A Childhood Memory
By: Sean
I believe most of you will quickly realize that I am not Jennifer. She asked Canuck last summer for permission for me to use her account here. He approved it, but I haven't really had time to write anything. My work took me overseas for the last few months. The internet there was limited and I didn't want to post anything here on my work computer. I got back about 3 weeks ago and the holidays are now over. So, I thought I would share a story now that I have some time to sit down and write one. I don't have the same skill at writing my sister has. Also, I don't have nearly as many stories. As I didn't keep a diary about them growing up. I do have a few to share and I think I will start with this one.
My sister refers to me as Sean in her stories. I will be going with her naming conventions here. So, if you know me elsewhere on the internet from other postings. I would appreciate it if you would keep them to yourself. This story took place when I was 11 years old. It was a weekend in late fall, though I don't remember if it was late October or early November. Here we go.
I awoke that Saturday to the sound of footsteps descending the basement stairs to where I was being held. My eyes opened slowly as they tried to adjust to the dim light while I was sitting up. Mary hadn't turned on the basement lights yet. All the illumination I had was coming through the early rays of the sun penetrating a few small windows scattered around the room. At this time in our lives I was positioned in what served as our basement laundry room. It was the first open space after you rounded the corner coming down our stairs.
The room itself was surrounded by dull grey cinder block walls. It had an open cement floor bare and was probably 20 feet square. Across from my current position was a door that led to a room that served us as a play room growing up. A 15 foot wall jutted out separating the laundry room from a cellar where my mother stored canned fruits and vegetables. There was a 3 foot wide hallway around that corner with a door on the right entering the root cellar. At the end of the hallway was another room that housed our furnace, hot water heater and served as a general junk storage room. Back along the wall situated in the corner was where my cage was located.
Now, I want you all to put the first ideas you drew out of your heads. Normally, I shared a room with my younger brother Scott on the first floor of the house. This Saturday morning was a little different and I was trying an experiment. The cage itself was 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and about 3 feet high. These dimensions are just a good guess. I was about 5 foot tall at the time and I could lay all the way down with room to spare. It was a crate really, made of a wire mesh set of bars separated into 3 inch squares. It had a metal floor and a metal ceiling. The front door to it opened with a simple latch. Mary had fitted it with a combination lock as well. I didn't know the combination.
Our dog had been hit by a car two years prior. We had never replaced her. But my parents being the pack rats they were never really threw anything away. So, the crate remained behind and I had thought to use it in one of our games for something different. My mother was absent. She had taken Scott and Jennifer to see my aunt as she often did on the weekends. She had left on Friday rather than Saturday to beat the snow. My father was out on the road. So, that left us with a perfect time frame to test this idea that had been in my head for some time. I wondered what it would be like to spend a whole weekend locked inside of it. At least until my mother came home on Sunday afternoon.
Mary knelt at the door to the box and began spinning the dial on the lock. She worked through the combination in about 20 seconds and I heard it click releasing the lock. She opened the door and set a plate on the floor of the crate along with a fork and two cups.
"It's a little after 7." She began.
I sat up groggily and began to untangle myself from the sleeping bag.
"Well, how did you sleep?" She asked.
"Alright I guess." I replied sorting my hands out of the tangle and lifting them over my head to yawn.
"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Her second question was direct and to the point. I shook my head no. "All righty, then you should eat it while it's hot. I put salt and pepper on them already and grape jelly just the way you like it. The red one is orange juice and the green one is milk. Just ring the bell if you need to use the bathroom or anything else." My sister explained as she closed the cage door and set the padlock back in place.
I looked down at the plate of food and the two cups at the end of the cage.
"Really, what am I 5?" I asked looking at her.
"No, but you are handcuffed and I don't feel like driving to the laundry mat in this snow to wash a sleeping bag." She replied before she turned and left me on my own.
