Side by Side
As I kneel
here, looking at Angie as she looks back at me, I’m not sure whether to be
scared out of my wits or laugh at the absurdity of it. After all, it’s not every day you come home
to find two young men rummaging through your cabinets, and even less likely to find
that they are both armed.
We’d been shopping
in Knightsbridge for Angie’s 21st birthday, and had had a wonderful time. She’s a lot like me in my younger days, with
long blonde hair that falls over her shoulders, and a slim lithe body like I used
to have. She dresses to show it off as
well, and today she was wearing a pale blue dress cut in a retro style, with a
wide black belt around her waist, dark leggings and black leather boots that
come up over her knees.
I like to look good as well, but the days when
I could pass that style off are long gone, so I chose to wear a grey dogtooth
patterned dress coat, with pair of black fabric boots that comes up to just
below my knees, and a black scarf tied round my neck.
Anyway, we
came home at about two, and walked into the living room to find these two young
men looking through the cabinets. They
could not have been more than eighteen, with tight fitting t-shirts and jeans,
but when they turned to look at us they had these full face clown masks over their
heads, the little tufts of red hair sticking out from the side.
Angie was all
for running out screaming, had one of them not ran across the room and grabbed
her, twisting her arm behind her back as he warned her - what was the phrase,
“to shut her bloody trap and keep quiet.”
As if to emphasise the point, the other man picked up a baseball bat or
something and swung it into his hand, making a dull thudding sound as he did
so. Angie looked at him, and at me, and
then stopped struggling. It appeared he
had got the message over.
We had spent
the last fifteen minutes sitting on the floor, facing each other with our hands
behind our heads, while they questioned us about where we kept our jewellery,
and what the combination for the safe was.
Eventually, one of the young men left the room, bringing back a bag
which he dropped next to his ‘partner before he left again. I could hear him going up the staircase, so
presumably he was about to look for our things upstairs.
The other lad
looked at both of us, before saying “We’re going to have some fun now.” Ainge and I were sat so that her feet were
next to my waist, and my feet next to hers, our legs side by side. I wondered what he was going to do, as he
picked up the bag and opened it, taking out two lengths of brown rope.
“Oh god,”
Angie said, “Please don’t tie us up.”
“I’m not
going to tie you up,” he said as he looked at us, and I saw Angie relax. “You’re going to tie each other up,” he said
as he tossed each of is a length of the rope.
“I want you, mummy, to tie your daughter’s ankles together, and she’s
going to tie yours. Make it nice and
tight now, or my friend will make it hurt like hell later.”
“Mum, I don’t
want to...” Angie said as she looked at me, the tears running down her
cheeks. I smiled and said that we should
do it; at least we’d not try to hurt each other. To show her I was willing, I crossed my own
ankles and told her to go ahead, and wrap the rope around them.
“Make sure
you take it between your ankles as well,” the young man said as he watched
Angie pulling the rope around my feet. I
took the length I had in my hand and wrapped it around her ankles, listening to
the squeak of the leather as the rope rubbed against it. As I took the rope round and then between her
legs, I felt my own ankles been tightened together by Angie, her cries the only
sound as she tied the rope off. It felt
snug, secure, but I knew this was probably only the beginning.
He reached
down and pulled on the rope on my ankles lifting my legs up as he did so,
before he said "Good job - now shuffle up so that you can reach each
other’s knees.”
I slid along,
my skirt catching behind me as I did so, while Ainge moved herself down, the
boots squeaking as her legs rubbed against each other. As we stopped, the man handed us each a
second length of rope and said “Now tie her legs together, below the knees.”
I looked at
Angie, before folding the hem of my dress back.
Her own skirt had already ridden up, and I could see the crotch of her
leggings. I told her to raise her knees
up, and started to bind her legs together as we had been instructed.
I passed the rope
around her legs, pulling it tightly as the leather compressed under the cords,
and then passed it between her legs, holding them together almost as if they
had been placed in a set of rope cuffs.
As she stretched her legs out, I could hear the creak of the leather
again, so I smiled to show her I understood and lifted my own legs up so that
she could tie them together.
Angie passed
the rope around my legs, above the top of my boots so that the rope dug into my
skin as she pulled it tight. It wasn’t
rough, but I could see my flesh paling around the edges as she tied the legs
tightly together. Eventually she
finished the knot, and I stretched my own legs out, pulling my skirt back down
over me.
“Right,” the
clown in the clown mask said, “On your knees, facing each other.”
Do you know how
difficult it is to move your legs when they are tied together, much less get
onto your knees, especially at my age? I
mean, my hair may be greying, but I’m not totally unfit. It still took me a few minutes, however,
before Angie and I were on our knees, facing each other and wondering what he
was going to produce or do next.
I looked at
Angie, as she whispered “What now?” As I
looked over at our tormentor, I saw him holding a small red rubber ball in his
hand, throwing it up and down before he tossed it to me. As I caught it in my hand, he said “Put that
in your sweet little daughter’s mouth, mummy - I need her to be quiet.”
I pleaded
with him, tried to make him see reason as I saw the panic rising in Angie’s
eyes. “Don’t cry,” I said as I brushed
her hair out of the way, and turned to him, pleading that she would be
quiet. He only snarled and - well, I
won’t repeat the language, but in the end I had to push the ball into Angie’s
mouth, her teeth biting down on it as he then handed e a roll of black tape.
