14 year old Anna and her parents were vacationing on a private island some family-friends owned, and which they had borrowed, over the holidays.
Its’ location, basically in the middle of the South Pacific, of course meant she mostly walked around the white, sandy beaches dressed in nothing but a bathing-suit, or maybe a bikini, or even naked all day long, and go for a swim whenever she felt like it.
Is it idyllic? Yes. Is it heavenly? Of course it is. Will there be trouble in Paradise? Of course it will.
It all started when some men in a speed-boat approached the island, pretending to have a message from the friends back home, but almost as soon as they had come ashore, they started waving guns about, collecting the family outside the hut they were living in at the moment.
They had had their hands tied together behind their backs, and Anna had been tied by her waist and her legs, beneath the knees, to a coconut palm, while her parents had been whisked away, only God knew where.
She was forced to stand there all day, being thankful for the foliage giving her at least some shade, as the sun was quite strong.
As night fell, and the temperature dropped she began suspecting, or rather fearing, she was going to be left out there all night. She cleared her throat a couple of times; she had had very little water to drink during the day, so it was quite dry by now, and politely asked her captors, where her parents were and if she was supposed to stand like that all night? And, if they didn’t mind her asking; how long was she going to be their captive?
The men looked at her and just grinned; so much for politeness, then.
“Your parents? Well, they’re somewhere else; aren’t they, love? And no, no one’s said you had to stand the whole time. It’s just that you haven’t said you wanted to sit down yet. And as for how long you’re going to be our captive; well that’s anyone’s guess, ain’t it? That depends on what’s going to happen in the future; doesn’t it?” One of her captors cheekily said, as he went over to her, and released her from the tree.
He pushed her down on the ground, and once again tied a rope around her waist, knotting it off in her lap. Then he tied her hands; this time, thankfully, behind the tree-trunk. Lastly, he wound the remaining rope around her legs, beginning just below her knees and ending just above her ankles. Then, he took a fourth rope, fed it between her arms and chest, knotting it off behind the tree. “There,” he said, “at least, now you won’t fall over, and maybe hurt yourself when you fall asleep.” Then he rammed a balled up piece of cloth in her mouth, and tied a strip of cloth around her head.
“And there,” he added, “now the rest of us won’t have to listen to you, whining all night long!” He got to his feet, patted her on the head, and went back to the others, completely ignoring her angrily “Mmph”:ed protests.
Eventually, Anna fell asleep. It was a troubled sleep, and filled with unpleasant dreams of what might have happened to her parents. She woke up the next day, almost as tired as she had been, when she fell asleep.
“Did you have a good nights’ sleep, love?” one of the men sarcastically asked, as he tied her in a standing position once more. Anna, still being gagged, didn’t even bother to try to answer; she just stared at him. The man actually shuddered, and backed away.
“Hm, that’s interesting!” Anna thought. “They’re apparently a superstitious bunch, which might come in handy, later on.”
Unfortunately, there would be no ‘later on’. The man, whom Anna thought of as the band’s leader, blindfolded her. “Now you won’t be able to give anyone the evil eye, anymore!” he hissed in her ear.
Time went on, and suddenly she heard the “leader” said they were going once around the island, to check that everything was OK, but that she wouldn’t have to feel lonely. He had left one man as a guard. She heard them leave the area, sounding like a herd of angry elephants.
She sighed, alone at last; well, almost anyway.
Anna was dozing off, when she felt like the ropes around her wrists suddenly were loosened. “Shh,” she heard her father whisper in her ear, “don’t make a sound, and I’ll have you out of here in no time at all. Is there really only ONE guard here?”
Anna nodded, as he untied her waist and got started on the legs.
“Would you mind terribly, if I only took off your blindfold, and not the gag?”
She shook her head, getting more and more frustrated! Most of all, she wanted to shout:”I wouldn’t even care if I was still blindfolded when we left, if it makes us leave earlier! Less talk and more work please dad! I really want to get out of here, preferably before the rest of the gang get back!”
Finally she was free, her dad grabbed her hand, and they ran like bats out of hell! Branches whipped her face and body, as she ran through the brushes, but she didn’t care. She was on her way to freedom!
They finally stopped, and she saw a boat some distance from the shore.
“Your mum’s out there” her dad said. ”I’m afraid you’ll have to swim the rest of the way, if you want to see her!”
Without hesitation Anna ran into the water, until it reached just above her knees. Then she threw herself head-first in the water and swam, like she had never swam before, the rest of the way, taking the ladder onto the boat in two leaps, and threw herself in the waiting arms of her mother.
When her father arrived, Anna was still hugging her, and he said:”Is there room for anyone else in there?” he laughingly asked. His wife only stretched out her arm and hauled him in.
Later on, when they were back at the island, he asked Anna how she had liked being a “Damsel in Distress” for a day.
“Very much!” she looked up in his face and smiled broadly. “Thank you so much, for arranging it for me!”
“You’re welcome! Anything for my favourite daughter, you know that!”
They put their ski-suits on and walked, hand in hand, out of the filmstudio, and into the howling blizzard.