Postby KP Presents » Fri Apr 08, 2016 3:31 am
“Granddad,” I said as Mrs Bridges took away the last of the plates, “I wonder if I could have a word with you please?”
“Oh,” he said as he wiped his chin, “anything your father needs to know about?”
“I’ll talk to him after I talk to you.”
Suzie had already gone with Mum, Aunt Anne, Alicia and Angela to discuss something with Grandma, so as we stood up and left the table, he said “come with me then.”
We walked into his study, Granddad holding the door open as I came in and sat in the chair, and then closing it before he slowly sat down himself.
“Okay Robert,” he said with a smile, “what are you planning this time?”
“Who says I am planning anything?”
He merely raised an eyebrow, before I said “all right – Brian Hampton came to see me yesterday, and asked if I could help him, Eric Cottrell and two other boys with a little kidnap game.”
“And this will involve me because?”
“Well – they want to do something similar to the party the year before last. Take the girls from home, bring them here, and then reveal what has happened.”
“I see – and the girls in question are?”
“Primarily Hazel and Claire, but also Lisa, Cassie and Suzie. The boyfriends of the first two want to play our games, but need to see how.”
“So,” Granddad said, “essentially, you want to borrow the van again, and also use the cellar?”
“If that is possible. I will, of course, do chores if you are in agreement...”
“Oh I think we can find something for you to do,” Granddad said with a smile, “but Mister Bridges will not be able to help you. Wait here a moment, will you?”
I nodded as Granddad got up and walked out of the room, returning a few minutes later with Eddie and Angela.
“So,” Angela said as she looked at me, “you want to induct Hazel and Claire’s boyfriends into the group?”
“Well, they want to be part of it – it’s Brian’s idea to do it this way.”
“Okay then,” Angela said, “two conditions. First, Eddie is the driver.”
“Okay – and the second.”
“I want to be here when they arrive – something tells me you lot may do something they want to talk about, so I want to be there to answer questions...”
When the alarm went off on the Saturday morning, I groaned as I rolled over and looked at it.
“Six? Why did I arrange for this to start so early?”
But I had agreed to it, so I quietly got out of bed, washed, and put on a black jumper and jeans. Once I had my socks and shoes on, I walked slowly down the stairs and opened the front door.
Eddie waved from the front of the plain van as I saw Eric and Brian standing by the door. Like me, they were both dressed in black, but they also had a black balaclava pulled over their heads, allowing me only to see their eyes and lips.
“Where are the other two?”
“In the back, waiting for us to come out. Don’t worry – they’re prepared as well,” Eric said as they came in, and I closed the door.
“Right then – we’re going to wait in my room. Suzie thinks she’s going out with Mum today, so she’s going to get up in a while, wash and dress. We’ll nab her when she’s dressed and passes my room. So, for now, let’s head up and wait in there...”
Through the crack in my door, I watched as Suzie made her way back to her bedroom in her dressing gown.
“Everything ready,” I whispered.
“Ready,” Brian whispered back as I pulled my own balaclava over my head, and waited.
After what seemed an eternity, Suzie came out of her room. She was wearing a red and blue checked blouse over a white jumper, the cuffs of her sleeves rolled back slightly, blue jeans and mid-length brown Ugg boots, her red hair pulled back for once in a ponytail.
So I waited as she walked past my room, and then stepped out, grabbing her without warning round her waist.
“HEY whatssgngnnnhnnnHHLLLLPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!”
As she opened her mouth, I pushed a folded cloth into it with my free hand, and then covered it as I pulled her back into my room, kicking and screaming. As Brian closed the door, I whispered “for the love of Pete, stop screaming Suzie – it’s me, Bobby.”
“BBBBEEE?” I watched as she looked at Brian and Eric, and then said “Hggrrrtwhatsgnnggg?”
“Kidnapping – just do as we tell you, all right?”
She nodded as I removed my hand, and Brian stuck a length of tape over her lips. At the same time, I pulled her wrists behind her back and used a plastic zip tie to secure them together, while Eric took a folded scarf and tied it tightly over her eyes.
“Now keep quiet, all right,” I whispered, Suzie nodding as I looked outside. Nobody was there, so I motioned to Eric and Brian, both of them holding one of Suzie’s arms as we walked along the corridor, down the stairs and across the hallway. Opening the front door, I watched as the side door of the van was opened, and Suzie was quickly walked over to it. I closed the door to the Hall, and followed them into the van, closing the van door behind me as they helped Suzie to lie on the floor.
