Stories of Tie Up Games

This was a request by @TuggyMale that I put together this week. It is in three parts, which I opted to wait until I had finished before sharing due to the intense nature of the story.

* * *
PART 1

Kathy Martin logged out of her work account and stretched out. Shamed as she was to admit it, the post pandemic shift to working from home really appealed to her. She no longer had to wait for 5:00 to get out of work and head home. These days, she could wrap up her job and her meetings by 1:00 and have a couple hours to relax before her son Ethan came home from school.

Since she no longer needed to look "professional," Kathy took out her hair tie, allowing her brown hair down, then peeled off her blue blouse, leaving the matching t shirt underneath. She'd kept her black sweats on, as she felt no need to don slacks since she worked from home. She went to the kitchen to make a late lunch and have a small glass of wine, then planned to watch a movie.

A knock at the back door interrupted that plan. She raised an eyebrow and walked to the door to see who would be at the back of the house instead of the front. She was greeted by a brunette woman facing the yard, wearing a rough-spun coveralls in a positively hideous shade of russet brown. But the large white initials on her back made Kathy's heart sink.

D.O.C.

"Hi Kathy." The woman said, turning around.

"No." Kathy said, taking a step back. "You can't be..."

The woman interrupted by reaching in and clamping her hand over Kathy's mouth. "Yes. I can be."

* * *

12 year old Ethan Martin entered his house after school, and dropped his backpack on the end table by the door. "Hi mom, I'm home!" He called out.

"Hey honey, how was school?" His mom asked, as she sat on the sofa with her back to the door. Newsnation was playing on the tv. This wasn't unusual. But something about her sounded off.

"It was good." Ethan replied as he took off his sneakers. He went to the kitchen to grab a snack, sliding across the linoleum floor on his black socks. He went back to the living room eating his pretzels without a napkin, and watched the TV for a couple minutes. It was all the typical stuff: wars and rumors of wars; arguing politicians; celebrity shenanigans; and so on. Ethan waited for a commercial break then went over to give his mom a hug.

"Do you have much homework?" She asked.

"No." Ethan replied, a strange feeling creeping over him. "It's Wednesday."

It was a tradition in his Catholic school to not assign homework on Wednesdays, so that the students could attend church groups. She should have remembered that Furthermore, her hug didn't feel... Normal. And her voice sounded off. Like she had a cold.

His mom shrugged. Her hair was damp from a shower and hung in front of her face. She reached out and pinched his cheek. "Okay, whatever that means."

Ethan slowly stood up. "I'm gonna go change." He said, walking to the stairs. She didn't budge.

This felt off. He unbuttoned his white polo shirt as he went upstairs. Ethan walked into his room and closed the door. But instead of getting something more comfortable than his scratchy polo shirt and starched khaki slacks, he sat down on the edge of his bed. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this whole situation felt strange to him. He sat and thought about it for a while.

His Casio started beeping on his wrists, indicating that it was 4:00. Ethan turned it off and stood up, deciding not to change out of his school uniform. Every week, he and his mom would watch re-runs and then go out to dinner. But he wasn't sure if he felt up to it. And besides, the TV was still playing the news downstairs. He sighed and decided not to bother. Instead, he went down the hall to the bathroom.

That's when he heard a strange sound. A dull thump against the wall. Ethan cocked his eyebrow at that and when he was done in the bathroom, he stepped out to the hall and tiptoed a little further down the hall. The hall bathroom shared a wall with the master bathroom in his mom's room. Ethan slowly opened her door and crossed her bedroom to the bathroom. That dull thumping was still going. And he noted that the fan was on. Ethan knocked on the door. He heard a muffled groan from inside. The lights were off and he opened the door. He reached for the light switch, and then...

Ethan saw his mother sitting on the floor. Duct tape and a belt were wrapped around her legs, and two more belts around her upper body secured her arms to the sink. More duct tape was wrapped around her mouth. And she had a gash on her head that was bleeding. His heart sank.

