Unexplained Expansion 5

Annie awoke to the sound of her alarm clock, and stirred from her sleep. It was barely morning; the sun wasn’t even up yet. “What a weird dream,” she said to herself. The alarm sounded so far away, and almost as if it was beneath her. She groggily reached out to shut it off, but was surprised to find that her hand hit only air. Her eyes fluttered open, and she screamed at the sight in front of her. Firstly, her boobs were enormous. Second, they were touching the ceiling, which meant she was floating. It wasn’t a dream, she thought to herself with a gasp. What am I going to do now?

Suddenly, through the sound of the alarm clock, Annie heard her front door open and close. She listened intently as she heard the sound of footsteps going through her kitchen, then through the hall. Whoever it was was heading for the bedroom. The carpet muffled the sound of the person’s footsteps, and she couldn’t see down because of her monstrous breasts, but Annie knew he or she was now in the room. Whoever it was didn’t seem at all surprised at the fact that she was floating in the air. “Who’s there?” she asked. “Hello? I know you’re in here. Please help me,” she said nervously. The person said nothing. However, she suddenly heard her alarm clock shut off. Now Annie was scared.

“Whoever you are, please help me down. I don’t know how this happened, but I can’t get down. Help me,” she pleaded. Suddenly, she felt as a rope was tied around her ankle by the person, and tightened. “What are you doing to me? Get that rope off of me!” she protested. However, she only felt a tug as she was pulled down from the ceiling. She peered over the curve of her immense bosom, trying to see the person’s face. But he or she was doing something underneath her. She was kicking her feet around in the air, and felt as one of them connected with something solid. It was a chair. The person was tying her to the chair.

After she was tied, she suddenly saw as a man’s face appeared over the horizon of her boobs. He was a middle aged man, and his face was pale and skinny. He had an aristocratic look about him, and garnished the image with a top hat and a monocle. His moustache was neat and trimmed. His expression was like that of a hungry wolf. He had deep green eyes that seemed to bore into her soul as he stared at her for a full minute. Suddenly he spoke.

“Please allow me to introduce myself,” he said in a deep and ominous voice, “I’m a man of wealth and taste.”

Annie was fearful of this man. “Who are you?” she asked nervously.

“My name is John. However, you may call me the Collector, if you like.”

“Did you do this to me?” she asked, a tone of anger creeping into her voice.

“I’m afraid I did, my dear,” he responded, a smile twisting the corners of his mouth. “Why?” she asked indignantly.

“Why would you do this? And How?”

His expression remained jovial and proud. “The story is too long for me to explain here, my darling, for we haven’t much time. However, it is essentially because I am a collector, as my name describes.” He then ducked down below her boobs. It appeared that he was going to untie her.

“Wait,” cried Annie frantically. “What does that have to do with me?”

His head appeared again over her breasts. “Well, to put it simply, you’re the beginning of a new collection.”

“But why?” she asked, shocked and frightened. He responded with a sickening grin. “Because I can,” he said, and proceeded to untie her.

After that, he didn’t talk to her or respond to her cries. The Collector pulled her floating body through the house, until he reached the back door, which he slid open. Annie gasped as she was pulled outside and saw a massive blimp above her house. It was the biggest blimp she had ever seen, though she could tell it was very high up. The Collector had stopped, and now she hung suspended, attached to him by the rope around her ankle. Suddenly Annie heard a hissing sound.

She instantly realized what was happening. “No! I’m big enough already! Don’t make me any bigger!” she shouted to the Collector.

She heard him chuckle below her. “But, my dear Annie, how will we reach the blimp unless your breasts grow large enough to carry us both?” he asked evilly.

“Nooo!” Annie shouted. “Somebody please help me! HEEELLLPP!” Her neighbors were waking to her cries, but it was too late. Already her boobs were the size of beanbag chairs, and suddenly both Annie and the Collector were lifting off the ground, rising quickly. Her pleas were useless as they rose to meet the enormous blimp.

“Hush, my dear,” the Collector said below her. “We’ll be there shortly.” As they approached the blimp, suddenly a hatch opened in the bottom, perfectly positioned for where they were ascending. Annie was helpless but to watch as she ascended into the enormous blimp, leaving her world behind her.

