Stories of Tie Up Games

Chapter 01 - Thursdays

Rachel Breen swung open the front door of her family’s home fresh off a rather dull lecture about English literature. The college sophomore lived just 30 minutes from a local university and commuted back and forth to save her hard-earned money. She tossed her backpack aside, deep in thought. You might expect that a student of her caliber (a 4.0 student, to be exact) would be dwelling on the material that was covered in that afternoon’s class. However, Rachel’s mind was far away from the 154 sonnets of Shakespeare that all seemingly blended together.

Rachel’s favorite day of the week was Thursday. Despite the chilly rain that fell from the gray, overcast Midwest sky, this Thursday was no different. On Thursdays, Rachel would typically arrive home in the late afternoon to an empty house. Her parents both worked into the evening on Thursdays and her two older siblings had since graduated, married, and moved away. Many kids her age would typically spend their free time scrolling social media, catching up on a TV show, or perhaps both simultaneously. Others might take advantage of the plethora of social interactions or numerous campus activities that were provided by the university. The most studious group of undergraduates might reluctantly reopen their laptops to begin studying, even after a long day of classes. Rachel usually fell into this last category, but not today. With her precious Thursday home alone, she almost always engaged in her favorite activity: being tied up.

Ever since she was young, Rachel had been utterly fascinated with the idea. Her interest first piqued after she stumbled across a movie that featured a “damsel in distress” scene. From that point on, the enchantment of being tied up consistently occupied her thoughts. What was it like to be tied up and gagged like the girl from the movie? How would it feel? Would the experience be as captivating as it seemed through the television screen? Those questions tugged at her for several years until the Thursday schedule eventually fell into place. Rachel began to experiment in search of answers to her many questions.

After grabbing a bite to eat, still lost in thought, Rachel retreated to her room and undressed. Grabbing a hair tie, she gathered her blonde hair, producing a long ponytail that fell in curls down her back. She then picked out a flattering one-piece swimsuit, sliding it on. With the calendar reading October, it would be several months before the sleek, black garment would be utilized for its intended purpose, especially in Wisconsin. However, Rachel loved how she looked (and in truth, she was rather stunning) and the tight spandex accentuated the ropes that she would soon apply to her form. The crisp coolness of her downstairs bedroom wasn’t exactly befitting of her clothing of choice, but she was flushed with excitement and anticipation of the upcoming activity.

In the early days of her experiments, she “tied” both hands in front of her by sliding both through a stretchy elastic satin hair tie, but not before snugly tying a green bandana between her teeth. At that time, she had no idea that her particular style of gag had a name (a cleave gag, as you and I would know to call it), but she did know that the girl in the movie wore a gag in the same way and she did her best to emulate it. Whether she realized it or not, Rachel significantly improved on the design of the gag from the film. The actress held a very thin piece of cloth between her lips - “held” being an operative word - because if the actress had opened her mouth, the loosely tied gag would have simply fallen out. Meanwhile, Rachel’s oversized green bandana obtained through a summer camp one summer turned into a much thicker, effective cleave gag. She instinctively pulled the gag back tightly so that it sunk into her mouth and pulled at her face before firmly tying the bandana behind her head. She was well muffled and she would have had to work a great deal to force the material out of her mouth - which, of course, she had no intention of doing.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that, in addition to a rather laughable attempt at a cleave gag, the actual tying of the hands in the movie was far more symbolic than it was physically restricting. The damsel was tied with her hands in front of her with a few loops of excessively thick rope haphazardly thrown over her wrists. She could have slipped free at any moment. For the first few months of Rachel’s experiments, this movie was her only reference to the world of tie up games. She had no idea that the internet contained a wealth of knowledge on the subject nor did she even consider the fact that any other person might share her interest. After all, she thought to herself, who in their right mind would be so infatuated with being tied up?

A few months later, Rachel stumbled across another scene that opened her eyes to brand new possibilities. A TV show, playing as background noise for her mom who was working from home that day, depicted a hostage scene between two rival gangs. The hostages, one male and one female, were tied down to chairs. Their arms were securely cinched to the arms of the chairs and their legs were bound at the ankles. But what really drew Rachel’s attention was the kind of gag that was used. Gone was the thin strip of cloth. Instead, each prisoner wore a ball forced into their mouths with a strap securing it in place. The prisoners did their best to scream for help, but the ball gag turned their words into garbled nonsense and prevented any hope of rescue.

Rachel was fascinated with the scene and obsessed about the details in her head all week long leading up to Thursday. After what seemed like months to Rachel, that day finally rolled around and she produced her own makeshift ball gag. Her reliable green bandana now wrapped around a ping pong ball. When applied, the gag still sunk into her mouth but now forced her jaw into a slightly open position, which was a very different feeling compared to the cleave gag. She was elated by the sensation and in her excitement tied the gag so tightly that she was left with a sore jaw the following morning. She was surprised by this new revelation but had few regrets. The introduction of the ball gag sent Rachel’s curiosity ablaze, and as time passed, she began to incorporate various additions to her Thursday evenings.

The bandana and ping-pong ball combination was quite effective for a “home remedy”, but she couldn’t help wondering what a real, genuine ball gag would feel like. Once she was enrolled as a student and had her own private PO box through the university, she plucked up the courage and ordered a ball gag online. She did her best to choose a gag that would roughly match the size of a ping-pong ball, and she actually got remarkably close. When the new ball gag arrived, Rachel was overjoyed by the authentic look of the gag and the silicone material provided a unique feel that the cloth texture couldn’t match. However, the gag turned out to be much smaller than her own makeshift version. She quickly realized that she failed to account for the added thickness that the green bandana provided when wrapped around the ping-pong ball. Still, the new “official” ball gag was an exciting addition to her Thursdays, and although she could nearly close her whole mouth around the ball, Rachel had little chance of actually spitting the gag out when the straps were properly buckled.

