She wasn't just a babysitter, she was THE babysitter; she wasn't just a bitch, she was the Queen Bitch. She was the Queen Bitch of Babysitters. Now the twins knew why.
“Alastair, Alexander.” The twins knew that their mother meant business. Either that or they were in trouble. Again! They stopped tormenting their little brother and all three boys ran to the kitchen.
“Alright, you know that your dad and I are going up to London to see 'Warhorse' tonight and that we need to stay overnight and make a business meeting in the morning before returning.” The twins shared their mutual grins and Bertie looked worried as he looked from one to the other. “And before you get any ideas,” she said to Ali and Alex, “I’ve got a new babysitter. For some reason all of the previous ones were unavailable.” If it was possible, the twins’ conspiratorial grins grew wider and Bertie looked even more worried. “Oh, and Bertie, Billy’s mum says you can sleep over with him this evening.
“Yaaay!” And Bertie started jumping up and down triumphantly while the twins looked somewhat more rueful. That spoiled all the fun; the twins knew that they could run their usual babysitters’ ragged while they tied and tormented their younger sibling. Never mind, at least there was a new babysitter whose life they could make hell for a few hours. They wondered if they could drive her away before midnight like they had the last one who was supposed to have stayed overnight.
Bertie ran off to pack and ring Billy while the twins started to plan their tactics. It didn’t usually take much: frogs were easy to obtain and it shouldn’t take too long to find a grass snake. That last one that had just eaten, the one that threw up a fairly newly swallowed green frog as soon as poor Mrs. Robertson trapped it in the corner, was a particular success. Their other favourite tactic was to dress identically. Until you knew them, they were very difficult to tell apart if they dressed identically.
The afternoon wore on and all the family made their respective plans. By the time she arrived, the twins were pretty sure that they were ready for her. Until they saw her. She was gorgeous, long brown hair, tight jeans and a strappy top. They almost changed their minds on the spot. Once the introductions were complete, Ali, the right-handed one with his hair parted on the left, offered to carry Rachel’s bag to the guest room. The charm offensive was always a good opening gambit. Alex followed on, pointing out the various features of the house that he thought Rachel would like to know about.
They invited Rachel to make herself at home in the guest room while they went outside to entertain themselves.
Things went along calmly: Bertie left for Billy’s place, the parents left for London, the twins prepared their surprises and Rachel prepared dinner. Ali and Alex came at her call to table and greedily devoured the meal. They then thanked her profusely – the charm offensive was well underway. Alex even cleared the dishes although neither of the twins offered to wash up. That would have been too obvious!
“Rachel, please may we go out to our tree-house for a while?”
Rachel swung her hair over one shoulder, smiled that irresistible smile and said, “Of course, but I want you back in here and getting ready for bed in an hour. It’ll be dark by then in any case.”
“OK, we’ll be back.” The twins ran off to finish their preparations. Ali even suggested that perhaps such a gorgeous, friendly girl as that didn’t really deserve what she was going to find in her bed and in her holdall later that evening but Alex soon talked some sense into him and plans proceeded apace.
After some time they heard Rachel’s voice at the foot of the ladder up to the tree-house. Ali quickly stubbed out his cigarette and hid the cans of cider and Alex sprayed the place with air-freshener. They needn’t have worried, Rachel made no attempt to invade their privacy.
“Ali, Alex, it’s nearly time for showers and bed time but I’d like one of you to nip round the Tesco Express for me, your parents have left me some cash and we’ll need something for breakfast.”
Score! Alex offered immediately, it would be the ideal opportunity to top-up supplies. Perhaps Jason was on the checkout. If he was, he’d even let him buy some more cider as long as no one was watching. “I’ll go, Rachel, I don’t mind, honest. And I’m sure my brother won’t mind getting ready for bed while I’m gone.”
Ali was already ahead of him. Keep her sweet. Play the innocent, cute little blonde. Throw her off the scent.
“Comming.” came the almost unison remark and the twins scrambled down the ladder and into the house with Rachel. She gave Alex a short list of supplies and a twenty pound note. Alex positively skipped off the premises. Ali knew that there would be a good half-hour before his twin returned and he decided that his best tactic was to continue the “butter wouldn’t melt” act.
“Shall I shower and get ready for bed now Rachel. But please may I stay up ‘til Alex gets back?” Their house didn’t run to en-suite facilities so there was always a queue for the shower so that would sound like a perfectly sensible offer to anyone who didn’t know him.
“Of course, Alex.”
“I’m Ali.”
“Oh sorry, it’s so difficult to tell you two apart.” That smile could open any door without need for a key. “Off you go.”
