The Games Player
– Green Envy
It was St
Patrick’s Day, and the outskirts of Dublin were quiet on this particular
afternoon. I was on another business
trip, leaving Janna with our family, but while I was here I was planning to
visit the family of one of our clients – especially given I knew he was going
to be in meetings all day.
The house
itself was an end terrace, and I walked there from a bus stop, wearing a black
leather jacket over a jumper and black jeans.
Walking round the side of the house, I ducked into the alleyway, and
pulled the stocking down over my head before I let myself into the back garden.
As luck would
have it, his wife was in the garden, her back to me as she hung out some
washing. Her name was Darlene, and she
was in her early thirties – long dark brown hair, and wearing a crimson vest
top and black jogging pants. She was
oblivious to my presence at first – but when ‘I came up behind her, and put my
gloved hand over her mouth, she was very much aware I was there.
“Don’t panic,”
I whispered into her ear, glad of the high fencing on either side, “do as I
say, and you’ll be just fine. Slowly,
walk to the rear door and we will talk inside.”
She didn’t offer any resistance as we walked slowly into the kitchen,
but when I took my hand away she said “who the hell are you?”
“The newspapers
call me The Games Player, Darlene.”
“The Games
Player? You’re one of those from the UK
that rob families? Why are you here?”
“To rob you,
Darlene – and I know your charming daughter Colleen is also here with you at
home, so we’re all going to play a game – and I have just the thing to help you
play it, a very appropriate choice for today.”
“What?”
I smiled and
said “You’ll see” and then slipped off my rucksack. “In fact, why don’t we…”
“Darlene,
what’s going on here?”
I looked to the
doorway to see a younger woman standing there, wearing a lighter red vest top
and tight black jeans which were ripped at the knees. I noticed both women were
barefoot, before Darlene said “Elsie, look, I don’t know quite how to say this,
but…”
“I am going to
rob Darlene – you would be?”
“Her sister,”
the new arrival said. Her light hair was
in two bunches, dyed purple at the ends, as she said “and who are you?”
“Me? I’m the one playing a game with Darlene and
Coleen – and now with you Elsie,” I said as I removed a roll of red tape from my
rucksack.
“A game of
what?”
“Robbers – and
we start with making sure you both have your wrists secured together in front
of you.”
“Robbers? Why you…”
“Elsie – he’s
the Games Player, from over the water. I
don’t want Coleen to be scared – so do what he says, all right?”
Elsie looked at
me, and then nodded as she held her wrists out in front of her. I made sure they were securely taped
together, before I made sure Darlene was similarly secured – and then I wound
the tape round their upper arms to force them against their bodies as well.
“There we go,”
I said with a smile, “let’s go and make sure Coleen is playing along as well,
shall we?”
“We don’t have
a choice, Elsie,” Darlene said, her sister nodding as we made our way into the
front room. Coleen was in there, wearing
a white sundress that came down to her knees, and she smiled – and then saw the
tape round her mother and aunt.
“What’s going
on Mummy,” she said as she stood up with her long dark brown hair.
“We’re going to
play a special game,” Darlene said, “with the help of this man here. Why don’t you let him do to your wrists and
arms what he has done to me and Aunt Elsie, and then he’ll tell us what he is
going to do next?”
“Does it hurt
Mummy?”
“Not at all,”
Elsie said as she let her niece check the tape on her. Coleen then nodded, as she held her hands out
and let me tape her wrists together, then the tape round her upper arms as
well.
“It’s sticky –
and it crinkles,” Coleen laughed as she stood with the older women, watching as
I took two chairs from the dining table and set them on the floor, then took a
smaller blue chair from a side table and put it between the other two.
“You sit on the
small chair, Coleen,” I said with a smile, “and your mummy and aunt will sit
either side of you, while I use some more of the tape to make sure you can’t
stand up very easily.”
All three of
them sat down and raised their hands, as I wound the tape round their waists
and the chair backs to make sure they stayed there. I then knelt in front o f them and taped their
ankles together, as well as their legs below their knees.
“It feels nice,
Mummy,” Coleen laughed as she looked to either side, both of them nodding as I
knelt down and taped Darlene’s ankles tightly together, as well as her legs
below her knees. I did the same to
Elsie, and then taped the little girl’s ankles before I lifted the skirt of her
dress back and taped her legs together.
“There now,” I
said as I stood up, “all three of you the captive of the bad robber.”
“You’re not
bad,” Coleen said as she looked at me, “you’re a nice robber.”
“I suppose he
is,” Elsie said, Darlene shaking her head as I said “now, the bad robber has to
go and have a look round the house - if you promise not to shout out, I won’t
do anything to stop you doing that for the moment.”
“Like what?”
I saw the
mischief in Coleen’s eyes, as I tore a strip of red tape from the roll and pressed
it down over her mouth. She giggled as I
did the same to Darlene and Elsie, and said “like that” before I went to see
what I could find.
When I looked
back in, all three of them were still there, so I said “now you can start to
try and get out of the chairs – I’ll be waiting in the kitchen.”
All three of
them nodded as I heard the sound of the tape being moved under – for as long as
it took me to get out of the house, and leave them to their game of escape…
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