The Games
Player - Insight
Sometimes, the
greatest lessons we learn come from left field and this is also true in my own
visits, as a recent one will hopefully show you.
It was actually a rarity for me an opportunistic visit. I was in a
shopping mall when I saw a dark-haired woman coming out of a jewellery store.
She was wearing a red puffer jacket, with red woollen gloves and a black scarf
round her neck, and blue jeans tucked into over the knee black leather boots,
and shew as with a ten-year-old boy who was wearing a leather jacket over a
green sweatshirt with writing on the front, blue jeans
and black shoes. What attracted my attention, however, were the designer
carrier bags she was carrying.
They were
looking casual about it as they made their way to the tram station, so I
followed them, with my equipment on the rucksack on my back, as they headed for
a leafy suburb and then walked about half a mile to their home. I waited for a
few moments while some passers-by walked along, and then went into the doorway
and pulled the stocking mask down over my head, before
I rang the doorbell.
The door was
opened by the young boy, who stared at me as I walked in and held him with my
gloved hand over his mouth.
“Who is it,
John,” I head his mother call out as I held the boy, and then she came out of
the front room, the black scarf now over the dark blue jumper she had being
wearing under the jacket. She stared at me, and said “oh my god you’re robbing
us?”
Well, there was
no way I could make this a game now, so I said “yes I am but I have no desire
to hurt you or your son, so I want you to do exactly what I tell you to do, all
right?”
She looked at
me, and then at John as she said “let’s be brave, all right?” I felt him nod a
is said “good I need to make sure you cannot raise the alarm, so I want you to
take your scarf, and tie it over young John’s mouth so he cannot raise the
alarm.”
She slowly
removed her scarf and walked over as I took my hand away, and then she tied it
round his head covering his mouth as he said “Hchnnshtllthlk.”
“It will do for
now,” I said, “we’re all going to go into the front room, and I want you to
draw the curtains closed, all right?”
She nodded as
she went first and I walked in with my hand on John’s shoulder, watching as she
drew the long curtains across the windows. “Very good what is your name?”
“Mhmmhhh,” John
said through the gag, making her smile as I said “okay Mummy I need to make
sure John stays here while we go for a walk, so I want you to sit down while I
use some rope to tie his wrists together behind his back, and then his arms to
his sides.
“You’re going
to do the o to me, right?”
“In time,” I
said as she sat in an armchair, and I took John’s hands behind his back before
removing a length of white cord from my rucksack, and securing his wrists
together nice and snugly. I then wrapped a longer length of rope round his
upper body and arms, before sitting him down as Mummy turned and kissed him on
the forehead. He blushed while I took her hands behind her back, crossed her
wrists, and then made sure they were tightly secured together.
I then passed
the longer rope round her body, forcing her arms against her sides and forming
two bands which stretched her jumper over her chest. She twisted round as I knelt down in front of both of them, and tied John’s ankles
tightly together, and then his legs below his knees.
“There,” I
said, “comfy?” He nodded as I looked at Mummy, and then said “now, he stays
her, while “
“What the “
I turned and
looked at the doorway as an older woman stood there. “Mum,” Mummy said, “where
is Lizzie?”
“What’s
happening Mummy,” a young girl said, and she appeared next to her grandmother.
She had long blonde hair, and was wearing a white hooded cardigan over a pink
t-shirt, and black leggings with purple Ugg boots, the tops of her pink socks
just visible.
What was also
visible was the white cane in her hand, as she looked round and said “where’s
John?”
“HffhrhhLhsshe.”
“John? You
sound funny. Mummy?”
She swallowed
as she looked at me, and then said “we’re playing a very special game Lizzie.
Mum, can you bring her over please, let her feel what is round my body?”
Her mother was
wearing a purple gilet over a leopard print top, and blue jeans tucked into
knee length brown fabric boots with a fur lining. She looked at Mummy, then at
John, and then at me before she slowly walked Lizzie over, the young girl
holding her hands out and feeling round Mummy’s body.
“IS something
holding your arms?”
“It is there is
a man here, an actor, who is pretending to be a robber and has come to rob us.
You can’t her John because he has tied something over his mouth. He’s sitting
next to me.”
