Three Sisters, part 24
Amanda could do nothing but wait in involuntary silence and immobility on the couch while her stepmother unloaded the dishwasher and put away the plates, glasses, and silverware.
She's certainly taking her time, Amanda thought.
Finally, Carolyn returned to the living room. She did not go directly to assist the poor schoolgirl lying on the couch. In fact, she pretended that Amanda wasn't even there. She hummed happily as she dusted the coffee table and end tables with spray polish and a rag. Amanda was careful not to make any noise. Her stepmother was obviously enjoying her pretense of "forgetting" that Amanda was still bound and gagged. Any noise of protest might result in further punishment.
After several more minutes, Carolyn walked past her stepdaughter. "Oh, Amanda! I'm so sorry! I completely forgot about you!"
Sure you did, Amanda thought to herself.
"Why didn't you make some kind of noise to remind me? My poor girl! Those ropes look kind of uncomfortable. I think you have been sufficiently punished for your transgression. Would you like to be untied now?"
Amanda nodded. With her mouth so securely stuffed with a pair of her own socks, she was reduced to answering only yes/no questions.
Carolyn removed the hogtie rope, and Amanda sighed with relief as she unbent her knees and let her feet fall to the couch. A few minutes later, and Carolyn had untied and removed the ropes that had kept the teenager's ankles and knees lashed together. Her legs now completely free, Carolyn helped her sit up. She untied the silk scarf and pulled the two socks from Amanda's mouth. Amanda coughed and asked for water.
"Of course! I'll get some right away," Carolyn said as she went to the kitchen. She held a glass to Amanda's lips. When the girl indicated that she was finished, Carolyn set down the glass and gently wiped away a drop of water on Amanda's chin.
"Is that better?"
Amanda nodded. "Thank you, Carol ... I mean Mommy Dearest. Could you untie my hands now?"
"Did you learn your lesson, my dear?"
"Oh yes, I did, Mommy Dearest. I'm so sorry I was bad. I'll never forget to unload the dishwasher again."
Carolyn hugged her stepdaughter. "I'm so glad to hear that! I too must apologize. I'm afraid that I have a tendency to overreact at times. Are we friends again?"
"Absolutely! Now ... my hands? Please?"
"I better finish untying you in your room. It's nearly time for your father to arrive home. He might be a little shocked to see his daughter with her hands tied behind her back. I haven't prepared him yet for my somewhat unorthodox disciplinary methods."
"Please," Amanda pleaded, turning her back to her stepmother and wiggling her bound hands for emphasis. "It will just take a moment to untie my wrists. Instead of taking the time to tell me why we have to go upstairs before you'll untie my hands, you could have had them untied already!"
"Do I detect a critical tone, young lady? Are you forgetting your place?"
"No ... I'm sorry ..."
"If you want me to untie your hands, I suggest you get moving up those stairs. I should gather up these ropes. Your father will wonder why there are ropes all over the couch."
Amanda started walking up the stairs, with her stepmother following closely behind. She was taking the stairs with care, not being able to use the handrail and having her center of gravity slightly off-kilter from having her arms held in an unnatural position.
They arrived in Amanda's bedroom. The pretty schoolgirl let out a sigh of relief. Finally the last of her bonds would be removed. Her stepmother tossed the ropes on the bed - the ropes which had so recently been bound tightly around the teenager's legs. "Don't worry," Carolyn said. "I will coil them neatly after I untie your hands so they'll be ready for the next time."
"The next time? Oh, there won't be a next time. I will never again forget to unload the dishwasher. You might as well throw away all this rope."
"I'm very happy to hear that," Carolyn said as she began to untie the knot on Amanda's wrist rope. "You see, my disciplinary methods ARE effective! I'm sure I'll never need to tie you up ever again, but I'll keep the rope just in case." The knot came free and she began to unwind the rope from her stepdaughter's wrists. "Someday you'll realize that I did this for your own good, and that ..."
"Yes? You were saying?"
No response.
"Keep going, please. My hands are almost free. ... Hello? Don't stop now."
Much to Amanda's surprise and consternation, just when her total freedom was about to be granted to her, her stepmother started to reverse the process! The first two circuits of rope that had been unwound were now being rewound, and a new knot was securely tied.
"WHAT? You're supposed to be UNTYING my wrists, not retying them! What are you doing?"
"Calm down, dear. I was going to untie you, but I suddenly had a better idea."
"A better idea? No, please don't do this. Please untie me."
When she saw the determined and stern look on her stepmother's face, she knew that any appeals for mercy were doomed.
"This isn't fair!" she whined like a toddler. She even stamped her foot for emphasis in a gesture she hadn't made since she was three years old.
"Throwing a tantrum won't do you any good. Quite the contrary. I'll overlook your little outburst this one time. Don't make me regret my leniency. Now, no more attitude. Lie down on the middle of your bed, on your stomach."
