09 - Kidnapped!
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This is the story how I once kidnapped the lovely and irrepressible Nicky and held her for ransom. Naturally, doing so obligated me to restrain her so that she would not escape.
Nicky's house had one feature that we liked very much. It had a large (and very dusty) space underneath. The C family used it for the storage of their campoing equipment as well as the junk and detritus, which inevitably accumulates in any household over the years. That space had been crammed full to the point of overflowing! At least it seemed that way. It was appropriately dark and gloomy and the spiders loved it. I was always brushing cobwebs off my face. I hated that. It wasn't so much the horrid feeling of the sticky material lying on my face, which I disliked, it was what might be lurking unseen…. Australia has more than its share of poisonous spiders (the redback and the notorious Sydney funnel-web) and as far as I was concerned, they could all be down here just waiting to bite me. Nicky used to tease me about it.
Naturally, it wasn't long before Nicky and I discovered it and made that space our own. We were the only ones who ever went down there, at least that far back anyway. Around 25 or 30 feet back from the small trapdoor, which served as an entrance to this gloomy subterranean cavern, was a small space nestling hard up against the main brick wall. It had brick walls on two sides and we hacked out a large quantity of dirt to both expand and deepen that area so that we could stand. It was a simple matter to construct two walls out of old bricks, cardboard and wood. Over the years, we added to our little cubbyhouse. Pictures, old furniture, shelving, in short, many of the comforts of home. A colourful old rug we scrounged off somebody covered the dirt floor. It was wonderfully cosy and best of all, it was very private.
I played in many other cubby houses, (all above ground) including one massive three story edifice set thirty feet high above the ground in a huge old gum tree, but this was my favourite by far. Maybe it was the absolute privacy and atmosphere that set it apart? Whatever.
Lighting was provided by candles and once lit, provided that wonderful flickering glow on the walls I will never forget. Even now, I can still see the warm glow of the candles on Nicky's smiling face and the walls. Mrs. C hardly ever had anything to say about our 'tie up' games but she was always on at us to be very, very careful, when it came to lighting the candles. We could go down as often as we liked but one rule remained constant. We were not allowed to leave the cubby unattended with the candles burning and when negotiating our way through the piles of junk and the (house) stumps, we had to use a torch in case we tripped.
Nicky and I spent so much time in our cubbyhouse. It was a real little home for us. I remember going down there many times after school and guzzling chocolate sultanas (my very favourite sweet) and Coke. We would play house down there, just talk and so forth. And there were other activities too….
Yahhh! There are no prizes for guessing some of the things we got up to down there. I am also ashamed to admit that we both used to smoke down there, when we were 15 or 16. (I've long since given up the coffin nails) After all, we were sufficiently private to have little fear of getting caught. And we never were either. Lucky for us, eh?
The stage for Nicky's kidnapping was set when I was very young. I had not been a good reader and actively resisted reading most of the books available to me at the time. The turning point came when one person suggested to my mother that I should try Enid Blyton (ever heard of her?) The Famous Five, the Secret Seven. The rest was history. I came to love them and I have enjoyed reading since. But I digress.
One of the reasons that I enjoyed her tales were not so much that they were well written or genuinely exciting but some of the rather perilous situations that her characters invariably found themselves in. I cannot remember them all now but one of the most memorable situations occurred in one of her 'Famous Five' books when two of the Famous Five members, Julian and Dick, guys got caught by the baddies (smugglers?) and they were very securely and thoroughly tied up. Blyton certainly described the way that they got tied up well enough! They had had their hands tied behind them then lashed to metal rings set into the wall, just for good measure. There were others, but that was one of the most memorable. I wish that I had kept those books….
I had an active imagination in those days and so it was one typical afternoon after school that I brought up the subject. We had already had something to eat while watching the cartoons and changed into our oldest jeans and T-shirts. (Clothes got dirty down there quite quickly) To be honest, I only brought up the subject because I hoped to be 'kidnapped' and tied up. I told Nicky how they had been kidnapped and tied up.
