The Games Player - Like Mummy

It was a very, very special afternoon for me and my friends - and even though we only found out later what was really happening, it was still exciting for all of us, because she took really good care to make sure we were not afraid, and not hurt.

I’m Zenyada, and I’m ten years old - and my mum had invited two of my friends from Sunday School at our church, and one friend from school, to come round for tea. Because it was Sunday, we all persuaded our mums to come in the same clothes as us, so they could feel part of the party as well.

I think it was about two o’clock when we both came down the stairs - we both have long brown hair, although Mum’s hair is darker, and we were both wearing the same dress - a black one with a V at the neck, elbow length sleeves, and a pleated skirt with red flowers and white snow drops on the material. The only real difference was my skirt came to just below my knees, and Mum’s came down to her ankles - and she was wearing white sandals, while I had on brown moccasins.

She said I looked really pretty, and I said she did as well - which was when the doorbell rang, and I ran to let Cassie Brown and her mummy in. Cassie is one of my friends from church, and she had her black hair in two ponytails, while Mrs Brown had shorter loose hair as well as glasses.

They looked wonderful as well - their dresses were long with long sleeves, made with black and white lace in swirly patterns. They had a wide black belt, and a funny bow tie at the front with the long ends hanging down. They also had white shoes on - Cassie’s had a little bow on the toe and she was wearing white socks as well, while Mrs Brown had white sandals on like Mum.

Anyway, Mum had some drinks for me and my friends in the front room, so Cassie came in with me while she and Mrs Brown went to get whatever our mums were getting to drink. We sat and talked about school, about boys, about which MLP was the best - all that sort of thing - and then . She came in with Mum and Mrs Brown.

Cassie and I just stared at them as Mum set down a plate of cakes and one of sandwiches. Mrs Brown was smiling, but hr hands were behind her back - and then there was the strange woman. She was wearing a green dress with a white collar and cuffs, and white shoes - but she was also wearing white gloves, and she had something pulled down over her head that looked like one of Mum’s stockings.

Mum then looked at us, and said we were all going to play a special pretend game - me and my friends and the mums as well. Cassie walked over to look behind Mrs Brown, and then she beckoned me over to have a look as well.

I was surprised to see that Mrs Brown had a length of white cord wrapped round her wrists, holding them together as we both touched it. The woman then said that the game was one where we - and my other friends - were going to be a Teen Detective club, and she had been hired to play the part of a spy who needed something one of the mothers of the gang was working on.

I asked her which mother, and Mum slowly raised her hand to say she was going to play that part - but the game was one where the agent had to make sure nobody could stop her, so

“We’re going to be hostages!”

I looked at Cassie, and she had that look in her eyes - the same look she had that time she volunteered the four of us to sign at the school Christmas concert. Fine for three of us, but Fatima?

The woman nodded and told us that we should sit on the long couch, facing the television, and have a sandwich and a drink while she made sur Cassie’s mother was the first who could not stop her. Mum said it was going to be like that for all of us eventually, and we would not be hurt, so we sat down and waited as Mum gave us some food, while Mrs Brown sat on one of our four armchairs, the woman kneeling down as she put a rucksack down and taking more of the white cord out before she crossed and tied her ankles together.

I watched how she did it - making the rope half as long, wrapping it round her ankles, and then pulling it tight and taking it round and between her legs. She then took another length and used tit to keep her legs together above her knees, as Cassie asked how it felt.

Mrs Brown said it was not too bad, as Mum looked at the woman who was standing up, four more lengths of cord in her hand. She said she did not have to do this to us - but the woman just said we were all playing the game, so we had to be the same.

“Isn’t that right girls?”

That was directed at us, and I was taken by surprise as Cassie said “she has to, Mummy, or the gang will call the police.” I watched Mrs Brown as she nodded, and then the masked woman knelt down and crossed my ankles.

IT felt funny as she wrapped the rope round my ankles, but when she was done I could not move them apart. She then tied my legs together below my knees in the same way, before watched her as she tied Cassie’s ankles together, and her legs above her knees, over the skirt of her dress.

We both giggled as we twisted our legs round - and then the doorbell rang again. The masked woman put her gloved finger on her lips, and then told Mum to let the new guests in.

Cassie and I were grinning as Mum went to the door, and came back in with Loo and Mrs Chau. Both of them have long chestnut red hair, and they were wearing long sleeved black robes with dark red dots, white pants and sandals - Loo was wearing gold ones and Mrs Chau black ones. They both stood in the doorway,, staring at us and Mrs Brown as Mum explained to them about the game we were all playing.

I could see that Mrs Chau was looking at Mum and Mrs Brown, and there was something in the way she was looking at them, but Mum smiled and said this was a real game, and it was important they all played along as well.

Loo walked over and looked at our legs, before she sat herself next to me and asked the lady to do the same thing to her as well. Mrs Chau slowly nodded as watched her make sure Loo could not move her ankles and legs in the same way she had done to us, the rope going over her pants just under her knees and the robe.

She giggled as Mom gave her a plate of food as well, while Mrs Chau sat down on another armchair, talking in a low voice to Mrs Brown as the woman went over and started to tie Loo’s mum’s legs together as well. She then told her to lean forward and put her hands behind her back, Loo looking at us as she held a glass in her hand and said “is the masked lady going to do that to us as well?”

“I think so,” I said, “we’re the Teen detective Club, and she has to stop us raising the alarm as well.” So we watched as the woman tied Mrs Chau’s wrists behind hr back - and then she took a longer rope and tied it round her arms and body so she could not move them at all.

