Postby KP Presents » Thu May 15, 2014 6:13 am
It was a bit of a funny week in some ways – Patty told me that Cassie and Jenny had been a bit quiet when she saw them on Tuesday, but Cassie certainly seemed more her normal self when I talked to her later in the week.
I guess it passed quickly, because before I realised it Saturday morning had arrived, and I was sitting with Mum and Dad at the breakfast table. Because I was going visiting, and because I was seeing Charlie, I had decided to wear a pair of black jeans and a lone sleeved top under a green t-shirt.
And no, it wasn’t just because I think he’s cute – although he is. Charlie is also a wizard with ropes, and if I was going to end up tied up for at least part of the day, I wanted to have as few marks as possible.
Dad was wearing an old boiler suit – he was planning to do some work in the garden – while Mum had on a blouse and knee length skirt.
“Right,” she said as she finished her hot drink, “We’ll go and pick Patty up, and then I’ll drop you both off at the Williamson house. Go and brush your teeth, and get your coat.”
“Yes, Mum,” I said as I headed upstairs and gave my teeth a really good brushing, before I came back down and put on my black duffle coat. We waved goodbye to Dad before Mum drove me round to Patty’s house.
I stayed in the car while she knocked on Patty’s door, and stood talking to her mother for a few minutes while Patty came and sat in the back with me. She was wearing a pair of denim dungarees over a grey jumper, and a pair of white trainers.
“You thinking the same thing I am,” I said as I looked at her.
“For this morning at least,” Patty giggled as Mum came back to the car and got in. It’s only five minutes from Patty’s house to where her cousins stay, but we stopped on the other side of the road, Mum walking up the front door with us as she rang the doorbell.
It was Mister Williamson who opened the door, and he smiled as he said “Hey – come away in.” He looked tired, but as we came in Mum refused the offer of some coffee, and said “I’ll pick you both up later.”
“See you mum,” I said as she waved, and Mister Williamson closed the door. “The kids are in the front room – why don’t you join them,” he said as he opened the door, and we went in.
Lisa was sitting on the floor, wearing some grey joggers and a sweat shirt, while Charlie had on a white and blue striped polo shirt and shorts. “Hey you two,” he said, “come away in – we’re just watching a Batman cartoon.”
“Which one?” Patty said as she sat next to Lisa, while I sat next to Charlie.
“Mask of the Phantasm – it’s old, but we like it,” he said as he nudged Lisa with his foot. She looked round and said “hi,” before turning round again.
“So what have you been up to,” Patty said as she looked at them.
“OH not much,” Charlie said quietly, “School, homework, kidnapped and held hostage by a gang who nearly killed us – you know, everyday stuff.”
“That’s good,” Patty said, as I gawped at Charlie. She then turned to look at him, and said “What did you just say? Kidnapped and nearly killed.”
“Yup,” Lisa said quietly, “want to hear what happened?”
“You were nearly killed,” I said as I looked at Charlie, “and you’re smiling?”
“Mainly because we’re not dead,” Charlie said, “let me start at the beginning.
“Last Saturday, I was in my room upstairs, working on a poster for the school sports day. I heard Lisa coming up with Cassie…”
“Cassie and Jenny were staying overnight, and I wanted to show Cassie a new dress Mum had bought me,” Lisa said as she turned round. “Anyway, a few minutes after we’d come into our room, I put on a DVD, and we were both watching it when two men burst in. They made us lie face down, used a plastic strip to force our wrists together behind our back, and then stuck brown sticking plaster over our mouths before they marched us out.”
“They got me next,” Charlie said quietly as he picked at his fingernails, “and then we were marched down the stairs and through the kitchen. Mum and Jenny had their wrists secured as well, before we were forced into a van. They followed, and then we were driven off.”
“OH my,” Patty said quietly, “were they wearing masks?”
“Nope,” Lisa said, “anyway, we ended up in some sort of big building, very very tightly bound, but we were able to talk. That’s when Jenny told us she had a special friend who would be able to come to our help.”
“She’s a very brave girl,” Charlie said, “she kept us calm when we thought it was – well, not end well. All three of us – Lisa, me and mum.”
“So who was this friend,” I said as I looked at Charlie. I could see him and Lisa looking at each other, but it was Patty who said “It was Sarah, wasn’t it – the woman who got married a few weeks ago.”
“I don’t know about that,” Charlie said, “but in the end, it was her husband Brian who appeared. We had all been hogtied, and there was a timer slowly counting down in front of all of us.”
“We were literally hogtied, our ankles bent right back and tied to tight ropes around our chest,” Lisa said, “and then he came in. He just seemed to look at the timer and the box attached to it, and then somehow managed to open it and then stop the timer. I was shaking and really really scared – all of us were, even Jenny, but he smiled, took the box away, and then came back and untied all five of us, and led us outside.”
“Wow,” I said quietly, “where was your dad?”
“He was there too – as was Sarah,” Charlie said, “Turned out they’d come together to rescue us – and they did too. That wasn’t the really weird thing, though.”
“What, facing a bomb and unable to move and speak isn’t really weird?”
