After School Special – Part 8

1973

Mommy had taken me to the playpark for the afternoon, and I had a lot of fun there as I recall. I was only about four at the time, but I had on this short sleeved peach dress that was as short on me as Mommy’s was on her. I also had on short white socks and white shoes.

I remember Mommy had on a long sleeved dress, with black and white stripes, and a funny black top that fastened with one button at the front. She also had on a pair of white boots that went up over her knees – I always thought she looked really pretty in them.

Anyway, as I said we went to the playpark, but it happened when we went back to our car. Mommy opened the door to let me get in the back, and then this man appeared behind her, said hello to me, and asked if her could come to our house for a little while – and we could play a special game when he was there.

I looked at Mommy, who had a funny look on her face, and then said she was going to let the man come. I nodded as they got in the front, and he turned and smiled at me, while Mommy drove off.

When we got home, we waited until Mommy opened the garage door and we went in, before the man got out and told Mommy to unlock the door to the house. He then held the door open so I could jump out, and we walked into the kitchen, where Mommy got me a drink of juice and we walked into the front room.

Mommy sat next to me while I had the drink, and the man said it was time to play the special game. He was going to do something to me, and then to Mommy, so that we wouldn’t be able to move or talk very easily, and when he gave the word, the first one of us who managed to get free would get a special prize.

Well, it sounded an exciting game, so I asked him what he was going to do. He reached into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing, and took out a ball of twine, before he asked me to put my hands together as if I was in church. Mommy said I should do what he asked, so I put my hands together, and watched as he wound the twine around and between my wrists – and when he was done, I could not move my wrists apart!

Mommy then stood up as he told me to lie down, putting a cushion under my head before he put my hand son my lap, took the twine down, and told Mommy to lift my legs up. He then tied my legs together, above and below my knees, and then my ankles before he tied the twine off and cut it with a knife he had.

I wriggled round a bit, before he told me I had to be quiet now, so I nodded and put my lips together as he took from his other pocket a roll of sticking plaster, tore a strip off, and gently pressed it over my mouth. It felt funny, but I really could not talk, as he turned the radio on, and said he needed Mommy to do something next as part of the game.

I nodded as they went into the hallway, and I saw Mommy making a phone call. I wondered who she was talking to, and who the man was talking to, before he looked in and said he was going to get Mommy ready to play the game now, and then he’d take me to join her. I nodded as Mommy came over and kissed my forehead, before they went up the staircase while I listened to the music.

A little while later, the man came back in, picked me up and carried up to my parent’s bedroom, where Mommy was waiting for me on the bed. The man had used the twine to tie her just like me, and she had a strip of the brown sticking plaster over her mouth was well as he put me down next to her. She mumbled something to me, and then rubbed her cheek on my hair, as the man smiled and sat down to watch us.

There was another wait, and then the telephone rang twice before stopping. He left the room as it rang again, and then he came back in, and told us we could try to escae now. As he walked away, Mommy looked at me and shook her head, which I thought meant we should wait, so we both just lay there waiting for him to come back.

Mommy would nudge me from time to time, and I ended up with my head against her shoulder when we heard footsteps, and a policeman came in and cut us free, Mommy hugging me when she could. It was later I learned the man was a crook, and his friends had forced Papa to rob his store…

1972

It was an amazing time we had with Mummy and Aunt Sue at the funfair that day. Mummy had long black hair, and Aunt Sue chestnut brown hair which was just as long as Mummy’s. I was six years old at the time, and my sister Yvonne was five.

I remember I was wearing a shirt and shorts, with braces, and sandshoes with grey socks, while Yvonne had a blue cardigan over a white blouse, a short tartan skirt, white socks and black shoes. As for Mummy and Aunt Sue, they were both wearing sleeveless mini dresses with a newsprint pattern on them, and knee length white boots – Mummy’s had zips up the inside, while Aunt Sue’s laced up the front.

Anyway – we got the bus back home from the fair, and we were ready for our tea – but something happened that meant we did not eat for a while after we got back.

And that something was the two men who were in the house when we walked in, wearing black jumpers and trousers, who saw us both as we went into the front room to turn the television on, and grabbed us, putting their gloved hands over our mouths as Mummy came in and saw us.