Unexplained Expansion 5: Catcher in the Sky

Gosh, those clouds are pretty, thought Jean. And indeed they were. The clouds were putting on a spectacular display today, the way they billowed and swirled. She had already seen a dog, a pirate ship, and a whale this afternoon in the bright Kansas sun. Her place in the middle of the corn field offered her peace and quiet for the day. All her chores were done, and she had a book right next to her for when she got bored of looking at clouds. But for the moment she was fine with just lying there. Right now she had no troubles, no worries, and no anxieties. Those would come later. It was just her and the clouds.

Normally on a day like today Jean would have snuck over to her boyfriend Brian’s house and smooched on his back porch for a while. But Brian was in Topeka today delivering a load of grain. So, for a beautiful 22-year-old out in the middle of Kansas, there was nothing to do today.

Suddenly Jean saw something strange in the clouds. One of the clouds which she was looking at had started to break off from itself in an unnatural way. It was moving against the wind. A large bubble of cloud was now separating from the main mass and moving towards Jean. It was a strange cloud, to be certain. In fact, Jean realized suddenly, it wasn’t a cloud at all! I was a blimp. “Wow,” she said to nobody in particular. She rarely saw blimps out here, but when she did they were much smaller. This was the biggest blimp that Jean had ever seen.

As the blimp moved overhead, a soft hissing suddenly became audible to Jean. Like the difference between the clouds and the blimp, the sound was different than the rustling of the corn stalks in the wind. It sounded like a snake. Jean stood up, looking around the small clearing in the corn for snakes. There were seldom snakes in the corn, but it didn’t hurt to be careful. However, no snakes, or critters of any kind, were visible. Jean relaxed. But the hissing persisted.

Curious, she tried moving around the clearing, looking for the source of the sound, but the volume and pitch remained the same no matter where she went. It sounded kind of like a leaky balloon. That thought reminded Jean of the blimp, which was still floating overhead. Maybe the sound was coming from the blimp. It might have a leak in it. Now, this wasn’t true, obviously. But Jean was a Midwestern farm girl, born and raised. She had only made it past the ninth grade, which was the minimum requirement. In other words, by our standards, she wasn’t too bright. But she more than made up for it with her beautiful face, her long blonde gorgeous hair, and her slim yet curvaceous body. So she accepted that it was probably the blimp that was making the hissing sound, even though it was much too far away for her to possibly hear.

Jean lay back down and watched the blimp now. Since it was leaking, she figured it might crash somewhere, maybe even on her farm. While it would probably be a tragic accident if it happened, she was only concerned with the spectacle that it would be. She watched as the blimp moved overhead, looking like a cloud, but not quite. Then suddenly, it seemed to stop. She watched it for two minutes, but it seemed to have come to a halt in midair. It was no longer moving and had stopped directly above her. She continued to watch for further developments.

Speaking of “developments”, at the same time, something else was happening that Jean wasn’t aware of. The hissing sound was actually caused by her breasts being magically inflated with helium. And all this time they had been slowly been expanding inside her denim overalls. Jean, whose attention was on the blimp, didn’t even notice as they increased in size from her bouncy C-cups to Grapefruit-size Double D’s. Since they were being filled with helium, there was no extra weight, and in fact they were gradually decreasing her weight, but not enough for her to notice yet. And the expansion wasn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Suddenly, Jean felt a painful pinch on her shoulders. She looked down, and gasped as she saw that her boobs were bulging out of her overalls! “Oh my gosh!” she remarked as she sat up and looked at her breasts. They were definitely too large for the garment, even though it had fit perfectly earlier, even had been a little loose. She placed a hand on each breast and felt it through the fabric. They felt odd…rubbery, and squishier than normal. In addition to be hugely swollen, they were also light. It was like they were party balloons.

“What is going on here?” Jean asked aloud. There was no explanation for it. Her boobs had just grown, without her even noticing. She suddenly winced as the tight overalls pinched her again. It was strange, but they seemed to be getting even tighter. Jean looked intensely at her massive breasts for nearly a minute, and noticed something about them. They seemed to be…moving. More than just her regular breathing, they were moving outwards. At the same time, her overalls felt like they were getting tighter. Suddenly Jean realized what was happening. She was growing! Her breasts were rising like bread dough right before her eyes!