The girl turned
and put her hands on John’s leg, then leaned forward and felt up his chest, and
then the scarf over his mouth. “Oh my he really cannot move or talk.”
“That’s right
and now you and Granny are here, he is going to do something like this to both
of you. Don’t be scared he is not going to hurt you, are you?”
“Of course not,”
I said as I crouched next to Lizzie and put my gloved hand on her cheek. “I’m
not going to treat you any differently from your mother or grandmother, so you
will all be the same all right?”
“Okay so what
do you want me to do?”
“Why don’t you
sit on the couch, with your grandmother between you and your brother she can
tell you what I am doing as I do it, and then I will do the same to her, all
right?”
“Thank you,”
Granny said as she sat down and then took the stick from Lizzie before she sat
down, her feet over the edge of the seat. I started by taking a length of cord,
and then I passed it round her ankles before pulling it tighter.
“Oh that feels
funny,” she said.
“The man is
taking the rope round and between your ankles, so that you cannot mover them
apart,” Granny said as I did just that and then tied the ends off.
“You’re right granny and it doesn’t hurt.”
“Nhhthddhnht,”
John mumbled as I did the same to Granny, the young boy watching as the brown
felt lightened under the tight binding for her. She wriggled her feet, and then
looked at Lizzie a is started to bind her legs below her knees.
“That’s tight,”
she said a is took the rope between her legs.
“I know, but it
has to be or it could be bad is it too tight?”
“No just tight.”
She twisted her legs round as I did the same to Granny, above the tops of her
boots, and she then hugged Lizzie.
“Are you all
right, Lizzie?”
“Yes Mummy,”
she said, “so do we all have our legs tied?”
“No I am going
to go for a walk with the man first, but Granny, you and John will be tied up
down here.”
“But you will
be back?”
“I will be
back,” Mummy said as she smiled at John and Granny. Lizzie nodded as I said “now,
I’m going to take your hands behind your back, and when I am done they will
stay there, all right?”
She nodded as I
took her arms behind her back and tied her crossed wrists tightly together, and
then did the same to granny, before longer ropes made
sure they both had their arms held against their sides.
“Are you all
right Granny?”
“Yes I am
Lizzie,” Granny said, “but I think the man is going to stop us from talking for
a while, right?”
“Yes I am but I
think John needs to say something first,” I said a is removed the black scarf
from his mouth. He looked at Mummy, who nodded before he swallowed and said “well,
I’m enjoying this game thanks for organizing it Mummy.”
“You’re
welcome,” Mummy said as I rolled up a black scarf, and then said to Lizzie “time
to be quiet can you open your mouth wide please?”
“Okay,” she
said as I cleave gagged her, and then Granny, and then John, all three of them
with the corners of their mouths pulled back and the ends secured at the base
of their necks. I helped Mummy to stand up, and she kissed John and Lizzie on
the forehead as Granny nodded, and then she gag kissed the foreheads of her
grandchildren.
I turned the
television on and took Mummy out of the room as she said “thank you for not
scaring her.”
“You and your
son played the right part,” I said, “now I want you to show me where your
valuables are and the things you purchased today tell me there are some choice
items here.”
As I brought
Mummy back in, Granny looked over and said “Huhhhlhtt?”
“Yhshshmm,” she
said through the white tape that covered her mouth, as Is at her down and said “Mummy
cannot talk now either so I am going to make sure her ankles and legs are tied
as well, and then I am going to gag you all the same way as her.”
“Hwwsshtth,”
Lizzie said.
“I am going to
put some tape over your mouth as well,” I said as I knelt
down and started to bind Mummy’s ankles, the rope squeaking as it rubbed
on the leather, “but I will also sit you on her lap afterwards, all right?”
“Uhhchnbhwhfmhmmh,”
Granny said as she nudged Lizzie, the little girl nodding as I bound Mummy’s
legs together below her knees and stood yup, the leather squeaking as she tried
to move her legs round. I then took the white tape from my pocket and pressed
strips over the mouths of all three of them, John putting his head against
Granny’s arm as I lifted Lizzie up and placed her on Mummy’s lap. She rested
her head on Mummy’s chest as her mother pressed her taped lips on her head,
before Is aid “you can try to escape in an hour good luck,” and left them to
make my getaway
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