I’ll never forget the day that I got my letter because it was also the day that I was invited into Sanjay’s home. I should explain that Sanjay and I were once neighbours. Our apartments were both on the same floor, and we crossed paths quite regularly. I lived alone, and Sanjay lived with his three little ones: Ayan, Ananya, and Aadya. For the longest time, I didn’t dare ask what had happened to their mother, but I knew that she wasn’t living with them.
Sanjay and I were always on good terms with one another, more so than any of my other neighbours, I’d say. Sanjay was polite with me, but not “friendly”, if you know what I mean. He always seemed so depressed and overworked. I always wished that I could make him feel better, but was too bashful to really do anything. I’m not going to say that I had a crush or anything, but he definitely wasn’t not cute.
On that fateful Thursday afternoon, Sanjay came running up to me in the hallway, which was fairly unusual of him. Apparently, he had unexpectedly been called to attend a work convention on Friday and was having a lot of trouble finding someone to watch over his children. He said it would be "unhealthy for his career" if he missed the convention.
I had some reservations about that. There were genuinely more important things that I had to do. Did he really not have any relatives around to help with that? Still, this was the first time Sanjay had ever asked anything of me. It was sort of like an opportunity to break through the barrier of small talk and idle chat that had been built between us.
I agreed to help, and I spent that evening obsessing over how I should dress. I wanted to look nice for Sanjay, but also professional for his kids. I wound up picking out a blue short-sleeved peplum top with some dark khakis and my favourite red pumps.
As I was going through my clothes, I came across an anonymous letter. It had a wax seal with a sun stamp on it, and inside was a sheet of gold foil. I was mostly just confused at how it could have gotten mixed in with my wardrobe, but I didn’t think much of it. I was still too engrossed with what I should wear.
Honestly, you’d think that I was going on a first date or something. It seems so ridiculous in retrospect, but what can I say? He really wasn’t not cute!
I arrived at Sanjay’s apartment right at the agreed-upon time wearing the clothes that I had picked out earlier. I decided to put my hair in a low bun, but I couldn’t tell if he liked it or not. He didn’t comment at all, nor did he stick around for long. Apparently, he was in a real hurry, and he said that I could ask Ayan or Ananya if I didn’t know where something was.
Then he was gone. The part of the evening that I was most looking forward to was over before it had even begun.
Not that the rest of the night was bad or anything. The kids were really nice. Ayan and Ananya were nearly old enough to look after themselves and were very well behaved. Aadya was noticeably younger than her two siblings, and she was just the sweetest little thing.
I was happy to say that all four of us really hit it off! Ayan was genuinely funny, Ananya and I shared a lot of similar interests, and Aadya said that my voice was really pretty. Most of the evening went by without any lulls or mishaps. The kids were surprisingly great conversationalists, and we had a lot of fun playing games together.
The only thing that I found odd was that the kids were all wearing these gold rings, which seemed really odd. I’d noticed Sanjay wearing a similar ring before he took off, so I assumed that it was just a thing that his family did. Partway through the night, I noticed that the rings all had suns carved in them, which reminded me of the letter I’d found. I wondered if one of them had put it in there but dismissed the thought right away. What would Sanjay or any of his kids gain from that? Anyways, it was a good night, but all good things must come to an end.
“Alright, children,” I said at the end of a lively round of Carrom. “Your bedtime is coming up soon, so we only have enough time for one more game.”
I was expecting a fuss from them, but they actually went really quiet instead. They all looked to each other as though they were in a non-verbal huddle to decide their next move. They even nodded in a silent agreement before turning back to me.
“Cops and Robbers!”
“Oh, um, okay,” I said, thoughtlessly. “How do you play?”
“It’s simple,” Ananya answered. “We’ll be the robbers, and you be the cop!”
I blinked in confusion. “Um, that doesn’t really clarify--”
“Everyone, take your positions,” Ayan shouted, and they scattered like roaches!
I was left dazed and confused by that. I figured that Sanjay’s children were a bit old to suggest such a game. Not only was I wrong about that, but the kids had started without explaining how the game works. Cops and Robbers is a game that you always hear about but rarely ever play, and when you do play it, everyone uses slightly different rules. I had no idea what I was doing, so I just decided to roll with it and see what happens.
Ayan had dashed into the kitchen/dining room, so I decided to follow him there. He wasn’t in there, but I heard some rustling noises coming from the bedrooms. I headed in that direction, tracking back through the cosy living room on the way there. However, I never made it to the bedrooms.
“Hold it right there, Cop!”
I turned around and saw Aadya standing behind me. She had a white scarf wrapped around her little head like a mask, and he was pointing a small Nerf gun at me with both hands. It was adorable, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Awe,” I said. “A little robber!”