I watched as my sister turned and retreated up the basement steps back towards the kitchen. I heard the basement door close behind her leaving me alone in the basement. I took another minute to collect my sense and a let my eyes adjust to the dim light around the room before I finished extricating myself from the sleeping bag. When I was younger I wore my brown hair longer. Not in nearly as a girl, but I had about 2 to 2 and a half inches. I parted it out of my eyes and straightened it as best I could without a comb and the hand handcuffs. I was dressed in a fleece sleep suit similar to the ones my sister favors in her stories. I was born in the late 70's and footed pajamas were more in fashion back then for both boys and girls. This particular set was dark blue in color with a zipper that went down to my waist. The sleeves had the ribbon style cuffs and the legs ended in pajama feet with the white vinyl bottoms and toe caps. Mary had insisted I wear them as the basement was colder than the rest of the house. She didn't want me getting sick on her watch.
I had a pair of metal handcuffs around my wrists. They were the real deal, not toy ones with the little safety buttons. My father had purchased a set for both my sister and myself at a flea market after some finagling. We each had two sets of keys for them and my mother kept a spare set in the kitchen drawer that were not to leave it for emergencies. At current both sets were in use in my current situation. The first set was locked around my wrists in front of me. The second was around my ankles. This limited my movements quite a bit and added a more confined feeling to my situation.
I worked my way across the small space and made my way over to where Mary had left the food. I took a moment to work myself into a sitting position Indian style. As much as the cuffs on my ankles would allow. Then I lifted the plate onto my lap and stared eating. Mary had fixed me 3 or 4 scrambled eggs with salt and pepper. Two slices of wheat toast with grape jelly and some bacon. I know it's weird that I remember what I had for breakfast 30 some odd years ago. But, I ate the same thing every morning from the time I was 5 until I was a teenager. Also, my sister was an amazing cook and always managed to get everything right.
Mary and I had been playing tie up ever since I can remember and probably before. I don't remember exactly how it all started. I will have to ask my sister if I remember to. My mother was all right with it. Though she preferred we keep it away from my younger siblings. So, most of the episodes happened when she was away from the house visiting my aunt on the weekends. Given the relative difference in our ages Scott and Jennifer were 6 and 5 respectively at the time of this occurrence. They both had seen our little undertakings and even participated a few times. But not to the extent that Mary and I did. It was a rare occurrence that a week went by where one or usually both of us got tied. Mary had taught me a lot about how to tie knots and I was becoming a regular expert. I had been since I was 9 years old.
I released my fork and reached over for the green cup to get some milk to wash down the current bite of food. It was a taller plastic cup. My sister had put one of the Tupperware Sippy tops on it. My mother had plenty of them in the cupboard. Jennifer still preferred them on her beverages over a normal glass. I was a little perturbed by her using them with me at my age. But her argument made sense. She didn't want to have to clean up a large mess. The milk was slightly warmed and contained some strawberry Hershey mix. I had to give it to Mary she knew what I liked. I downed about a third of the glass in one draw. Then I went back to eating my breakfast.
I took my time and enjoyed it. After all given my current situation, all I had was time. After about half an hour I concluded the meal. I still had about half the orange juice left. I set the cup in the back corner of the small cell next to the water bottle my sister had gotten me the night before. I worked my way back and tucked the lower half of myself back into the sleeping bag. It was colder down here than I had anticipated. Probably the low to mid 50's (12 to 13 Celsius) which, was comfortable, but a little chilly for just pajamas.
Mary hadn't left me without amusements. I had a 5 pound bucket of Legos in one corner of the small cage and a chapter book I was about half way through. I don't remember what it was. I opened the book and looked down at it. There was sufficient light coming through the window for me to read by. I stared down at the words and started delving into the story. I spent the next hour or so making my way through a two chapters. I stopped a page short of finishing and marked my place with a small piece of paper. I worked my way across the crate and picked up the bell that was laying there. I needed to summon my sister as my bladder was catching up with me.
I began swinging the bell back and forth pairing it with some shouting. My efforts were quickly rewarded. I heard footsteps making their way across the kitchen floor towards the door to the basement steps a minute later. I was certain Mary had heard me. So, I sat the bell down and waited for her to come. A moment later she appeared around the corner of the steps looking down at me.
I am going to break this story here for now. The next part is longer than I want to write at the moment. Comments are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for reading and I will hopefully post again soon.
