The Games Player: Festival of Light (M/MFmf)

[KP Presents]

Diwali, the Festival of Light, fell on the 1st of November this year – which meant in areas with large Sikh communities, there were a lot of fireworks going off for the weekend as they celebrated.

Well, I regret to say for one family that day they had to enjoy any fireworks a little later, given I had paid a visit to them that day – but at least the whole family got to take part in the event…

I was in a suburb in the northwest of London – not the one you might be thinking of – and parked outside the home of Aanan and Sita Bhatt. They lived there with their thirteen-year-old son Kiann, their twelve-year-old daughter Aditi and their eight-year-old daughter Lakshmi. Aanan is a very successful businessman, and we had both researched them – including the family pictures of them with their jewellery.

I had seen Aanan and Kian leave in a car a few minutes earlier and was just doing my final checks before I left the car and walked towards the detached house. There were curtains of white lights going down the front windows, and I could see lights on in other rooms – so I made my way round the side, putting on my leather gloves and pulling the stocking down over my head as I tucked it into the collar of my jumper.

There was a light shining out of the kitchen window, so I crouched down and made my way pas tit before I turned the handle of the rear door and let myself in. I was in a short hallway, and through the door to the kitchen could see Sita Bhatt at the table, cutting some vegetables. Her long brown hair was falling over the red and gold sari which covered her slim body, the gold border pattern visible on the top and the skirt. I could also see the short sleeve of the red top with the same trim she was wearing under the silk material, and the red sandals on her feet.

She was humming a tune to herself - a tune that was cut off suddenly when I came up behind her and put my gloved hand over her mouth. She reached up and tried to pull it away, but I just whispered, “Calm down Mrs Bhatt – I do not wish to hurt you, but I do need you to do exactly what I tell you to do, or you will be hurt.”

“Hhhrrhuhhh? Whtthdhuhwhnht?”

“Both reasonable questions Mrs Bhatt – and if you stop struggling and calm down, I will give you some answers. Are you going to stop struggling?”

She stopped trying to pull my hand away and slowly nodded a sis aid “thank you” and took my hand away. She turned and looked at me, before she said “this… This is a robbery?”

“It is,” I said with a smile under the stocking, “but if you do as I say, then it can be an – exciting time for you and your family.”

“You are a robber, which means you are going to take our valuables by force, and you are going to keep me and my family from stopping you,” Sita said quietly, “and that means you need to restrain us. I am terrified at that prospect, and my children…”

“Will think this is a game you and your husband have booked to celebrate the Festival of Light in a new way,” I said quietly, “but for that to happen, you need to convince them that this is a game. Do this for me, and they will not be so scared, I promise you…”

“A game?” She looked at me for a moment, and then said, “so what are you going to say?”

“Well, first,” I said as I looked at the snacks laid out, “allow me to help you to take those in. And then I will explain – you just say what I have told you to say.”

Sita slowly nodded as we picked up the trays and took them into the front room, where Aditi and Lakshmi were sitting. Both girls had the same long dark hair as their mother – Aditi wore hers loose while Lakshmi’s hair was platted into a pigtail that fell down her back. Aditi was wearing a long yellow cap sleeved dress with a patterned top and a gold hem at the skirt, black pants with a gold trim, and blue sandals. She also had a yellow dupatta wrapped round her neck and hanging down in front of her.

Her younger sister was wearing a similar dress to Aditi, but in alight green, and white pants with white sandals. She also had a dupatta wrapped round her neck, but her one was purple. She looked at her mother and me, as we put the trays down, and said “who is this man maa?”

“Well, first, eat,” Sita said as she sat down, and the girls took some food. “This man has been hired by your father and I so that we can all play a very special game as part of our celebrations. Now, he is pretending to be a robber, and that means we are all going to be his hostages for a while.”

“Hostages? As in the shows you watch maa,” Aditi said as she looked at me.

“Indeed – now, he is not going to hurt you, and he will do to me first what he will do to you. We can all play together, all right?”

The two girls nodded as I opened my rucksack and took a length of white cord out. “Lean forward and put your hands behind your back,” I said, Sita doing this before I crossed her wrists behind her back and secured them tightly together with the cords.

“Does it hurt, maa?”

“No, it does not,” Sita said with a smile as I took a longer rope, and passed it round her body, the two girls watching as I framed her chest with two bands that held her arms against her sides. As I tied the ropes off, I said “now, which of you girls would like to be first?”

The two girls walked over and looked at their mother, before Lakshmi said, “can I go first maa?”

“Of course you can,” I said as I walked round and knelt behind the younger girl, taking her hands behind her back and crossing her wrists before I used the cord to secure them together. “That feels soft and nice,” she said as I took the rope around and between her arms and tied the ends off, and then wrapped a longer length round her stomach to hold her arms against her sides below her elbows, then cinching the rope on both sides before tying the ends off.