"Mom!" Ethan called, rushing over to her, peeling the tape off her mouth. "Mom? What happened?"

Once the tape was off, she spit a wad of cloth out, a terrified look in her eyes. "Ethan, run. Get out of the house and run for help. Now!"

"But mom, you... You're hurt." Ethan said, trying to free her from the restraints.

"Ethan listen to me!" She hissed. It was as if she was yelling at him while whispering. "Just get the hell out of here now!"

"But... Who's downstairs?" Ethan asked.

"A bad woman." She said. "Now run! And don't stop."

Ethan was torn. But adrenaline pumped into his bloodstream. He left the bathroom, tears stinging his eyes as he went into his room. He put on a pair of slides and threw open his window. He climbed out onto the awning over the porch and climbed down the support beams, and down to the lawn. And then he started running.

He'd been in such a rush that he forgot his phone. But thankfully, a police car was driving down the road towards him. Ethan began waving his arms and stepped into the street ahead of the SUV.

"HELP!" Ethan shouted desperately. "HELP!"

The car screeched to a halt and Ethan ran over to the driver's side, panting. "Please! You have to help me! Somebody... Somebody's in my house and... She tied up my mom!"

The officer inside nodded calmly. "Okay kid. Hop in, and we'll go over there."

Ethan nearly cried in relief as he ran around to get in the passenger seat. He directed the driver to his house. To his relief, he saw his mother sitting on the porch. But this relief only lasted a moment, as he saw her wearing a white t-shirt. And his mom had been wearing blue when he left her.

But the car parked and the officer got out of the car. "Michelle? What the hell?" He asked.

Ethan's heart sank again as he got out. "Michelle? You..." He leaned against the car as his legs began to fail him. That's when he realized that the car actually said "Department Of Corrections" on the state badge.

The woman, who looked shockingly like his mother, walked over to them. "Little punk got loose before I knew it."

The officer grabbed Ethan by the back of his neck and pushed him towards the house. He nearly collapsed as the world around him spun. He felt the cold metal of handcuffs around his wrists as his world went black.

* * *

PART 2
* * *

When Ethan came to, he was laying on his side on a carpeted floor. The world came into focus, and he could see his mom sitting up against a wall. He realized that he was in her bedroom, and both of them were on the floor.

He looked down to see ropes and duct tape wrapped around his legs. A quick tug on his arms revealed that they too were restrained. "Mom?" He said as he sat up.

"Mmph." Kathy replied to him. Unlike him, she was still gagged.

"Oh good." The woman's voice said from the door. "You're up." She walked over to him and pulled up a sock and a bandana, which she began tying a knot in.

"No please." Ethan said trying to push away. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The woman, Michelle, smirked at him. "Don't worry about it. Just open up for me."

Ethan clamped his lips together and shook his head defiantly.

"Oh please." Michelle said, scoffing. "I found all these ropes in your room. You obviously like tying yourself up. Now you get to try it for real!"

Ethan blushed. Having his mom learn of his penchant for tie up games was embarrassing enough. The circumstances made it MUCH worse. Michelle reached out and pinched his nose. He winced and tried as hard as he could to keep his mouth shut. But his lips parted, and she pressed a rolled up sock against his teeth. Suddenly, he felt a tickle on his side and he laughed in spite if himself. At that moment, the sock was shoved inside. The knotted bandanna came around his head and was pulled tight.

"There we go. Now you two can just sit tight while Meyer and I figure out what to do next." She patted Ethan's cheek and stood up. "You must be proud of the runt, Kath." She said.

Kathy glowered at her. "Hrrmk mm." She grumbled into her gag, turning her body to make a rude gesture with her bound hands.

As Michelle laughed, Ethan looked up at her. From a distance, she and his mom looked exactly alike. Michelle even sounded like Kathy if she had a cold. It wasn't until she got close that the differences were visible. Kathy had blue eyes, Michelle had green eyes, and her left eye was a little off. Almost like a lazy eye. She also had a pale scar on her cheek.

"Michelle," a male voice called from the hall, "we've been made."