"I need to use the bathroom." I stated.
Mary reached down and spun the combination lock on the door to the dog crate. It clicked open a second later and she gestured for me to exit. My sister took a second and unlocked the cuffs on my ankles. She tossed them into the crate and helped me reach my feet. The closest bathroom was up the steps, across the kitchen and down the hallway. It would have taken me half an hour to walk that far with 3 inches of chain between my ankles if I could make it at all. I went up the steps and through down the hallway towards the door with Mary in tow.
"Do you want me to take the handcuffs off as well?" She asked looking at me.
I nodded and raised my wrists up. A moment later I was freed completely and bolted into the bathroom. I spent the next half hour in there doing my business, washing my hands, brushing my teeth and straightening up my bead head. I exited the restroom and found my sister to be absent from both the hallway and the kitchen. I crossed the kitchen into the living room and located her sitting on the couch. She was already dressed for the day in jeans and a sweatshirt. She had the television on fairly loudly and surprisingly was watching the flint stones. I walked over to where she was sitting and plopped down next to her on the sofa. She looked at me briefly and shifted her attention back to the television. The episode was already half over and apparently she intended to finish it before doing anything else.
"All set?" She asked. I nodded back. "Do you want to head back downstairs or do you want to watch TV?" She said looking over at me. "I am not dragging a set down the stairs for you." Mary finished explaining.
The upper floor of the house was warmer and more comfortable in temperature than my previous accommodations had been. Bugs Bunny was coming on next, but I decided not to get too comfortable with my surroundings. After all, I had put some thought into this experiment. I wanted to see it through. I could always change my mind later on.
"I guess, I will go back down stairs. But first I think I would like to change" I replied to her question.
"Sounds like a plan. I'll meet you down the basement in about 15 minutes then." Mary replied.
With that said I left the living room and headed for the room I shared with my brother Scott. The pajamas were comfortable, but I wanted something a little bit warmer for what I had in mind next. I opened the top of my dresser and withdrew an outfit. I settled on some grey sweat pants, a long sleeve flannel shirt and some grey wool socks. I slipped out of the pajamas and changed into the clothes I had picked out. Once that was done, I grabbed a blue hooded sweatshirt and pulled it on overtop of the flannel shirt. The whole process took about 10 minutes. Once I was done, I headed back down the basement to the crate to wait for Mary. I didn't have to wait long, she was down about 3 minutes after I got there. She probably came during a commercial.
Mary came down the stairs and stopped at the door of the small cage. She knelt down and gestured for me to come over to where she was.
"All right, let's get these back on." She said holding up the pair of handcuffs I had left upstairs earlier.
"Actually, I was wondering if you could use some rope and tie me instead." I asked.
"Sure, we could do that if you want." Mary replied. She left to the basement for a few minutes and came back down carrying a small bag. It contained quite a few coils of the white clothes line that got used in our game. "So, how do you want me to do this?"
"Could you hogtie me so I cannot move around at all?" I requested.
"That's not a good idea since I won't be down here to keep an eye on you." My older sister explained. "But if you just don't want to be able to move at all. I can do that. Come over here."
Mary walked down the side of the crate towards the back of it. The cage was situated back in a corner of the room about 6 inches away from the walls. She was on the longer side of it opposite the wall and away from the door. I crawled over to where she was.
"Sean, turn around and sit with your back against the cage." I did as she instructed. "Good now let me have your arms."
Mary continued to give me instructions about what she wanted me to do. I am going to omit a lot of dialogue here. The end result is what most people are interested in. The cage was made of a wire mesh on the walls. There were squares about 3 inches wide. This was more than enough I could get an arm through. Mary had me lean forward and raise my arms. After that I leaned back and brought both of my arms through separate squares just below armpit level for me. Once my back was against the cage and my arms were dangling outside of it. My sister drew my wrists together and crossed them. Then she took a 12 foot piece of clothes line and started to bind them behind my back crisscross outside the cage.