"You're not going to kidnap me are you?" Nicky asked. As usual, she got straight to the point.
"How did you ever guess?" I jeered.
"Ooh, please don't kidnap me!" Nicky wailed. She always was a convincing actor and could really get into it.
"But I am!" I happily exclaimed. To emphasise my point, I withdrew my powerful gun and held her at gunpoint. (Actually only my finger but imagination did the rest - sometimes you just have to improvise)
Nicky shrank back from me in mock terror. She repeated, "Please don't kidnap me!" before continuing, "But my family's got no money!"
"Yeah sure!" I retorted. "We'll just have to find out, won't we?"
"We've got no money!!"
"Let's find out," I suggested. "Meanwhile…"
"You're not going to tie me up, are you?"
"But of course I'm going to tie you up!" I replied. "I don't want you escaping!"
"Don't tie me up please!" Nicky's voice sounded utterly piteous as she moaned, "I promise not to escape!" However, her eyes were shining.
"B…t!"
"I promise!"
"Tough luck," I curtly replied. It was around then that I realised that I had a major problem. There was no rope down in our cubby house. It was all hidden upstairs in Nick's bedroom. Nicky collapsed laughing when she realised my dilemma. How was I going to kidnap Nicky if I could not tie her up? It was very embarrassing. It was one of the few times I wished that I had not brought up the subject. I felt stupid.
"I guess you'll have to go up and get some rope," Nicky snickered. Her eyes shone with wicked merriment.
Thoroughly abashed, I commented, "I guess so."
"Hurry up!" It was amazing. How many kidnap victims actually ordered their kidnappers to go get some rope then tell them to "hurry up!"?
I sighed. I would have to go upstairs to get some rope to tie Nicky up with. I can still remember feeling really silly as I went to get the rope to tie up my supposed 'victim' with. It meant re-negotiating the obstacle course set between our cubby and the creaky trapdoor entrance. I just hoped that the spiders would not be around… The bloody creatures made my skin crawl. Getting the rope was a simple matter. We kept the tangled mass of ropes hidden in a box stowed away in the darkest space of the closet, well away from the doors. Not that it was really necessary, because Mrs. C not only knew of our 'tie-up' games but even joined us on occasions. (No, we never got to tie her up)
Within seconds (or so it seemed) I had the tying materials in hand, and was re-negotiating the narrow passage back to our little subterranean cubby. Thankfully, there were no marauding spiders around either. I was further relieved to find that Nicky was still sitting where I had left her. She looked pleased to see me.
I remember the look of anticipation on her face as I pulled the ropes out of the bag. As usual, we had to untangle and sort them out before any tying could commence. Once again, I felt a slight sense of unreality that my intended victim should be helping me like this. Eventually, we were done and they lay ready for use. I made my voice harsh. "Ok, Nicky, sit down on that chair!"
"And what if I don't?" Nicky asked cheekily.
"Then I'll make you!" I growled. "I'm kidnapping you!"
Once again, Nicky went into her act. "Please don't kidnap me!" she cried.
"Too bad," I replied. "Now sit down!"
"No."
I sighed. Nicky could be really obstinate when she wanted to be. I made a grab for her but Nicky had anticipated my move and giggling, she darted out of the way. Exasperated, I tried to catch her but she was too quick and flitted around the small cubby keeping the chair between the two of us. She was giggling madly as I tried to catch her. Suddenly Nicky slipped up. She darted one way, expecting me to go the other. Fortunately, I had already decided not to go that way so Nicky ended up running straight into me.
Quickly, I pinned her in my arms and forced her down onto the old chair.
The chair was nothing special. It was just a rather old fashioned cloth covered armchair type thing except it had no arms as such. It may have been old and tatty but it was surprisingly comfortable. It sat up reasonably high off the floor on four small rounded wooden legs. The seat was around six inches thick as was the back. It was also quite wide as well so tying people up to it was not going to be that easy as it would have been with more conventional chairs.