A couple months later, Rachel decided to upgrade and purchased a two-inch red ball gag that packed a much bigger punch. The size of the gag forced her mouth open and she loved how stuffed her mouth felt when the ball was buried behind her teeth. She buckled it tightly every time on the second-to-last notch on the strap; the gag was locked in her mouth and remained immovable without the use of hands. She had learned her lesson from the makeshift ball gag and the resulting sore jaw and wisely and gradually eased her way into the new one. However, it wasn’t long before she could wear the gag throughout her entire hour and a half tie-up session. Rachel could have probably gotten away with two hours each Thursday, but the possibility of parents coming home from work early and discovering her was a risk Rachel wanted to avoid. She was far too embarrassed to share her feelings and weekly hobby with anyone, much less her parents.

The new red gag also produced a lot more drool. Drool was an aspect of wearing a gag that took Rachel by surprise. Neither the movie nor the tv show showed any drool since the actors and actresses wore the gags only as long as it took to get the shot. The green bandana was thoroughly soaked after a full session of use but it did at least contain the drool. In contrast, the large two inch ball was strapped deep into Rachel’s mouth which trapped her tongue and made swallowing impossible. Within minutes, saliva would begin to bubble up and dribble out. Ironically, Rachel’s skin-tight swimsuit became a lot more practical when the new gag was introduced as drool now poured down her front each week.

The green bandana had been retired from use in Rachel’s mouth, but she still made good use of it by turning it into a blindfold. However, she found that light would sneak its way into her eyes around the bridge of her nose and tying the blindfold any tighter to prevent this issue put too much pressure on her eyes, leaving her vision blurry for an uncomfortable amount of time after the fact. She tried unrolling the bandana before tying it so that more material would cover her nose and face, but this didn’t work either. She had solved the problem of light leaking in around the nose, but because the bandana had been thoroughly used over the past two or so years, it had thinned out enough that light would penetrate through the material if it wasn’t rolled up as many times as possible. Eventually, Rachel fully retired the bandana and donned a dark blue silk sleep mask that achieved the desired blackout effect.

Rachel also became more creative with how she tied her hands. The satin hair tie worked in the early days, but she found that it was becoming less and less exciting to pretend to be tied up with material that offered no actual resistance. Rope became another online purchase in college. She typically used three ropes on her legs, one section above her knees, one section below her knees, and one section holding her ankles together. She tied a fourth rope just above her waist, wrapping three loops around herself and tying it off in the back. The end result looked something like a belt, and it functioned similarly, too. Rachel had discovered a way to tie the “rope belt” just tight enough around her midsection that she could push her hands through the belt, but would have a bit of trouble getting them back out of the belt. In essence, her hands became pinned in front of her. She could wiggle and squirm and not immediately get free which gave Rachel a rush, even though her slender arms could be worked free within 60 seconds or so if she really concentrated. She quickly learned that the trick was also to avoid any rope burns on the way out.

Rachel experimented with a chair tie, but found it a bit uncomfortable after a period of time and dragging a kitchen chair with armrests all the way down to her bedroom and then all the way back up every week quickly turned into a hassle. At one point, Rachel had added ear plugs to her ensemble to dive even deeper into sensory deprivation. However, on one occasion she had actually fallen asleep in bondage with earplugs. She suddenly bolted awake, panicked that she had slept right through the alarm that signaled the end of the session, her parents would arrive at the house at any moment and discover her. Luckily, she had only been asleep for 10 minutes and still had the better part of an hour before she needed to even start thinking about calling it quits, but the experience frightened her enough that she decided ear plugs weren’t for her. After all, the only time she was tied up was when nobody was home, so ear plugs didn’t necessarily add all that much to the experience.

In the end, Rachel ultimately settled on a routine that varied very little from week to week: change into swimsuit, buckle gag tightly in mouth, tie up legs, set an alarm on phone, slip blindfold on, slide hands through rope belt. Her bed was easily the most comfortable place for her to spend tied up and she spent most of her time laying down on her back. Those 90 minutes were a beautiful combination of bliss, peace, excitement, freedom, and intensity. In the chaos of Rachel’s intense college schedule, she felt like her brain was always racing. But, when she was tied up on her bed, her mind was put at ease and she felt that she could truly breathe with clarity. Those precious 90 minutes went by far too quickly each week.

So, Rachel was bound and gagged on that rainy Thursday in the early evening, and all was good. All was good, that is, until Rachel heard a sound.

Great start

I assume they'll be more anyway? Left it nicely open at the end. Enjoyed the read, lots of great description, interesting to read Rachel's journey into self (so far ) TUGs.

Thank you! Yes, lot's more to come for Rachel's journey

Chapter 02 - The Discovery

During her typical tie up time, Rachel would often moan into her gag both as a reflection of the emotions she was experiencing and because she enjoyed hearing how effectively she was being silenced by the two-inch silicone ball wedged in her mouth. However, for the last few minutes, she had laid on her bed in tranquil silence, simply absorbing the inordinate feeling of being tied up. So, when the great creak of the front door opening echoed through the empty house, there was no mistaking that the sound Rachel heard was real.

