One Dark Night
As Janet
Dubois knocked on the wooden edge of the screen door, she hitched her satchel
back over her shoulder with her free hand.
She did not particularly want this babysitting job tonight, but she
needed the money, and her mother had promised to come and pick her up later
that night, so it only mean a walk of a few blocks for her.
She watched
as the door opened and Mrs Jenkins looked at her. “Come in, Janet, come in,” she said with a
smile as she opened the screen door, standing to one side as Janet came into
the house.
“Thanks for
doing this,” Mrs Jenkins said as she looked at the seventeen year old, “I had
to go and meet John at the last minute, and there was no way I could leave the
kids on their own.”
“It’s all
right, Mrs Jenkins,” Janet said with a smile, “I can keep an eye on them for
you.” She smiled as she looked in the
living room, where Jack and Jill were sitting watching television. Jack was fourteen, and Jill twelve, both
wearing t-shirts and shorts.
Janet went to
the local catholic school, so her uniform was a stricter affair. She was wearing a short sleeved white cotton
blouse, buttoned at the front with the collar open and the lapels flat against
her chest, a blue and red pleated tartan skirt that came halfway down her
thighs, white knee length socks and flat black shoes. The white blouse and socks contrasted with
her own dark skin, while her long black hair was tied back in a ponytail that
fell down her neck.
“I’ve left
some money to order some pizza with,” Mrs Jenkins said as she pulled along dark
overcoat over her dress, “and they need to be in bed by nine. I should be back by ten - when’s your mother
coming round?”
“About seven
thirty - her flight touches down at six,” Janet said with a smile. “I hope you don’t mind her staying over until
you get back?”
“Of course
not,” Mrs Jenkins said as she went for the door. “I’ll say you later - bye kids. Remember to do whatever Janet tells you.”
“All right
Mum,” Jack called out without turning his head from the television screen. Janet watched as Mrs Jenkins ran out of the
house, then sat down and looked at the two kids.
“What are you
watching?”
“Just a
Disney film,” Jill said as he turned round and looked at Janet. “So what are we going to have for dinner?”
“I’ll phone
for a pizza in a little while - you can tell me what you want. What would you like to do after that?”
Jill looked
at her brother, who turned and said “Can we play a game after that? There’s nothing on television anyway.”
“All right,”
Janet said as she smiled at the two children, “but you need to go to bed after
that. Now, what do you want?”
As Janet
picked up the pizza boxes, she looked at Jack and Jill, sitting at the table as
they ate the last slices of Pepperoni pizza.
“Now,” she
said as she sat back at the table, “What sort of game did you have in mind?”
Jack looked
at the young sitter, before saying “Can we play Cops and Robbers?”
“I suppose we
could,” Janet said with a smile, “How do you play that game?”
“We like to
be the robbers first,” Jill said with a sweet smile on her face, “and you can be
the housewife we surprise. Then we come
back as the cops and rescue you.”
“Rescue
me? From what?”
“From the
ropes the robbers left you tied up in.”
Janet looked
at the two kids sitting there, before saying “Do you play this game with all
your sitters?” She had heard a few
stories from her friends, but they had all said it was just harmless fun.
“Sure we do,”
Jill said as she continued to smile, “and they all like it too. Please say you’ll play with us, please,
please, please...”
“All right,”
Janet said as she threw her hands up in mock horror. “What do you want me to do?”
“Go and sit
in the front room and watch television,” Jack said as he stood up, “and we will
surprise you.”
“Well, if I
do this, then you have to wash the dishes up, and I have to be free before my
mum arrives, all right?”
“All right,”
Jill said as she got up from the table as well.
“Go and sit on the couch - we won’t be long.”
Janet walked
into the living room, turning the television on and watching the news as it
came onto the screen. “It’s just a
little game,” she said to herself as she watched the latest news of President
Obama, “What could possibly go wrong?”
“Hands
up, Lady!”