She screamed as Aunt Sue ran in, and the man holding me told them to be quiet, and sit down. We had two armchairs and a settee in the house at that time, with wooden armrests, and as Mummy and Aunt Sue sat down in a chair each he told them both to put their hands on their heads, and say nothing.

Yvonne and I were then lifted up and sat at opposite ends of the settee, and the man who had been talking told us both to be quiet, and to put our hands out together in front of us. When I did this, he took a ball of twine from his pocket and started to tie my wrists tightly together, while the other man did the same thing to Yvonne.

Mummy kept saying she didn’t want the man to hurt us, and I could see she was crying – and the twine was tight, and it did hurt a bit on my wrists, but I was too scared to say anything as he then put my hands down on the armrest and tied the twine round the wood and my wrists as well. Yvonne was having the same thing done to her, as the other man told her to be quiet – she had started to cry, you see.

I told her we should be both be brave, like the Famous Five, and she nodded as the men both knelt down, and tied our ankles together with the twine as they hung off the edge of the seat. At least we had the socks on, so it didn’t hurt quite as much – but it was tight, as the man told us both to be quiet.

They then walked over to Mum, one of them taking her left wrists and the other her right and putting her hands palm down on the arms of her chair, before they used the twine to tie her wrists down to the wood. She asked what they wanted, and the man said to tell her where her ‘stuff was’. She said to look in the bedroom, and he nodded as they went to Aunt Sue, all of us watching as they tied her wrists to the arms of her chair as well.

The men then knelt in front of both of them and tied their ankles together with the twine, before taking them to the side and tying them to the leg of the chair. One of the men then went up the stairs, while the other one took a white cloth from his pocket, rolled it into a band, and pulled it between Yvonne’s lips before he tied the band round her head.

She turned and looked at me, the corners of her mouth pulled back by the white band as it started to get damp, and then the man told me to open my mouth. I had no choice as he pulled a second cloth into my mouth and tied it round my head as well. When he was done, it was hard for me to talk – the cloth making it hard.

He didn’t tie a cloth between Mummy and Aunt Sue’s lips – instead, he took a roll of sticking plaster from his pocket and stuck strips over their mouths as well, meaning they could not say anything either. He then searched the room, throwing books and thing son the floor as we all wriggled round, too scared to do anything else.

The other man came back down and they both ran out of the house leaving us to look at each other as we tried to call for help – but it was no good, nobody could hear us. It was an hour later, when our next door neighbour came in and said were we all right, that we were freed and we got to call the police…

1962

It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were visiting our Gran for the day. We were all young at the time – I was seven, Davey nine, and Sam six. Gran was a lovely woman, who loved to read to us and talk to us. On that particular day, she was wearing patchwork tabard over a red and blue tartan check dress that came down to her knees, and blue heels.

We weren’t really dressed up either – Davey had on a striped jumper and shorts, and Sam had a blue top on and white shorts. Both of them had Moccasin like slippers that looked like boots on – Davey blue ones, Sam red ones.

I was wearing a new dress – it was green, with a white trim on the skirt and a white top that had short sleeves which were puffed up. I also remember I had long yellow socks on, and black Mary Jane shoes.

Anyway – you want to hear my story. When it happened, Gran was reading to the boys in one of the bedrooms, and I was sitting playing with my doll in the front room, when I looked up and these two women were in the house. They were strangers to me, and were wearing sleeveless blouses, pedal pushers and dark glasses, with a headscarf tied over their hair.

They looked at me, and I opened my mouth to call Gran – but one of them walked quickly over and sat next to me, putting her hand over my mouth. I could smell the perfume on it, as she told me not to shout, her friend was going to see who else was in the house. I watched as she walked off, with a large handbag over her arm, as the woman who was with me put her own handbag down, and said she would take her hand away if I promised not to shout. Well, I nodded, and when she did she asked me what my name was.

I told her I was called Katy, and she smiled as she asked who else was in the house. I told her my brothers were upstairs with my gran, and she nodded as she said her friend was going to talk to them, and then she was going to do something to them – and she was going to do that to me now. If I did what she said, she promised it would not hurt, and it would be exciting.

