Stories of Tie Up Games

Dick and Harriet

Being the only boy in a family of six is not that much fun – but at least I’m not the youngest. Harriet is seven and I’m eight – and we live in a big old farmhouse on the outskirts of town. Dad is a television reporter, Mum a cook who works at home a lot, and I try to avoid my older sisters. Not Harriet – we get along well enough, but the others seem so weird…

So last Sunday afternoon, we were sitting at the table in the dining room finishing our school homework. I was wearing a woolen vest over a grey shirt, jeans and brown shoes, and Harriet was wearing a blue denim dress with long sleeves and a tiered skirt, black tights and brown Ugg boots.

Dad was working, and Mum was in the kitchen while the rest of my sisters had gone out for the afternoon - two to visit friends, two to the cinema. At least it meant we could get on with our English assignments – and then the woman walked in.

She looked older than Rebecca – a few years older, not as old as Mum or Dad – and she was wearing a brown jumper and leggings with long brown boots that looked like they were made of cloth – but she also had gloves on her hands, and something pulled over her head that made her face look funny.

That’s exactly what Harriet said – “you look funny. Who are you?”

“Me?” She had a nice smile under her thing as she said “Well, that’s the thing – my friend and I are here to play a very special game with you, your sisters, and your mother.”

“What sort of game,” I said as I looked at her.

“Well, your mum and dad have hired us to play the part of a pair of robbers who hold the family together while they are robbed. I know that sounds scary, but you will all be playing along, so you will all be the same.” She looked at my book and said, “still got work to do?”

“Yes…”

“Well, the bad lady has to make sure you do your homework – but, for a minute, please put your hands on your head for me.”

Harriet and I looked at each other, but then we did what the lady said as she took a rucksack off her back and took some rope from it which she tied round her waist and the chair back. “There,” she said as she pushed our chairs back in, “finish your homework and then we can make you comfortable in the front room for the rest of the game.”

It felt strange, but I looked at Harriet and she smiled, so we just got on with finishing our homework while the lady left the room, and we heard her talking to someone. It was as we were finishing that the lady came back in, and smiled as she said, “all done?”

“Yes,” I said, “so what happens now?”

“Well, I need you both to lean forward and put your hands behind your back.” I did that, as she took a short length of rope from her rucksack, and then felt it rub on my wrists as he tied them tightly together. It was tight, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, and as I watched her walk behind Harriet I said, “don’t worry – we’re going to be fine.”

She nodded as the lady then untied the rope round her waist but used it to make sure she could not move her arms away from her sides – and then she did the same to me, before we both stood up and watched her tidy our books.

“Now then,” she said as she took from the bag a roll of white tape, “I need to make sure you keep quiet before I take you into the front room. Put your lips together, and then just breath normally through your nose, all right?”

We both nodded as the tape went over my mouth, and then Harriet’s, before we walked into the front room and saw that Rebecca and Daphne had come back from the cinema. We looked at them as we were sat next to each other on a couch and watched the lady using more rope to tie our ankles together, the rope sinking into the Ugg boots Harriet was wearing, and then our legs below our knees before we were turned to sit back-to-back, and more rope tied round our waists to keep us together.

I looked at Rebecca, who said “Hrrhuthhhlrht?” I nodded as we watched her turn on the television and we both turned our heads to watch, wondering who would come in next…



Rebecca and Daphne

The film was awful, but it meant we got out of the house on a Sunday afternoon, and as we drove back, we were looking forward to dinner. I’m eighteen, and Daphne is seventeen – both of us have long blonde hair and were casually dressed. I was wearing a fawn coloured top over a striped blouse, jeans and knee length brown leather boots, while Daphne was wearing a blue denim blouse, and faded jeans, her striped socks over the top of her slightly shorter dark brown riding boots.

And then the afternoon got more exciting than any film…

I pulled up outside the farmhouse and we both got out, coming into the hallway and expecting to smell food cooking – but there was no smell of that. I could hear Mum talking to someone, and I thought I heard Susan and Dorothy – but then a woman walked out and looked at us, a finger to her lips – well, over her lips, because she had some sort of stocking pulled down over her head – and a very real gun in her hand.