She turned
and saw Jack and Jill standing there, each with one of their mother’s stockings
over their head. Jill was carrying a
pink bag on her back, while Jack was pointing a toy pistol at Janet.
“Oh my God,”
Janet said with a smile as she raised her hands, “What do you want with me?”
“Just do what
we tell you, lady,” Jack said with a snarl, “and you’ll be just fine. Turn round and put your hands behind your
back, slowly.”
“All right,”
Janet said as she did as Jack had said, “Just please don’t hurt me.” She looked over her shoulder as Jill took off
her rucksack and opened it, taking out a length of thin white cord and doubling
it over. She crossed Janet’s wrists
behind her back before passing the rope round, pulling them tightly together as
she continued to bind them.
“Hey, that’s
tight,” Janet said as she saw the cords against her dark skin. It was also not too uncomfortable, but she
was beginning to get a sneaky feeling she may have been tricked into giving up
control of the evening as she felt the ropes been cinched between her arms.
Turning her
head, she saw that Jack had taken a second length of rope, and was crossing her
ankles before wrapping the rope around them over her socks. “Please, don’t hurt me,” she said in a scared
voice as she felt her ankles been drawn together as well.
To her
surprise, she could feel her arms been drawn together behind her back, and as
she looked over she saw that Jill had wrapped some more rope around her elbows,
forcing them together and pulling her shoulders back as she did so. “Hey, I didn’t say you could do that,” Janet
said as she felt her chest been forced out and the front of her blouse
stretching over her breasts.
“I think she’s
going to give us some trouble,” Jill said to her brother, “you need to shut her
up.”
“Shut me
up? Kids, I promised to play this game,
but I didnmmdsamsdm.” Janet’s eyes widened as Jack stuffed a cloth into
her mouth, before picking up a roll of white tape from the bag.
“Dntudrrdttt,” Janet mumbled as she watched him tear a
length of tape from the roll, before holding it in his hands and standing in
front of Janet. She shook her head from
side to side, but as Jill held her head from behind she was unable to stop Jack
smoothing the tape over her lips, the material pulling at her skin as she
watched him take a second length of rope and start to tie her legs together
above her knees. She also saw rope pass
over her head and felt her arms been pulled into her side as Jill worked from
behind her.
“That ought
to hold her,” Jill said as she tugged one last time on the ropes, and Jack
stood up in front of her. Janet
stretched her legs out in front of her, looking at her crossed ankles and the
white rope against her dark thighs, and glared at the two kids as they watched
her.
“Ntimnw,” she screamed through the gag, but that only seemed
to make them laugh. “Come on,” Jack said
as he took her sister’s arm, “Let’s get all her stuff and get out of here
before the cops arrive.”
The two
children ran out of the door, leaving Janet twisting on the couch, beads of
perspiration forming on her dark skin as she twisted round. She had agreed to play a game, yes, but these
kids knew what they were doing - the knots were out of the reach of her
fingers, and no matter how hard she tried she was not able to loosen any of the
binding. She finally sat back, screaming
in frustration and anger and wondering how long this was going to carry on for,
when she saw the door to the living room open.
“Janet, are
you in there,” she heard her mother say, and she called out “NHRRRR” as
Catherine Dubois walked into the room.
She was dressed in her airline uniform, of a light blue silk blouse that
was open at the collar, a darker blue silk scarf worn as a cravat around her
neck, a tailored dark blue jacket and knee length skirt, and a pair of black
leather heeled boots that came up to just below her knees.
“Janet, are
you - oh dear, have the Jenkins kids been playing Cops and Robbers again?”
“Uknw?” Janet stared wide eyed at her mother as she
walked round in front of her and looked down through her horn rimmed glasses,
her greying black hair tied in a bun at the back of her head.
“I’ve heard
their mother telling others about this - didn’t she warn you?”
“Nshdddnt - ntem!!”
“Well, well -
looks like Mummy came home.”