She instantly froze (as if she had been moving in the first place) as if a magic spell had completely paralyzed her. She was positive that she had locked the front door behind her and she was equally positive that she had double-checked that same door prior to retreating downstairs to her room. That meant that the unknown person who had opened the door by virtue of the passcode on the door handle had to be either her parents, her grandparents, or her siblings. Her grandparents lived in Florida from October through March and she had personally seen them off to the airport two weeks ago, so they were ruled out. Her older brother’s family, who lived close, had been sick with the flu and had been keeping their distance. Her older sister and family lived a full day’s drive away, so neither option seemed plausible. So, it appeared that the worst-case scenario was in play: Rachel’s parents were done with work exceptionally early. Would Rachel be able to escape before they inevitably ventured downstairs to say hello? Could she change out of her swimsuit, glistening with drool, and throw on regular clothes? Would any marks from ropes or the gag still be visible? After all, Rachel typically built in time to her Thursday schedule to allow such telltale signs to disappear.

She had a great relationship with both parents, which became a driving factor in her decision to commute to college. However, she was petrified of her parents discovering her fascination for being tied up and what their reaction might be. Rachel actually had a suspicion that her parents also enjoyed similar interests; she had once walked into her parents room to ask her mom a question and found two silk ties hanging on one of the bedposts. She had never seen her dad wear those ties to work. The ties were gone the next day and she never saw them again. But there was no way she could even think to ask them about the ties or divulge any of her own thoughts and feelings, the potential embarrassment felt crippling.

Her mind still racing, Rachel decided that the first order of business was to sit up on her bed and begin the process of freeing her hands. Still blindfolded and gagged, she swiveled her tightly bound legs so that they reached the floor. The faux hardwood was always cold in the winter months, but when her toes finally touched the surface, the floor felt like ice. The intensity of the scare had sent tingles down her spine and she was quickly aware of how exposed and cold she was in her swimsuit. She began to shiver and found that her hands were shaking, not exactly helpful when trying to carefully maneuver free.

She had barely begun to work her hands up and out of the belt when she heard another sound that made her heart drop. Someone was descending the basement stairs. Rachel froze in place yet again. She knew immediately that there was no hope of escaping before the mystery person walked past her bedroom door, of which she was in full, plain view. She briefly contemplated making a dash for her closet but quickly thought better of it since her legs were bound together in three places and the blindfold completely blocked her vision. Plus, even if she did manage to find the open closet door and land somewhat comfortably into the laundry basket, the noise alone would prompt a check of her room. Rachel decided that her only hope was to remain perfectly still and perfectly silent. She would have to hope for a miracle that her mom or dad would somehow walk past without noticing her.

Rachel could both feel and hear her heart beating rapidly. Her sense of hearing was already on high alert with most of her other senses taken away, but suddenly, every sound was dramatically amplified. Her breathing, which she could only accomplish through her nose due to the ball gag, might as well have been a hurricane. The drool that continuously spilled from her mouth was a waterfall crashing hundreds of feet below into a roaring river. The ropes that dug into her skin and locked her legs in place creaked like a galley fighting through a thunderstorm. Those sounds rattled Rachel’s brain, but it was the methodical steps that trudged down the stairs that were deafening.

All of a sudden, they stopped. Rachel instinctively held her breath, but realized she wouldn’t be able to hold it in for long. This was the moment of truth. Rachel squeezed her eyes shut underneath her blindfold hoping to wake up from a dream. Every muscle in her body tensed. She was just about to give in and let out an exhale of panicked breath through her nostrils when she heard a sound that confirmed her greatest fear: a gasp from her bedroom doorway. For the first time in nearly three years of tie up adventures, she had been discovered.

The gasp was sharp, but brief, as if the person at the door also did not want their breath to be heard. Rachel sat, still frozen, unable to move an inch even if she did not have rope encircling her figure. To her great astonishment, no voice preceded the gasp. Surely her mom or dad would say… something? Instead, a cloud of stunned silence filled the room. The pause lasted so long that Rachel almost dared hope that she had made up the gasp in her head. But no sooner had she allowed this thought to cross her mind than her hopes were dashed. She sensed the figure move over to her.

Rachel felt a light hand descend on top of her head. She braced herself, assuming that her blindfold would be pulled down off her eyes and a rush of sunlight would sear her irises. Instead, she felt a second hand take its place on the buckle of her gag. If this person was taking off her gag so that she could explain her situation, she knew that a significant amount of drool would rush out when the ball exited her mouth, only adding to her embarrassment, if that were even possible at this point. The person was now using both hands on the buckle to remove the prong from the hole on the strap.

At any moment, the gag would be lifted away. But, in a moment that shocked Rachel to her core, the gag was not lifted away. Instead, the mystery person gave a tremendous yank on the already tight strap of the ball gag and Rachel feared her head would simply roll off her body from the impact. The large ball, which had already been strapped in Rachel’s mouth for over an hour, suddenly moved even deeper into her mouth. The impact of this movement was instantaneous. Even more saliva was forced out of her mouth and it gushed down onto her swimsuit and her bare legs. Her eyes watered from the tightness of which her face was both compressed and stretched at the same time. She had been deathly silent ever since the front door opened but now let out an involuntary noise that was some combination of a yelp, gurgle, grunt, and moan. The last of the breath that she was holding was forced out. Rachel desperately tried to gasp for air, but her mouth was stretched so far open and yet filled so completely that gasping didn’t even seem possible.

Rachel was dumbfounded by the truth which had suddenly become so obvious: This mystery person hadn’t freed her - the person had tightened her gag to the last notch on the strap - the tightest notch! Her brain swirled with questions and she still wasn’t sure she was breathing. All of a sudden, the person planted a kiss on Rachel’s now very sweaty forehead and without a word, strode out of the room, bounded up the stairs, and walked out the front door.

