I was out walking, when I heard the boys talking. My two brothers and a couple of their friends had gone to their ‘secret hiding place’, aka an old wooden hut in the woods. As far as I could work out, they were drawing up plans for an attack on their arch enemies, or the neighbours’ kids and their friends.
There had been an on-and-off again war going on between the two sets of kids since this summer, when one of them had, uninvited but quite accidentally I’m sure, walked in on a ‘secret meeting’ my brothers and their friends held in the hut.
The neighbours’ boys had been swiftly captured, tied up, and tickle-tortured for quite some time, before being released, vowing loudly to get their revenge. The circle of revenge had now come to the point where tickling wasn’t enough anymore; both sides had resorted to using water in various forms, either poured from a bucket or this time of year, in the form of ice and/or snow inside the clothes.
I slipped closer, and pressed my ear against the wall, so I could hear what they were saying.
Somehow, the zipper of my one-piece ski-suit must have made some kind of noise, because Sam, the brother who was closest to me in age (at sixteen, I’m the oldest of three and the only girl, the boys being fourteen and twelve) came out and found me leaning against the wall. He swiftly grabbed my arm, and dragged me inside.
“I’ve captured myself a spy. And a female one, at that!” he triumphantly said. “She was listening outside, gathering intelligence to send back to our enemies. What shall we do with her, my brothers?”
“Let go of me, you weasel!” I hissed, as much out of sudden and very real anger, as trying to play the role, suddenly being forced upon me. “You won’t get away with this. I’ll tell the authorities about your evil plans, and see to it all of you end up behind bars for the foreseeable future!”
“Oh, we’re so scared! Those are mighty big words coming from a wee lass like yourself!” Sam chuckled. It was true there were four of them, and almost all of them were at least 5 centimetres taller than me, if not more, but then again, I had about 20 kilos of more muscles than any of them, as I worked out a couple of times a week, so I reckoned the scores were almost level.
“Tie her up, and put her in the corner for now.” Peter, my youngest brother suggested. I swiftly found out that having a weight-advantage doesn’t mean a thing, when there are four of them and only one of you.
They soon had me wrestled down on the ground, and while Peter fetched the ropes and gagging-material, the others literally sat on me. Luckily for me he was back soon, and my hands were tied behind my back. He put a golf ball in my mouth, and used my own scarf as a cleave-gag, to hold it in.
He grabbed my arm and led me to a corner, and made me sit down on the floor, with my legs stretched out in front of me. He wound along piece of rope around them, from my knees to my ankles, knotting it off in front, so I was less likely to get at the knot.
Then, they resumed their planning. They mumbled, so I wouldn’t hear what they said, convinced as they were I was an “enemy spy”. To tell you the truth, I didn’t give a toss about their stupid plans; all I wanted to know was, when they were going to let me go!
Suddenly they looked at me, and started giggling.
“Are you feeling lonely? Don’t worry, we’ll soon be back with more prisoners to keep you company.” Peter jokingly said. They put on their hats, snowsuits and mittens and left me alone.
True to his word, Peter and the rest of the gang were soon back, leading two gagged girls who had their hands tied behind their backs. The boys looked a bit worse for wear, so I could safely assume the others hadn’t given up the girls as hostages without a fight.
The girls were made to sit down next to me, and their legs were tied together the same way mine were.
The girls looked to be about my brothers’ age, and terrified.
The boys soon left again, leaving us alone. As soon as they were out the door I started, as best I could, to persuade the others to turn their backs to me, so we could help each other to at least, get our hands free.
It took some doing, as they were very suspicious, but eventually, and with their reluctant help, I managed to get my hands free. I helped the others get their hands free, and soon we were all on our feet, with the ropes and gagging material in a heap on the floor.
“Poor boys,” I giggled. “I almost feel sorry for them. But this ought to teach them, never to leave a group of girls together in the same corner!”
We parted company, and I went home, only to find my brothers stuffing their faces at the dinner table.
“Forget about me, did you?” I asked in a hurt voice, as I sat down to eat.
“Mm, I guess. Sorry ‘bout that!” Sam sheepishly said, with his mouth full of food. “Won’t happen again.”
“It better not, or I’ll join the others for real!”