Catherine
looked to the door to see Jack and Jill standing there, the stockings still over
their heads and Jack holding the toy gun.
“I guess we’ll have to take care of her as well.”
“Oh dear,”
Catherine said as she raised her hands, winking at her daughter as she did
so. “Please don’t tie me up as well.”
“Dntdtmmm,” Janet tried to call out, but her pleas fell on
deaf ears as Jack said “Kneel down, lady, and put your hands behind your back.”
“Hgddddd,” Janet moaned as she watched her mother slowly
drop to her knees, then move her hands behind her back as Jill took another
length of rope from her rucksack and started to tie Catherine’s wrists
together, keeping the cords over the cuffs of her blouse as they stuck out from
her jacket sleeves. “It’s just a game,
dear,” she said as she looked at her wide eyed daughter, “They don’t mean any
real harm.”
“Tlthmtthttt,” she moaned as she watched Jack begin to tie
her mother’s ankles together side by side, the rope squeaking as it rubbed
against the leather. “Please, just leave
my daughter and me,” Catherine said as she felt her arms been tied to her side
by Jill, “I promise we won’t raise the alarm.”
“We know you
won’t,” Jack said as he tied a length of rope from Catherine’s wrists to her
ankles, before pulling the scarf off from around her neck, rolling it into a
band and tying a knot in the middle of the band. “Open wide lady - we need to keep you quiet.”
“Please,”
Catherine pleaded, but with a hint of laughter in her voice Janet found
surprising, “Don’t pllmmmdmsgmmgsmg.” As Jack pulled the knot into her open mouth,
he quickly passed the band around her face and tied the ends tightly together
at the base of her neck, before the two kids helped Catherine to lie on her
side, looking up at her daughter as they put a cushion under her head.
“Now don’t
move, either of you,” Jill said as the two kids ran out of the room again,
leaving Catherine and Janet alone.
“Jstpllng,” Janet heard her mother say as she looked up at
her, “Thermmlbhmsn.”
“Sefrutsa,” Janet said as she twisted her body round
again. She could feel the top bottom on
her blouse starting to give, and did not relish the prospect of a fourteen year
old boy seeing her bra and breasts.
Catherine lay still, the front of her jacket open and sweat visible on
her dark neck. She occasionally pulled
her legs down, forcing her back to arch, but she seemed resigned to a short
period of time like this before the game became boring.
As the door
opened again, she looked towards the gap, hoping to see Jack or Jill come in. Janet looked
at her, wondering why her eyes were widening with very real fear in them, when
she heard a deep make voice saying “And what do we have here?”
She turned
and looked over her shoulder, to see a tall, broad shouldered man standing
there in a dark boiler suit, looking down at her and her mother through a black
balaclava that only shoed his grey eyes.
“FKKKKK” she screamed out as she tried to twist round, looking at her
mother as she started kicking out on the floor.
“I found two
kids upstairs,” she heard a second man say, “so I forced them into their mum’s
closet and locked the door on them. What
did you - oh my, what a pair of beauties we have here!”
Catherine
could see the second man behind the first, leaner and taller but with the same
cruel look in his eyes. He walked over
and tugged at the ropes around her daughter, making her squeal through the tape
gag as she felt her breasts been pulled up.
“Did those
kids do this?”
“Must have -
talented pair of brats, aren’t they?”
“Yeah - but I
can do better. You get what you can and
I’ll make these two a little more - comfortable.”
Catherine screamed
out “dnttshhhmdohtr” as the taller man pulled a long
coil of rope from his pocket, chook it out and passed it over Janet’s upper
body, pulling her arms even tighter into her side as the bands above her
breasts forced them out even further. She
could feel these were much tighter, as the rope went between her upper body and
her arms under her shoulders, cinching them tightly into place before she saw
the ends falling in front of her over her left shoulder.