Two other boys were sitting there, dressed in black and watching through the eyeholes in their masks as I took a pair of scissors ad cut away the zip tie. Suzie just lay still as Brian took her right hand, and Eric her left, placing a sponge into her palm and waiting as she made a fist, then covering them in silver duct tape. They then crossed her wrists behind her back as I took a length of rope from a canvas bag, doubled it over, and made sure they were tightly secured together.
“Ulllnfrrgtwweewfths,” Suzie mumbled playfully as I cinched the binding and tied the ends off, and then we made her sit at the back of the van. Brian took a length of rope, doubled it over and started to bind her legs together below her knees, while Eric crossed her ankles and secured them. At the same time, I wrapped some rope around her waist and made sure her wrists were locked against her back.
And all the time, Pete and Doug watched silently.
As Brian peeled the tape away from Suzie’s mouth, I pulled a knotted strip of towel between her lips and around her head. She squirmed as she heard Eric peel the end away from a roll of white tape, and then wrap that tightly round her head, before Brian added a band of duct tape over that.
As he tore the end off and smoothed it down, I folded a white scarf and tied it over the whole thing. Pete looked at his watch, and said “Five minutes? You managed that in five minutes? How?”
“Hngggnn – hsttht?”
“Find out later,” I said as Brian took two more length of rope, and tied Suzie’s arms to the sides of her body, the bands sitting above and below her chest. Suzie squirmed again, before she said “nddhhddths?”
“I did,” Brian whispered into her ear as he tied the ends off, and put his hands on her shoulders. “I’m going to tighten them now, and you know I’m not going to hurt you. Right?”
Suzie nodded as he looked at me and Eric, and then took a long length of rope. He fed it under her right shoulder, and took it round both bands of rope before he pulled it tight. Suzie nodded to indicate her should continue, and then he pulled it up and over her right shoulder, under her ponytail and around the back of her neck, before taking it over her left shoulder and tying it again between her arms and her body.
The others watched as well, wondering how Suzie was feeling as she squirmed round, the bands now pressing firmly down on her chest. I had a fair idea of how Cassie felt the time I did it to her...
Brian then tied the end of another length of rope around her wrists, as Suzie said “Whtrrdnn?” She then felt the rope as he fed it up her back, under all the other bands, and then tied it to the rope at the back of her neck, pulling her wrists up as he did so.
“Hmmmmm,” she said quietly as she stopped moving, and I banged on the dividing wall by the driver. As we moved off, we all sat and watched as Suzie tried desperately not to move. It was almost as if she was afraid of what would happen if she did move – and judging by the way she mumbled when the van was jolted, that did appear to be the case.
It took about forty minutes to drive to the Manor house, none of us talking as we drove along. Eventually, however, Eddie came to a halt and walked round, opening the side of the door as Eric, Pete, Doug and I got out.
“ShwrrwwwMMMMFNNNNN”
Suzie was taken completely by surprise as Brian picked her up and almost threw her over his shoulder, making her squirm even more as the ropes tightened where she was bent over.
He jumped out of the van – making her squirm again and then settle down. We then walked up the stairs, Mister Bridges opening it as we walked in and made our way silently to the library.
Angela was standing there, with five chairs arranged in a circle. As we came in, she again raised an eyebrow as Brian placed Suzie on one of the chairs, looking at the ropes at her back, but she took a length of rope and tied her waist to the chair back, before kneeling in front of her and tying a second length of rope to her ankles, then pulling them under the chair and securing them to the spar under the seat.
She then waved us off without a word, Suzie not even turning her head as we made our way back to the van.
“And that,” I said to Doug and Pete as we got into the back of the van, “is how you do it.”
“They’ll kill us if we do that to them.”
“We need to do them all the same,” Eric said, “so don’t worry – they will thank you for it.”
“Okay,” Brian said, “with the next two, we’ll get you to give us a hand with most of the ropes, but when it comes to the last set, leave them to us. Watch carefully, because you’ll do that to Hazel and Claire as well.”
“The question is,” I said, “who first? Cassie or Lisa?”
Taking from my pocket a fifty pence piece, I said “heads it’s Cassie, tails it’s Lisa. Agreed?”
The others nodded as I sent the coin spinning into the air, caught it in my hand and slapped it down on the back of my other hand. We all looked at it, and then I said to Eddie “okay then – let’s go.”