Rachel knew that she wouldn’t be able to escape in time to catch a glimpse of the person’s car leaving through the window, so she sat in stunned disbelief at what had just unfolded over the last several moments, her heart pounding so loudly in her ears that she might as well have been wearing those earplugs. As her mind slowly cleared, her attention turned first to the gag. She had tried in the past to strap the gag in on the last notch but didn’t think it was physically possible to pull it that tight, until now. Why would someone tighten the gag and then just leave? Although she had always wanted to actually be tied up, she was thankful the person hadn’t tightened the rope around her hands, otherwise the ball gag and blindfold would have become permanent fixtures on her face until help arrived. Yet, even in her panic, she was intrigued by the thought of what that kind of helplessness would be like. But how would she explain that to her parents if they had to rescue her? She started working her hands free and accomplished the feat in about five minutes. She was dripping with sweat and her once curly and bouncy ponytail was stuck to the back of her neck. She slipped the soft blindfold off and light blinded her. She blinked away the stars, quickly scanning the room to see if anything had changed or if anything was out of place. It wasn’t. She couldn’t help but admire her gag in the mirror before removing it. As bizarre and scary as the whole ordeal had been, someone had tightened her gag and kissed her on the head. Someone knew about Rachel’s secret… and maybe they approved? Eventually, she unraveled the maze of ropes that captured her legs and sat in shock as she tried to process everything.

She jumped in the shower as she typically did at the end of a tie up session and eventually slipped on her comfiest, warmest clothes. She picked out a loose-fitting pair of gray sweatpants, the first t-shirt that she could find in the drawer, and then reached into her closet for a lusciously soft sea green fleece jacket that she zipped up to the very top. She slowly made her way up the stairs, pondering a different question with every step. She was still a bit sweaty from the ordeal and from the steamy shower, but the jacket provided a warm hug. She reached the top and peered out the window, neither of her parents' cars were in the driveway. She checked both of their respective locations on her phone and both were still at work as was per usual for that time of day on a Thursday.

“So, it really couldn’t have been them!” Rachel exclaimed out loud, her voice hoarse and her jaw sore. “If it’s not them, then who? And will the person tell them what they found? Does the person even know my parents? Do I even know the person?”

Needless to say, Rachel did not get any homework done the rest of the day, nor did she study for her upcoming final. She was lost in thought. When they came home at their scheduled time, her parents said nothing to her about anything related to tie ups, only asking the routine questions about her day and how classes went. However, they did comment that Rachel didn’t seem to have much of an appetite during dinner. Rachel turned in early for the night still wearing her fleece jacket, sliding the sleep mask back over her eyes before drifting off into restless sleep.

Chapter 03 - Our Little Secret

As exciting and puzzling as Thursday was for Rachel, Friday was as normal and boring a day as any. She navigated through her two morning classes with more yawning than usual and started the brisk walk towards the cafeteria for lunch, her chin buried in her white puffy winter coat. There, she met up with three of her closest friends including Brianna Messenger, her very best friend. The two were childhood friends and had been inseparable for most of their lives. Brianna was a spunky, funny, and kind friend with brown hair to match her soft yet mischievous brown eyes. This semester was the first in which Rachel and Brianna didn’t have a class together, but they did work out their schedules so that they each had the same lunch period four days a week. Rachel and Brianna were joined at lunch by Jada Slevens and Kaitlyn Peters. The four girls were all in the same orientation group the first weekend of college and became fast friends. Brianna insisted that the group be called the “Quad Squad” but Kaitlyn vetoed the idea with a roll of her bright blue eyes, insisting the name was “way too cringe.”

The four met for lunch at their usual table and plopped their backpacks down in their seats. Rachel, as distracted as she was following last night’s mystery, noticed an extra twinkle in Brianna’s eyes.

“One more class and I am freeeee for the weekend” Brianna half sang and half exclaimed.

“Yeah I can’t wait, this week has been long and I haven’t even started studying for my anatomy final,” Jada lamented sarcastically. The short but feisty brunette was wearing her familiar scrub tops and bottoms, typical of a nursing student.

“I’m sorry Jada. You’ve got this though. By the way, is anyone trying to go to the volleyball game tonight?” Kaitlyn asked, changing the subject. A former volleyball player herself, Kaitlyn was an enjoyer of all things sports. There was no disguising her athleticism, her slender but powerful 6’1” frame was attractively outlined in a track jacket and leggings which matched the school’s colors. Kaitlyn received eager nods from Jada and Brianna, but Rachel didn’t respond. She was staring ahead at nothing in particular in the distance and by the way that her forehead and jaw muscles were contracting, it was quite obvious she was deep in thought.

“Hey, earth to Rachel,” Brianna sent a light jab Rachel’s way.

“Oh, so sorry, what was the question?”

Even though Brianna, Kaitlyn, and Jada were easily Rachel’s closest companions, she had never told them about her Thursday adventures. As nice as it would be to share the secret, she had never given strong consideration to it, being too embarrassed and worried that their otherwise great relationship would become weird. However, with the mystery person on the loose, Rachel was beginning to rethink her approach. Kaitlyn repeated her question and Rachel silently nodded, thinking to herself that an event like the volleyball game could be a helpful distraction.

“Hey, are you feeling ok?” Jada asked, looking with furrowed brow at Rachel. She was sitting at the table with her backpack still on her back and hidden in her winter coat, shivering slightly. Rachel didn’t even have a chance to answer before Jada reached into her backpack and produced an infrared thermometer. Of course, most ordinary people don’t have such an item at the ready, but Jada was skilled and well prepared even though she wasn’t yet halfway through her nursing degree. The scanner beeped, “well, if you are sick, you at least don’t have a fever.” Jada added, “One way or the other, let’s try to get some food in you.”

Jada’s assessment was apt. Rachel hadn’t had more than two bites to eat for dinner last night and she had uncharacteristically skipped breakfast that morning. The baked potato bar, a staple of the college cafeteria, did just the trick. Rachel perked up once the food reached her stomach and she moved back to the prior conversation, “Kaitlyn, who are we playing tonight in volleyball?”