“Fcccknhlll,” she screamed as he pulled the ropes through
the bands around her lower chest, making a “V”-shape that ran down the centre
of her chest before pulling it up and back over her right shoulder, the ropes
forcing her breast even further up and out as she screamed in pain. The sweat on her body was glistening under
the lights, and she could see a small damp patch forming on the breast pocket
of her blouse on each side.
“Plsss, plsssdnthrthr,” Catherine
pleaded as Janet was forced to lie face down on the couch, her ankles pulled up
and back as the masked man placed her in a hogtie, the ropes from her ankles
tied to those in the centre of her back.
“Your turn now mummy,” he said as he picked up the
roll of tape that was lying on the floor, “but first we need to make you a
little quieter.”
“Dnttshmmmm,” Janet screamed as she watched him tear a long strip
off the roll and then press it over her mother’s lips, the tape covering her
mouth and the dark blue band between her lips.
Three more strips followed, covering her lower jaw before the man walked
back over and squatted in from of Janet.
“You,” he
said as he slapped her bottom, “need to be quiet as well.” Her eyes widened as she watched him tear
another, longer strip off the roll and smooth it over her mouth, repeating it
twice until she could barely mumble through the white band on her dark
skin. She could feel the hot tears
running down her cheeks as she watched the masked intruder walk back to the
mother and proceed to tie her arms tightly to her side as hers were, the front
of her jacket opening to the side as the ropes pulled her own large chest up
and out. As this happened, the top
button on her blouse came undone, showing more of her dark skin and the white
bra she was wearing underneath. Once
this was done, he bound her legs together above her knees, ignoring the
squeaking from Catherine’s boots as she tried to free her legs at the same
time.
“Nice work,
kid,” the older man said as he came in and dropped a leather sports bag on the
floor with a loud jangle. “But we need
to get out of here - fast.”
“I’ve got an
idea.”
“What?”
“Remember
that guy you told me about - the one who was a collector?”
Janet and
Catherine looked at each other, hoping they were talking about some jewellery
or antiques the other guy had found.
“Yeah - you
think he might be interested?”
“Could be -
let’s find out.”
Catherine
watched as the smaller man picked up the roll of white tape, and tore a long
strip off before kneeling in front of Janet.
She heard him say “Close your eyes” and Janet’s muffled pleas, but when
he stood back up he could see he had blindfolded her, the tape covering her
eyes.
“You wait
here, momma,” the man said as he and his partner picked up Janet, the younger
girl struggling as they carried her out of the house. She screamed into her own gaga and tried to struggle
free, but to little avail. After five
minutes, the two men came back in and Catherine watched as another strip was
torn off the roll, and she heard the same message.
“Close your
eyes.”
As he
smoothed the tape over the older woman’s eyes, he turned and looked at his
partner.
“You’re right
- he’ll love these two. Schoolgirl and
air hostess - I don’t think he has them yet.”
“Even if he
does, he likes spares,” the other man said as they carried Catherine out of the
house, her struggling useless as they walked towards the van that was parked on
the driveway. It was dark outside, so nobody
noticed the two men as they dropped Catherine next to her daughter on the dirty
mattress, closing the door on them as the taller man went back to close the house
door. The other man pulled the balaclava
off his head, running his hand through his pepper grey hair as his son pulled
the hood off his own head.
“Let’s go,”
he said as they climbed into the front of the van, turning onto the road as
they switched the headlines on and driving down the street of houses.
“Do you think
those two kids are going to be all right?”
“They were
scared out of their wits, Dad - they may have been playing Cops and Robbers but
the sight of a real robber just turned them into gibbering wrecks.”
“You
didn’t...”
“Didn’t need
to - they just did as they were told, and I made sure they were able to breathe
by opening the slats on the doors before I locked them.”
The older man
nodded. “Good - I wonder what their mum
will say when she gets home.”
“Who can
say? Anyway, we may have a little extra
profit for ourselves tonight. She had
some nice jewellery, and then there are those two in the back.”
As the van
went down the highway, they passed a billboard, not noticing the bike that came
out from behind and started to follow them down the road.