Well, I nodded as she opened her bag, and took out a ball of wool. I wondered what she was going to do with that as she stood up, and asked me to lie on my back on the couch, and put my hands together as if I was praying. I did that, and watched as she made a lasso with the end of the blue wool – and then she put that over my hands, and pulled it tight so that my wrists were held together.

I asked why she was doing this, and she asked me if I had seen Dragnet. Well, I had watched it once with my mom and dad, so she said she was going to use the wool to make sure I could not get off the couch, but in a little while she’d take me to my gran.

I watched as she wrapped the wool around and between my wrists, and then she told me to bend my legs as she put my hands down on my lap. She then took the wool and wrapped it round my legs, above and below my knees, and then around my ankles so my legs were tied tightly together, before she cut the wool with a pair of scissors.

I could hear Gran upstairs, as the woman looked at me and stroked my hair away from my eyes. She then told me to open my mouth as she moved me so I was sitting slightly up, and I watched as she took a white scarf from her handbag, and rolled it into a band, before she put the band between my lips.

It tasted a bit funny as she tied it round my head, and it kept my tongue down as I closed my lips over it, the woman nodding as she said to stay there while she had a look round the room. I wondered what she was looking for, but she did find Gran’s purse and took some things from it, as well as from a drawer in a bureau she had.

After a little while, I looked at the door as the second woman came in. The one who had tied me up asked if everything was all right, and she nodded before she asked if I was going to join the old woman. I had been promised that, so I nodded as I was lifted up and carried up the stairs.

As we passed a spare bedroom, I looked in and saw Sam and Davey sitting back to back on the floor. They also had their wrists tied together with wool, and then tied down to their legs where they were tied together – and so were their ankles. They also had a scarf tied between their lips, as they looked at me and nodded before I was taken to Gran.

She was lying on the bed, her wrists tied together with wool and then tied to the headboard. Her ankles and legs were tied together, in the same way as mine, and she had a blue scarf tied between her lips. The woman put me down next to her, as she said something like “hthhlbhllrhtt.”

I nodded as she kissed me on my forehead, and the two women left as we lay there. It was another hour before Dad came and found us like this…

1973

I remember the day the bad Santa came to our house. I was eleven years old, and my brother Tommy was nine. Pops worked nights a lot, so we were at home with our Mom. It was a few days before Christmas, and I was wearing a pink pinafore dress with a long sleeved purple top, purple tights and brown shoes. Tommy was wearing a red jumper, jeans and black shoes. Mom was very nicely dressed, with a red sleeveless cardigan over a white jumper and pleated mini skirt, and white leather boots that came up to her knees.

It was dark outside, and we were finishing off putting the Christmas tree on the table, when there was a knock on the door. Mom went to see who it was, and when she came back in she wasn’t alone – Santa was with her.

Now obviously, it wasn’t the real Santa, but for a ten year old and a nine year old, it was a wonderful surprise. He had a red coat on with white fur trim, red trousers tucked into black boots, black gloves and a wide black belt round his waist, and he head a sack in his hand as well as a big white beard. I remember I asked him why he was visiting us early, and he said he was there for a very special reason – but before he did what he was here for, he had to make sure we all stayed in the same room.

And that was when I saw Mom was scared – and I suddenly realised she had her hands behind her back. Santa laughed, and told us both we had to turn round, and do as he said, so that we could all play a special game together. Well, Tommy nodded as he turned round, and put his hands behind his back, so I did so as well, wondering what he was going to do – and then I felt a soft piece of cloth on my wrists, as they were tied together.

I wondered what he was doing, and then I looked over as he put Tommy’s wrists behind her back, and then used a length of red ribbon to tie his wrists together as well. Mom walked in front of us and nodded as I looked at her, and I realised then what was keeping her hands behind her back as well.

When Tommy looked at me, he was surprised, but wasn’t scared, as Santa told us both to sit on the floor, and put our feet down on the floor. As we did this, he told Mom to sit in a chair for a few minutes, and then knelt in front of us, smiling as he took two more lengths of red ribbon, and tied our ankles together as we watched.