Aadya jerked the gun a little and said, “Hands up, right now!”
I assumed from that that it was a make-believe game rather than some team game with established rules. That was easy enough to play along with, and how could I say no to that little tyke? So, I put my hands up and tried my best not to smile.
“Oh no! Please don’t hurt me, little miss robber!”
She took a step closer and said, “You’re never bringing us in. Get ‘er, gang!”
I was legitimately startled when two pairs of hands grabbed at my arms. I hadn’t seen Ayan and Ananya sneaking up on me, and they caught me by surprise. My hands had been pulled behind my back before I even knew it was them.
“Ah,” I cried. “Oh my! Such sneaky robbers!”
“We’re the best there is,” Aadya boasted. “And you’re our hostage now!”
It was then that I felt the rope coiling around my wrists. I felt my ankles being tied up too, and I got flustered really quick. Where did they get that rope? Should I stop the game right now? There was no way I was letting them tie me up!
I remember telling myself, ‘Relax, Pavani. They’re just kids playing a game. You can escape at any time if you want.’
The thing that got me to calm down was just how loose the ropes felt. I thought that the kids didn’t actually know how to tie me up and it would be easy to escape if I needed to, so I ignored my instincts and went along with it.
“Your hostage,” I repeated? “Oh, dear me! What are you going to do?”
“We’re gonna put the cop in jail and rob the police station,” Aadya declared. “We’ll be rich and famous!”
I looked down and saw Ayan winding what was left of the rope between my ankles, and I could feel Ananya doing something similar with my wrists. Ayan looked up past my legs, undoubtedly looking at Ananya with more of their non-verbal communication. I saw him nod three times, as though he were counting down, and then he pulled hard on the rope. Ananya pulled on the rope between my wrists in perfect sync with her brother, and they both proceeded to tie off their knots in double-time. All of a sudden, those ropes didn’t feel so loose on me.
“Woah,” I yelped. “Easy now, kids.”
Aadya didn’t acknowledge that. “Get on the table. You’re in jail now!”
She was referring to the coffee table between the couch and the TV. We were in a compact living room, and so the table was also compact. In fact, it was barely any wider than the width of my chest and stood level with the cushions of the couch. Ayan and Ananya both grabbed me and helped me to sit on the wooden table, but they weren’t done there. They twisted me around and laid me on my belly. The coffee table was short enough that my shins hung off the end, and it was at that point that I actually started to struggle.
I was too late.
Much to my dismay, I quickly found that I was really tied up. My hands were snugly bound with their palms together, and neither they nor my ankles were coming loose when I pulled at the ropes.
It was time for me to shut everything down. “Alright, that’s enough. Untie me right now!”
Aadya put her gun down and pulled her scarf/mask off. Cool and casually, she said, “That’s not how this works, Policewoman,” while fidgeting with her scarf, tying a knot over and over again near its centre. “You’re our prisoner now.”
Meanwhile, someone grabbed my legs and bent them upwards. I looked behind me to see Ayan pushing my bound feet towards my bum while Ananya took a new rope and lashed it around the one on my wrists.
I could feel an adrenaline rush kicking in. I thought quickly and drew on an old trick that I’d heard about on social media. I spoke in the strongest, soberest tone I could muster and said, “Ayan, Ananya, Aadya, what do you want to happen here?”
I was starting out subtle with them. That trick was supposedly a way of getting people to stop and think about the consequences of their actions. I hoped that from there, I could talk the kids down from whatever it was they were planning.
No such luck. Aadya just continued to calmly tie the scarf over itself, gradually amassing a large knot in the middle. She looked up from her work just long enough to tell me, “I would think that’s obvious by now.”
The older siblings pulled on Ananya’s new rope, and my hands were pulled so close to my feet that I could’ve touched my heels. The pain from that contortion caused me to let out a slow, breathy groan, and Aadya was quick to seize the opportunity.
Before I knew it, that white scarf of hers was in my mouth. More specifically, that big knot she’d tied was forced between my teeth, and it did a good job of filling my mouth and keeping my lips apart. I could feel the others tying a knot off behind my ankles, but I kept my eyes on Aadya. That little girl kept two fingers pressed against my gag as she leaned in close and put a finger over her lips, never breaking eye contact with me.
“Shhhhhh.”
After a second, Ayan reached around my head and grabbed the ends of the gag. He pulled it behind my head and tied it off tight, securing that knot inside of my mouth.