“B-b-but that’s… impossible!” she exclaimed. However, possible or not, her boobs were steadily growing larger, like balloons attached to a helium tank, which is essentially what they were. Jean stood up and tried to comprehend the situation at hand. Her breasts were growing without warning or reason, and she was in the middle of a corn field. Her brain suddenly threw in another factor. The blimp. She didn’t know how, but she got the feeling that that blimp was involved with this. Jean looked upwards towards the cloudlike gasbag so high in the sky. It looked ominous now, floating directly above her head. She knew it was the cause of all this.

As her overalls pinched her again, Jean realized that she had to get away. Her breasts were growing larger, and if she didn’t escape the blimp, who knows what might happen? She began to run towards the house, away from this strange menace. The stalks of corn whipped against her as she passed through rows upon rows of it. Her breasts, while they normally would have been bouncing all over the place at this size, were not a burden since they were filled with helium. However, as they continued to expand, the straps of the overalls were getting tighter. Jean flicked her eyes downwards for a second and marveled at how big she was getting. Her breasts must have been at least the size of honeydew melons, and the cleavage that they were creating was awe-inspiring. So squished were they by the tight overalls that they bulged out of the sides as well. The straps created deep grooves in her breasts, and the pain was getting unbearable.

Jean tried to concentrate on running faster towards her house. She cursed herself for traveling so far out into the field, all for a little peace and quiet. Shielding her face from the corn stalks, she ran as fast as she could to find some help. However, the tightness caused by her expanding bosom could not be ignored for long. She tried to alleviate some of the pain by grabbing the straps and pulling on them, but that didn’t lend itself well to her running, as the corn stalks began hitting her in the face. She let go of the straps and concentrated on running again, attempting to ignore the pain. Her breasts were now at least as large as volleyballs, but considerably squished because of her tight garment. Meanwhile, the hissing proclaimed her continued expansion. Jean looked upwards at the blimp, still directly above her. It seemed to be moving with her pace.

Jean suddenly stopped. “Stop it!” she yelled to the blimp, not caring if it could hear her. “I’m big enough! Leave me alone!” She eyed the blimp for a second, not knowing what to expect for a response. Suddenly, she heard the hissing sound get louder. Jean got a strange feeling in her breasts, as if the magical air hose that had been filling her had suddenly been turned on full. Jean looked down for a moment and saw that her breasts were growing even faster now! They were now as large as basketballs, and were rapidly expanding even bigger. Apparently this was the mysterious blimp’s response to her pleas. “Unngh!” she groaned. “My god!” Jean felt like she was going to explode. Her cleavage was pushed upwards, almost to her neck, by the tight garment. She started to fumble for the buttons, trying to stop the horrible pressure, but the straps had been pulled so tight that she couldn’t unbutton them. “No!” she said, frantically pulling on them.

Unable to unbutton the straps, Jean started to run for the house again, not only to escape, but also so she could cut the straps and stop the pain. Since the overalls were denim, they weren’t going to snap anytime soon. Blind with pain though she was, Jean still began to realize exactly how her pace was being affected by her breasts, which were now the size of beachballs; though it would be impossible to tell because of the way they were squished. Not only was their massive size causing the fabric of her overalls to be pulled up, giving her a massive wedgie, but also, as they were filled with magical helium, they were starting to make her light enough to seriously affect her running. With each step, her stride got longer, and her breasts grew bigger. She began to feel like she was moonwalking through the corn, the way she was running now. Between her decreasing weight and the extraordinary pain, Jean was starting to wonder if she would make it.

Just as it was starting to feel hopeless, Jean saw that the corn was thinning out. She could see a clearing ahead, which meant she had reached the back lawn! Encouraged by the proximity, she ran faster, but soon found that to be a mistake. Jean accidentally took a very long stride, which because of her near complete weightlessness turned into a leap. She found herself suddenly soaring ten feet into the air, above the corn. As she slowly descended, Jean worried about floating away. Her descent seemed to take ages before she reached the tips of the corn again. Panicking, Jean grasped the stalks of corn and pulled herself down to the ground, back to safety for now. But the victory was short lived. She released the stalk to take a step, and suddenly her foot lost contact with the ground. Jean had passed the point where she weighed more than her breasts lifted her.

