Stories of Tie Up Games

Maggie Morensen always wanted to be a detective. True, Nancy Drew was a teenager when she started, and Maggie was only a kid, but she knew she could handle it. And so what if Nancy had a supportive father and Maggie had an absent, overworked one and a cranky, overwhelmed mother. Maybe Nancy had two best friends who always had her back, but Maggie counted herself lucky to have Jess, who was allergic to grass and burned easily in the sun.

Okay, maybe Maggie was never going to be Nancy Drew. But she was definitely going to be a detective. Starting with the case of the missing doll.

Taylor Thompson’s doll to be exact. Taylor brought the doll to school one day, set it in her cubby, and by the end of the day it was missing. Not the world’s most exciting case but hey, a kid sleuth has to start somewhere.

Maggie smoothed her red curls down and listed the suspects at her desk. Well, she mainly wrote one suspect’s name again and again. Brenda.

Brenda Carter had always been the best at everything. She was the prettiest, had the best grades, and wore the best clothes. And the idea of Taylor Thompson upstaging her at school with a brand-new doll even someone with Brenda’s connections couldn’t snag would’ve been just the feather to break Brenda’s fragile façade.

“I know she took it!” Maggie claimed as she walked out of school with Jess at the end of the day. “All I have to do now is find out where she’s got it stashed.”

“Or you could forget it and wait for Taylor’s mom to buy her a new one,” Jess argued, pushing her glasses up from her nose. “You know she will. And you don’t want any more beef with Brenda. Not if you want to get to Nate before she does.”

Nate Hudson, the Ned to her Nancy. Maggie felt her cheeks flush at the mention of his name. She’d been crushing on the black-haired, freckled boy since kindergarten. And, before they moved on to middle school, Maggie was determined to let him know.

Too bad Brenda had similar feelings about Nate.

“I’m not scared of Brenda,” Maggie muttered, half-heartedly. “I’ll find that doll and solve this case!”

“Good luck with that. Remember, I’m coming over at 7 for our sleepover.”

Jess boarded the yellow bus bound home and soon Maggie was on her way home by foot. She lived much closer to the school than Jess and anyway, it was almost summer. One week of school left to find Taylor’s doll and come clean to Nate.

Maggie made it home to an empty house and had every intention of concocting an elaborate plan to confront Brenda at school on Monday. But just as she grabbed a snack and sat at the dining room table, the doorbell rang. Wary, she peeked out the spyglass, just as she was always taught.

It was only Sarah, a girl from her class who lived next door. They might’ve been friends, except for Sarah’s cardinal sin of being friends with Brenda.

“What do you need Sarah?” The girls only ever interacted for one reason. Sarah’s mother always needed to borrow sugar, or bug spray, or laundry detergent.

“Can you just open the door? I have a secret and I need someone to tell before I explode!”

“So call Brenda,” Maggie said and rolled her eyes.

“I can’t….we had a fight. Please Maggie, I think I’ll just die if I can’t talk to someone!”

Maggie’s interest was peaked. Normally, she wouldn’t have even thought to entertain a secret from someone like Sarah Fuller. But if she and Brenda fought, what could it have been about? Maybe Sarah finally saw the light and realized Brenda was the worst.

Or maybe being friends with a doll thief was a step too far, even for Sarah.

“Fine, come in.” Maggie opened the door only for Sarah to shake her head, causing her long pigtails to swing back and forth.

“No. I don’t know who’s in your house listening. Let’s go to my treehouse, it’s private there.”

Maggie rolled her eyes again but agreed rather than argue about how her parent's cars were clearly absent from the driveway and how Sarah knew she was an only child. The two walked side-by-side into Sarah’s backyard and Sarah climbed the ladder to her old treehouse first. Maggie gazed up and followed. The treehouse had originally belonged to Sarah’s older brothers, but they were both in high school and wouldn’t be caught dead up top. So, by default, it became Sarah's, and the new purple curtains in the small window made that perfectly clear.

At last, Maggie reached the entryway and climbed inside. She took a good look around and, admittedly, felt a pang of jealousy. An inflatable couch and chair sat on top of a small, blue rug. A toy chest was nestled against the wall and strings of colorful Christmas lights hung from the ceiling. It would’ve been the perfect headquarters for Maggie’s new business.

Before Maggie had the chance to comment on the room, her arms were wrenched behind her, and a hand clamped over her mouth.

“Mmmph!” Maggie tried to struggle, but she was effectively stuck as she couldn’t pry her arms free. On one of the wrists that held her, she recognized Sarah’s bracelet. The other arm that held her right arm and covered her mouth she didn’t recognize. However, she recognized the laughter coming from the opposite end of the treehouse.

Brenda Carter emerged from a shadowed corner, in all of her perfect, bubbly blondness.