“Northern Tech,” came the reply. “They’re quite good. And, if the rumors are true, they’re not exactly the… nicest group of girls,” Kaitlyn scowled. During her high school career - a notable one at that - she was the best player on the team, but she was also one of the most encouraging and kind individuals, even in the midst of a closely contested match. “Should be a fun game, I’m looking forward to it!”

“Yeah me too!” exclaimed Brianna, whose appreciation for sports had grown since meeting Kaitlyn. “I don’t mind driving, why don’t I pick everyone up around 6:30 and then we can try to find a parking spot by the arena?” The group agreed, and after their jolly lunch, the group split up to go to their different classes. Rachel shuffled off to the communications building to attend her final class of the day, creative writing.

- - - - - - -

Rachel glanced up from her desk in the dusty but oddly comforting library. When she saw the analog clock on the wall, she quickly shut the lid of her laptop and began packing up her things, realizing that the last two hours had flown by. She was moderately productive during that time and submitted the final draft of an essay, but her thoughts drifted back and forth between her paper and yesterday’s events. She still had so many questions and not an answer to show for her ponderings.

She slung her backpack over her shoulder and meandered over to the library parking lot. Within a couple minutes, Brianna’s gray SUV pulled into an empty spot and Rachel walked up to the vehicle. She was surprised to find that Kaitlyn and Jada weren’t in the car yet. Logistically, based on where they both lived on campus, it made way more sense for Brianna to pick them up first and then head to the library and then eventually to the arena. Rachel shrugged to herself and took the open front seat.

“How did studying go?” Brianna asked, briefly adjusting her makeup in the rearview mirror.

“Good! I got that essay edited and sent away, so that’s one less thing to worry about this weekend which is nice.”

“Hey great! I’d like to say I got some work done too but I made the mistake of getting into bed and I woke up an hour later.” Both girls chuckled, knowing that an impromptu nap for Brianna in the late afternoon was practically a daily habit. Brianna made up for it by being a very effective night owl and she typically got a lot accomplished when others were asleep.

“Hey, I meant to ask you,” Brianna said, turning now to face Rachel, “did you end up doing anything fun yesterday after school?” Brianna’s eyes had the same twinkle in them as they did at lunch. Meanwhile, Rachel’s eyes resembled a deer in headlights as soon as Brianna’s question registered in her eardrums. Being so smart and witty, Rachel had a hundred excuses ready to go if anyone asked her what she had done on a Thursday. But now, in the painful silence of the parked car, her brain went as blank as the white drywall of the library.

“Think of something, say something!” Rachel screamed internally, but her plea bounced around inside her cranium to no avail. She stared straight ahead of her and managed to kill a few seconds of time by stringing together a few different verbal pauses that would have made her English professors cringe. If she hadn’t clicked her seatbelt into place, she would have jumped out of her seat when Brianna finally tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. When Rachel turned to look at her, her face turned the color of her white coat.

Stunned, she was suddenly face to face with Brianna’s cell phone. The display unmistakingly and with exceptional detail showed an image of a girl sitting on the edge of her bed. The girl’s legs were tied tightly with rope so that it appeared as though one single leg extended from her torso. Her hands were confined in front of her at the waist, and she was blindfolded. A large red ball gag was pushed so tightly into her mouth that it was difficult to distinguish where the gag and her lips began. The only telltale sign was the stream of drool that was dousing a shiny, black swimsuit.

The realization hit Rachel like a ton of bricks. Brianna had a picture of her bound and gagged from yesterday! It would have taken Rachel some time to know what to say, so Brianna did it for her in a surprising, but welcome way. She leaned over to and lovingly but firmly placed her right hand over Rachel’s agape mouth. “Shhhhh. It’s ok! Your secret's safe with me.” Brianna could sense the relief that came flooding over Rachel. “I won’t tell a soul. I know a thing or two… okay, actually a lot… about that kind of thing.”

Brianna kept her hand sealed over Rachel’s mouth so that only her wide eyes appeared out of the coat that swallowed her up. Brianna went on to explain that the reason she had appeared at the Breen household unexpectedly was because she was dropping off several books for Rachel’s mom. Rachel’s mom had sent her the password to get into the house and, naturally, Brianna went downstairs to say hello to her best friend. The gasp that Rachel had heard from the doorway was, in fact, Brianna’s.

This is bloody good!

That was great!

I love your writing style!!

Great story! Cant wait for the rest (if there is more)

Thank you for the kind feedback! Glad you all are enjoying the story so far And yes, there's lots more to come!

Chapter 4 - Puzzle Pieces

Brianna removed her hand from Rachel’s mouth, sighing briefly before continuing her explanation. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right then and there in your bedroom that it was me, but… once I discovered you, I just couldn’t help leaving you in suspense.” She grinned mischievously at Rachel who returned a shocked expression, still attempting to process everything that she was hearing. “I really wanted to tell you at lunch but we didn’t have a moment where it was just the two of us.”

Rachel nodded slowly. She was beginning to piece together the answers to all of the questions that had caused her to lose sleep last night. Brianna patiently waited for Rachel to form her response. She licked her lips, cleared her throat, and stammered nervously, “You’re not… you’re not weirded out by what you saw?” Rachel trailed off, worried that the answer from her best friend would be a gut-punching “yes.”

Instead, Brianna gently took Rachel’s face in her hands and the two locked eyes. “Rachel,” Brianna said in a calm, reassuring tone. “First of all Rachel, you’re my best friend and you might as well be my sister at this point, too. You’re not going to weird me out, we’re way too close for that and you know I’ve always got your back.” Rachel nodded breathlessly.

