Part One
Tonight was the night I would finally be 'indoctrinated' into the 'family business'. I use these terms flippantly of course because by 'family' I mean just me (Lizzy Johnson, aged 17) and my older sister Gemma (aged 21). Our dad abandoned us at a very early age and our mum passed away when I was 8. We had to move into a foster home for a bit until Gemma was 18 and she managed to get us a little flat by working various shitty jobs (some legal, some not quite so legal).
Gemma has always been there for me and I've always looked up to her. Last year something changed though. We started getting more money somehow. Gemma would come home and bring me a new Ipad or something like that as a gift. I'm still at school so I don't bring any income in. Gemma works at a clothes store during the day and some dingy bar at night but even doing that I know she doesn't make enough to pay our rent AND afford luxuries like Ipads and stuff. But when I questioned her she would change the subject and just tell me to enjoy the stuff she would bring.
My suspicions grew when she came home one evening with a brand new HD television.
"Don't just stand there! Help me set it up in the living room'.
I looked at my sister - she was very pretty; long smooth blonde hair, blue eyes, a cute nose and full lips. She was slim and had a small butterfly tattoo on her right wrist.
"But where did you get the money for this?" I asked.
"Never mind that!" She winked and came over to where I stood. She put her arm on my shoulder. "You don't need to worry about anything other than school and enjoying your life. So don't ask me where I got this stuff." She smiled but there was something stern behind the smile - something mysterious. I decided to ignore it.
Then, around 3 months ago I found out the truth.
It was 9 PM and me and Gem were sitting on our sofa watching the news.
The female news reported read the headline "Yesterday evening a burglary took place in Devonshire Close Manchester. A teenage girl was home invaded at around 8 PM, was tied up and her home ransacked. She was later found by her parents who had gone out for the evening. Although she was not hurt, valuables were taken and the girl was left extremely shaken up."
I tutted. "That's terrible!"
Gemma didn't say anything and was staring at the television with an unusual look on her face. She was biting her nails.
"It is thought that the home invader was a young female aged between 18-25 and the family are appealing for any information."
The television cut to a man of around 30 who was the girl's father.
"We want this person caught and held to justice. They not only took some of our treasured possessions but they left my daughter terrified and humiliated. Please do call the police if you have any information."
Gemma switched the television off and pulled out a cigarette. She seemed very nervous - I didn't like her smoking but I wasn't one to tell her to stop.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
Gemma puffed some smoke out, stubbed out the cigarette and leant over to me.
"Look, I have to tell you something but you can't freak out and worry."
"Erm...ok. What is it?"
"That girl on the television then. That robbery. It was me."
I laughed. I thought she was joking. Then I realised she wasn't smiling and her eyes had tears in them.
"Look, I didn't hurt her. I didn't think she'd even be there. I got my information wrong. But I managed to get so much cash from it. And they can easily replace the items. What's the harm!?"
I couldn't speak. I was too shocked and my stomach felt like it had been booted.
"You broke into someone's home and tied someone up!?" I asked, bewildered.
"Where do you think I've been getting the money this last year?" Gemma said, "I've done this loads of times. No one has ever been in when I've done it. This was the first time."
"Gem, why would you do that?"
All of a sudden she became hostile.
She grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me, "You want all this stuff don't you!" She was shouting, "The TV, the laptop, the concert tickets? We can't afford it any other way."
"But you can't jus-"
"I can't what!? We are owed it Liz. We've had nothing but shit all our lives. We deserve this stuff."
I didn't say anything. I was too upset and shocked.
"Look. No one got hurt I promise. I had to tie her up to keep her out the way while I took the stuff. I knew she'd be untied when her parents got home."
"But how did you even do it? I mean did you take stuff to tie her up with?" I asked.