Nicky was not giggling as I pushed her down into the chair and grabbed some rope seemingly in one movement. Reverting back to form, she pleaded, "Please don't tie me up! I'll be good!"
"Sorry," I replied. "You've already tried to escape once."
Nicky snickered and tried to get up but I easily held her down. Once she was still again, I quickly began wrapping a long length of rope around her chest and the chair back. Once Nicky realised that she had been gotten, she relaxed and allowed me to begin tying her up properly.
I tied the rope around Nicky's chest just above her breasts around five or so times then repeated the exercise, just below, effectively pinning her to the chair. However, I left her arms free. The next step was to secure her hands. I had an idea for her. It was quite original and I knew that Nicky would not like it very much mainly because it meant that she would not be able to escape.
Nicky's eyes widened with curiosity as I crossed and lashed her hands together in a X, in front of her before knotting everything off. I took especial care with the knots. Nicky was an extremely good wriggler and if she were to escape, not only would it be humiliating but she would also win the right to tie me up immediately afterwards. Not that I minded being tied up mind you, but Nicky always took great delight in tying me up extra tight after such occasions as if to remind me of my frailties.
After securing Nicky's hands, I bound her lovely lithe legs tightly together at ankles, knees and thighs. Those ropes certainly looked good against her blue jeans. Because the chair was really just a little too low, I could not push her legs underneath so I had to leave them propped out in front. Not that it really mattered anyway. I could tell that Nicky was clearly wondering what I was up to but I did not bother elaborate. She would find out soon enough. Besides, the way I saw it, my continued silence was more unnerving than anything else. The next task was to lash Nicky that much more firmly to the chair. I used another two long lengths of rope to tie her to the chair at waist level and also her upper legs to the seat.
I grinned at Nicky before tying another length of rope to her already bound hands. I wound it several times around her hands, completely covering the original knots before re-knotting the second rope. It remained only to force Nicky's hands above her head and behind her as much as they would go without causing her too much discomfort. I had to crouch down to run the rope under the seat and out in front before pushing the ends up between Nicky's legs (between the knee and thigh ropes) and taking them over her chest ropes in front. I pulled on the ropes very firmly to ensure that there was no slack in them before knotting everything off in front. The rope harness holding up her chest ropes ensured that there would be no slippage.
"There!" I smirked. "Get out of that!" Nicky rolled her eyes. I was always so original… "I have kidnapped you now!"
"Please let me go," Nicky pleaded. "Please untie me. It hurts." Nicky was subtly signalling that I should gag her now.
"Shut up," I growled. "I think I better gag you now."
'Please don't gag me," Nicky moaned. "I promise to be quiet."
"Yeah, sure!" I teased as I stuffed a largish white cloth in her mouth abruptly stifling her complaints before taking another longer and narrower strip of cloth and using it to tightly cleave gag Nicky. Her eyes were huge as I gagged her. That is something I will always remember about Nicky - the expression on her face whenever I gagged her. Nicky really seemed to like being gagged. But then, so did I too… I always felt that much more helpless when gagged and I suppose that was why Nicky enjoyed it too.
I sat down and began composing my ransom note. We usually kept a little paper and writing materials on hand, just in case. Amazing how clearly I remember doing that yet, I cannot for the life of me recall exactly what I wrote. Memory can be a selective thing sometimes. I think it went something along the lines of, "Dear Mrs C, I have kidnapped your daughter Nicky. If you want to see her alive again, I want the sum of $1,000,000 before night time." I always did like nice round figures. And one million dollars seemed like such a fortune to me back then when a dollar was still a dollar.