“And, Rachel? I LOVE tie up games, bondage, whatever you want to call it. When I walked into your room, yes I was obviously quite caught off guard, but what I saw before me was a dream come true! I must say, you looked absolutely stunning tied up in that swimsuit. I have loved bondage for quite awhile, and I’m so sorry I never told you about my feelings about it before now. I suppose we were both too nervous to share, but I still want to apologize. I’m not sorry for tightening your ball gag though, you took that like a champ.” Brianna let go of Rachel and sat back in her chair, chuckling as she returned her gaze to the picture.

“Well at least I know who to thank for scaring me so bad and for keeping me up half the night” Rachel feigned anger, but two tears had begun to trickle down her cheek, belying her true emotions. Relief flooded over her and made her feel warm all over. She had been so worried about what had happened on Thursday. She now recognized how isolated she had felt over the last few years, since nobody knew her most personal interest and all of the associated emotions. “I had no idea other people felt the same way about all of this, let alone you Bri!”

“Oh yes, there are others out there, most definitely,” Brianna said reassuringly, wiping the tears off of Rachel’s flushed face. “Being tied up is great, you know. But tying other people up? That’s what really gets me going. And, based on the way I found you yesterday, I’m going to say it’s safe to assume that you like being tied up.” Rachel nodded vigorously, emboldened by her friend’s support and the two shared a laugh. “Well, I dare say that you and I are going to have some fun adventures, looks like we have some lost time to catch up on!” Brianna smiled at Rachel and leaned over to give her the very same kiss on the forehead that she had provided last night.

Rachel was elated by the conversation that had unfolded in the car, but added hesitantly “So, what are you planning on doing with that picture you have of me?” She glanced down at the phone which still illuminated the bound, gagged, and blindfolded form of Rachel.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t share this with a soul, your secret is safe with me. If you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it in my private album, which, I must say, includes several photos of me tied up that we’ll have to look through sometime soon. As a side note, and just so you know, both of my parents and a couple other people know about my feelings on this, but I obviously won’t tell them and I certainly won’t tell your parents.”

“I most definitely want to see those photos, and I’m totally fine if you want to add me to the album, I’m a little flattered, actually. I’ve never taken a picture of myself tied before, I’ve always been too nervous that someone out there would somehow stumble upon it.”

“I totally understand, I’m extremely careful with how I manage all of that to maintain privacy. Look, you and I probably have a million questions for each other, but we should probably head to the game since we’re already going to be kinda late.”

Rachel nodded, “yeah we still need to pick up Kaitlyn and Jada, right?”

Brianna laughed, “No, I told them a little while ago that I was going to be running late and that they should probably just drive themselves. Besides, I think Kaitlyn wanted to be extra early so she could watch warmups so it all worked out I think.”

“They don’t know about your love for tie ups, do they?” Rachel quiered.

Brianna shook her head. “No, I’ve never ventured to tell them. But after this conversation, I’ll definitely have to give more thought to that.” The two girls awkwardly hugged one another in the front seat of the car, both beaming about the revelation that both of them deeply valued the same, previously hidden interest. Brianna backed out of her parking spot to head to the arena.

The conversation quickly changed topics as if the previous discussion had never occurred, but it most certainly had. Rachel was tingling with excitement and wonder and she could barely sit still for the brief five minute jaunt over to the arena. Luckily, the best friend tandem located Kaitlyn and Jada quickly in the packed home venue and they had only missed the first few points.

The volleyball match proved to be perfect medicine for Rachel. She channeled the bubbling energy from her conversation with Brianna into support for her school’s team. The four girls cheered enthusiastically and Kaitlyn occasionally offered insightful details on the strategies both teams were employing. The other three girls loved seeing Kaitlyn in her element, and they enjoyed learning more about the game from her.

Kaitlyn’s blonde hair was almost always tightly braided and it bounced back and forth with excitement with every strike of the ball. She couldn’t help but stand for the majority of the match and most of the fans joined her as the intense match played out. The first three sets were each incredibly close with the second set being finally decided by a score of 31-29. The home squad, leading two sets to one, took advantage of two early errors by their opponent and demolished Northern Tech in the fourth set to win the match. The domination of that set quickly shut up a small but very vocal group of opposing fans.

The four girls walked triumphantly back to the parking lot after contributing to a raucous environment that provided a huge boost of confidence to the eventual winners. They vowed to make plans that weekend to study together. The two pairs, Kaitlyn and Jada and Rachel and Brianna, split up to find their cars.

As Rachel and Brianna walked back to the gray SUV, Brianna mentioned, “you remember I said my parents were out of town this week?”

“Yep!” Came the muffled reply from Rachel who, with head down, was buried in her white winter coat to shield from the biting wind.

“Well…” Brianna said slowly with insinuation. Rachel pulled up, halting in her tracks. She instantly put two and two together. An empty house meant a private place where Rachel could ask Brianna the many questions that had been accumulating in her head for the past few hours. Better yet, maybe she would be actually tied up for the first time ever. The thought made her giddy.

Brianna was on the same wavelength. Reading her friend’s mind, she asked, “how about Monday after class? Kaitlyn and Jada both have intramural sports anyways so it’s not like we even need an excuse for what we’re doing that night.”

“That sounds wonderful!” Rachel exclaimed.

“Awesome. Well, plan on bringing your tie up stuff with you when you come over. There’s a lot of catching up that we have to do, apparently. And then I’ll walk you through some basic bondage positions and see what you think!” With a wink, she added, “Oh, and don’t forget to bring your swimsuit.”