"Of course not - I told you I didn't expect her to be in. When I saw her I told her just to keep quiet but she was a brat Liz, honest, she was a bitch. You could tell she was one of these spoilt princesses. She was hysterical and making loads of noise. I took her into her bedroom and told her to stay in there and she wouldn't get hurt but I turned my back for a second and she was trying to bang on her window and scream for help. She had quite a lot of scarves in her room so I used them to hogtie her on her bed. I didn't want to but she gave me no choice."
"So she just lay there while you robbed the house?"
"Well sort of. She tried to get free but I tied her pretty tight. She started screaming for help again though so I also had to gag her. I found some duct tape in the kitchen draw."
"That's just awful!" I said.
"Oh Liz, honestly it wasn't. They're filthy rich. They can replace any of the items. But we need them don't we?"
I didn't say anything but left the room and went to bed. I couldn't believe what my sister had done.
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Our relationship became strained after that but I still loved her and she continued to bring home stuff and provide food for us to eat. She told me not all of the money were from robberies but I didn't know what to believe any more. It transpired that she had gotten into this when she met a few people at the bar she worked in who recruited her. They got her to rob places and they gave her a good percentage. They organised it all - found out the information but she did the robberies. Sometimes one of the other girls they recruited would do them. They mixed it up so the police found it difficult to track them.
Then a few weeks ago I was hit by another shock.
It was around 6 pm and I was in my room trying to study for a maths test I had that week when Gemma came into my room. She was wearing a tight black skirt and a white polo top.
She sat down on my bed.
"I need to talk to you."
"Ok." I put down my maths revision book and looked at her.
"I need you to do something for me this week."
"What is it?"
Gemma sighed. "I need you to come with me on one of my jobs."
I frowned. "What job? At the bar? I'm not old enough."
"No. Not at the bar. You know the other kind of job. Where I get our money from." She gazed at me with her deep blue eyes and she was biting her lip.
It suddenly dawned on me what she was talking about.
"No. No way! Robbing a house?"
"Yeah. It won't take long. We'll get a shit load from it."
"No. Why do you even need me?"
"Because they've asked me to bring you along and show you how it's done. They want you to become part of it too soon Liz. It's an easy job - honestly it's more money than you could ever make working these dead end jobs."
"I don't want anything to do with it!"
Gemma grabbed my wrists and pulled me towards her. I was frightened.
"Listen. You are coming with me. Stop being such a pussy. It's time to grow up. Do you want me to take everything back and stop bringing us food to eat?!" She was shouting in my face.
"N-no."
"So you will come."
She stood up and slammed my door shut. I sat there on my bed crying.
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So tonight was it. I was in my bedroom getting ready. Gemma told me to wear dark clothing so I had my black Hollister hoody on, black leggings and grey sneakers. I looked into the mirror - I looked like my sister although my hair was chestnut and I had a few freckles on my nose. I felt incredibly nervous but I knew there was no arguing with Gemma - she was mixed up with some dangerous people and I didn't want her to get in trouble. I'd been promised it would take no more than 20 minutes tops.
We took a bus to the house it was a large house on the corner of a wealthy close and apparently the whole family would be out tonight - the owner was a businessman and his wife in their forties - they had a daughter who was away at University in London and they had a son who was 23 but he was expected to be out for the evening. How Gemma knew this I didn't know or ask but she was certain of it. Gemma was dressed in dark clothing too - she had on her black skirt but had a similar dark hoody to mine.
The plan was to break in through the backdoor leading to the kitchen. It was observed that a spare key is left under some soil in the garden. Once we had got the stuff we'd be met by one of Gemma's 'friends' and he would drive us away.
We got off the bus and I could smell the crisp night air. We stood outside examining the house. It was a magnificent looking house but I noticed some of the lights were on from the windows.
I frowned "Why did they leave the lights on?"
Gemma didn't reply but we walked towards the back garden. There was a fence we had to climb but we got over with no real bother and stood in the large garden now.
Gemma turned to me - I could barely make out her features in the dark.
"Ok - You need to stay really quiet when we do this. You might as well know now - the son is in the house."
"What?!" I shouted and Gemma put her finger to my lips.