The male officer walked in. He was very tall, and wore black cargo pants, matching sneakers, and a grey polo shirt that bore the state seal embroidered on his left chest and the name "Meyer" stitched on the right. He had a trimmed blond beard and his eyes had dark circles under them.

"How long?" Michelle asked.

"It just hit the news." Meyer said. "That means Muncy has missed us for a while now, and probably called the Marshals a couple hours ago when Rollins as I didn't check in."

"Well, they can keep missing us for a while. Just stick to the plan." Michelle said.

Meyer sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "The plan was to be out of this town by now. And HE was never a part of it." The officer pointed at Ethan here.

"Well, deal with him." Michelle said. "Besides, you're the one that took forever getting rid of Rollins and Beal."

Meyer merely walked over to turn on the tv. Ethan and Kathy looked up and watched the news report.

"... And we're reporting that a transport vehicle from State Correctional Institution Muncy did not make it to it's destination. The two officers who were transporting two inmates for medical have not reported in yet and are presumed missing. The inmates, 35 year old Michelle Martin and 22 year old Shauna Beal, were reported to be undergoing treatments for seizures. Beal is serving a 36- month sentence for narcotics. Martin is serving 15 years for multiple home invasions across the state. Muncy staff have declined to comment on whether this is being treated as an escape, but our sources have confirmed that U.S. Marshals have been dispatched to the area."

Two mugshots were displayed on the screen, revealing Shauna Beal and Michelle Martin. Ethan was still shocked by how similar she looked like his mother. But now he had more reason to be afraid. This was not her first time doing something like this.

"Michelle. I haven't ditched the car." Meyer said. "It's out back but they're going to be looking for it."

"Don't." She said, grinning. "I've got an idea. We can't do anything til dark anyway. So how about we just grab some dinner."

"You had a foolproof idea already." Meyer growled. "And look how that turned out. What is this, plan D by now?"

Michelle held up a finger and half closed her eyes, a gesture that Kathy used herself often. "The beautiful thing about the alphabet is that there's plenty of plans to choose from."

She and the officer left the room, and Ethan immediately tried to wriggle out of his bonds. They were entirely too snug for him, however. And the handcuffs were still locked around his wrists. He could feel his watch bumping the cold metal.

Kathy also tried to wriggle free, but she was tied using several leather belts that held her arms tightly to her sides. The combination of ropes and duct tape allowed her no escape as she struggled on her floor.

Several minutes later, the officer came into the room with two bowls of instant oatmeal, which he laid on the floor in front of mother and son, and then removed their gags. "I'll be back in 15. No noise or you go hungry." And then he left them alone.

"Mom?" Ethan asked, not even trying to hide the fear in his voice, "who is this girl? Why does she look just like you?"

Kathy sighed heavily and hazed at her son. "Ethan, Michelle is my cousin. We grew up together, and everyone thought we could be twins. We used to pretend that we were twin sisters, even pulled a Parent Trap move on our folks once. But we drifted apart, and by high school she was with a bad crowd. She'd been in and out of county jail a few times. But the news is right. She went to prison 10 years ago for home invasions. Somebody died in one of them. I had severed all ties with her."

"Then why is she here now?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know honey." Kathy said. "Right now, we need to stay calm. Maybe we can talk our way out of this."

"I hope so." Ethan said quietly.

Kathy smirked. "Well, you've been playing self ties for a while now. Maybe you can pull a Houdini and get us out of this."

Ethan blushed. "You know about that?"

"Yeah, I've known about it for a while. I just didn't want to embarrass you by saying anything. But now, let's focus on the escape. Can you?"

Ethan shook his head. "I'm wearing handcuffs."

"Damn." Kathy said. "Okay, can you scoot over here and sit back to back with me? Maybe you can get my hands free and we can get these belts off. Wait... Quick eat."

Footsteps on the stairs forced them to put their faces into the bowls. It was a dehumanizing effect to eat like dogs. But they had no choice. It was this or nothing. Meyer walked in and grumbled. "Hurry up."