With a gasp, she grabbed several stalks of corn and pulled herself down to the ground again. She moaned aloud, because of the immense pain, and the fact that she was so close. The end of the corn field was only ten feet away. She was almost free. Holding the ears of corn as tethers to the ground, Jean took small, careful steps towards the lawn. She felt like she was doing monkey bars with gravity going upside down. Her progress was hampered by another factor: her boobs were completely blocking her vision. They were the size of yoga balls now, and the flesh was bubbling up into her face. She could actually feel her chin brushing her cleavage. She had to go it blind, feeling for each stalk and grabbing it before pulling herself forward. Her progress was slow, but eventually she made it to the edge of the cornfield. However, her heart sank as she realized that it wasn’t over. Her backyard was almost 50 yards long, and there was nothing to hold onto to get to the house. Jean looked around for something to hold, somewhere else she could go. Her eyes stopped at the barn. It was only 100 feet away, and the corn went right up to it. If she could just get over there…

Unfortunately, her scheme was suddenly interrupted. One of the buttons on her overalls had suddenly given up its losing battle with her gargantuan breasts. This allowed her boobs to explode outwards, breaking the other button and freeing themselves from their tight confinements. “Unngh!” she grunted as they burst outwards. The relief was immense as they sprang into almost perfect spheres, as big as beanbag chairs, and her overall straps fell to her waist. In fact, the relief was so great that Jean made the mistake of grabbing her boobs to massage them. She soon regretted the mistake as she rapidly started floating upwards. “No!” she shouted, grasping for the stalks of corn. Only one hand connected, and she grabbed it. The single stalk was now her only tether to the earth.

She held herself in an awkward position. Since her breasts were now her center of weightlessness, she was being lifted up by her chest, with her legs dangling below her, holding on to a single stalk of corn. Breathing heavily, Jean took firm grasp of the stalk and started pulling herself downwards. She then reached behind her back and grabbed it with the other hand. She moved herself downwards this way, awkwardly pulling herself backwards, with her breasts thrust up into the sky. It looked like she might make it back to the ground for a minute, though her progress was slow. However, all this time her breasts continued to inflate. They were too big to describe; their combined size was bigger than the rest of Jean’s body. Also, they were filled with magical helium, meaning that they were quite capable of lifting someone three times her size. So, between Jean’s muscles and her breasts, eventually her boobs would win. However, it never came to that, because it was the corn stalk that gave up first. It was suddenly ripped from the ground by its roots, and with it Jean’s last shred of hope. “NOOOOOO!!!!!” Jean cried as she began her rapid ascent. Because of the way her breasts lifted her, she had to turn her head sideways to see the ground as it quickly faded away. Tears stung her eyes as she saw her house get smaller and smaller below her, until it became merely a speck.

Her climb into the atmosphere continued, and Jean directed her attention at the cause of all this: the blimp. It ominously grew larger and larger, filling her field of vision. She couldn’t help but gasp as she saw how big it was. Seeing it from the ground didn’t do it justice. This was easily the biggest blimp in the world. It was the size of a mountain. As she floated directly underneath it, Jean suddenly saw a hatch open up in the bottom. She was unable to control the direction of her ascent, and so she couldn’t help but float directly into the hatch. Her fears were confirmed that the blimp had caused her expansion. How else could it know exactly where she would be? She floated up into the hatch, into the darkness.

Epilogue

Jean felt herself softly collide with a ceiling of sorts. From its smooth cold surface she could tell it was metal. The cold caused her nipples, which had inflated a bit as well, to become erect. Suddenly, she heard a grinding sound as the hatch below her started to close. It gradually became darker in the chamber, until finally the doors closed and Jean was plunged into total blackness. She was left alone in the dark chamber for a full minute until she heard the grinding noise again, except this time it was the ceiling above her. It was another hatch. It began to open outwards, flooding the small chamber with light. Once it got open enough, Jean found herself floating upwards again, into another small room, one that was lit. As she bumped the ceiling the hatch closed behind her.

Jean looked around the room. It looked like one from a psychiatric ward at a hospital. The walls were all white and padded. Craning her neck sideways, she saw that the floor looked to be expensive carpeting. Suddenly she heard a door open and close. Someone had entered the room, though from where Jean couldn’t tell. Using her arms as rudders, she maneuvered around in the air, trying to see the person. However, there didn’t seem to be anyone. All of a sudden, though, she felt someone grab her leg. Instinctively, she kicked, and felt it connect with something soft and squishy. “Hold still,” said a woman’s voice. Then she felt a needle enter her leg, and something being injected into her. “What are you doing?!” shouted Jean. “What did you just…do…” Jean suddenly started feeling sluggish, until a few seconds later she blacked out.