We looked at each other as she indicated the door to the main room, and we walked in, not saying a word as she came in, and then said “hello – don’t make a sound or do anything stupid, and you can both be part of a very exciting day.”

“Who are you,” I said, “and where is my mother?”

“And where are Dick and Harriet,” Daphne asked as she looked at the masked woman.

“The rest of your family are fine,” the woman said with a smile, “Dick and Harriet are finishing their homework, and my friend is talking to your mother and your other sisters. My job, now, is to make sure you play the game your brother and sisters think this is.”

“Game? Are you saying you are…”

“We are both here - and yes, that means this is a very real robbery, but you are both old enough to understand, and to understand keeping the younger members of your family safe is the right thing to do.

“Isn’t it?”

We looked at each other, before I said “Daph, it looks as if we need to be very brave and let this woman tie us up and gag us. Will you be all right?”

She nodded as the woman put a rucksack she was carrying in her other hand down on a seat and said “good – turn around and put your hands behind your back.”

“Wil it hurt,” Daphne said as she watched the woman cross my wrists behind my back and I felt the rope forcing them together.

“No – it will be tight, but if it is done properly, it will not hurt,” the woman said – and I had to admit, it was tight, and it did not hurt as she tied the ends off. I nodded as she made sure Daphne’s wrists were secured together behind her back, before she took a longer rope out and wrapped it round my body, forcing my arms against my sides as she formed two bands that framed my chest.

It felt – different as she did the same thing to Daphne, and she looked at me - she was obviously thinking and feeling the same things, as the ropes were tied off, and then she told us both to sit on the floor on the sheepskin rug.

We slowly sat down, and then watched as she took even more rope and used it to bind our ankles together, the rope squeaking as it rubbed on the leather. She then tied our legs together below our knees, before she took from her rucksack two sponge balls and a roll of white tape.

“Open wide,” she said as she compressed one of the sponge balls in her gloved hand, and I allowed her to push it into my mouth, feeling the sponge expand and press my tongue down before she tore a long, wide strip from the roll of white tape and pressed it down over my mouth and chin. I looked at daphne and nodded as the woman gagged her in the same way, before she put two cushions on the floor and then moved us so we were lying on our stomachs, our head son the pillow as she puled my ankles back and tied them to the rope round my arms and chest.

She did the same to Daphne before she picked up her rucksack, put a finger to her lips again, and left us alone in the room. We looked at each other and tried to move – without success – and ten she came back with Dick and Harriet. They both had their wrists tied behind their backs, and ropes around their arms and body – as well as white tape over their mouth, as they sat on the couch and let the woman tie their own ankles and legs.

She then sat them back-to-back and tied rope round their waists as they wiggled quietly round, and then she turned the television on for them as we saw their smiles under the tape. We looked at each other and smiled back as the woman left the room – and then a few minutes later we saw Susan, Dorothy and Mum…


Susan and Dorothy

Our friends lived on the other side of the field from our home, so the two of us are in the habit of walking across the field on a Sunday afternoon, and then walking back in time for our meal. We both have long blonde hair, which fell down over our shoulders – I was wearing a blue V-necked top over a white t-shirt, jeans and brown Ugg boots, while Dottie was wearing a pink top with a white one underneath, and her jeans tucked into short tan leather boots. We may be twelve and thirteen, but we could be trusted to make our own way there and back.

Mind you, coming into the kitchen, we did not expect to see our mum sitting at the kitchen table with ropes round her arms and her hands behind her back – or the man who was standing behind her. He was a young man, wearing a dark leather jacket over a jumper, darks pants and shoe s- but he also had black leather gloves on his hands, and he had a stocking pulled down over his head.

“Hello girls,” he said with a smile, “please - close the door and then your mother can explain all about the game we are playing.”

“Game? Mummy what’s going on,” Dottie said as she looked at us.