It was a very different feeling, being at the mercy of children. I tried to stretch my legs and found that I couldn’t. My ankles had been tied to my wrists, and it was astounding just how immobile that made me. I felt small and scared, but more than anything, I was embarrassed. Being rendered helpless by mere children was easily the most humiliating thing I’d ever experienced!
“Nice going,” Aadya cheered! “Are we ready to move on?”
“You bet,” Ayan answered. “Go get the stuff while I keep watch.”
The girls scampered away, and I was left alone with Ayan. He removed his mask and looked down on me. I was bigger and taller than him, but it sure didn’t seem that way from on top of his coffee table.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You’re not gonna like what happens next, but it’s for the best.”
If he wanted to make me feel safe, he sure failed. I wriggled against my bonds and said, “Hmthm mn! Hmthm mn ht whmph!
*Untie me! Untie me at once!
“Hehehe! Her voice is even prettier with a gag!”
That was Aadya. She and Ananya had returned with a shopping bag full of stuff that I couldn’t get a good look at. They tossed it onto the couch nearby, but not before Ananya drew a pair of scissors from the bag.
“Nm! Chhtlmn, nm!” *No! Ananya, no!
I shook my head wildly and tried to sound as threatening as I could, but that was easier said than done with a gag in my mouth. Ananya stood there with the scissors, looking me up and down before saying, “Y’know, I get what you were going for with that peplum top. It’s nice and all, but it’s not as flattering as you think it is.”
She knelt next to me and opened up the scissors. “You’ve got a good waistline. Show it off!”
“NHHHMN!” *NOOOO!
She pulled my blue top away from my skin and punctured the scissor’s blade through the fabric. She then proceeded to cut across my back. That little brat was cutting my peplum shirt along the middle, taking the bottom skirt half right off!
“HHW DHRR YMN!? YHRR HLM MN BHHG TRRHMBL!” *HOW DARE YOU!? YOU’RE ALL IN BIG TROUBLE!”
I screamed at them until I was blue in the face, but they weren’t phased in the slightest. They worked together like a well-oiled machine with Ayan and Aadya rolling me over and holding me while Ananya snipped away at my shirt. I was going to wear that on my first day of work, but she'd gone and turned it into a crop top!
Ananya finished her trim, and I was placed back on my belly. “That went really well,” she said. “But I think she can still move around too much. She needs to hold still before we move on.”
“You let us handle that,” Ayan said with a devious smirk.
“Yeah,” Aadya jumped with excitement. “Let me use the ropes!”
They ran behind me, and I tried to follow them, but Ananya knelt in front of me and grabbed my head. “Hey, look at me,” she said softly.
She didn’t say anything after that, and I realized eventually that she was examining me, for what, I didn’t know, but it made me really uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Ayan kept me pinned down so that Aadya could work her ropes without resistance. I was amazed at how strong that boy was. There was virtually nothing I could do to prevent those twerps from tying up my legs above the knees.
They moved on to my elbows next, which made my eyes go wide and my voice rise by a few octaves. I had never even tried to put my elbows together behind my back before. I didn’t know that was a thing that people could do, and yet Ayan was able to get my elbows damn near in contact with each other while his little sister looped some rope above them.
“Oh boy are you flexible,” Aadya said. “She’s perfect!”
She wrapped the rope above my elbows before running the remaining length around my shoulders, behind my neck, and back. I didn’t know why they included it, but by the pressure it exerted on my skin, that shoulder harness must have been doing something. I was surprised when they were able to legitimately tie my hands, but this was some next-level stuff! Where the heck did children learn to tie ropes like that?!
“Not bad,” Ananya commented. “I also need her to keep her head still though.”
“Can do,” Ayan answered with enthusiasm.
I didn’t know what to expect, but I sure wasn’t expecting what happened next. He actually untied my gag! I promptly tried to spit it out, but before it was fully ejected, Ananya shot her hand up and pushed it back in.
“Tut tut,” she cooed. “You’re much better off with this in there.”
She kept the oversized knot pressed in my mouth while her siblings fiddled with the ends of the gag. I couldn’t see what they were doing, but I found out right away.
“MMMN!”
I groaned with surprise and discomfort as my head was forcibly pulled back. It was pulled up until my chest nearly rose off the table, and it was there that I stayed. When I tried to bring my head down, I felt something pull on my legs, and when I tried to pull my feet back, they pulled my head with them. Those monsters had connected my gag to my ankles! I don’t know if they extended it with scarves or rope or whatever, but I was stuck!
“Satisfied now,” Ayan asked?
Ananya smiled. “Let’s test it out and see…”
She stepped behind me, and I heard Aadya giggling. I was nervous, to say the least, and I couldn’t even turn my head to see what they were up to. And that’s when I felt them pulling my shoes off.