“Welcome Maggie,” she said as Maggie squirmed and kicked. “So glad you could come over and play.”

Great start! I love the idea of a junior girl detective discovering that even small cases can lead to unexpected predicaments.

drgoremd wrote: 11 months ago Great start! I love the idea of a junior girl detective discovering that even small cases can lead to unexpected predicaments.

Agreed - a fine entry!

“Let me go!” Maggie grumbled, trying to squirm out of Sarah and Ava C’s grip. Both girls held her wrists behind her back and wrapped a silver roll of duct tape around them so many times, Maggie finally lost count. She hated the way it pulled at her skin.

“You really should’ve just minded your own business.” Brenda sat on the pink couch and played with her nails. “None of this would’ve happened.”

“You weren’t minding your business when you stole Taylor’s doll!” Maggie shot back. Sarah tightened her grip on both of Maggie’s restrained arms as Ava C. got to work wrapping her ankles, cinching them tightly together.

“I didn’t take her doll stupid! Why would I want somebody’s used doll, when I can get a new one? My mom and dad are taking me to pick one out this weekend. And since my parents can actually afford to get the custom hair and eyes, mine will be better.”

“Wait, what?” Maggie stopped struggling, suddenly stunned and growing nervous. If Brenda was telling the truth (and when it came to money she usually was) then what had happened to Taylor’s doll?

“Besides, this isn’t just about some dumb doll.” Brenda stood up and crossed her arms. “This is about Nate. I’ll make you a deal. You promise to stay away from him. Don’t talk to him, don’t look at him, don’t sit next to him. And we’ll let you go right now.”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “No way!”

Brenda cocked her head and smirked.

“Big mistake.”

Brenda walked over to Ava C and snatched the duct tape out of her hands. Lucky enough, the girl had finished securing Maggie’s ankles, and even though she kicked and squirmed, Maggie knew her odds of getting loose were pretty grim.

Brenda moved behind Maggie and got her knees.

“What are you-MMPH!”

Maggie was cut off by Brenda pulling the tape over her mouth. She wrapped roughly around Maggie’s curls at least five times, silencing the sleuth a little more with each turn. Finally, Brenda ripped the tape and pressed the end hard against Maggie’s face. All the detective could do was glare and jerk her head away while Brenda smiled and tossed the roll to Sarah.

“Lmmm mmmph gmmmph!” Maggie rocked back and forth, tugging at her bonds and grumbling at her captors. Nancy Drew hadn’t quite made being tied up look so…tight and uncomfortable.

“Shut up!” Brenda barked, then looked at her two accomplices.

“Ava come on! My moms on her way to pick us up. We’re done here,” she said and tossed her hair over one shoulder.

Sarah glanced at squirming Maggie, then back at Brenda with wide eyes. “But what about-“

“Don’t worry about it, didn’t I tell you I’d help you?!” Brenda interrupted sternly. “Well I did, this is your chance idiot! Go get some dirt on her while she’s tied up and blackmail her into keeping quiet!”

“But how?”

Brenda scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Nobody’s at her house, right? Go up to her room and start looking around! There’s got to be some secrets in there she won’t want anyone to know about.”

“Nmmm!” Maggie shook her head and stomped on the wooden floor. She wasn’t one for big secrets; after all, a junior detective should have a clean rap sheet. But there may have been a diary tucked away with some pretty embarrassing entries that Maggie would rather not have out.

“Later Maggie!” Brenda waved and laughed before she and Ava C. descended down the ladder and disappeared out of sight. Maggie mumbled into the tape and soon Sarah shrugged and walked over to the opening.

“Don’t move,” she sneered before climbing down.

Left on her own at last, Maggie commenced struggling and attempted to call for help. Incidentally, the layers of tape keeping her wrists and ankles trapped wasn’t as easy as television made it look to break free of. And with the tape wound tightly over her mouth, her shouts were reduced to angry grunts and groans. It seemed like forever, struggling, then resting, then renewing her struggles again.

“Hlmmph! Hlmmph mmmph!” she tried again. But it soon became painfully obvious that no one inside the nearby houses was going to hear her. Unless she lucked up and someone decided to come into Sarah’s yard, she was stuck.

Get it together Maggie, she thought after a brief moment of panic. It’s okay to be nervous, but you’re a detective! Well, a junior detective in training anyway. Escaping danger is all apart of the gig.

Maggie rocked back and forth from her sitting position until she finally managed to rock herself right onto her feet. With some effort, she managed to stand up and awkwardly hopped to the treehouse entry, grunting with each hop. She carefully glanced down and quickly determined making a jump for it wasn’t wise. It was a long way down, and solving future cases with a broken leg might be tricky. She began her hop to the couch, hoping she could at least be comfortable while she worked her way out of the tape. But along the way, she tripped over a lose board on the floor

“MMMPH! mmmm!”
She went crashing into both the couch and the toy chest beside it. With a groan she slowly sat up, sure the arm she landed on was bruised. The couch beneath her popped and lay in a deflated, plastic mess while the contents of the chest lay in a mess around her.
Suddenly, she caught sight of something that made her eyes go wide.

