured and shit."

"What can you see exactly?"

"Looks like some trees, blue sky, an orange blob that could be a car. Well, more yellow than orange, I suppose."

"Try knocking on the window," Harrison suggested.

"Why?"

"Maybe someone will hear it." Wendy knocked a few times with her knuckles, then used her whole fist to bang on the glass.

"It's so thick," she groaned. "Even if someone were out there, they wouldn't be able to see or hear me."

"Fuck," Harrison said as he carefully helped Wendy lower herself to the floor once more. As soon as she got down, Wendy immediately picked up the bed sheet and wrapped it tightly around her body again.

"What do we do now?" she asked as she looked at her brother with wide, terrified eyes.

"We could try breaking the glass," Harrison suggested.

Wendy shook her head. "I'm telling you, that glass was thick. You'd need a fucking cannonball to get through it." She turned and walked back towards the bed, sitting roughly on the edge of it and looking back at her brother. "Harrison, what is happening?" she cried as her whole body began to shake.

Harrison looked back at her silently, watching as she fell over on the mattress and sobbed. In a fit of rage, he began to pick up random objects that lay around the room and started hurling them at the windows above. He tried a small shovel, several ornamental statues, and even a tire iron, but none of them made even the tiniest chip in the strong glass.

He ran back up the stairs, and with all his might, threw his whole weight into the metal door. Once again, it didn't move, and it was all that Harrison could do not to go tumbling back down the stairs. He tried several more times to crash through it, screaming louder and louder with each attempt. It was, of course, no use.

He stood in front of the door and pushed his whole body against it, feeling the cold metal on his bare torso. "Help!" he began to scream as he pounded on the door with both fists. "Let us out! Please, open the door!"

A soft hand touched his back, causing him to flinch and turn abruptly. Wendy stood there, trembling, eyes red from crying. She looked at him sadly and slowly shook her head. They didn't speak a word to one another. They didn't have to. Each could see exactly what the other one was thinking.

Harrison fell back against the door and slid down it until he was sitting on the top step, the metal cooling his sweaty back in the process. He closed his eyes and let exhaustion take him over. Wendy collapsed on the step beneath his, resting her head uncomfortably against the handrail.

There was nothing more to be done at that moment. Harrison knew it, and Wendy knew it.

They were somebody's prisoners.

><><><><><

THE PREVIOUS DAY

"Patricia, I assure you they are going to be fine," Marty said to his sister. He looked over at his nephew Harrison and gave him an apologetic look, then pulled his cell phone away from his face and rolled his eyes at it.

"Mom is such a worrywart," Harrison said quietly as he watched his uncle converse with his mother on the phone.

"Patricia, Harrison is 22 years old," Marty continued. "Don't you think it's time to cut the umbilical cord and stop fussing over him so much?" Marty had to quickly pull the phone away from his ear as his sister's voice shouted at him through it. "Yes, I know she's only 18, but Harrison will be with her the whole time, and he's a very responsible and attentive big brother."

"Eh," Harrison said, rocking his hand from side to side. Marty snapped at him and held his finger up to his mouth to shush him.

"I know the owner of the bar," Marty explained. "He's a really good friend of mine. I've explained that Wendy is under the drinking limit, and he's going to make an exception for her and let her in. He's also promised to keep a close eye on her." Marty covered the mouthpiece of his phone and looked at Harrison. "Your mother is a nut job!" he whispered.

"Agreed," Harrison said simply.

"Because they have live music, that's why!" Marty continued. "The kids wanna see some live music that just happens to be in a bar. Now for the last time, they will be fine!" Marty paused and listened once more. "He can't talk right now, he's...upstairs getting ready." He looked over at his nephew meaningfully.

"Thanks!" Harrison mouthed.

"One of my assistants will be driving them there, hanging out, NOT drinking, and then driving them back, Patricia. And before you ask: his name is Francis, he's a big, strong guy, and I compensate him very well, so he'll be on his best behavior. Now I have to go." He pulled the phone away from his face once more and looked directly at it as the voice of Harrison's mom continued to talk loudly through it. "Okay bye Patricia!" Marty said as he ended the call in the middle of her sentence.

"Jesus Christ!" Marty said as he shoved his phone into his pocket.

"She's your sister," Harrison said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, don't remind me," Marty replied. "She's a few years older than me, you know. Growing up all that worrisome behavior of hers used to be directed at me. She'd fuss over me more than our mother would. It was very annoying."

"I can relate all too well, Uncle Marty."

"Now that being said, she does have a little bit of a point in this case."

"What!?"

"Denver's a pretty big city, Harrison, and you and Wendy come from a very small town compared to it. You need to be on your p's and q's tonight, for your sake and your sister's."

"Oh come on, we'll be fine! I've been to tons of bars before, there's nothing to worry about."

"Well, I'm more worried about Wendy, to be honest. She's so young, and there are going to be some grown ass men at this bar tonight. You need to keep a close eye on her, and I mean it."