Mary made about 7 or 8 horizontal wraps and use the remainder of the rope to cinch the tie vertically. She tied it off with a knot on top. Once my hands were tied Mary took a second piece of rope. This one was a few feet longer than the one binding my wrists. She threaded it through the bars and under my armpits. My sister ran one strand across the front and pulled it out the other side. Then she took each of the rope and looped it once from that point up over my shoulder on each side. She wrapped it around over the shoulder and back out of the cage. This formed a loop around each of my shoulder and across the front of my chest. She pulled the end together than tied a knot outside the cage. This pinned my shoulders and upper body tight against the back was of the crate.
Next Mary dropped the ends of that rope down and looped them around my wrists once. She looped them around one of the cage bars. With a quick knot this locked my hands to the crate wall on the outside. Mary collected another two coils of rope and headed into the crate where I was sitting tied securely against the wall. My sister took the two ends of the rope she had just tied me with. Finally, she wrapped them around my waist and tied another knot inside the cage. Then Mary began to uncoil the other two pieces of rope. They were about the same length as the one she had used to bind my hands.
I began to squirm and test the ropes at this point. Aside from turning my head and wiggling my fingers I was immobilized. The rope pinned me to the wall of the crate and made it impossible for me to move my arms. Meanwhile, my sister was wrapping my ankles. She made about 5 or 6 passes. Then she cinched it off leaving a short tail of rope after tying the knot. She repeated the tie higher up my legs just above my knees. Finally, Mary took the tail she left on my feet and tied it off to the opposite wall of the cage. This pulled my legs snug and left me with pretty much no movement at all. With that done she exited the cage and closed the door. Mary secured the door with the latch, but left the combination lock off.
"You're pretty confident." I said to her.
"You won't be getting out of that." She replied back. Mary collected the bell and walked it over to where my hands were outside of the crate. She set it on the ground. "If you need me ring the bell and I will be down."
I reached over and demonstrated I could grasp the bell with my hand tied where they were. With that my sister stood up. The she started up the stairs leaving me to struggle. When I heard the door to the basement close I began working on my situation. The ropes were tight and unyielding to my initial efforts. I twisted my wrists against them in several different directions. But, nothing seemed to work, my arms stayed connected outside of the box. After 10 minutes of trying I relaxed my efforts on my hands and instead tried my legs. They were also pretty much stuck. Even if I managed to free them, it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. The main rope that was proving troublesome was the one around my torso. It pinned my upper body back against the wall of the cage. I couldn't lean forward at all and this made it impossible to see the ropes binding my wrists.
The overall tie was pretty simple, but it was extremely effective at minimizing my movements. I resumed my struggles for a few more minutes, but the result was the same. It wouldn't have mattered if Mary had left a steak knife on my lap. I wouldn't have been able to reach it. After half an hour I finally wore myself out and just relaxed. The ropes around my upper body took up my weight when I rested. They supported me against the wall of the cage. I could move my legs back and forth a little. I could also turn my head slightly from side to side, but that was the extent of my available movement. I finally just gave up and sat there.
There was no getting free from this without Mary's help. Either that or some form of divine intervention. Either way, my only options were to either ring the bell or wait for something external to my situation to happen. I know most of the readers on this site have been tied up at some point in their lives. So, they can probably relate to my situation. Being tied up exerts a combination both excitement and boredom at the same time. It's quite interesting losing your control over the most basic aspect of your life not being able to move. At the same time, it also gets pretty dull staring at a brick wall for an hour with nothing else to do. Time seems to slow down and your attention draws to some mundane and pointless task. In my case I was counting the number of bricks I could see from where I was sitting. I also gave the ropes a few tugs every couple of minutes to remind myself that I was tied securely.
As the time drew forward it seemed to push onwards for an eternity. I do remember being restrained always helped me relax. This was both when I was growing up and into adult hood. Finally, I heard a change in my environment. The door to the basement opened. I felt like I had been forgotten and that my mother was home from visiting my aunt. I renewed my struggles to make a last ditch effort from getting discovered. It just turned out to be my sister coming down the stairs with a laundry basket. I listened to Mary open the top of the machine and dump the contents of the basket in. I heard a pouring sound followed by a few clicks. Then the machine whirled to life. The new sound of the agitator broke the silence I had been experiencing for the duration of my current captivity.