Something very cold and very wet was pressed into my bare soles, causing me to shriek. I recognized it as an ice cube, which was torture since I have really sensitive feet. Those kids put me through hell, running that ice cube over my exposed feet until water dripped between my toes. I tried to get away and quickly found that that simply wasn’t an option. No matter which way I squirmed, the ropes held me firmly in place. I suppose I could have rolled off of the table but seeing as how that fall would be painful and accomplish absolutely nothing, I decided against it. Although, they did get me desperate enough to consider otherwise.
“That’s enough. It’s all melted,” I heard Ananya say. “That’s a really nice hogtie we’ve made.”
“She looks great in it,” Aadya cheered!
“Yeah, ‘great’ is one thing,” Ayan commented. “But ‘amazing’ would be better.”
Ananya knelt in front of me, bearing a wide, playful smile. “You let me handle that…”
She reached into that shopping bag she’d left on the couch and withdrew a pair of tweezers with a built-in light. The only thing she said to me was “stay calm”, and then she started plucking at my eyebrows. I grunted and protested, but she just shushed me every time. This went on until she made a satisfied nod and put the tweezers away. Unfortunately, she came back with something else.
The girl was now brandishing an eyeliner pencil. Is that really what this was all about? Did they seriously tie me up just so that they could put makeup on me?! There were a million better ways that they could have gone about that! Or did those brats just get a kick out of the fact that I couldn’t resist them? Was their goal to simply make me into their helpless model that they could do whatever they want with?
A whole new wave of embarrassment washed over me at the thought of that. Not only had I been rendered helpless by mere children, but they had turned me into their doll. They had subdued me to the point where they controlled not only what I could do, but how I should look as well.
Ananya drew some lines over my eyelids before plumping up my lashes with some mascara. She then brought out a lip pencil and began tracing around my mouth. The gag was pulled so tightly into my mouth that she had full access to my lips, and she easily traced them out before moving on to the tube itself. I always used to prefer nude lipstick, so the mauve colour that she picked definitely wouldn’t have been my first choice.
She was apparently satisfied with how my face looked after that because once she was done with the lipstick, she turned her focus to my hair and undid my bun. It was then that I really felt less than human. I was truly her doll! Ananya completely ignored my garbled pleas as she lifted up my hair and started backcombing my roots. She gave my hair a quick spray before hiding her backcombs and gently fixing it all up with a brush, allowing my hair to fall freely over my gag.
“Viola,” she announced, breaking her silence at long last.
The others examined her work. Aadya said, “Awe! She’s so cute!” and Ayan said, “Now that looks amazing!”
The last thing that Ananya drew from the bag was a handheld mirror, which she held up for me to observe.
“See,” she asked? “Can I style, or what?”
I was understandably in no mood to agree with her, but the changes were obvious. My natural look had been replaced with a much louder style, and voluminous long hair now flowed where a modest bun had been before. I was mostly just fixated on how distressed and ridiculous I looked with a gag in my mouth.
“I mean, seriously,” Ananya continued. “You’ve got great hair! Why wouldn’t you let it hang loose?”
I snarled at them. Like, literally snarled. Regardless of whether or not someone their age had any right telling me how to look, regardless of whether or not they were even right about what looked better, they had no business tying me up as they did! There was no way they deserved anything other than fury from me.
“She sure looks mad,” Aadya commented.
“Of course, she is,” Ananya replied. “But she’ll be thanking us later.”
“We did good,” Ayan said. “It’s time to pack it in.”
Pack it in? The others nodded without saying a word and gathered up all the cosmetic stuff they’d brought in. They weren’t seriously going to leave me like this, were they?!
Panic set in. Failing to look after the children was one thing, but for Sanjay of all people to come home and find me like that!? I could die of embarrassment (and I’d gladly welcome death in that situation). My sinking fear seemed to be validated as the kids all left the room. The only acknowledgement I got at all was a playful wave goodbye from Aadya. My mind immediately went to a place of denial. ‘It’s a joke. It’s gotta be!”
I heard the doors to the kids' bedrooms bang shut, and then there was silence.
“Hmkhy, vhrry fhnny, khhdf. Yhh chn lht mn gh nhm. Mymn? Ahdymmmn???” *Okay, very funny, kids. You can let me go now. Ayan? Aadya???
No response. They had really left me there! My mind started racing with all of these horrible possibilities of what could happen, and I started struggling more frantically than ever. As it turned out, those ropes didn’t care how hard I struggled. I pulled and wiggled in every way that I could, but nothing even started to come loose. It was unreal just how effectively those kids had tied me up!