“Well – Dorothy, Susan, you know how your father sometimes reports on people who have been robbed in their homes? Well, we were talking, and we heard of a firm that arrange for families to essentially play a game where they are ‘held captive’ and someone pretends to rob their house. We arranged for that to happen to us – and we were asked not to say anything to any of you.

“This man,” she said as she looked at him, “is one of two people from that firm – a woman is with Dick and Harriet at the moment.”

“We both heard the front door open and close as is aid “a game? So, this is like some sort of play?”

“If you like,” Mum said with a nod. “As he said, someone is getting Dick and Harriet ready – and they are going to what a real robber would do, but they are not going tot harm us. All right?”

We both looked at her a ssh smiled, and then at the man, before I said, “so if we are going to be like hostages, are you going to do the same to us?”

“I am – but I promise you, it will not hurt, just be – restrictive. Please, leave your mobile phones on the table, and then put your hands behind your back.”

“Thank you, girls,” Mum said as we took our phones out and laid them down, the man reaching into a rucksack and taking out some lengths of white rope before he walked behind us. I bit my lower lip as he took my hands behind my back and then used the rope to bind them tightly together, and then watched as he did the same to Dottie.

As he did, I felt the rope with my fingers – I could not reach the knot he had tied, but it felt soft – and tight. I then felt my arms being forced into my sides as he wound a longer rope round my arms and chest, seeing the bands framing my chest as it was pulled tighter and tighter.

I wriggled round after he had tied the ends off, and then watched as he did the same to Dottie, seeing how her top was stretched by the bands and how secure it looked.

“There,” he said as he looked at both of us, “one more thing, and then I can take you to join the rest of your family.

We looked at each other as he took a sponge ball and compressed it in his gloved hand.

“Open your mouth.”

“No – if you have done that to Dick or Harriet…”

“We would not do it to them, but they will be gagged with tape as well, so they will look the same.”

Mum looked at us, and then said “well, we did say we would play the game- open your mouth, Susan.”

Dottie watched me as the man pushed the sponge ball into my mouth – it swelled up inside and pushed my tongue down, but io was able to close my lips over it, and I saw him peel a length of white tape from a roll, before he pressed it down over my mouth with his fingers. It felt soft, but did tug a little on um skin, but I really could not move my lips under it.

I watched as he did the same to Dottie, before he helped Mum to stand up and we all walked down the corridor to the front room. As we went in, we both saw Rebecca and Daphen lying on the floor, their bound ankles bent back and tied to the ropes we saw round their chests.

Looking to the side, we saw Dick and Harriet back-to-back on the couch, their legs stretched out and bound with ropes and the same white tape over their mouths. There was also a masked woman, who smiled as she said “hello girls – and welcome to the main game. Please, sit on the floor in front of your younger brother and sister, and stretch your legs out.”

We looked at each other and then managed to sit down, watching as the man put his rucksack down and removed more rope before he bound our ankles together, and then our legs below our knees. We twisted our legs from side to side as he stood up and said “I’m going to take your mother round the house, and then she will join you in here. Keep them company please, my dear – as their guard.”

The masked woman nodded as Mum left with him, and I looked at my older sisters, seeing them nod as we got comfortable…


Mum

It started as I was doing the preparation for our Sunday meal. Everyone else was busy doing something, so I had the radio on and was humming quietly to myself. I was wearing a white jumper, a dark brown scarf loose round my neck and hanging down, as well as jeans with a pair of knee length light tan leather boots.

It was the sound of the kitchen door opening that made me look out and say “you’re home early.”

“Actually, we’re right on time.”

I didn’t recognize the male voice, so I turned and saw the two – visitors. The man was wearing a black leather jacket over a matching jumper, pants and shoes, while the blonde-haired woman was wearing a brown jumper and leggings with matching over the knee suede boots.

There were two other things – both were wearing matching gloves, and both had a stocking pulled down over their heads and tucked into the neck of their jumpers. They also each had a rucksack – and then the man was pointing a gun at me, as he said “Please, not a word or an attempt to raise the alarm – sit down and let me explain what is going to happen.”