"We get done when we get done." Kathy said. "You know, if you let us go, we'll tell the police that you were her hostage too."

"Yeah!" Ethan said, getting what his mom was doing. "You'll look like a hero! Please... Just let us go."

Meyer chuckled. "Yeah? And what are you paying me to do that?"

"It's the right thing to do." Kathy said. "You know she's dangerous."

"Yeah." Meyer said, nodding. "I've been a C.O. for 8 years. I've known her the whole time. Believe me, I know what she's been involved in. She's got the means to pay me VERY well. You don't. Now eat. We have a long night."

"I'm not hungry." Ethan said, honestly.

"Fine." Meyer kicked the bowl over, spilling the oatmeal on Ethan's face. He chuckled again and knelt down to stuff the sock and knotted bandanna back into his mouth. Then he reached back to remove the handcuffs, wrapping duct tape around the boy's wrists. "I need these. Stay still."

He went over to take Kathy's bowl and replace her gag. Then he left the room. Ethan and Kathy shared a look, and Ethan tried to scoot towards her. But before he could reach her, Michelle came in, and grabbed him by the ankles, dragging him out of the room.

"Say goodbye to your mommy, kid. I can't have you two getting loose." She laughed as she dragged him into his own room and left him alone.

The dragging had given Ethan a mild rugburn and he was not happy about that. But now he was alone, and he figured he could try to get loose. Maybe... His watch was under the layers of tape this time. He began trying to rotate his arm. It was tough, but he slowly overcame the stickiness of the tape and managed to turn his arm. This may actually work! Hopefully he could get out before it was dark. But light was fading fast. He had to hustle.

* * *

PART 3
* * *

Time ticked by. Ethan found himself working on his wrists for the entire time he was alone. The light grew dim outside the windows. But he was making progress. He could tell that his trusty Casio was cutting through the tape, slowly but surely. He only hoped he had enough time to get himself totally loose before Michelle and her corrupt guard were ready to make their next move. And he didn't like any of the ideas that crossed his mind.

There had been another guard and another prisoner that had been reported missing. So where were they? The way they had talked about "getting rid of them" made his skin crawl.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion in his mom's bedroom. He stopped squirming so that he could listen in on what was going on. He'd gathered that Michelle had gone in and was untying his mom,but she was telling her to put something on.

Meyer opened Ethan's door and walked over to pick him up. He had a black eye, a bloody nose, and ligature marks on his wrists. Ethan tried to scoot away, but the burly prison guard grabbed him and manhandled him over his shoulder, carrying him downstairs. A minute later, Michelle marched Kathy down the stairs. Kathy was still gagged with duct tape, but she had been forced to change into russet colored coveralls. Two belts were wrapped around her upper body, and duct tape sealed her mouth.

The calm that Ethan felt during his escape attempt had evaporated. Whatever they were going to do, it was about to happen.

"Okay you two." Michelle said, waving a black handgun. "We're all going for a little ride. Kathy and me are going to pull a Parent Trap move, Meyer gets to be the big hero, and we all live happily ever after."

Kathy's eyes widened and she grunted in horror. Ethan hadn't been included in that equation at all.

"And how do we explain Rollins and Beal?" Meyer asked. "Which one of us shot them?"

"I did, of course." Michelle said, laughing. "Or rather, she did." Here, she pulled Kathy's hair.

Meyer made a face, showing real emotion for the first time. "Michelle. Give me my gun back."

"You want your prints on it?" She teased, holding the gun up by two fingers.

"I already used it." He said. "It won't make a difference. But I want it back."

"You don't trust me." She said, laughing.

"You still haven't paid me. And your doppelganger is going to need gunshot residue."

"She will, just relax." Michelle said, shooting Ethan a dark grin.

Anger and fear boiled up. Ethan knew. These two were killers. And he knew he was next. But he looked up at Meyer, and had an idea. The guard still held out his hand for the gun. He only hoped his idea worked.