She woke up to the sound of voices. Struggling to wake up, Jean heard women’s voices talking casually.

“Jeez, look at her!” said one. “I bet she’s bigger than Carrey!”

“Naah,” replied another. “Maybe she would have been a day ago, but since she pissed him off last night Carrey’s grown pretty huge,” replied another woman. “Did you see her at breakfast today? She couldn’t even see the table!”

“Where is she, anyways?” asked a third woman.

“I bet she’s in her room sulking again. That or the pool,” replied the first woman. Jean groaned, trying to open her eyes.

“Ooh, she’s waking up,” said the second voice. As her eyes fluttered open, Jean looked up to see three women looking at her. All three were young, slim, attractive women. They also all had enormous breasts; so big that they had to turn sideways in order to look down at her. They all were wearing latex catsuits of varying colors. One had a red one, another had a blue one, and another had a yellow one.

Jean looked around, but noticed that the bottom half of her vision was obscured by two massive green lumps. “What the hell...” said Jean, and then she gasped as she realized what they were. They were her boobs! She was wearing a catsuit just like the others, and hers was green. She suddenly remembered what had happened;, how she had gotten here. “Oh my god!” she shouted, and tried to get up. However, she found this impossible because of a strap attaching her to the ground by her waist. Jean began to panic. “Who are you people?! Get this off me! Let me go!” she started shouting, reaching down and grabbing the strap, trying to rip it off.

“Calm down,” one of them, the one in the blue, said. “It unbuckles in the middle.” Jean found the buckle and unbuckled the strap. Instantly she found herself float into a standing position, pulled upwards by her massive helium-filled breasts. She thought she would start levitating upwards again, but she was stopped because of her feet, which apparently were rooted to the ground.

She tried to look downwards, but she couldn’t, again because of her enormous breasts. “What is going on?!” she demanded, looking at the faces of each of the women. “Put me back to normal!”

“Take it easy,” said the one in the red suit. “We didn’t do this to you.”

“Yeah,” said the one in yellow, “It was him.”

Jean was extremely confused. “Him who? And if you didn’t do this to me, then who are you people?” she asked.

“Well, he is the Collector,” explained the one in the blue suit. “He inflated us just like you, and now you’re a prisoner just like us. Welcome to the Collection ,” she said, gesturing at the others. “I’m Annie,” she said. “This is Maggie,” said Annie as she pointed to the woman wearing yellow, “And this is Lizzie,” as she motioned towards the woman in red. “And who are you?” she asked politely.

“I’m Jean,” she replied, “But…all this…” she said, gesturing at all of their breasts, “Why? Why did he do this?”

Suddenly a deep voice boomed from behind Jean. “Because I can,” said the Collector. Jean tried to turn around, finding it hard because her boots were attracted to the ground somehow. She managed to lift them up, though, and place them so the she could see the gentleman. He was a tall, middle aged man with dark hair and an even darker smile. His expression was one of satisfaction. He was carrying an object that looked like a remote control. “Ah, I see you’re discovering your boots,” he said. “Those are the only things tethering you to the floor, and are held by an electromagnetic attraction. I can release that at any time,” and as he said that he pressed a button on the remote. Suddenly Jean found herself floating upwards. She did so until she hit the ceiling, which was about four feet upwards.

“What are you doing?” she cried, frightened. “Let me down!” She floated, helpless, for several seconds as he laughed softly beneath her. Then suddenly she felt her feet being pulled by an invisible force back to the floor. She was slowly pulled downwards until the Collector’s face appeared over the horizon of her massive boobs.

“I just wanted to demonstrate the power that I have over you,” he said menacingly, flourishing the remote.

“You monster!” Jean shouted, tears stinging her eyes. “What gives you the right to do this to me?! Put me back to normal RIGHT NOW!!” she with rage in her heart.