Chapter 05 - The “Mmmph” in Musical

Time spent studying with the other girls helped the weekend not drag on for Rachel who was eagerly anticipating Monday, perhaps more than any other day of her entire life. The lectures that she typically found engaging seemed hopelessly boring and monotone on Monday, but she found a way to get through it. She had to force herself not to sprint to her car when class was dismissed and she tried finding music for her commute that would help slow her heartbeat down. This helped some, but as she got closer and closer to the Messenger house, her left leg bounced wildly and not at all in time with the music. She was quite nervous and now keenly aware that the questionable-looking cafeteria fish may have not been the best decision at lunch.

However, the beaming smile of Brianna that met her as soon as she pulled into the driveway and the warm and secure embrace that followed, Rachel was put quite ease. She grabbed a black canvas satchel out of the passenger seat. Her fleece jacket was in the bag, concealing other contents beneath which included rope, the silk sleep mask, the ball gag, and, of course, the swimsuit. Although she hadn’t used it for a couple of months, she decided to toss in her green bandana as well.

Brianna pushed the jacket aside and peered into the bag. “Nice!” her cute grin grew even bigger. “Alright let’s go inside, it’s freezing!” Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes at Brianna, whose athletic shorts and tank top were far better suited for a summer in Fiji than Wisconsin’s current weather. The two bounded through the front door and went straight down the hall and into Brianna’s bedroom. Typically, there would be clothes and other items strewn about the floor haphazardly, but today the room was impeccably clean.

“How did you get started with tie ups?” Both girls blurted out simultaneously. There was an awkward silence followed by shared laughter that broke any remaining tension. “Yeah this is gonna be fun” Brianna said, humored by how overly excited each girl was. “I tell you what, I’ll share my story first and then you can fill me in the details of your story, sound good?”

“Yeah of course!” Rachel said. Blushing, she added sheepishly, “Want to tie me up first?”

Brianna burst out laughing, “Wow, we really aren’t wasting any time are we?” She gave Rachel a playful poke, but she was truly grateful that her best friend was so eager to dive in headfirst. “I kid, of course I’m happy to oblige! Let’s start with a really basic tie and then I’ll show you a couple different things as we go along.”

She grabbed one of the ropes that Rachel had brought with her, admiring the quality of the material that had been purchased. She gatherer Rachel’s hands behind her back. Doubling the rope, she efficiently wrapped several loops around her two wrists which were parallel to one another. Once the loops were secure, she wrapped the rope in between Rachel’s hands and made more loops perpendicular to the other ones she created and cinched it tightly, but comfortably.

Brianna stepped back from Rachel and pointed to the large floor mirror in the corner of the room. “What do you think?” Rachel walked over to the mirror, admiring herself for several seconds before replying, “Wow this is really something Bri. I’m totally stuck, and you only used one rope! And you did it so quick too, I apparently have a lot to learn. But this is so great, I’m really, truly tied up for the first time!”

Brianna looked with pride at her work, “I do have a bit of experience, it’s true. Well, usually the moment the arms are tied I would pop in a gag, but since we’re both telling our stories, I’ll hold off for now, there will be plenty of time for that later anyways.” Rachel tested her bonds and knew she really was quite trapped. She walked over to Brianna’s bed and slowly lowered herself down into a seating position on the end of the mattress, not unlike the way Brianna had discovered her on Thursday. Rachel was amazed at how restricted she felt even though just her arms were bound. She was savoring every second as if it were the last time she would taste the sweet sensation of sugar on her tongue.

Brianna took a seat on the carpeted floor, propping her back up against the wall. “Do you remember that musical I was in during middle school?”

“Faintly.” Rachel replied, “although admittedly, if I remember correctly, I didn’t actually go see you in it.”

“Oh please,” Brianna waved her hand, symbolically pushing the idea out of Rachel’s mind. “With all due respect to Mrs. Thomas, it wasn’t exactly a broadway production. Anyways, I played a pretty small role and I only made an appearance in the second act. But, that role was very significant for me personally. My character was kidnapped and tied down to a chair with wheels. Some of the other characters put a cleave gag in my mouth and wheeled me around on stage and broke out in song.”

Rachel had raised an eyebrow when Brianna had said the words “cleave gag”, and after a quick explanation, she soon learned that her original green bandana gag was, in fact, a cleave gag. Brianna continued, “Honestly, I had zero clue that I was remotely interested in being tied up until that musical. For whatever reason, being tied up in that old rolly chair really flipped a switch. For the first few weeks of rehearsals, they didn’t bother tying me up and in fairness there wasn’t really a need to do so. However, one of the middle school boys was a little overzealous when he was wheeling me around the stage. He was rolling me so fast and stopped so abruptly that I flew out of the chair and landed flat on the floor. Luckily, the only damage done was a skinned knee and some sharp words for the boy. One of the assistant directors decided that it might actually be safer for me to be tied up, so that’s exactly what they did. And that’s when I learned that I loved it. It was quite thrilling having my arms tied down to the armrests and being wheeled about, helpless to control where I went.

Someone suggested that I also practice wearing the gag since the cleave gag might take some getting used to and so I could practice fake yelling for help. I loved the gag too. Initially, they didn’t tie the gag all that tight. I wanted the real tie up experience, so I ‘accidentally’ spit out the gag when I was yelling for help in the scene. That’s all the convincing it took for them to actually cleave gag me.

The two weeks leading up to the performance were not super great for the cast, but it worked out great for me. For whatever reason, the song that was sung as I was being wheeled around in my chair was fairly complex, and the singers were having a difficult time mastering the song. They ended up running through the song multiple times each practice. So, that was pretty great, I got to spend about 20 minutes each day after school tied up and gagged and I was pretty helpless, to tell you the truth. Now, they would typically slide my gag off in between each run through of the song and they’d even occasionally untie an arm so I could itch my nose or something of that nature. Obviously, I would have preferred to just stay tied up, but I didn’t have a good excuse for why I should be.