The ribbon was soft, but he tied it tightly, around our ankles as well as between them, so that we could not move them apart. He then tied our legs together as well, above and below our knees, as Mom told us we were going to have great fun playing this game. I nodded, and so did Tommy, as Santa then said as part of the game, he needed to make sure we stayed quiet. So he held a folded white hankie in his hand, and told Tommy to open his mouth.

When my brother did so, he pushed the cloth in, and then took a ribbon and pulled it between his lips, tying it round his head as he looked at me and Mom. He then put a cloth in my mouth, and tied a ribbon between my lips as well, before he turned the television on. There was a film on, so Tommy and I sat back to watch it as he helped Mom to stand up, and said he was going to take her to show her where some special presents would be left.

About a half hour later, Santa came back with Mom, and we both looked up to see she had a red ribbon tied between her lips as well. She smiled at us as she sat on the couch, and Santa tied her ankles and legs in the same way as ours, before she lay on her side and started to watch the television with us.

I could feel the cloth getting very wet in my mouth, but the ribbon meant I could not push it out – so we had to stay there, until Pops got home…

1974

Mum had done what a lot of parents did with kids at that time during the long summer holidays – left us with Gran while she went to work at the local Templeton’s Supermarket. I was nine at the time, while my brother and sister – the Terrible Twins – were seven.

Gran was a wonderful person to spend time with – and on that day, she was wearing a sleeveless cream top and grey-blue pants. The twins – well, Tommy was wearing a red t-shirt and grey pants, and Tammy a yellow top, grey Capri pants and white socks, both of them also wearing sandshoes.

As for me – well, I had dressed up a little, and I was wearing a party dress, dark green with a red panel on the front, and short puffed sleeves, and I was also wearing a pair of black boots I had got for my birthday over the mustard coloured tights I had on.

So there we were at Grans – and it was getting close to lunchtime, so Gran asked me if I could go to the grocers and get some bread and meat. Well, I was more than willing to do so, so she gave me two pound notes and I went onto the street. As I walked off, I saw a grey van pull up and park outside Gran’s house, but I figured they were going to see one of the neighbours as I walked down the road.

It took me about fifteen minute to walk to the shops, ten minutes to get the shopping, and fifteen minutes to walk back – only to see the grey van was still parked outside Gran’s house. That didn’t really bother me, as I walked into the house, and took the shopping into the kitchen, calling out to Gran that I was back.

That was when I noticed how quiet it was, as I walked into the front room – and almost screamed when I saw Tommy and Tammy sitting back to back on the floor. They both had their hands behind their backs, but I could see that they both had their ankles tied together with brown rope, and there was rope holding them together around their upper bodies and arms.

They also had a band of cloth tied round their heads, but when Tommy turned and looked at me I saw it went between their lips, and there seemed to be some sort of knot behind them. He looked at me, and shouted one word.

“RHHNNNNN!”

Which I turned to do – only to run into a flabby stomach, before I was grabbed by the arms and looked up to see a man standing there, with stubble on his chin, wearing a denim shirt and jeans.

“Wondered who the other coat belonged to,” he said as he looked at me, and I opened my mouth to scream – only he spun me round, clamped one of his hands over my mouth, and then picked me up in his arm and carried me up the stairs. I was kicking like crazy, but he was just too strong – and then he carried me into Gran’s bedroom, and I saw her lying on the bed. She also had her hands behind her back, and had her ankles and legs tied together with a strip of cloth between her lips – but it seemed to be holding something in her mouth.

“Hmghhdd,” she said as the man threw me on the bed, and made me lie on my stomach as he took my hands behind my back. I could only turn my head and look at her as I felt the rough rope on my bare wrists while the man pulled it tight and bound them together so that I could not move my hands apart.

He was quick, but he knew what he was doing, especially when he grabbed my ankles and started to tie them together as well. I looked at Gran, as I saw how the strip between her lips was starting to turn grey at the corners of her mouth, and tried to twist my legs, but it was no use – all it did was made my boots squeak as they rubbed together.

He then tied my legs together like Gran’s, below my knees, his rough hands forcing the rope around and between them, and then he told me to open my mouth. As I did so, he pushed the knot in the centre of what I now saw was a strip torn from a pillowcase, and tied the band tightly round my head, so that I wasn’t really able to talk, just like the others.