“Does it hurt Lakshmi,” Aditi said as she watched her sister twist her body round. She shook her head as I guided her older sister’s hands behind her back, and a few minutes later had her wrists and arms secured on the same way as Lakshmi.

“Now then,” I said as I looked round, and took two large bean bags to set them down in front of the television as Sita watched, “both of you sit down, because I need to make sure you are not going to find it easy to stand up and try to get away.”

“Go on – I think he will do the same to me,” their mother said as the two girls sat down, crossing their ankles when I asked them to before more cords were used to secure their ankles together, and then their legs below their knees as I folded the skirt of the dresses back a little.

Folding the skirt back, I left the two girls talking to each other as I went back to Sita and put her ankles together before using cords to secure them tightly together. I then wrapped more rope round her legs above her knees, gathering the material of the sari round them as I pulled it tight. She twisted her legs round a sis aid “now, this is the point where the bad robber is going to make sure you all stay quiet.”

“How,” Aditi said as I looked at her.

“Well, I use what you have,” I said as I took her dupatta gently away from her neck and doubled it over. “Open your mouth as wide as you can.”

Sita watched as I pulled the yellow dupatta between her daughter’s lips and took it round again, and then secured the ends together at the base of her neck as she closed her lips over it. I did the same thing to Lakshmi with her purple dupatta, the two girls looking at each other as I went behind their mother.

“And what are you going to do to keep me quiet,” Sita said as I looked at her.

“Sita, are you – what is happening?”

“Hllldhdhd,” the two girls said as Aanan and Kian came into the room. Their father was wearing a long cream coat with red trim, red pants and red sandals, a long red scarf hanging down in front of him. Kian was wearing a red top with a floral pattern, white pants and black shoes.

“Well,” I said with a smile, “you did book me to play this game of hostages with your family, Mr Bhatt. I arrived early and made sure your wife and daughters were playing – and you have arrived in time to take part as well.”

“A game of hostages? Sita, what is he…”

“Aanan,” Sita said as she looked at her husband, twisting round in the ropes, “we booked this so we could all play as part of the festival – and the girls are happy playing. Aren’t you girls?”

Both of them nodded as Kian said, “but you are tied up and gagged – how can that be a game?”

“The only way to find out is to play,” I said with a smile, “unless, of course, you are scared unlike the girls…”

“I’m not scared,” Kian said defiantly. “Tie me up.”

“Thhsshlbhfhn,” Aditi mumbled, Lakshmi nodding as they watched me take their brother’s hands behind his back. Their father sat next to Sita and looked at her, before he said, “does it hurt?”

“No – no, it does not surprisingly,” Sita said as I took the rope around and between Kian’s arms to keep his wrists together, then took a longer rope and made sure his arms were secured in the same way as his sisters.

“I need you to sit in that chair over there,” I said as Kian walked over to the armchair, and I looked at his parents. “I need to keep your wife quiet now,” I said, “and I am going to do the same to her as your daughters.

“Or rather, you are – take your scarf, double it over, and then pull it between your wife’s lips twice before securing the ends together at the back of her neck.

Lakshmi and Aditi watched as their father gagged their mother with his own scarf, securing the ends at the base of her neck before he kissed her forehead and said, “will you be all right?”

She nodded as I took his hands behind his back and secured them together with the rope, and then bound his arms to his sides in the same way as Sita before I helped him toile face down on the floor in front of his daughters. Taking more rope from my bag, I secured his ankles together, as well as his legs below his knees, and then pulled his ankles back and tied them to the ropes round his chest.

He rolled over and looked at the girls, before saying “well, we’re all hostages now. Think we can get free later?”

“Dhtntnnh,” Aditi said as I went and secured Kian’s ankles and legs, then tucked her legs under him before tying a rope from his ankles to his wrists.

I then took a roll of white tape from my bag and pressed a length down over the mouths of their father and brother. Checking the ropes on the others, I finally helped Sita to lie along the couch on her side, her head on the armrest, before I said, “now nobody move – I will put on a show for you to watch while I pretend to rob you.”

I turned on the television – to see a picture of a family held hostage by gangsters. I heard the muffled groans before I left them alone and searched the rest of the house.

When I looked back in, the family on the screen were struggling – and the Bhatt family were struggling as well, but I knew my ropes were much tighter than any they would use on television. Nevertheless, I checked the ropes again, and said “there now – so stay calm, and someone will come to rescue you in a little while.”

They all nodded as Aanan said “Jhsstkhppwhshshn,” and then he and Sita looked at me. I nodded and went out of the room, my rucksack full of gold jewellery as I made my way out.