Thankfully, that changed the week of dress rehearsals. We practiced the week leading up to the two performances in full costume and makeup. That Monday, one of my classmates pulled the gag out of my mouth and untied an arm in between takes like normal. However, I was now wearing bright red lipstick, which smudged the white cloth gag every time it was removed. The smeared lipstick was now all over the gag and I can’t say it tasted all that great either when they popped it back in. When they took the gag out, they usually didn’t untie the knot in the back, instead letting it hang around my neck. Well, the mixture of saliva with the lipstick meant that red streaks began to appear on my face and neck much to the chagrin of the two high school girls in charge of make up. Of course, this was all told to me after the fact since I couldn’t see my own face during the practice

At the end of that rehearsal, Mrs. Thomas talked the situation over with them before coming over to me and asked ‘Brianna, I’m so very sorry, but tomorrow would it be ok if we kept your gag in until we’re done with the last runthrough of your song? I’ll also tell the makeup team to go a little lighter on the lipstick.’

I pretended that the request was a significant hardship, sighing deeply before somewhat reluctantly agreeing, but I could barely contain my excitement. Heck, the best acting performance of the whole musical was probably me pretending to be annoyed by wearing a gag! Because we were running the musical all the way through twice on the last two days of rehearsal, I was kept tied up and gagged for over an hour straight, and let me tell you, it was exquisite.

I could tell that someone had attempted to wash the gag, both on account of the laundry detergent smell and taste, and by the very light pink tinge of the cloth which could really only be seen in quality lighting. For the actual performance itself, they tied the rope and the gag quite snug to make the whole ordeal look as authentic as possible. I yelled through the cleave gag for help and eventually the prince whisked me away, chair and all. The musical had come to an end. Most of the students were elated that the show was finally over, I was not.

My parents expressed how impressed they were with my notable, but brief dramatic appearance in the show. Later that same week, I confessed to my mom that I actually quite loved being bound and gagged on stage. I assumed that she would be taken off guard by that comment, but she wasn’t. Instead, she nodded and said ‘you know, I used to play cops and robbers when I was little, probably even younger than you are now. The best part of the game was easily when the robber was arrested and tied up. Me and my friends liked that part of the game so much that we just ended up playing tie up games where we saw how long it would take the tied up person to escape. We got quite good at it! Those were the days.’

Those games sounded so fun. I asked my mom if she was the one that got tied up or if she was the one doing the tying. ‘Oh, if I remember correctly, it was a pretty even split. Although eventually I got so good at tying someone up that the group usually wanted me to just play that role.’ I remember pondering this statement for a little while.

Something that had been itching at me was whether or not I could have escaped from the chair. Since I had to stay tied up for the actual performance, I never had a chance to practice my best Harry Houdini impression. But, now that I knew my mom was quite skilled at tying someone up, I had a very hopeful thought, but I was afraid to ask it out loud.”

“You wanted your mom to help you replicate the scene from the musical,” Rachel jumped in. She had been listening intently and at this point had given up trying to wriggle her arms free.

“Exactly. And that’s exactly what she did. Do you remember those old wooden kitchen chairs we used to have? She tied my arms down to the arm rests and grabbed an old red scarf from our coat closet to use as a gag. She commented that the gag I wore in the musical wasn’t that effective, and she was pretty much spot on. The cloth they had used was pretty thin and I could still make plenty of noise, so much so that they didn’t even need to mic me when I was calling for help. The scarf was definitely thicker. My mom took the scarf and tied an overhand not in the middle. She put the knot in my mouth and tied the gag behind my head. The material of the scarf was quite stretchy, so she was able to tie the scarf tightly without too much discomfort.”

“Wow, I can’t believe I never thought to tie a knot in a gag like that, I could have been doing that years ago!” Rachel lamented.

“Well, I don’t blame you, I’m not sure I would have ever thought to do that if my mom hadn’t shown me first,” Brianna replied. “I learned very quickly that escape was going to be impossible. So, I sat there tied up in the kitchen for about an hour while my mom made dinner. She periodically checked on me and made sure I was doing ok, and I was, I was thriving. She eventually released me, gave me a big hug, and said that she’d be happy to help me with my tie up adventures if I ever wanted to do it again.

I took her up on that offer frequently and kept her busy. My dad was mostly just amused by the whole thing and although he didn’t support me in those endeavors in the same way Mom did, he certainly didn’t disapprove or make any negative comments. Rachel, there are a bunch more stories that I could tell. I learned a lot from my mom and if she was making dinner at home, there was a very good chance I was tied up in some way nearby. I accumulated quite a lot of tie up stuff, I’m excited to show you!

Over the years, I played some tie up games with my cousins which were a ton of fun. However, eventually I got good enough at tying that they couldn’t escape and I got good enough at escaping that they couldn’t keep me tied up. They seemed to lose interest after that, I think they enjoyed the competitive aspect of the game rather than actually being tied up. Sadly, it’s probably been two or three years since I’ve had a chance to participate in anything, the dorm room isn’t exactly the best place for something like that, it’s certainly not very private.

Ok, well enough about me. How did you get started with tie ups?”

So, Rachel explained her story in full detail, outlining how every Thursday she spent time tied up (to the best of her own ability) and gagged.

“I absolutely love it!” Brianna answered when Rachel had finished telling her tale. “For being solo, you’ve done a pretty great job.” She peered into the bag that Rachel had brought with her and pulled out the green bandana. “I feel like I’m holding a piece of history!” Both girls laughed.

“Alright, let’s get to work,” Brianna stated, raising herself to a standing position. Rachel wriggled with excitement.