Michelle tossed the gun across the room. Meyer stepped out to catch it, shouting "NO!" With a mixture of anger and shock. And Ethan pulled his wrists apart. Miraculously, the tape tore apart! He kicked out his legs, throwing Meyer off balance. He stumbled and the two fell to the floor. The gun clattered on the hardwood floor in the foyer, and did not go off. Ethan reached out and grabbed it, kicking with his bound legs into Meyer's face. He was able to roll away, holding the gun by the handle. He could see the clear Glock marking as he closed his hands around the grip, and found the trigger. The weapon was heavier than he imagined from video games.

A few feet away, Kathy had driven her body backwards into Michelle's and shoulder checked her against the wall. The two women began fighting, but Michelle had the upper hand as her hands were free. With a sinking feeling, Ethan knew this was going to fall to him. He reached up to pull the gag off his mouth, keeping the gun pointed at Meyer. The guard got up and glowered at him. Blood ran down his face from the nose as he stood up.

"You won't, punk." He said, wiping his face. "You don't got the balls."

Ethan hesitated. Could he do it? But then... The thoughts of what could happen to him. They wanted to kill him. They wanted to send his mom to prison. And they had already killed two people. A prison guard that was just doing their job. And another inmate that had a short sentence. She hadn't done anything awful, she was just in a bad spot. Anger at the injustice of it all welled up in Ethan's chest.

"Give it to me." Meyer growled, getting to his feet. The man showed no fear that he was staring down the business end of a handgun. Across the room, Michelle punched Kathy in the head. Kathy kicked her in the knees. Time was dragging slow. And Ethan knew what he had to do.

He squeezed the trigger. The Glock kicked as the gunshot rang out. Ethan's ears rang, and pink mist filled the room. But he had no time to wait. He aimed at Michelle and yelled, "STOP!" outside, dogs were barking and a neighbor came running outside talking on their phone. Michelle had frozen in place, staring at the doorway. A moment later, sirens could be heard in the distance. It was over.

* * *

Two months went by. Ethan and Kathy had managed to out their lives back together. After that fateful night, they had managed to get the full story of what had happened, as well as the aftermath of the incident.

Michelle had been faking seizures to get a hospital trip. She'd been arranging payments to Meyer, who she had developed an illicit relationship with while in prison. They hadn't planned on taking Shauna Beal along, but she had legitimate seizures. Meyer had shot both her and officer Rollins in the vehicle while driving. Michelle had planned to make Kathy take her place in prison and to frame her for killing the other two.

Meyer had been hit in the shoulder, right by his neck. There had been a lot of blood, but he survived. The police and medics had arrived to patch him up, and after only a moment of confusion, Michelle and Meyers were arrested. She was now facing life without parole, and Meyer was facing the death penalty. At least, that's what the judge had said in the preliminary hearing. What their lawyers would negotiate remained to be seen.

"Mom?" Ethan asked as they ate dinner, "About what happened... I don't want to see the therapist anymore. I'm not scared of what happened."

Kathy rested her hand on his. "I know honey. But we need to see it through a while longer. It will help put them away for a long time."

"But I'm really not scared, mom." Ethan said. "I... I tied myself up again last night. And it was fun."

"Really?" Kathy asked. "Are you sure?"

Ethan nodded. "I always like playing tie up before. And that experience didn't take that away. So... Do you think you'd mind playing with me?"

Kathy stared at Ethan, dumbfounded. But she smirked. "You want me to tie you up."

Ethan blushed and nodded. "Yeah. I really do."

Kathy smiled. Then she nodded. "Okay. After supper, get some stuff out. But we stay down here in the living room."

"Deal." Ethan said with a grin.

So that is why, an hour later, Ethan was seated on the sofa, duct tape around his wrists and ankles, a soccer sock in his mouth for a gag, while Kathy sat beside him flipping through channels on the tv. The pair stood as testement to the indomitable spirit of Tuggers everywhere, that no fear or trauma could shake their enjoyment of tie up games.

THE END

Amazing work, thank you so much

Nice story. Thank you!