“Wow - are you all right Mom,” Loo said, Mrs Chau nodding and smiling as she said it was not so bad.

“So when do you do that to us, Miss agent,” I asked. She looked at me and smiled under her mask as she said “once the final member of the club has - ah.”

There was a knock on the door, and we all looked over as Mum let Fatima and her mother, Mrs Hope, come in. Fatima had her long blonde hair loose and hanging down over her white dress - the dress had long sleeves, and at the cuffs and the hem of her skirt it turned into a blue pattern. The skirt came down over her knees, but we could see her legs and her white shoes.

Mrs Hope was, as we knew she would be, wearing the same style of dress, but the skirt of hers came to her the white sandals on her feet - and she had her usual white scarf wrapped round her head and neck. She just stood in the doorway and stared at us as the masked woman walked over, and Mum explained to her the game were playing.

“Do you play games like this in your Sunday School,” Fatima asked, a smile on her face, but for some reason Mrs. Hope was not smiling. Mum stood in front of her and I watched them talk quietly, while Fatima came over and sat next to Cassie, looking at us as the woman knelt down and tied her legs together in the same way as all three of us.

We all just sat there, talking, eating and drinking once Mum gave Fatima had food and drink, while the lady told Mrs Hope to sit in another armchair, and then we all watched as she tied Fatima’s mother’s arms and legs in the same way as Mrs Chau. She then took another longer rope - I had never seen so much rope - and tied it round Mrs Brown’s arms and body as well.

As she did this, Mum took the plates and glasses from me and Cassie, and said the agent was going to have to make sure we could not move our arms as well while the other two Club members finished. Fatima and Soo looked at us, and said that was all right, as the masked woman came behind the couch and told us both to lean forward, and put our hands behind our backs.

I wondered how it was going to feel as Mom watched, but the rope was nice and soft, and tit didn’t hurt at all! Then when she took the rope round my arms and pulled them against my sides, it felt just as if Mum was hugging me.

I smiled and wriggled round as she did the same thing to Cassie, so we were both snugly tied up. Mum was collecting the plate from Soo, so we both got to watch as she made sure her arms were tied as well by the masked woman.

She then looked at all of us, and asked us to promise that we weer not going to try and call for help while she made Mum take her to where the thing she wanted was. We al nodded, but Cassie - my best friend Cassie - asked her how she would make sure we could not call out later.

The masked lady smiled as she went back to her bag, and took out a roll of white tape. It made a funny sound as she peeled a length off, and then she pressed it down on Mrs Brown’s mouth, her eyes opening wide as she pressed it down over her chin.

She looked at the ether two mothers as the agent went round and covered their mouths with the tape as well, and then tied Fatima’s hands and arms in the same way as the rest of us. As she took Mum out of the room, the other mothers tried to talk to each other - but all they did was mumble as they twisted round, which made us all laugh as well!

“So what do we do when we all cannot talk?”

I looked at Soo, and said “we try to get free I guess - butmaybe the agent will let us watch something first before we try?”

“Like what?”

“The Barbie movie?”

We all looked at Fatima as she blushed and said “I have Barbie dolls - what is wrong with that?”

“Nothing,” Soo said, “does she have a hijab like you have sometimes?”

“Yes she does,” Fatima said as we all laughed. This was actually a very good game to play, even as their mothers tried to wriggle round and talk. They really id sound funny, but I did start to wonder how I would sound

A little while later, the masked woman walked back into the rom with Mum, but she enow had her hands behind her back and the rope round her arms and body - as well as the white tape over her mouth. She nodded to us as she sat in the final armchair, and the Agent tied her ankles together, then her legs above her knees.

“Time for you girls to be quiet,” she said as she stood up.

“Miss agent, when you have done this, what do we do”.

She looked at me, and said “I can put something on for you to watch - then when that finishes, you can try and get free. What would you like to watch?”

“The Barbie Movie!”

We all nodded as she went to the television and turned it on, then found a streaming service that was showing the film. Before she started the film, however, she peeled a strip of the white tape from the roll and pressed it down over each of our mouths.

It felt really funny on me - but I really could not talk after she had done that, so we looked at each other and our mothers before our attention was taken by the film. We were so engrossed in it, we did not notice as the agent left us alone in the room

It was just as the Kens started to sign that I noticed that Mum was wriggling round quite a bit, and then I watched as she managed to bring her arms round under the bands of rope and push them up over her head. She then leaned forward and untied her legs, before coming over and holding my head.

“Are you girls all right?”

“Yhddmmhhm,” I tried to say before I giggled again. She nodded as she looked at the others, and said “she disconnected the phone, and my iPhone is upstairs. Will you be all right while I make a call?”

We saw Mrs Brown, Mrs Chau and Mrs Hope nod as Mum walked out of the room, and we watched her walk up the stairs as we watched the end of the film. As it came to an end, Cassie rubbed her mouth on my arm and somehow managed to peel the tape away from her mouth, before she said “turn round, I’ll try and untie your wrists with my teeth.”

I turned and looked at the others as Mum came back in, and said “the police will be here soon.”

“Thhphlhshss?”

“Yes - after all, the foreign agent held us hostage,” Mum said as I managed to get my wrists free and brought my arms round, then pulled the rope up over my head and peeled the tape away from my own mouth.

“Wow - this is a great game Mum,” I said as Cassie turned round, and I started to untie her.

“Bhthtwhssnhthghm.”

“We’ll tell them later,” Mum said as she went to untie Mrs Brown, while Cassie an di took care of the other girls

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