Ali went upstairs and stripped to his green boxers – and a large grass snake. The dozy creature was easily deposited safely into Rachel’s holdall where it would probably go straight to sleep again. It was such a shame they couldn’t find a replete one this time; the resultant mess would have been so satisfying. Following his herpetological diversion, Ali headed for the bathroom. That’s when things started to go wrong.
As soon as he’d got some towels and started running the shower, Ali felt a muscular arm round his neck that was quickly locked into place against it’s pair which was forcing his head forwards. Rachel entered the bathroom and said, “Have you met my brother, Rob? He’s a black-belt you know. He tells me that what he has on you is called a naked sleeper hold. Demo, if you please, dear brother.”
Ali felt the side of his neck being restricted and soon started feeling light-headed. “Enough, I think.” Rob loosened his grip slightly while Ali recovered. “Rob has demonstrated that hold on me in the past, you know what brothers are. He tells me it’s dangerous if it’s applied for too long but it can knock someone out.” Her voice was just rolling along in the usual friendly tinkling tone she had always adopted so far, just as if nothing unusual was happening.
As soon as he came round, Ali started describing Rob along simian lines and demanding to be released. “Another little demonstration, I think, please.” and Rob applied the pressure again. He loosened his grip again just before Ali would have passed out.
“We’re very short of time. We need to see to you before your brother returns. I think you might find he’ll be a bit longer than usual. Make him comfortable, Rob.” Ali immediately found himself face down on the bathroom floor with his legs locked into Rob’s It soon became apparent that, as Rob leaned either forwards or backwards the pain in Ali’s legs could be increased or decreased at his whim.
“Now then,” continued Rachel in her usual calm, genial tones, “I’m going to tie your wrists. It shouldn’t be too painful unless you insist.” As she said the last word, Rob silently increased the stress on Ali’s legs and then returned it to normal. “Do you understand?”
Ali indicated that he understood. He’d not even had a chance to get a good look at Rob’s face yet but he was already aware that it would be healthier for him if he did what he and, more to the point, his sister wanted.
“Now, be a treasure, I’m going to ask you to help with this. I’m sure you won’t mind, will you.” Ali often had an uncanny rapport with his twin but it seemed that these two had even more of one as Rob varied the stress he was causing depending upon what his sister was saying. His silence was spooky. “Now if you’ll just put your hands behind your back, please. No, you HAVE been watching too many rubbish films, not like that. Don’t cross your wrists.” Rachel then seated herself on Ali’s shoulders and positioned his wrists about six inches apart and soon had them trapped in a rope cuff finished with half blood knots on the insides of his wrists. Ali thought that, as soon as she wasn’t looking, he’d move his wrists together and start working on the knots. Little did he know.
“That’s a good boy. Now I’m going to ask you to help me again. Will that be alright?”
Ali answered but not in the affirmative.
“Naughty boy, you shouldn’t use language like that in front of a lady, really you shouldn’t. I’m afraid we’ll have to do something about that. Rob leaned forwards putting more stress on the unfortunate youngster’ legs than he had experienced so far and pulled his head up by the hair. Ali was glad later that he’d picked out a clean face-flannel to use because it soon ended up folded and rolled and lodged firmly in his mouth and being clamped in place by Rob’s free hand. All the while the stress on Ali’s legs, and now his back as well, was being maintained, he couldn’t help yelling and there was no way he could resist the gag. A few turns of silver gaffer tape completed the gag and Rob released Ali’s head.
“Do you see what happens when you won’t help me, Ali?” asked Rachel. “Now I’m going to ask you again: will you help me or not?” Ali had given up the attempt not to sob some time ago and resignedly nodded his head. “That’s a good boy. Now just stand up for me, please.” Rob released his leg lock on Ali who, with some difficulty, stood up. Once on his feet he realised where he had seen Rob before even if he did look a little strange and Ali didn’t think that his name was Rob.
“Now, we wouldn’t want Alex to find you like this, would we? Well, not immediately in any case so I’m going to ask you to come with Rob and me to the garage.” Ali had no choice and walked meekly out to the concrete block building where he was asked, very nicely, to sit on the floor and to cross his ankles. He crossed his ankles right over left and Rachel applied a spare but efficient cross lashing that would effectively prevent Ali from standing.
As Rob and Rachel left the garage, Rachel pointed out some of the preparations she had made while the twins were making theirs. “Oh, and please don’t try untying yourself. One of those little things up there is a web-cam and it’s feeding straight into the house. You can move a little bit to make yourself comfortable every so often but my big brother gets upset if anyone doesn’t want to cooperate with us. I’m sure you understand.” Never was such a threat made in such gentle tones.
TBC