I was so stuck that my skeleton started to give way long before the ropes did. My neck, my shoulders, and my back all started to get really sore, so much so that it felt like I would break myself if I kept struggling. All I could do was teeter on that coffee table and wait for Sanjay to find me.
There were no clocks that I could see, but I knew that it was late, so he wouldn’t be long at all. Still, it felt like an aeon went by before I heard a door knock. There was a pause. Sanjay was waiting for me to unlock the door for him. I tried calling out to him, but I guess he didn’t hear me. Eventually, he unlocked the door himself, and I heard him enter the dining room.
“Snnjmm,” I moaned meekly, hoping that he would investigate. *Sanjay?
No answer. I heard him hanging his coat and curiously calling my name. He had no idea what had happened. I still didn’t want to be seen like that, but my aching joints were getting the best of me, and I ran out of patience.
“SNNJMM! HLLP MNN!” *SANJAY! HELP ME!
I heard some fast, heavy footsteps and saw Sanjay’s alert face peek around the corner. We locked eyes, and my humiliation peaked.
He sighed and rubbed his brow. “Oh my God, KIIIDS!”
No one answered his angry call but me. I cried into my gag, begging him to help. That got his attention, and he shifted his focus to taking care of me first. He removed my gag and worriedly asked, “Are you okay? Are you alright?”
“No,” I said between coughs.
He undid my elbow bondage next (which was SO relieving) and said, “I am so sorry about this. Rest assured that I am going to set those kids straight!”
“They’ll need a therapist for that,” I cried. “This place is insane! Get me out of here!”
“Relax,” he said. “I’ll have you out right away!”
“RELAX,” I repeated?! “They tied me up! They tortured my feet! They…”
A lump formed in my throat, and I suddenly didn’t want to talk to anyone. Luckily, Sanjay had just gotten my wrists and ankles free, and I instantly sprung off the table, tore the rest of the ropes off, and bolted for the door.
“Wait,” Sanjay called out! He followed me out into the hallway. “It’s not what it looks like!”
I spun on him. “You’re defending them?!”
“No. What they did was awful,” he said with these big puppy dog eyes. “I just don’t want you to hate us.”
I hesitated. I hesitated long enough for him to explain himself. “They lost their mother some time ago, and I’ve only recently started looking for a new partner. They really want a new mom, so they try to set me up with people that they like. They gave you that pretty makeover because they like you, and they want me to like you too.”
I shook my head. “That’s no excuse. You’d better teach those kids how to make friends because there was NO NEED to tie me up.”
“That’s the thing,” Sanjay responded, quivering with embarrassment. “They wanted to make you more attractive to me, and they know that I um… I like it when…”
He actually seemed more embarrassed than me for a moment. I thought about what he was trying to say, and when I realised it, my jaw hit the floor.
It was my alarm clock that woke me up. I suddenly found myself enveloped in toasty bedsheets, and quickly realised that I had been dreaming. I let out the biggest sigh, and a gargantuan weight was lifted off my chest. None of it was real! I hadn’t just experienced the worst night of my life!
I’m not one of those people who thinks that dreams are magic or anything. Nine times out of ten, I’ll have completely forgotten about my dreams by the time I’ve finished breakfast, but this one was different. I couldn’t take my mind off it.
I didn’t consider it a premonition or anything – that would be silly – but there were some parts of the dream that it wouldn’t hurt to consider. The first thing I did was re-evaluate the clothes I had chosen. I remember looking myself in the mirror with the peplum shirt and saying, “They’re right. This isn’t all that flattering.”
I didn’t even own a crop top like the one I wound up with in the dream, but I did have a more form-fitting shirt that I looked great in. From there I figured that if the dream had been right about my clothes, maybe it was right about my style. I went to a salon and got my hair done just like in the dream (only, with much more comfortable treatment) and it also looked really good. That was also the day that I bought my first tube of mauve lipstick, which I wear often nowadays.
With my hot new look, I went to Sanjay’s place early and had a very different interaction with him. My early arrival gave us time to talk for a minute and get to know each other better. We didn’t flirt or anything (that wouldn’t come until later) but we got along very nicely before he had to leave. I even caught him staring a couple of times.
As for the kids, they were great. We had a nice night, and we all got along well. There was no bondage, and no Cops & Robbers (we played Mario Party). At one point, Ananya complimented my look and asked if I could show her some tricks. I thought that was hilariously ironic, but no one understood why I was laughing.
Lastly, regarding Sanjay’s supposed kink from the dream: Of course, I didn’t test it out that night! I mean, give me a break! That being said, I did make a point of posing with my hands behind my back when he was watching. Did that help at all? Well, judging by how things have turned out with us, I’d say that it didn’t not help.