“Thmmm dmmmm!! Tmmlmmmph!”

Taylor’s brown-haired doll lay face down next to a saggy basketball and a NERF gun. It was Sarah that swiped the doll! That was why Brenda agreed to help her, she must’ve known eventually Maggie would suspect her once Brenda showed up with her own doll. And that was why Sarah was trying to find something to blackmail her into keeping the secret.

“Mmmph!” With renewed energy Maggie quickly looked around and spied the perfect tool! One of Sarah’s parents must’ve been in the treehouse making repairs, as tucked away in a corner was a small, black tool kit. Maggie shuffled across the floor and flicked her hands against the lid, prying it open after three tries. She felt around for something, anything that might help her free herself. The kit was relatively empty, save for a tape measure, a few tiny nails, and a screwdriver.
Oh well, she thought, a sleuth has to learn to improvise.
She grabbed ahold of the screwdriver and began her attempts at poking through the tape. One rip, that was all it would take. Maggie mumbled and moaned under the tape as she tried to make one, successful puncture.
Almost….got it….

RIP

Finally, she stabbed at just the right spot! Within a few, wriggly moments, Maggie managed to pry her wrists apart and immediately began undoing her ankles.

“Maggie! Are you up there!”

“Jmmmph!”

Maggie looked up and saw Jess just climbing into the treehouse. She wiped her red eyes and sneezed twice before she managed to make it Maggie.

“What happened?” she asked then sneezed again.

Poor Jess, Sarah’s yard was her father’s pride and joy, covered in healthy green grass.

“Mmmm alrmmmph mmm jmm...” Maggie shook her head and stopped fiddling with the tape on her ankles, moving to pull the tape from her cheeks. “Mmm-ah! I’m fine! Sarah stole Taylor’s doll, it’s right over there! Her, Brenda, and Ava C. lured me up here and tied me up so Sarah could blackmail me into not telling!”

“Yeah, I thought it was kind of wild that you’d let her in your room like that,” Jess said, helping rip the tape from Maggie’s ankles. “Especially since your mom and dad aren’t home and you’re not allowed to have anyone over but me.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Maggie asked, glancing outside at the falling sun. “It’s already 7?”

“No, it’s only 5, but I got my chores done early so my mom let me come early. I guess I’m glad I did when I got to your house the front door was open, but I didn’t think I’d find Sarah in your house! I asked her where you were, and she got all jumpy and ran out the door. I followed her and I heard something weird coming from behind the gate.”

Maggie sighed, relieved that at least someone heard her cries for help.

“Come on!” Maggie said. She stood up and walked to the strewn toys, grabbing the doll. “We’ve got a case to close.”
*************************************************************************************************************************************************
Sarah’s parents were less than thrilled at the news that their daughter was a doll thief. They were positively livid that she was a kidnapper and burglar. And the punishment was pretty severe; at least a year packed up and sent off to reform school. As it turned out, Ava C. had a least a little bit of a conscience and broke down and told her mother everything once she got home that night. That resulted in a profuse apology to Maggie’s mother and father and a tearful apology from Ava C., plus a month on house arrest with no possibility of video games or tv.

Brenda, of course, wasn’t in any trouble. She denied she was involved in any of it, and as per usual, her parents defended her and stated there was no way their perfect daughter could be involved in something so animalistic. She even went so far as to deny Brenda was ever at Sarah’s house that day and stated her daughter would never associate with such a delinquent. Neither Sarah nor Ava C. had the guts to admit she’d been with them that day, and since no one’s parents were home, it was Maggie’s word against Brenda’s.

“It’s not like they would’ve punished her even if you could prove it,” Jess reminded her at school on Monday. But Maggie was still angry just the same. Of course, she was the talk of the classroom on Monday, as word spread fast about Maggie Morenson: Junior Detective and how she’d delivered Taylor’s beloved doll from the clutches of Sarah. It looked like her business had a bright future.

But Maggie narrowed her eyes and ate her lunch with Jess and Taylor Thompson in somber silence. She saw Brenda and Nate sitting together across the room and he was wearing a beaded bracelet of Brenda’s. The universal sign to every girl in class that Nate was Brenda’s boyfriend. Or at least as much of a boyfriend as a girl can have when she’s a kid.

She’d won the battle, but unfortunately, Brenda had beat her to the punch and won the war. Again. At least for now.

I found this one pretty entertaining!

Kids (especially the kidnappers among them) have had it too easy for too long and I think the "with no possibility of video games or tv" is the toughest punishment a kid these days can get. Serves them right!