The Collector only laughed softly. “Now, now…you shouldn’t speak like that to your host.” Then he pressed a button on the remote. However, this time, Jean didn’t start floating upwards. She suddenly heard a hissing sound emanate through the room. At first Jean didn’t know what was happening. Then she noticed the Collector looking at her breasts. She looked down and gasped as she realized what was happening. He was blowing her breasts up bigger! “No!” she said, trying to wrap her arms around her boobs, but not able to reach. “Stop it! I’m big enough!” she cried. Creaking sounds emitted from her suit as the latex was pushed outwards. It easily grew with her breasts. Obviously, he had designed the suits to deal with this circumstance. Her boobs, which were already bigger than beanbag chairs, were inflating to monstrous proportions. “No…stop…please…” she whimpered. “I’ll be good, I swear.” Her tone had changed from one of righteous indignance to one of submission.

“Excellent,” said the Collector. He pushed a button on the remote, and the hissing stopped. “Now that we’re sure who’s in charge, we can begin your orientation. Come with me please,” he said. Jean looked around at the inflated women. They nodded, and she started following the Collector. They walked through the doors which exited the lobby. She noticed that the doors were quite a bit larger than normal double doors. Even in her inflated state, she had ample space to pass through. She shuddered to think of growing too big fit. They emerged in a large, luxurious hallway.

“Welcome to my floating palace,” said the Collector. “You are welcome to wander as you like, into any room except my personal quarters and the kitchen. This is your room,” he said, showing her the door, which was as wide as a garage door. You will have special sleeping arrangements, of course, because of your resistance to gravity. My assistant, Lola, will be your caretaker. She’ll be tucking you in, every night. If you should have any feminine problems, feel free to ask her, as she’s a trained nurse.”

He continued down the hallway. Jean followed, hating this place more with every step. “This palace has video cameras all over it,” he said. “Even in your rooms,” he added. Jean let out a small gasp. “Surprised?” The Collector chuckled. “I wouldn’t want you planning revolts now would I? And besides, it’s not as if I haven’t already seen you naked,” This part made Jean shudder involuntarily. “Any problems?” he asked menacingly. She didn’t say anything, fearful of invoking his itchy pointer finger. “Good,” he said curtly, “You’ve learned your place. Now, let us continue the tour,” he said as he pushed open the door at the end of the hall. “This is the gym,” said the Collector. “All of the equipment is specially modified to accommodate your size.” He then closed the door and opened another, entering another hallway. He stopped at one door. “This is the dining room. You should find your food satisfactory, as Lola is also quite a skilled chef,” he said. Continuing on, he showed her the pool, the Jacuzzi and sauna, the garden, and the library. All of the rooms were designed to accommodate someone with breasts twice the size of Jean’s. This massive place was like Jules Verne’s Nautilus, only much bigger and in the sky rather than underwater. At the very least, she would be comfortable.

The Collector finished the tour where they had begun, in the lounge, which was now empty. Apparently the other women had moved elsewhere. “And here is the lounge. If you should need anything at all, don’t hesitate to use this call button,” he said, indicating a small silver button on the wall. “You have one in your room as well. You will be treated with the utmost care while you are in my Palace. However, you know what will happen if you step out of line,” he said, flourishing the remote. “Now, I must get to the cockpit. We are setting sail.” With that, the Collector walked casually from the room, leaving Jean alone to think. This was truly an amazing place. But all the extravagance in the world couldn’t conceal the fact that this was a prison. She wanted to go home, badly. Her mind turned to thoughts of escape. She looked around the lounge. It was a very comfortable looking place. There were chairs scattered around in various positions. It looked as if they were movable. Jean went over to one and touched it. It moved with the slightest touch, almost as if it were floating. How was she supposed to sit in it, she wondered? Her gravity-defying breasts made it impossible for her to bend down. She positioned herself over the chair and tried to sit, only to find herself pulled downwards by the same kind of force that kept her feet on the ground. Apparently there was a magnetic foil in her butt.

Once in the chair she found it to be quite comfortable. She looked around the room again, and saw that in the corner there was a small black ball on the ceiling. That must be the camera, she thought. The Collector was probably watching her now, since she was a new arrival. She grimaced. That man was terrible. All he wanted was to control her and all these other women. She had to find a way to escape. She leaned over towards the porthole window on the wall, finding that her chair easily moved with her as she leaned, until she was looking out of the window. Jean gasped as she saw what was outside the window. The view was spectacular. Jean had never been on an airplane before, so she had never seen the clouds from above. It was like a kingdom of whipped cream. It was beautiful, but Jean’s heart sank as she began to realize how hard it was going to be to escape this place…