Saturday at Home
“Mmmm…… Mmm, whr r u?”
“M hr, kty, m hr. Tr nt t cr.”
“bt m scrd.”
“I knw, I knw.”
The sound of the door to the room opening caused Katy and Sandy to turn their heads. The blindfolds prevented either of them seeing who had come in, but they called out in muffled voices at any rate, hoping that someone had come to rescue them.
Two sets of footsteps walked round in front of them, the ladies turning their heads in the same direction. To their dismay, a gruff voice then said “I hope you two ladies are still comfortable?”
“Wht d u wnt, u bstrd” Sandy called out as Katy tried to move her hands one more time.
“Temper, temper – anyone would think you were our prisoners.”
“e r,” Katy mumbled from behind the black tape that covered her mouth.
“Oh yeah, so you are,” a younger voice said. Katy closed her hours and thought back over the events of the last hour…..
“Mum, are the waffles ready yet?”
Katy bounded down the stairs in a grey Reebok t-shirt and light tan cotton shorts. Saturday was what she liked to call her “Slob out” day after a week at college, and she was in no hurry, nor did she have any desire to dress more than this way.
“Just a few more minutes,” Sandy called through from the kitchen, out of which the smell of bacon and fresh waffles was slowly filling the downstairs part of the house. She was standing in front of the hob, turning the golden slices as they cooked in the hot griddle pan. She was wearing a white cap sleeved t-shirt and a knee length skirt of white cotton with a red dot pattern on it. The heels of her strap sandals were clicking on the wooden floor as she took two plates over to the table and Katy sat next to her.
“Another Saturday at home?”
“Yeah – I just want to crash out after the week. IS there anything you want me to do while you’re getting the shopping?”
“So long as the breakfast dishes are washed up, I’m happy.”
The breakfast dishes were still stacked up in the kitchen sink as Sandy tried to move her wrists, but every time she pulled one of them to the side the other hit against the back of the chair she was tied to.
“Isn’t it nice when a mother and daughter spend some quality time together,” the older voice said with a sneer, and Katy turned in the direction she could hear it coming from.
“Yeah it's nice,” the other younger voice said, and Sandy turned her head in that direction. Katy was trying hard to remember what little she saw of the two men when the doorbell rang….
“I wonder who that is.” Sandy said as the bell sounded in the kitchen.
“I’ll go and look.”
Pushing her chair back, Katy walked down the corridor. Through the opaque glass door and screen, she could see two shadows standing by the door.
“Who is it?”
“UPS – we have a delivery for you,” a young man called through.
“All right,” Katy replied as she opened the inner door and pushed the screen out. She caught a glimpse of two men in brown overalls as they rushed in, and then a gloved hand was firmly placed over her mouth.
One of the men stood in front of her with a folded purple bandana, which he quickly used to blindfold Katy while saying “Not a word or sound out of you, and we’ll get along just fine.” Katy then heard a ripping sound, and felt something being pushed over her mouth that tugged at her skin, before she was manhandled along the corridor.
“Katy, who is it?”
“Get the mother,” a voice said from behind her as she was pushed on and made to sit down in a chair.
Sandy looked up from the table.
“Katy, I said – oh shit. Who the hell are you?”
In front of her was a young man in brown overalls, holding a rather large knife and looking at Sandy.
“Just do as you’re told and you and your daughter will be fine. Is that a clean napkin?”
Sandy looked at the white cloth in front of her and nodded.
“Gag yourself with it.”
“Where’s Katy?”
“Just do as I say and I’ll take you to her. Now, roll the cloth up and tie it into your mouth.”
“All right,” she said as she nervously picked up the white napkin and rolled it into a band. Placing the centre of the cloth between her lips, she pulled the ends behind her head and tied them together under her brown hair.
“Come with me,” the man said as he walked over and took Sandy’s arm. Walking into the front room, she saw Katy sat in one of their wooden dining chairs. A length of rope had been tied around her right wrist, fed and weaved through the bars in the chair back and then secured around her left wrist. She looked round when she heard Sandy going “Kty?” and tried to call out, but the black tape over her mouth was a most effective gag.
An older man dressed in a similar manner was kneeling in front of Katy, tying her ankles together. As he secured the rope to the right leg of the chair, he looked up and said in a gruff voice “Blindfold her.”
