The cave in the forest ff/mm

[lasse672000]

It was a very warm and humid summer's afternoon, but now, the storm clouds were beginning to gather. Four teenage siblings, two boys and two girls, were out walking in the forest, and had been for a couple of hours. They were all similarly dressed, in red and blue chequered shirts, denim shorts, socks and hiker boots, but the girls had their hands tied together behind their backs, and were tethered together by a rope tied around their waists. They were also securely gagged by having their mouths filled almost to capacity by linen strips and bandanas tied around their heads to keep the stuffing in place.

"Looks like there's a cave or something up ahead!" Tim said, pointing towards the hills in front of them. "Let's try and get to it, before the storm gets here. We sure won't make it back home!" The others agreed.
He was right, because as soon as had they arrived the storm broke.
"It actually looks kind of cosy in here," Andy noted, "but it looks like there's been other people living here, not too long ago." He pointed to what looked like carved-out niches in the walls, and a fire-place in the middle of the floor. Water was trickling down the wall, gathering in a small pool.
"I hope they won't return any time soon!" Tim remarked.
"I'm pretty sure they won't!" Andy showed him a yellow page from a 100-year old newspaper. Then he turned to the girls. "Now girls, do you want us to untie you while we're stuck here? We'll of course tie your hands back together again, before we go back home, no matter what."
Lucy and Andrea looked at each other for a second or two, before shaking their heads.
"O.K, suit yourselves, but I bet you're thirsty after having all that fabric in your mouths all this time." While Tim got a scoop from one of their back packs, and filled it with water from the pool, Andy took the gags out of their mouths.
"Ah, that's better!" Lucy sighed after having swallowed a large sip.
"Much better!" Andrea agreed."I wonder who lived here all those years ago, and for how long?"
"The answer to your first question is quite easy. Judging by this," Andy pointed to the newspaper, "I suppose it must have been a modern-day Jesse James and his gang, hiding from the law. It says here the sheriff back then was real mad they hadn't been caught yet, but I guess, eventually they were." Having read more, he whistled. "Boy; the list of things they supposedly stole just goes on and on!"
"I wonder if there's anything left?" Lucy thoughtfully said. "Wanna go for a little nose around?"
"Yea, sure!"

"Are you sure it's safe letting them wander around by themselves? With their hands being tied together and all, I mean." Tim whispered, and looked at the girls walking aimlessly around the cave.
"No, not at all; we both know they can be reckless at times, but they're no Daredevils, and will call for us as soon as they realize they need our help."
As if on cue, Andrea hollered.
"HEY! There are some big boxes stowed away in the back. Could you come and help us get them out?"
"Sure. Just a sec!"

There were actually two wooden boxes, and the boys had to work hard to get them open. But was worth the sweat, blood and bad language, because when the lids finally came away, they saw the boxes were filled with chains and cuffs, of all shapes and sizes. There were even a section for pad locks and keys. Beneath all that were compartments for guns and ammunition.
"I wonder who left these here? They look brand new, almost?" Lucy said.
"We did, and they look new because they are!" a voice said behind them. When they turned, they saw two men standing behind them.
"Sheriff Jones and deputy Harris, at your service!" one of the men said, touching his hat with one finger. "Who might you be, what are you doing here, and why are the girls' wrists tied together? You haven't kidnapped them, or something?"
The kids told him their names, and Tim added: "We were just taking a walk in the forest, and had to seek shelter from the rain, but as it has stopped now, we'll be on our way. As for the girls' wrists being tied; well, it was their idea. But, as I said; we'll be on our way, now. Good bye!"
"Not so fast, young man!" sheriff Jones barked. "See, I thought we made sure this place was our secret, but now you kids have stumbled on it! I'm afraid we'll have to keep you here, until we've found another place to hide these things, and that might take a while."
"You're not really a sheriff, are you? And you're not really a deputy?" Andrea asked, her lower lip trembling, as if she was about to start crying.
"No, we're not." 'deputy' Harris said. "But we're running from them, just like those men you were reading about. Now seeing as we won't need all of these cuffs, I think we can safely use some of them to make sure none of you guys can go to the police and tell them where we're hiding. At least, not until this evening. But by then, we'll ,of course, be long gone."

The men quickly handcuffed Tim and Andy behind their backs, and made all of them sit on the floor in the back of the cave, before using some of the chains to tie their ankles together. Then, one of them went out to explore the rest of the hill side, to see if there were other, equally suitable, caves in the area.
"There is none as suitable as this, unfortunately." he reported, when he came back. "We'll just have to make do with what we've got, and hope no one spots us."
"Right." the other man said, adding as he turned to their prisoners: "Looks like we're just going to have to get used to each other. Oh, what a joy; don't you think so, kids?"

The hours went by at a snail's pace, and in almost total silence, but eventually evening came.
"Right," 'Jones' said. "We'll just carry these boxes somewhere, and then we'll leave the keys to your cuffs, and padlocks somewhere where you can reach them, but not too easily. We wouldn't want you running after us; now, would we? Oh, and by the way; you can keep the cuffs as souvenirs, to remember us."

"Well, that was fun!" Lucy dryly remarked, when they were safely at home, a couple of hours later. "Not that I would want to go through that again, in a hurry."
"Neither would I!" Andrea agreed.
"Well, the cuffs might come in handy one day; you never know!" Tim cryptically said.
"I just hope that day is a long way away!"

[Xtc]

Welcome aboard. Are you the Lasse from the previous Tugstries site?

Please gender tag the story, thanks.

[drawscore]

Quite good, but it would be better if it was line spaced between EVERY paragraph, not just some of them.

Drawscore

[lasse672000]

Welcome aboard. Are you the Lasse from the previous Tugstries site?

Please gender tag the story, thanks.

Yes, I am.

[Plueschbabycd]

Hello Lasse, nice have you back. I hop again for nice stories.

[Xtc]

Welcome back, good sir.
I look forward to more of your whimiscal tales.
(And thanks for tagging this one.)

[lasse672000]

You are most welcome, sir! I hope I will be able to live up to your expectations.