That ripping
sound will stick with me as I tore a strip off and pushed her over her mouth,
the strip running from ear to ear as it covered the red ball. He then forced me to tear more off, covering
her jaw as the tears ran down her cheeks, until it was a mass of black.
“Msrrmmmm,”
Angie mumbled as he passed her a red ball, this time a sponge one and I knew
what he was going to force her to do. I
just nodde3d as I opened my mouth and let her push the sponge in, feeling it
expand in my mouth as it pressed my tongue down, before she covered my lips and
jaw with more of the black tape. I just
kept quiet nodding to show I was all right, and own eye always know the man
next to me.
“Don’t you
both look cute,” he said, and I could swear if a voice had a visual, it would
have been smiling. He handed me yet
another length of rope as he turned Angie’s face to his and said "Start
praying, girlie - I want you mother to tie your wrists together.”
“Lkthsss,”
Angie mumbled as she put her palms together in front of her. “That’s right," he said as she turned
and looked at me, her eyes wide as she nodded.
I took the rope and wrapped it round her bare wrists, watching her
flinch as I pulled them together, but I knew I had to keep going to protect
both of us.
As I passed
the rope between her arms, snugly tightening the ropes around her wrist, I
looked at Angie, her head bobbing up and down to show she was coping, however
scared her eyes showed her to be.
Eventually I tied the knot off and looked mutely at our captor, as he
tugged at her wrists and then let them drop to her waist.
“That’s very
good, mummy,” he said with a laugh, “why don’t you give your daughter a big hug
to show her she’s doing fine?”
Well, I
reached my arms round Angie and held her to my chest, watching as he took a
length of rope and walked behind her. I
looked over her shoulder, determined not to show her just how afraid I was as
he pulled my wrists together, drawing the two of us close to each other as he
wound the rope around my own wrists, the cords biting into my skin as he lashed
them together, then took the rope down and tied it around Angie’s ankles as
well.
I tried to
tell her not to be afraid, but it came out something like “dntcrrmlrt” as I
watched him tape a much longer length of rope and pass it over our heads,
pulling our upper bodies together as he almost lassoed us to each other. I could feel her hands digging into my stomach
as he did this, as well as the rope against my bare arms, but I kept wondering
what it must be like for Angie, her chin resting on my shoulder as I felt the
soft drop of water on it.
As he passed
the rope between our bodies and our arms, I actually realised for the first
time that I’m crying as well, my tears falling on her shoulder as I bury my
face into the top of her dress. It’s
undignified, it’s not proper, but it’s all I can do to stop myself sobbing out
loud.
Well, that,
and the sponge in my mouth is absorbing so much moisture I doubt I could have
spoken. As I felt us been drawn even
more tightly together, I wondered how Angie was coping with that rubber ball in
her own mouth.
I felt him
give the rope one more tug, and then he started to do something to my own
ankles. As I looked over my own
shoulder, I could see him tying the ends of the rope off around my own feet,
even as the other man came in, his bag jangling.
“I’ve got
everything,” he said as the tow of them ran out of the room, leaving Angie and
I kneeling there, the only sound the squeak of leather and our own moans as
well as any street sound from outside.
That had been
an hour ago, and we had hardly moved since then, save to try and relieve the
pressure on our knees. Mind you, with us
lashed together the way we were that was proving extremely difficult, as it was
virtually impossible for either of us to move more than a few inches.
I slowly look
round the room, wondering if there is anything I can do to try and free us,
especially as I can feel Angie almost tickling me with her hands. The way we’re held together, I’m amazed she’s
even trying as I look down and...
All right,
not I’m really amazed, as I can see she’s somehow managed to work her hands
loose and the rope is slipping down over her wrists! She says something like “YUssssss,” as she
looks to her side, examining the way our upper bodies and arms are tied
together. After a few minutes, she looks
at me and says “mgngtmvmhndsp, trntlfff.”
Well, I had
no idea what she meant, but as I feel her hand trying to move up my chest I
quickly understand. She knows I’ve
always been ticklish, and she used to torment me as a young girl by tickling my
stomach. It’s worse than that now, but I
try and maintain my composure as she manages to push her hands up and take hold
of the bottom of the black layer that covers my mouth.
I twist my
head round, trying not to grimace or call out too much as she slowly, painfully
peels the bottom of the tape away from my skin, until she has enough free to get
a grip on the corner. As she pulls one
way, I twist my head in the opposite direction, wincing as I feel the tape
pulling at my skin as it comes slowly, slowly away until it hangs by the side
of my mouth like a scan about to come away.
Angie watches
as I twist my head to one side, open my mouth and push the now soaking sponge
out of my mouth with my tongue, watching as it bounces off onto the floor with
a wet splat. I look at her, taking a few
moments to work my jaw and try to get some sensation back, before I say “Are
you all right, love?”
She looks at
me with a weak smile in her eyes, before nodding towards a table a few feet
away from us - one that has out handbags on it where we had left them. “Do you think if we move together we can
reach it,” I say, and as she nods she shuffles slightly to the side, taking me
with her.
I watch her
face as we slowly inch our way sideways, the leather of her boots creaking even
more as we do so, and wonder what’s going through her mind - fear, relief,
what?
I can’t tell her, how can I? How do I tell her that I recognised the body
of one of those two, even with the clown mask on? Or that I recognised his voice when he spoke?
After all, she doesn’t even know I
have... had a boyfriend. And I have no
idea how to tell her, no idea at all....
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