“U dnt hv t,” she mumbled as the young man took a brown bandana from a pocket in his overalls, folded it into a wide band and tied it over Sandy’s eyes. As he did this, the older man stood up and brought another chair over, placing it next to Katy.
“Tie her to the chair while I start searching the place,” he whispered as Sandy was helped to sit down in the chair, and felt rope being tied around her right wrist.
“Hey, I think she’s trying to get the blindfold off.”
Fro some time, Sandy had been trying to use her forehead to slowly lift the brown bandana away from her eyes. Now she looked straight ahead, a little chink of light visible beneath her left eye, as she realised that her plan had been spotted.
“Nice try” the gruff voice said as the blindfold was pulled back down and more firmly secured behind her head. Sandy tried to struggle, but the ropes around her waist and chest were holding her firmly to the chair back, and her ankles had also been secured as had Katy’s, although in her case they were tied to the left leg of the chair.
“Lv m mtr ln,” Katy called through her tape gag.
“Your mum’s fine, but I think we need to keep her a little quieter,” the man said. SAandy felt the cloth beoing eased from her mouth, and then the older man whispered “What is the combination to the safe?”
“If I tell you, will you leave us alone?”
“If you don’t tell me, then you and your daughter really will have something to scream about. The combination?”
“Left 20, right 30, left Ten.”
“Thank you,” the man said as he pinched her nose. Sandy opened her mouth and felt the cloth that had been used as a gag been pushed in. She then heard the sound of tape ripping, and then the pulling on her skin as sliver duct tape was placed over the cloth gag.
“St clm, kt” she said as the two women sat there in silence. Their captors started to search through the room the two of them were sat in. After a few minutes had passed, a sound of glass breaking caused both women to turn their heads to their right.
“Sorry about that, ladies – your vase will need to be replaced. Mind you, so will every other valuable in the house, but hey.”
Katy screamed in frustration and banged her bare feet on the floor. She had never in her life felt so helpless, not even when she broke her leg. At least then she had some form of mobility, but the thought someone had been through her personal possessions and she had no way of stopping them was frustrating in the extreme.
“Pls, kt, clm dn,” Sandy mumbled through her reinforced gag. Katy nodded. Unlike her mother, there was no rope around her chest, but her waist was firmly tied to the back of the seat. She had tried moving her wrists from side to side, but with no success.
“I’m going to clear the safe out – you keep an eye on these two,” the gruff voice said. The tow women listened to the footsteps as they receded down the hall, and turned to face where they could hear shallow breathing coming from.
“Y r u dng ths,” Katy asked through her gag.
“Ys, y?” Sandy said.
“It’s nothing personal ladies – we just want your money and other things. You’re both doing fine, so just hang in there and everything will soon be over.”
Sandy shuffled in her chair, trying to get into as comfortable a position as she could. If this was going to be the way she spent some time this Saturday, then at least she was going to try and not get a numb bottom out of it.
Katy turned her head from side to side, desperately trying to get the blindfold off form over her eyes. She had a fear of the dark, and although the calm sounds her mother was making were helping she was starting to fell a little claustrophobic as the cloth cut off all light.
“I think we’re done here now, ladies.”
Niether woman ha dhear dthe other man come back in, but Sandy truned to face the direction he was speaking from.
“wht r u gng t d t s?” she mumbled.
“Oh, you two should just relax and sit tight.”
“h h vr fny,” Katy mumbled.
“Yeah, I thought so too. I’m sure someone will find you eventually, so have a nice day both of you.”
“N pls, dsnt lv s lk ths,” Katy screamed as she listened to the two sets of footsteps receding and the screen door slamming. She threw herself forward, kicking with her legs under her chair and screaming at the top of her voice “HLP!! SMBDY HLP S!!”
“Pls, kty, clm dwn nd stp shtng – u my b sck.”
The yoing girl listened to her mother, and realised what she was trying to say.
“f ur sck, u chk – tht gg ant lt u spt t. clm dwn – smn l cm.”
She calmed herself down, looking straight ahead and continuing against hope to try and find some give in the rope that held her wrists together through the back of the chair. At her side, Sandy kept making encouraging, comforting sounds – she had been in a similar situation once before, some twenty years before, and the memory of that was all that was keeping her calm this time…….