Left in Peace
“Don’t tell
me you’re going out again tonight, Mum!”
“And so what
if I am?”
Emma Cork
shook her head as she looked at her mother.
The divorce had been finalised a few weeks ago, and ever since Diana had
become a very different woman. She had previously
been quiet, mousey even, but now she was going out with what seemed like a
different man or group of friends every night.
Even her
dress sense had changed. Previously, the
most daring thing Emma could remember her mother wearing would be having the
top two buttons on her blouse undone as she went to work, rather than just
one. Yet here she was, her dark hair
falling down the back of her sixties style mini-dress. The dress had a grey, white and black
geometric pattern, the skirt coming halfway down her thighs, her legs encased
in sheer black hose. The lower half of
her legs and her feet sat in a pair of knee length tight black leather boots.
“Well, I have
an evening of Chaucer planned,” Emma said as she headed up the stairs, “try not to make too much noise when you come in.”
“I don’t know
– you oldsters,” Diana said as she brushed her hair out, smiling as she watched
her daughter head to her room. She was
very different, more relaxed than she had ever been. That was reflected in the way her daughter
dressed – today, she was wearing a pale blue gypsy style blouse, a floral
pattern printed on it, faded blue jeans and knee length boots. The boots were an unusual design with brown
suede legs and burgundy leather shoes.
“Right, I
just need to get my purse now,” she said as she walked into the kitchen, and
collected her handbag from the table. As
she turned to go back into the hallway, she felt the soft breeze on the back of
her neck, but thought nothing of it.
As she passed
the door that led to the front room, however, she was taken by surprise as
someone hooked their arm round her waist and pulled her into the darkened
room. She opened her mouth to call out,
but before a sound could escape a damp, sweet smelling cloth was pressed firmly
over her nose and mouth.
“Whtsshpppnnnn,” she said, as the sickly scent permeated her
nose, and she inhaled deeply, her mind immediately beginning to fog over as her
eyelids started to droop. She felt her
whole body weaken, as she realised someone was using a drug to make her sleep.
Sleep....
“How long
will she be out for?”
“Long enough
– help me put her over there?”
The two men
picked up Diana between them and carried her over to an old brown wooden couch,
the cushions covered in a large yellow sheet.
Laying her on her stomach, they stepped back and looked at each other.
The two men
were wearing black jumpers and jeans, with latex gloves covering their hands
and stockings pulled down over their heads.
“So
what now?”
“We make sure
she stays here,” the taller of the two men said, “and then we go and make sure
the daughter stays in one place while we rob the place. Got the ropes?”
“In here,”
the other man said as he opened a bag, and took out several lengths of thin
white cord. “Why did you chloroform
her?”
“Stop her
warning the girl, make sure she didn’t struggle, any other reason you can think
of,” the first man said as he crossed her wrists behind her back, and doubled
over a length of cord, passing it round her wrists as he started to bind them
together.
“Steve, have
you any idea where the safe is?”
“Yeah
– upstairs in the master bedroom. I saw it when I was doing the decorating a
few months ago.” The second man watched
as Steve wrapped the rope around and between Diana’s wrists, tying the ends off
before he crossed her ankles and used a second length of rope to bind them
together.
“She’s a looker.”
“Eyes front
Brian – we make her secure, keep her quiet, then deal with the younger
generation.”
As he tied
the rope off between her ankles, he gave one length of rope to the second man
and used a second one to bind her legs together below her knees. Steve then rolled Diana over and sat her up,
as Brian wrapped the rope around her upper body and arms, making two bands that
sat above and below her chest as he pulled tighter with each pass.
As he tied
the ropes off, Steve folded a piece of cloth, and then gently opened Diana’s
mouth, pushing it in and then closing her lips as Brian tore the end free of a
roll of black electrical tape. Sticking
the end to her cheek, he wound it tightly round her head, sealing her lips as
the black band encircled her.
“What if
she’s sick when she wakes up?”
“We’ll keep
an eye on her,” Steve said as he laid the unconscious woman down, rolling her
onto her stomach again before he pulled her ankles back and tied them to her
chest.