"Shush!" She whispered. "I didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't come otherwise. Don't worry - we needed him in or the alarm system would have been on."
"But what are we going to do?!" I hissed.
"We'll tie him up. It will be fine."
"Oh my God Gem. No, I can't!"
"You will or you aren't coming home tonight."
I started to sob a little bit.
"Look Liz. It will be fine. We'll just keep him out the way for at most 20 minutes, get all the stuff, leave and he'll be untied later. He won't be hurt I promise."
Rather than argue I reluctantly nodded. I followed Gemma to the backdoor.
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Part Two
My name is Matthew Claridge. I'm 23, about medium height with short dark hair. I'll never forget events of the 17th November 2015. Detective Brown said to me. He was sitting alongside Officer Barrow. They had a notepad and were recording the interview as well.
It was around 9 pm. I was in my home, in the living room watching a film. My parents were out for the evening at some dinner party. My sister doesn't live at home any more so it was just me. And anyway I heard this noise from the kitchen. It sounded like a thud or thump, something like that.
I got up and I went to see what it was. Only when I got to the kitchen I had a hand clasp over my mouth by someone in a dark hoody. There was someone else in a hoody looking at me.
"Stay quiet and do as we say and we won't hurt you." The voice was female and the hand smelled of a strawberry perfume.
"U-mphh" I mumbled.
She tied a fabric around my eyes to blindfold me.
"We're going to take a look around your house in a minute. But we're going to just keep you out the way for a little while so let's go into the living room."
She pushed me into the living room, pointing what felt like a gun at my back. I couldn't see but she pushed me in the direction of the obvious living room.
"On your stomach on the couch, now." She ordered and I obeyed.
"Ok - so the first thing you do is get the wrists tied so they are pretty helpless straight away. Pass me some of the rope from the bag." She seemed to be talking to the other person who was also female.
The girl fished around in a brown sack bag she had brought but she seemed nervous. She handed the other girl the rope and I felt it being looped around my wrists behind my back and knotted tightly.
"Ok, sit up." She pulled me upwards. "Sis - grab some more rope and get his feet tied while I tie his body.
"But I don't know how"
"I'll show you."
I have to admit I was totally bewildered.
"Wrap the rope around a few times his feet. Then bring the two ends through."
As she was saying this I could feel the rope being applied.
"That's it - then knot it twice."
I felt more rope being tied around my torso, looped about 4 or 5 times and then knotted at the back.
"Ok, just his knees now."
The leader appeared to be a bit older - not that I could see but I could tell my her manner and voice.
My knees were tied and I could hardly move. There was scent of perfume in the room - I felt scared and a bit embarrassed to be tied up by two girls.
"Ok so should we look around now?" the younger girl asked - her voice had a nervous tone.
"Oh no. Just one more thing first."
I felt myself being pushed onto my stomach again.
"What are you doing?"
"Just putting him into a hogtie."
"What?"
"A hogtie. Look."
I felt my wrists being pulled to my ankles and knotted so I really couldn't move now.
"Makes them more helpless - they can hardly move."
"Wh-why are you doing this?" I whimpered.
The older girl placed her palm over my lips. "Shush."
"This is why you have to gag 'em. They can't just shut up. Hand me the tape."
"N-no." I pleaded.
She pinched my nostrils and stuffed a fabric in my mouth then wrapped the tape around my lips and head to keep it in.
"Did you have to do that?" The other girl asked.
"Yes - don't worry, those are clean."
She was referring to the gag stuffed in my mouth - I assumed it was a sock or something.
I felt the older girl clasp my chin with her palm.
"Ok - we're going to take a look around this house now - you can't really move and struggling will make the ropes tighter. You can't make much noise - and trying to scream could make you choke on your gag so I'd just lie very still and breathe through your nose. When we're done you can wait for mummy and daddy to come home and untie you. Got it?"
I mumbled and nodded.
"Couldn't we loosen the ropes - he looks really uncomfortable."
"Shut up and get on with it!"