As I lay on my side, I could see the contents of all the drawers in Gran’s room were scattered over the floor, Gran trying to talk to me as she moved her head from side to side. I was too scared to do anything, and could only hope the twins weren’t as scared as me as the man left the room.

We both heard him walk down the stairs, and then out of the house, waiting a while before Gran mumbled something about “Rhllhffrr.” It took me a few moments to get what she was saying, but I rolled over, watching over my shoulder as she shuffled down and put the strip round my head near my fingers. I got what she was doing now, as I eased my fingers under the strip and slowly, slowly tried to ease it out of her mouth.

It took a little while, but eventually I heard her gasp and as I looked round I saw the wet strip on her chest, as she pushed a pair of her underpants out of her mouth with her tongue. “Well done,” she said to me, and then she rolled down and started to tease at the knot on the rope holding my wrists together.

That seemed to take a while as well, but eventually I got my hands free, and we both rolled over as I untied Gran’s wrists, then took the strip out of my own mouth. We soon got ourselves free, and ran downstairs, Gran to free the twins while I ran next door to raise the alarm.

1973

I remember that train trip very well – I was ten years old, and Mom was taking me from New York to see my grandmother in Florida, and Dad had arranged for us both to take the train down. IT was a really exciting thing for me to do, and I had counted down the days until Dad took us both to Grand Central Station to catch the train.

I was taking Teddy with me, and I was wearing a black sleeveless pinafore over a floral print dress, with arms that were slightly short and gathered at the elbow. I also had on long red socks and black shoes, and my brown hair was held back by a hair slide.

Mom was wearing a fawn coloured woollen jumper, and a long blue skirt, with brown shoes. She had a bag with her that had our overnight clothes in it, while Dad had our cases put in the luggage car.

He stood and waved us off as the train set off, Mom and me waving from the window as we left the station, and then we found the cabin Dad had booked for us. It had two bunk beds, and Mom left our bag on the top bunk while we went to the observation car. I remember watching the country zip past as I let Teddy see all that he could see, before we went and had something to eat in the restaurant car and then we went back to our cabin to get ready for bed.

And that was when things got very strange – there was a young woman in the cabin, wearing a checked blouse which had the ends tied together under her chest, and jeans which were tucked into black biker boots. Mom asked her what she was doing in our cabin – and then we both saw the gun in her hand as she ordered us to come in, and Mom to close the door behind us.

I held Teddy very tightly as the woman looked at us, and told me to sit down on the lower bunk. As I did so, I saw the canvas bag next to me, and then I gasped as she opened it up and took out a roll of twine, then she told Mom to lie down on the upper bunk, and to put her hands together in prayer.

I had to watch as she stood beside the bunks and did something to Mom, telling her not to move and she would be all right, and then I saw the penknife as she cut something – the twine, I figured later – and took a roll of brown sticking plaster from the bag.

She then knelt down and looked at me, and told me to put Teddy’s hands together in front of him. I watched as she wound the twine round his hands, tying them together, and then played it out and tied his ankles together as well.

“It’s your turn now,” she said quietly, “lie down on the bed, and put your hands together as you do at Sunday School.”

“who are you, and why are you doing this to me and Mom and Teddy,” I asked, trying not to cry as she began to tie my wrists together as well.

“I just need to lay low for a while – and I’m sorry you had to do this, but you’ll be just fine,” she said, smiling as she then put my bound wrists down on my lap and then wound the twine round my legs before she tied my ankles together.

“Bhbhrfff” I heard Mom say as she tied the twine off, and then cut it with her knife, before she took the roll of sticking plaster from her pocket and tore a strip off. “Sorry kid,” she said as she stuck it over Teddy’s mouth, “but I need to make sure you all stay quiet. Put your lips together.”

I watched as she tore another strip off, and then stuck it over my lips, meaning I could not say anything either as she put Teddy next to me, and then sat in a chair, watching me before she turned the lights off, and I felt the train rocking as we moved down the track, my eyes slowly closing…

“Good morning, Ma’am – we will be… Oh my goodness!”

I opened my eyes to see the train guard looking at me, as I said “Hlppmhhndmhmm.” He went and found another guard, as he used some scissors to cut me free, and then I heard Mom say “are you all right?”