“Right now,”
he said as Diana rolled onto her side, and they heard her start to breath in
and out through her nose, “leave her there.
We need to make sure the kid stays in her room.”
“And
that... Is that,” Emma said as she put
her book down and stretched her arms up.
She was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed under her, as she wondered
what she was going to do next.
“Perhaps I
should get some coffee before I...”
“Don’t move.”
Emma looked
at the door, and saw the two men standing there, dressed in black, their heads
covered by stockings and one of them holding a gun in his latex gloved hand.
“Oh
my god – MUM!”
“Your mother
is safe,” the smaller of the two men said, “and so long as you do what we tell
you to do, so will you be.”
“So,” the man
with the gun said, “put your hands on your head, palm down, and do not raise
you voice or try to call for help – understand?”
Emma could
only nod as the two men walked in, slowly raising her hands and placing them on
her head as the second man opened a bag, and took a length of white cord out.
“What are you
going to do with that?”
“Watch,” he
said as he doubled it over, and passed it under her ankles, Emma gasping as he
quickly bound her ankles tightly together, the rope going around and between as
they were forced together.
“What have
you done to my mother?”
“What we are doing
to you – except she is sleeping,” the taller of the two said as the rope around
her ankles was tied off. He walked
behind Emma, pulling her wrists behind her back and crossing them before he
started to bind them together as well.
“Now,” the
man said as she felt her wrists being forced together, “I want you to open your
mouth.”
“Why,” Emma
said as she watched the second man take two lengths of rope, and use them to
bind her lower and upper legs around her knees, while she also felt her arms
pulled into her sides by rope wrapped above and below her chest. She could see the blouse as her chest was
forced out, and then her arms pressed against her sides.
“Because I
said so,” was the only reply as she saw the folded cloth placed in front of her
mouth. Knowing she was left with no
choice, she opened her mouth wide, tasting the cotton as it was placed on top of
her tongue, and then closing her mouth ass he heard the peeling sound, saw the
roll of black tape before it was wrapped tightly round her head.
“Go and check
on Mummy,” the first man said as the tape was pressed firmly against Emma’s
cheeks, “I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
As Diana
slowly opened her eyes, she wondered what had happened. Someone had grabbed her, she had smelt something,
and then...
And then...
She slowly
opened her eyes, wondering why her mouth felt as if it had not had a drink for
an eternity, and what was pressing down on her cheeks, as she flexed her
fingers and tried to move.
When that
proved to be impossible, she wondered what was stopping her, and she looked
back over her shoulder. As her eyes came
into focus, she saw her crossed ankles, saw the rope running from them to their
back, and tried to move them back.
“Hmgdddd.”
As she tried
to express her astonishment, she suddenly realised why her mouth felt so dry, why
something seemed to be pressing on her cheeks – and why a man with a stocking
pulled down over his head was standing in the doorway.
“MMMEE!!!”
“Your
daughter is safe,” the man said as she started to thrash herself round, “do not
struggle. I do not want you to puke – it
would not be a good idea.”
As Diana
processed what he was saying, he walked over and stroked her cheek, the feel of
the latex on her cheek making her shiver.
“My friend is emptying your safe now – so relax. We’ll be out of here soon.”
She slowly
nodded, hoping Emma was safe.
Emma could
only watch as she tried to move, but the ropes were holding her too tightly,
and the black band that encircled her head was keeping both her lips covered
and the increasingly wet cloth in her mouth.
She dared not move, too afraid of what might happen if she moved and
fell over.
She could
hear the masked man in her mother’s room, and the sound of him searching, but
there was nothing she could do – the ropes were too tight, and her handbag with
her cell phone in it was out of reach...
“Are we
done?”
Steve looked
in the doorway and nodded as he put the bag down. “I think mummy and kid need to stay
together. Give me a hand with her?”
Diana could
only grunt as the two masked men lifted her up and carried her up the
staircase.
“MMMMM”
“Mmmeeurllrt?”
Emma could
only nod as her mother was laid on her side behind her, the two masked men
smiling as they left them. Both women
heard the footsteps, and then the door closing, as they looked at each other,
wondering how they were going to get out of this...
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