“Who are you,” I said quietly as I sat down.

“Well, we are here because we are going to rob you,” the man said as he handed the gun to the woman, and then slipped his rucksack off, “and that does mean we need to make sure you, and none of your family , can stop us – so that means we are going to have to bind and gag you and your family. But we do not want to cause any undue distress, so we need you to tell them this is a game.”

“A game? What sort of people make a game of… Oh.

“OH!”

I had heard Robert mention The Games Players – and now, it looked as if they were paying us a visit.

“You promise you will not harm any of us?”

“We promise,” the woman said, “so where are the family?”

I looked at them, and then said, “Rebecca and Daphne are at the cinema, Susan and Dorothy at friends – and Dick and Harriet are doing their homework.”

“I’ll go and tell them about the game,” the woman said as she walked out of the room, the man smiling as he said “so we are going to make sure you are secure as well. Please, put your hands behind your back.”

I did as he asked as she drew ropes out of the bag, and then crossed and bound my wrists tightly together behind my back. He then took a longer rope and doubled it over, before passing it round my body and pulling it tight under my chest. I felt my arms being forced against my sides as I heard the front door open and close, and someone talking, and then gasped as the rope were pulled even tighter and secured.

“I think that might be your daughters who went to the cinema,” he said as he tied the ends off, and then sat to look at me.

“Let me understand what is happening – you are going to tie up and gag all of us, rob us, and then leave us to try and get free?”

“Or until your husband gets home, whichever comes first,” he said with a smile, “but while you can talk, make it clear to all this is a game, all right?”

I nodded as we both heard the kitchen door start to open, and he quickly stood up and stood behind me as both Susan and Dorothy came in, stopping as they looked at both of us.

“Hello girls,” he said, “please -close the door and then your mother can explain all about the game we are playing.” I could see the confusion in their eyes, so I swallowed and told them this was a game and asked them to play along. I had to watch, not saying anything as the man bound both of them at their wrists and arms, and then pushed a sponge ball into each of their mouths and covered them with white tape.

I then stood up and walked with them into the front room and was greeted by the sight of my other children. Rebecca and Daphne were lying on the floor, hogtied and unable to move, while Dick and Harriet were back-to-back on one of the couches, just as tightly bound and gagged.

The masked woman was also there, who smiled as she said “hello girls – and welcome to the main game. Please, sit on the floor in front of your younger brother and sister, and stretch your legs out.”

I watched as they sat down and the man bound their ankles and legs, the others twisting their legs round as I heard the squeaking sound, before the man said “I’m going to take your mother round the house, and then she will join you in here. Keep them company please, my dear – as their guard.”

He then took me out of the room and walked me up the stairs, as I said, “at least they are all calm – but my oldest girls will know this is not a game.”

“Of course – but they will play along for the sake of the others,” he said as we went through the upstairs rooms one by one, and told him where to find my jewelry, and that of Rebecca and Daphne, before I gave him the combination for the safe in my office and he removed some items from there.

“Thank you,” he said with a smile as he fastened his rucksack, “and now it is time for you to join them – but first, open your mouth.”

I knew this was coming, so I allowed him to push the sponge ball into my mouth and then felt the white tape as he smoothed it down over my mouth and chin. It felt – strange, before we walked back down to the main room.

The girls all watched as I was allowed to sit on the other couch, and then watch as my ankles and legs were secured in the same way as everyone else. I was then helped to lie face down before I was hogtied as well, and then rolled onto my side so I could look at my daughters and son.

“Now, lie still – or sit still – for an hour,” the man said as they both picked up their rucksacks, “and then try to get free. We will be in the kitchen – good luck.”

I nodded as I watched them walk out of the room, and down the corridor – and then probably out of the front door, as I said “Whlllhsnhgghhmyhs.”

They all nodded - they were calm, and that was all I could ask for until rescue came…

Amazing story, I really like how you did the different perspectives.
Well done

Nice story! Thank you KP!