Mary came over and checked on me briefly. She knelt down and tested my ropes. They were still quite secure just as she had left me. Not hearing a complaint register from me she turned and went back up the stairs. It felt like I had been down here for a whole day. In actuality, I had been tied up for about 50 minutes at this point. I listened in the background to the washing machine. It proved an effective distraction from my boredom with my current situation. It hummed and whirled briefly pausing to switch cycles. I didn't do laundry at this point in my life. It was normally handled by either my mother or older sister. I learned quite a bit about the washing machine that morning. Despite not being able to see it. It went through an initial filling phase. Then it agitated and washed the clothes. Next it drained and refilled. Finally it went through a rinse cycle.
I listened intently with the purpose to find a greater understanding about how laundry worked. There wasn't much else to do given how I was tied up. With the machine in the background, the next 40 minutes went by much faster than the first term of my captivity. I heard a ding on the machine and everything came to a sudden stop. The next sound that followed was the water draining from the machine for the final time. This was followed a few minutes later by footsteps descending into the basement again. I had been so fascinated by the whole ordeal that I hadn't bother to attempt and free myself during the ordeal. Mary took another few minutes and switched the load from the washer into the dryer. I could tell what she was doing. But, the ropes around my upper body prevented me from turning my head enough to see. I heard a quick click and then the dryer hummed to life.
Mary made her way across the basement to where I was and knelt down behind me. I expected her to inspect the ropes again and depart. Instead, I felt the bindings on my wrists loosen. She was working the ropes loose and uncoiling them freeing my hands. I turned my head as far as I could to address her.
"You don't have to let me go yet. I haven't had much of a chance to escape." I explained as she pulled the last coil free of my wrists.
"You've been tied up for almost two hours. I think it's time we untangle you and get some lunch." My sister replied.
Once my hands were free I began trying to pull them back inside the cage. To my surprise, I wasn't able to accomplish the task because of how the rope around my upper body held me. Mary opened the door to the crate and entered. She undid the simple square knot securing the whole binding at my waist and untangled me from the wall in about 15 seconds.
"I'll let you get your own legs. Lunch should be ready in a few minutes. Come upstairs and eat when you're ready." Mary ordered.
It took me another 5 minutes to untie my feet and make my way upstairs. Mary had cooked up some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and made a pot of chicken noodle soup as well. I spent my first 5 minutes at the dinner table rubbing my wrists. I had been careful to make sure I had two layers of cloth between my hands and the ropes. But there were still some marks from the bindings. Nothing I hadn't experienced before. They would be gone in an hour. Mary served up lunch and we started to eat. It was warmer on the main floor of the house. The food was also a welcome dose of warmth from the situation I had just exited.
I know most of you are expecting a rather long and drawn out conclusion to this experience. Unfortunately you will be disappointed with me. After lunch I decided to take a break from being held captive. I went and played video games for two hours. By the time came that I wanted to head back to continue the experiment. Mary had already collected the sleeping bag and the rest of my stuff from the basement. She thought that I had lost interest in the idea of continuing. When I brought it back up she suggested we try it again another weekend. She didn't want to know how my mother would react to finding me down there if she came early on Sunday. So, we dropped it and that was the end of the experience for that weekend.
I spent part of the afternoon with handcuffs on in front of me. But, that isn't much of a story to speculate on so I will end this little anecdote here. I apologize it took me so long to get part two of this posted. I have begun writing another story for this site. I have been wanting to do it for some time. Jennifer and I are going to share an experience and a longer tale from a couple of different perspectives. The first part of it should be posted sometime early next week. I have a few pages already composed. Jennifer is working on the rest.
I know I should probably get my own account for the board. But, it really doesn't matter. Jennifer always post here from my house. She doesn't want her kids accidentally going onto the site at their age. So, I think we will just stick with sharing her account for the time being. Thanks for reading everyone. Comments, questions and feedback is always welcome.
Sean : A Childhood Memory (f/m)
Moderator: Archiver
It's too bad Sean and Jennifer don't post stories anymore, they were great!