“Damn,” the
older man said as he looked in the side mirror, “Did you fix that tail light
like I asked you to?”
“Didn’t get a
chance - why?”
“Because
we’ve got a traffic cop on our tail,” he said as he watched the bike
approaching, “Get in the back and keep those two quiet while I take care of
this.”
The younger
man nodded as he climbed behind the seat, while his father slowed down and
stopped at the side of the road, looking in the mirror as the bike came to a
halt and the rider got off, walking towards the door. He could see the tan coloured shirt and
trousers, and the dark knee length boots, but as he watched the officer
approaching he saw something else that grabbed his interest.
“Can I help
you, officer,” he said with a smile as he wound down his window to look at the
cop, standing there with a white helmet covering her hair.
“Did you know
your tail light isn’t working, sir?”
He looked at
the black name badge attached to the chest pocket of her blouse. “I’m sorry, Officer Hope,” he said as he
continued to smile, “I haven’t had a chance to fix it yet. I’ll take care of it first thing in the
morning I promise.”
“Do you mind
if I ask what you are doing in this area at this time of night sir?”
“I was just
making a late delivery to a customer - and al I really want to do know is head
for home.” As he spoke, his eyes looked
up and down Officer Hope - she looked about five foot ten tall, piercing blue
eyes and dark skin that was illuminated by the light from his cab.
“Well, I’m
afraid I’ll need to write you up a ticket,” she said as she pulled a pen from
her breast pocket. “Can I see your
licence and registration please?”
“Of course,
Officer Hope,” he said as he reached up and pulled the documents from the rear
of his sun visor. Handing them to her,
he watched as she wrote the ticket out, her breasts moving up and down with her
breathing as she did so.
As she tore
the ticket off, Officer Hope handed it to him, saying “Get that light fixed as
soon as possible,” but as she turned around she heard a thumping sound coming
from the rear of the van. “Is there
something in your van, sir,” she said as she turned back to the window.
“It’s just
some boxes falling over, officer - nothing serious.”
“If you could
step out and open the back, sir, I’d like to make sure.”
“If you insist,”
he said as he opened the cab door and stepped out. He looked at the police officer, standing
there in front of him, and noticed especially the knee length brown leather boots
she was wearing. Walking to the rear of
the van, he grabbed the handle before saying “Perhaps you should stand here,
Officer, and then you will be able to see the boxes.”
Officer Hope
stood there, her torch in her hand as he pulled the handle down and swung the
door open. She shone the torch in,
gasping as she saw Janet and Catherine staring back at her as they lay on their
stomachs on the mattress.
“Not a word,
officer,” she heard him say as she felt a cold metal ring against her
back. “Slowly, very slowly, remove your
gun belt and hand it to my son here.”
She looked to
her side to see a younger, taller version of the driver standing next to
her. Reaching to her waist, she slowly
unbuckled the heavy leather belt and handed it to the young man, the revolver
still in the holster and her radio sitting on the small purse that was attached
to the belt.
“Take your
helmet off,” she heard him say, and she reached up to remove the crash helmet,
her long red-brown hair falling around her face as she did so. The younger man took possession of the helmet
as well, saying “thank you” as he carried them off.
“Hands
behind your back, Officer Hope.”
“You know
kidnapping is a federal offence,” she said as she felt her own handcuffs been
fastened around her wrists, holding them together tightly. “If you take me that makes
three counts.”
“Well, that kinda sorta presumes they’re
going to find you doesn’t it Officer Hope.”
She looked at the two women lying on the mattress, mewling through the
white tape covering their mouths as the tears glistened on their dark skin.
“What do you
expect to gain from taking us prisoner,” the officer said as she watched the
man take a coil of rope from the back of the van and pass it over her arms,
pulling them tightly into her side and stretching the fabric over her chest as
the ropes bit in.
“You’ll see,”
the younger man said as he returned.
“I’ve hidden the bike and other stuff off the road, dad.”