“Yes,” I said as the plaster was taken off my lips, “where did the woman go?”

“I think she left during the night – please, let us get up.” When we checked, she hadn’t taken anything that belonged to us – just kept us tied all tied up and gagged for the night. But we had a tale to tell Grandma when we arrived…

1978

Mum and Dad had gone to a works do, leaving me in charge at the tender age of fourteen. I was wearing an orange mini dress, with no sleeves, and a pair of black slippers with a pompom on the front, as well as some black socks with a white stripe on the top.

I had long black hair then, as did my eleven year old sister Kerry – she also had an orange dress on, designed as if it was a jacket and skirt, with a white t-shirt underneath, long white socks and a pair of dark red leather short boots.

And then there was the pest – my twelve year old brother Tim, lying on his stomach on the floor whole I was sitting next to him, and Kerry in the chair behind us. He had on a grey sleeveless pullover and an orange checked shirt, blue pants, pinkie-grey socks and grey slippers.

Funny how those details stick in the mind… anyway, I had cooked us all some Findus crispy pancakes and chips for tea, and we were sitting down watching Carry On Spying on BBC One, before I had to get Kerry to bed.

Well, that didn’t happen as planned – because just as the film was coming to an end, the door to the room opened and two men came in, wearing denim jackets and jeans, and with black masks covering their eyes, one of them holding a canvas bag and the other a cricket bat in his gloved hands. We all looked at them, before the one with the bat said “nobody moves, or I hit them with this. You two – sit up, hands on your heads and legs crossed,” he said as he looked at me and Tim, as Kerry pushed herself back in the chair.

“You,” the man then said as he looked at her, “sit up, feet on the seat, knees bent, hands on your knees.”

“What are you going to do,” she said quietly as she did what he ordered her to do, the second man putting the bag down as Tim and I sat next to each other. I looked over my shoulder as he took a long coil of rope out, made a lasso, and then put it over Kerry’s head and body before he pulled it tight, forcing her arms into her sides. He wound it round several times, and told her to put her hands together and lift them up.

Tim and I were now both watching as he wound the rope round her wrists, holding them together before he put them down on her legs and then tied the rope round her arms and legs, and then tied her ankles together as she looked at us.

“Be brave,” I said quietly as he then took a red scarf from the bag and rolled it into a band, before he pulled the band between Kerry’s lips and tied it round her head, leaving her unable to do anything except mumble before both men looked at us.

“You next,” the man with the bat said as he looked at Tim, “hands behind your back.”

“Why are you doing this,” I said as I watched the second man put another lasso of rope over Tim’s body, and pull it tight before he made sure his arms were fixed to his sides, then knelt behind Tim as he tied his wrists together.

“We’re going to look through your mum and dad’s things, any objections,” the first man said in a quiet, menacing voice as I heard Tim grunt, and then he was made to lie on his stomach, the man tying him up making him bend his legs back and cross his ankles before he used the rest of the rope to tie them together, so that the rope went from his wrists to his ankles.

He then took a black scarf from his bag, and used it to gag Tim, before he took another length of rope out, and made a third lasso. I knew it was my turn then – and a few minutes later, I was also on my stomach, looking at Tim as a rolled up brown scarf was pulled into my mouth, forcing the corners of it back as the band was tied round my head.

“I’ll stay here – look round the place,” the man with the bat said as the other man went off, and I heard Kerry quietly starting to cry in the chair. I turned my head and looked at her, mumbling “dhnchrreeeehlbhfhn” as I looked at her, the corners of her mouth turning that scarf darker as it soaked up the saliva in her mouth.

I knew that was happening, because it was happening to me as well – but he had the cricket bat, and I didn’t want my brother or sister to be hurt by him. So we stayed still, until his ‘friend’ came back down, and they both left us on the floor as the film finished, and another program came on. The rope was rough, and it hurt as it rubbed on my bare arms and my ankles, so I had to stay still.

And that was where Mum and Dad found us when they got back – Kerry had fallen asleep, but Tim and I called out when we saw them both. The men had made a real mess upstairs, and Dad was angry as hell – but he was also glad we were unhurt…

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