It was a typical August evening in Manchester, wet and humid. I ran to the door and my friend, Ben let me in. We were both 14 at the time (I still am), I have blonde hair at the time I was borderline 6ft (I was ridiculously tall for my age). Ben on the other hand was average height, had long ginger hair and despite being smaller than me, always seemed to be able to overpower me. The main reason for this being his aggressive attitude to life, as opposed to me who tried to talk my way out of sticky situations. He had invited me round to his house for a sleepover while he babysat his two younger siblings (I wont use their real names, let’s call them James and Solomon) until lunchtime the next day. His parents permitted a friend round for the night as long as we behaved
Once inside the door I quickly placed my things down and became settled on the sofa “Where are the rest of the tribe?†I asked
“Just gone to bed now so be quiet†he replied. We sat in front of the TV and began to watch Mr Bean’s Holiday (don’t judge me, it’s a funny film).
At 9.30pm I stood up “I’m just gonna nip to the toiletâ€
“Okay, do you remember where it is?â€
“Yes!†I lied. I climbed the stairs and stood looking at 5 shut doors. After deliberating for a little bit I chose the one closest one to me. Burst in expecting to find the toilet, the sight that met me was completely was completely different.
It would seem I hadn’t found the toilet, I had found the kid’s bedroom. It was a decent size room that was uniform with the rest of the house; it had two beds at either ends of the room for Ben’s younger siblings. The only thing that was different to the rest of the house was that the beds had two 10 year olds tied spread-eagled to them. James looked up at me; he was wearing his Manchester City pyjamas with the blanket at the foot of his bed, I wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t on him, it was far too hot. He began struggling at his bonds at the corners of his bed, I noticed there was some slack in the ropes attaching each limb to the bedposts in order to allow for some comfort. Solomon looked up at me and began Mmmmphing into his gag which was something stuffed into his mouth and then he had a few knee socks keeping it in place.
I stood at the door with my eyes wider than the sun at this spectacle, slowly edging backwards I scooted round the corner and remembered my quest for the toilet. I relieved myself and decided to go downstairs and ask Ben about his captive siblings. Once back inside the living room I noticed Ben wasn’t there, this thought was soon cut short by the unmistakable “THUD THUD THUD THUD†of someone going down some stairs. I turned around and Ben was stood in the doorway, a bag in his hand. “I just went to check on the twins, I assume you’ve seen my work?â€
“Noâ€
“How come the door was open then?†The door! I felt that sinking feeling go through my whole body. How could I have been so stupid? I forgot I let it open! “No matter, you were going to found out sooner or laterâ€. I noticed he was becoming on edge and standing on the balls of his feet. Sensing this could end badly, I smiled and turned round and began to sit down. “Shall we carry on the…†My sentence was cut short by something tightening around my neck, it was his arm. He had grabbed me in the sleeper hold(for those of you not aware of the sleeper hold, it is where someone locks their arm around your neck and holds it in place with the other arm. It cuts off circulation but isn’t that dangerous, it only knocks you unconscious for a minute or two if you are held in it for a little while), I leaned back gasping for air. The seconds were ticking by I could feel myself becoming light headed and then I could feel myself drifting away. I was nearly unconscious when he let go, I reeled backwards still extremely light headed. “Now we can do this the easy way or I can put you to sleep and we can do it the hard way, so what’ll it be, the easy way?†I nodded.
He went over to his bag and pulled out: 3 rolls of duct tape, a roll of medical tape, a pile of ropes and some bandage. My head still spinning I asked where he got it from; he replied “You know my dad’s a scout leader? Well there’s an absolute ton of this in the garage just gathering dust, don’t worry, there’s plenty more where this came fromâ€. He grabbed a roll of duct tape and walked up to me. He grabbed my wrists, pulled them behind me and then wrapped duct tape around them. Still duct tape in hand he stood me up and wrapped duct tape around my torso, pinning my arms to my back. I struggled but it was no use, he had used so much tape in so many layers that I could hardly move my upper body. “Now for your legs†he stated. He grabbed the medical tape and wrapped a few layers over my feet, ankles and above and below my knees. I could hardly move at all now. I looked up at him but he was walking towards me with more duct tape. Starting at my toes he began to wrap even more tape over my legs. Realising he was going to mummify my legs as well as my torso I said “Don’t you think that’s enough? I can hardly move.â€
“Nope†He replied in a short manner
“Come on then you ginger t*%t!†I was angry but I couldn’t believe I was challenging him considering my predicament. My outburst had angered him too; he grabbed the medical tape and tore a piece off. “You be quiet now†he said softly to me as he placed it over my mouth and flattened it. He then tore another strip off and placed it slightly above the first so that it overlapped the first. Repeated the process for below my mouth and placed another strip over the original. I tried cursing at him but it only came out as an annoyed “MMMPPHHâ€
He replied with a “Not done yet†as he tore a longer strip off and placed in such a way that it went from my left cheek, under my jaw and onto the tape on my right cheek. He repeated this process three times but varied the positioning of the tape under my jaw. I could hardly move my jaw now and I felt like a dog with a muzzle. He then grabbed the bandage and wrapped it around my eyes and clipped it at the back of my head so that I was effectively blindfolded. He then carried on mummifying my legs until the tape reached the tape on my torso. I couldn’t move a muscle now, I might as well as been encased in concrete. “Done†He shouted as he walked away, “see you in a bit!â€
I lay on my front thinking about what had just happened. I struggled in my duct tape prison, unable to shout for help, unable to see anything and becoming warmer and warmer the more I struggled, I doubted if my struggling was even crinkling the tape, it certainly didn’t seem so. I lay there exhausted, I didn’t mind being tied up; in fact I was enjoying it. It was just the way that he had initiated it, nearly making me unconscious. I knew I had to give up and just wait for him to untie me.
What felt like an eternity passed, I had managed to struggle onto my side and then onto my front again but that was it. By now I was weary had spent so long tied up I wondered if I had fallen asleep. I felt a bead of sweat form on my brow and run into my blindfold. I heard murmuring from three different voices, I recognised them. The door flew open and I heard Ben Say to me “The twins got free ages ago just thought I’d let you know. I’m off to bed now and so are the twins night-night†I heard the light switch off and the THUDs moving up the stairs. Was he serious? He was going to leave me mummified in tape for the whole night? I began struggling frantically but the tape hugged my every movement, I tried to take my gag off but it wouldn’t budge and my blindfold was tightly wrapped around my head too. I listened to the silence (if you can) and all I heard was the house creaking in the night air. It looked like I was in for the night until I felt someone unwrapping my blindfold, it was Ben! “Only joking, I never left the room, your struggling was funny though. Do you want me to untie you?†I nodded. He grabbed a pair of scissors and started to cut me free starting with my legs. He’d used so much tape that it took him 5 minutes to cleave his way through my leg bonds and pull them off my legs. It then took him even longer to cut my arms free, I was wincing for most of this as he pulled the tape off my arms. When he finished I unwrapped my gag, it felt nice to have fresh air on my skin.
Ben talked at me about something but I was so weary I didn’t listen, eventually I gave up and said “I’m off to bedâ€. A glance at the clock told me I had been tied up for an hour and a half. Confused and tired I grabbed my sleeping bag and went to sleep, I slept like a rock that night.