I heard the girls leave the room and start in the kitchen. They went upstairs and I could hear rummaging around. I tried to wriggle and struggle but the older girl had been right - the ropes were incredibly tight and the knots were not budging an inch. I tried to at least spit out the fowl tasting gag but the tape would only budge a little bit and the fabric was staying put. I tried not to panic as I didn't want to choke. I could only lie there and think how I would explain this to my parents. They wouldn't be mad, but I worried they would think how could I have been tied up by a few girls!
I was interrupted in my thoughts by a voice.
"Shh. Keep quiet. I'll undo the gag."
I felt my tape being cut or ripped and I spat out the sock.
"What's going o-"
"Shh- a hand was clamped over my mouth.
"I didn't want to do this. My sister made me. I'm so sorry - I was told no one would be in."
She took the hand away. It was the younger girl.
"Please can't you untie me? I'll just sit right here until you've gone."
"I wish I could by my sister would kill me."
"When will you be gone? Can't you just leave me some scissors to free myself?"
The girl didn't reply then she said "Ok. Let me go see if I can find some but I'm going to have to put your gag back in in case my sister sees."
"No! Please."
"Look, I'll just put some tape over your mouth, I wont put the sock back in."
"Ok." It was some compromise.
She wrapped the tape round my mouth but not as tight as her sister had and without the sock it wasn't as bad.
I lay there as she went to find some scissors.
She came back in.
"Ok here they are - I'll leave them behind this pillow. But you have to wait until we leave."
I mumbled 'yes'.
"I'm sorry. Right, I'll go back up now."
She left but I didn't keep my word. I struggled with all my might and managed to get the scissors into my hand. It took around 10 minutes but I was able to cut through my wrist ropes and then free my ankles and knees.
I ripped the tape off and walked over to the phone to ring the police.
Just as I dialled the younger girl came back in.
"What are you doing!? No - I have to get you tied up again or-"
I don't know what overcame me but I ran at her and pinned her down on the floor. She struggled and tried to scream but I held my hand over her lips. Her hood had come down and I saw she was actually very pretty - she looked around 17 or 18. Long chestnut hair and a cute freckled nose.
"Now it's your turn bitch." I said.
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Part Three
I was in massive trouble now. I lay on the couch - hogtied with rope and the same soaking wet sock that I had pulled from our victim's mouth earlier, now stuffed in mine and sealed in with duct tape wrapped around my head and mouth. Gem was still snooping around upstairs. She would kill me.
The boy was on the phone next to where I lay.
"Yes - I have one of them tied up, the other is upstairs. Ok. Bye."
"mphh"
"Well that was the police. They're on their way. Just waiting for your sister to join us."
"mophh"
I wriggled and struggled but I'd been tied pretty tightly.
Then we heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
I tried to shout but the boy held his hand over my already gagged mouth.
Then it all happened so quickly.
Gemma stood there and then the next minute the boy was wrestling with her on the floor as I watched helplessly.
It wasn't too long before Gemma was tied up tightly to a chair. Her wrists had been tied behind the chair and rope bound her tightly to the chair - her knees and ankles bound too.
"You fucking idiot Liz." She hissed at me.
"Not so clever really are you?" The boy gloated as he picked up the roll of duct tape.
"Shut up. If it wasn't for my stupid sister you'd still be hogtied up like a little pig." Gemma snarled.
He clasped his hand over her mouth.
"No but now you're all tied up and the police will be here shortly."
"mphhh"
I watched as he stuffed another sock into her mouth and wrapped the tape around.
I have to admit my sister looked stunning - rope wrapped above and below her breasts - her wide blue eyes above the gag and her hair platted over her forehead with sweat.
Then he came over to me and sat beside me.
"You were very kind to me earlier but you have to learn a lesson. Crime never pays." He kissed me on the nose and slapped my butt before putting the tv back on. We heard the sirens from the police cars.
My sister looked at me with her wide eyes.
He was right. Crime definitely doesn't pay.
The End.