After writing the note, I showed it to Nicky. Her eyes widened. Seconds later, Nicky snorted derisively into her gag. "What are you trying to say?" I teased. Nicky narrowed her eyes and stared at me. I laughed. "Well, time to go give this to your mum," I said. I rubbed it in by unnecessarily adding, "If I don't get the money by tonight, you will just…. disappear!" I remember reading that somewhere and the phrase had stuck in my mind. It sounded so dramatic, so final. I picked up the torch and blew the candles out, temporarily plunging everything into darkness before I flicked on the switch. Nicky opened her eyes in mock terror and struggled to free herself as I clambered out the exit. Her bound legs beat a tattoo on the floor as I stuck my head back in and joked, "Don't go away will you?"
Nicky glared at me. It was so corny. So clichéd. Not that she was averse to saying exactly the same thing when the tables were reversed. I was laughing as I once again traversed the perilous route through the junk strewn passage. For once, I even forgot about the spiders in my haste to give Mrs. C the note.
Mrs. C was in the kitchen as I walked in. She smiled at me when I came in and wanted to know how we were going. I hated having to spoil her day. "Here, I've got this for you!" I exclaimed. "Read it!"
It only took Mrs. C. a second or so to read the note. She played along beautifully by asking, "Where is Nicky?'
"Aha!" I boasted, "I'm not telling!"
'Oh dear," she said. "I haven't got a million dollars."
I shrugged. "Then you won't see Nicky alive again."
Mrs. C thought for a moment. "How about this instead?" she asked. This time, It was my turn to be startled as Mrs. C produced the treasure from atop the fridge. It was a huge 200gram block of Cadbury's chocolate. My very favourite! "Yes, I'll take that!" I gleefully said.
"Where's Nicky?" Mrs. C asked. Chocolate safely in hand, I told her. "In our hideout."
"I see," Mrs. C mused. Hideout, in this case, meant under the house in our cubby house. Suddenly, she looked sharply at me. 'I supposed you've tied her up."
Slightly embarrassed, for mention of these games always made me blush, I stammered, "Uh, yes."
"You won't eat all the chocolate will you?" Mrs. C gently reminded me. I bridled. She knew me all too well. I could be a greedy pig where chocolate was concerned and everyone knew it. Mrs. C smiled and said, "Have fun."
"Thanks!" I exclaimed. "We will!" Clutching the torch and my prize in the other hand, I made my way back to the cubby where I hoped to find Nicky still tied up.
I was happy to find that Nicky was still where I had left her when I got back. She looked a little relieved as I lit up the candles again. Although Nicky was in no danger, I don't think she had really enjoyed being left all alone in the Stygian blackness of the cubby.
Nicky's eyes were like saucers as I casually produced the ransom and began eating it. She frantically "mmph'ed" and tore at her ropes as I slowly tore the wrapper off and started eating the chocolate. She looked furious. Nicky loved chocolate every bit as much as I did. Eventually, I took pity on her and un-gagged Nicky. She looked much happier as I hand fed her the chocolate, piece by piece. Nicky shouted with laughter when I told her how I had negotiated a compromise and secured the chocolate instead.
I ended up kidnapping Nicky several more times but Mrs. C quickly wised up to our ploy and refused to hand out any more chocolate. At least not bars as large as that. Pity. It was a nice little earner while it lasted.
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Mason's Childhood Bound Stories
- 01 Introduction (ff/m)
- 02 Tied up for the first time (ff/m)
- 03 Nicky gets hers (m/f)
- 04 Nicky's retribution (f/m)
- 05 A Rainy Day (f/m, m/f)
- 06 Knot Practise - A Knotty Good Time (m+/m)
- 07 Pirates of the Caribbean (m/f)
- 08 Pirates of the Caribbean (sequel) (f/m, m/f)
- 09 Kidnapped! (m/f)
- 10 Target Practice (m/fm)
- 11 The Escapologist (M/M)
- 12 A Close Escape (M, self)
- 13 Kristy's First Time (M/F, F/M)
- 14 The Mummy (M/F, F/M)
More about Mason - how he got into TUGs, also on the Internet Wayback Machine