“Oh that was,” Lisa said, “but it was what happened next. They had a friend called Kayla, who was a doctor. She checked us over, and then brought us all home, staying with us while Mum and Dad talked in the kitchen. We didn’t get a lot of sleep that night – every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing the men staring at us.”
“I’m not surprised,” Patty said in a whisper. “Have you managed to sleep much since then?”
“Yeah – thanks to Sarah. She came to see us the next morning, and we sat in here, in a circle. Sarah held my left hand, and Lisa’s right, and somehow – it felt as if all the fear and scariness just disappeared. We talked about how we all felt, what scared us the most, everything – and all the time Sarah just sat and listened, and nodded.”
“He’s not joking,” Lisa said with a smile, “I was scared of everything, but after talking with Sarah, the next thing I remember was waking up that night, here on the couch, and Mum smiling at us.”
“Sarah has a very special gift.”
We all turned to see Mrs Williamson looking at us from the doorway, smiling as she stood with her arms folded. “Before she talked to you two, she talked to me, and she’s right – it does feel as if all the fear and hate and tension just melts away. Anyway, we’ve been keeping busy all week, but I wanted the two of you to come this morning so that Charlie and Lisa could talk to you.”
“What about Cassie and Jenny,” Patty said.
“Sarah talked to them as well, as did their parents, but they’re fine,” Mrs Williamson said. “Would you like a drink?”
“Yes please,” I said, so she went for a moment, returning with a plate of cookies and four glasses of squash. We sat and watched as the film finished, and then Charlie whispered into my eat “Want to play a game?”
“What sort of game,” I whispered back.
“Kidnap,” he said with a smile as he looked at Lisa and Patty, who were watching the television. I looked at him for a minute, as his smile grew, and then I slowly nodded as we edged forward on the seats.
Lisa seemed to stiffen, and then as Charlie clamped his hand over her mouth she sighed and said “Hrwggnng.”
“What did you saaymmgmgggg,” Patty said as I clamped my hand over her mouth, a big grin over my face as I did so.
“Got you, you little snoops,” Charlie said in a deep voice as I smiled at him.
“Thought you could get away with all the lovely information,” I whispered into Patty’s ear, loving the way she rolled her eyes and mumbled “Whtnffrmshn?”
“We’ll soon find out,” Charlie said as he stood up, Lisa standing with him. I made Patty stand as well, and we walked out of the front room. Mister Williamson saw us and started shaking his head as we took our two captives upstairs, and into Charlie’s room.
“Lie face down on the bed, hands on your heads,” Charlie said as he walked Lisa over to the bed, and I made Patty join her. He then handed me a water pistol and said “Cover them” while he went into his wardrobe and took out a box with rope and other things inside.
Taking a length of rope, he made Lisa cross her wrists behind her back and tied them tightly together, and then crossed and tied her ankles together as well. He then took the gun from me and said “Tie the other little snoop up.”
“Don’t fight me,” I said as I crossed Patty’s wrists behind her back. I’d watched Charlie carefully, and doubled over the rope before using it to tie them together, copying him and taking the rope around and between her arms.
“Have you been practising,” Patty said as she looked over her shoulder, and I tied the ropes off.
“No comment,” was my reply as I crossed and tied her ankles together in the same way. She tried to wriggle them round as Charlie sorted some more ropes out, and then said “Make these two sit back to back on the bed.”
“You heard him,” I said, “sit yourselves up and then back to back.”
I smiled as the two of them managed to roll over, sit up and wriggle round, and then watched as Charlie tied their bodies to each other, the rope going round their waists and stomachs as he pulled them together, and tied it off at their sides. Handing me a length of cord we then tied their legs together below their knees.
“You’ll never get away with this, you fiend,” Lisa called out, but she was smiling a she said it, and I could tell she was enjoying the game.
So was Patty, who was twisting round and enjoying every second of it. I took her glasses off, and put them on the bedside table, before I slowly removed her trainers and socks.
“No – you fiend, you can’t mean to…”
“Yes I can,” I said as I started to tickle the soles of her feet, making her laugh out loud and squirm round.
“Hey, what are you doing to my friend,” Lisa said as she looked over her shoulder, not watching Charlie as he folded a handkerchief up and then tied a knot in one of the old scarves that he had folded into a band.
“Hey, snoop.”
“What is immmmfrrrmmmmmmm” Lisa said as her mouth was stuffed and then the knotted scarf pulled between her lips. Patty could only watch as I stopped tickling her, and then Charlie gagged her in the same way, the two of them trying to talk to each other as we watched them.
“So do you think they’re going to give us any trouble boss,” I said as I looked at Charlie.
“Nah – I think we can leave them to think things over a while,” Charlie said with an evil grin. “Come on – let’s get our stuff and get out of here.”
“Are they going to be all right like that,” I say as we leave the room.
“Yeah they’ll be fine, so long as Patty doesn’t try to stand up,” Charlie said with a smile. “So how do you like being one of the captors?”
“It’s fun,” I said with a big smile. “Pity we can only really play like this this morning.”
“Oh yeah – your two friends who are coming after lunch. We’ll have to see what we can do with them, but right now there’s something I need to do.”
“Oh – what’s that?”
“Take my assistant hostage,” Charlie said as he put his hand over my mouth, and pulled me into Lisa’s room…