“Good work,
son,” the older man said as he yanked down hard on the rope, making the police
officer cry out as he did so. “Help me
get her into the back of the car, and we can make her nice and uncomfortable.
The two men
forced Officer Hope to climb into the van, making her sit
against the side as Janet and Catherine watched from their prone position. The older man took the rope down and around
her upper legs, just above her knees, while the younger man picked up a dirty
looking cotton rag and folded it into a pad.
“You can’t be
serious - I am not putting that in my mouaaarghhhhmdmsamdsmmf.” Officer Hope screamed as the younger man
pulled back on her hair, forcing the smelly rag into her mouth as his father
tightly bound her ankles together. As he
slapped a layer of tape over her lips, he secured the final end of the rope to
a small ring in the floor of the cab, leaving her trussed and gagged on the
floor.
“We’ve really
scored tonight, son,” he said as the three women called out through their gags,
“three beauties to pass on.”
“Pity we
can’t have more fun with them,” the younger man said as he knelt next to Janet,
making her cry as he grabbed her breasts from behind and massaged them, “I bet
we could have given them a real good time.”
“Lvmydautralnubstrd” Catherine called out as she tried to
kick him in the side. “She’s a wildcat
as well,” the older man said, “but what does he say?”
“He wants
them as they are, so we’d better leave them,” his son said as she climbed out
of the van. “Come on - he’s expecting
us.” The van doors slammed shut, leaving
the three dark and trussed beauties in darkness as the van drove off again.
How long the
journey took, they could not say, but eventually they felt the van stop and saw
the rear doors open. A strong torch was
shone into the back, making them squint as they heard a cultured, refined voice
saying “Excellent - they will fit in very nicely. Bring them in so that I may see them.”
Janet felt
her legs drop as the rope holding her in a hogtie was
relapsed, before the father and son carried her out of the van. She saw the star filled sky as she was carried
across the courtyard, struggling in their grip as she did so, before she was
carried down a corridor and into a large, well lit room where three camp beds
had been laid out.
She was
placed on one, and watched the two men walk out. There was a third person standing there - a
tall, thin African American women in a black maid’s dress with a white apron on
the front, fishnet tights and high heels.
She stared back at Janet, shaking her head silently from side to side in
answer to the question. The answer had
to be non-verbal, given the large leather pad that was strapped over her lower
face.
She watched
as her mother was carried in, and laid on the bed next to her. “Rulrrgntjnt,”
Catherine said as she looked at her daughter, her eyes red from the tears.
“Mscrdmmm, whtshpngn?”
“Dntkn - bbrff.”
As they
carried Officer Hope in, her boots squeaking as she tried to kick her legs
apart, they got their first good look at their fellow captive. In return, she looked at the schoolgirl and
stewardess beside her, trying to look reassuring even as she was conquering her
own fears.
“Oh
how simply delightful.”
The three
women looked at the small, slightly fat man who was standing in the doorway, a
cravat tucked into his smoking jacket as he looked at them. “Three more wonderful young
ladies for my collection.”
“Whtdumnnn,” the police officer screamed out as she looked
at the man.
“Do you see
my servant here,” he said as he walked over to the maid, pinching her bottom as
he stood there. “She was the first - I
love women in uniform, especially those of dark hue such as yourselves. As my great-grandpappy
used to say, they have their place in my household, as will you.
“I‘ll introduce
you to the other six later - Once my nurse has finished examining you, I’ll
have new clothes made for you in the same style as these. Y’all have a good sleep now - you have a lot
to do tomorrow morning.”
He walked out
of the room, the maid following as he ignored the screams of the three
captives. “Secure them to the beds,” he
said to the two robbers, “and then come and see me for payment.”
Walking down
the corridor, he opened a door and looked at the nurse, gymnast, waitress,
driver, minister and lawyer strapped to their beds. “You get to meet your new friends tomorrow - good
night now,” he said as he closed the door and walked away, the maid following
behind.
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