Carolyn's tone brooked no argument. The girl did as she was told. With her hands tied behind her back, it was difficult to maneuver into position, but she eventually made it. When her stepmother picked up one of the ropes she brought from downstairs, Amanda obediently put her legs together and waited for her knees and ankles to be bound together. To her surprise, she felt the rope being tied around her left ankle only. She couldn't imagine why that would be, but it soon became apparent when the other end of the rope was pulled taught and tied to the bed leg. Rather than having her legs tied together, they were evidently going to be kept spread apart.
"I'm not resisting in any way, Mommy Dearest. I just want to know why you're doing this to me."
She sounded and looked so sad that almost any other human on the planet, even the most hardened of criminals, would have immediately taken pity on the beautiful young girl and begged her forgiveness while untying her. Unfortunately for Amanda, her stepmother was lacking even the minimal sense of guilt found in the aforementioned hardened criminals. She tied another rope securely around Amanda's right ankle and secured it to the other bed leg. Amanda, lying face down and having her hands tied behind her back with her legs spread and tied down, resembled an upside-down letter
Y.
"Please," she pleaded. "You said I had already been punished sufficiently for forgetting to unload the dishwasher. Why are you doing this?"
"Oh, you were sufficiently punished and forgiven. This isn't about punishment."
"It's not a punishment? Then why?"
"The idea suddenly struck me just as I was about to untie your hands. I so very seldom get to have a nice, quiet dinner alone with your father. It's very difficult getting used to the lack of privacy when one marries a man who already has children."
"Is that all? You want to have dinner alone with my dad? That's no problem! Untie me, and I promise I'll stay in my room. You won't know I'm here."
"I've heard that before. Whenever I asked his older two brats to make themselves scarce, they seemed to hang around even more out of spite. I wish it had occurred to me to tie them up like this."
"Yeah, that sounds like my sisters. But I'm the nice one! I promise I won't bother you!"
Carolyn didn't respond. She suddenly walked out of the room.
"Come back! Please don't leave me like this!"
"You better believe I'll be back!" Carolyn said ominously as she headed down hall. She returned a minute later carrying things. As she dropped them on the floor, Amanda could see that they consisted of all the parts of her school uniform that she had shed when she got home: her shoes, blazer, necktie, and backpack.
"Luckily I remembered to remove all your things from the living room. Otherwise, your dad would immediately know that you're home. Now I can tell him that you're studying for a test at one of your friend's houses."
If Amanda had harbored even a sliver of hope that her stepmother would reconsider and untie her, it was dashed now. She was destined to remain tied to her bed while her dad and stepmother had a cozy dinner, and maybe something else along the lines of romance? Just how long was she going to be tied up?
"Too bad you won't be dining with us tonight. I'm cooking one of your favorites," Carolyn said with a wicked smile.
"So, you're going to starve me, is that the plan? Then you can have my dad all to yourself?"
"Don't be so melodramatic. I'll save the leftovers and reheat them for you later. You inadvertently stumbled on a truth, though. I do intend to eventually have your dad all to myself. I'm looking into some nice boarding schools to send you to. With the older two away at college, all three of you spoiled brats will be out of my hair. I'm leaning toward a school you might not like very much, called Despair Boarding School for Girls. They're not as nice as I am but the discipline will do you some good."
Note to reader: you can find out more about Despair Boarding School for Girls here:
Miss Blywistle Flouts the Rules
Carolyn picked up the silk scarf that had previously kept her stepdaughter from spitting out the socks that had been stuffed into her mouth when she had been hogtied on the couch.
Amanda's look of terror increased. "No, please don't gag me again!"
"As the saying goes, children should be seen and not heard. However, soon you will be neither seen nor heard. As you know, I'm a very considerate person, so I will not stuff your mouth with socks this time. It's not safe, since I won't be able to hear you if something goes wrong. I think this knot will work almost as well, and there's no danger of it choking you. Open wide, dear," she said as she tied a substantial knot in the middle of the scarf.
"No ... please ... NOOOO MMMFFFFFFFF!"
"My, you do carry on so. There's no need to upset yourself," she said as she pulled the scarf tightly and made a secure knot behind Amanda's head.
"Now, I'll just test your bonds and your gag to see if anything needs tightening, and I'll be on my merry way."
Carolyn walked to the foot of the bed, placed her fingernails on the soul of Amanda's left sockinged foot, and began to stroke it up and down. As Amanda's sisters could attest, Amanda did not really laugh when tickled. It was more of a series of screams accompanied by violent thrashing, followed by tears. Carolyn stopped her torture long enough to move to Amanda's right foot. It too received attention from Carolyn's tormenting fingers. Fortunately the onslaught upon the soles of Amanda's little stockinged feet did not last to the point of tears, but it did satisfy Carolyn that her stepdaughter could barely move and that her mouth was sufficiently silenced.
"Good news! I think the ropes will hold you nicely, and any noise you try to make will not disturb us. I'll see you later. Probably quite a bit later. Your father and I have a lot to talk about." She walked to the window. "Well, I think your father is arriving now. I got you bound and silenced just in time."
Carolyn left the room and closed the door behind her. After her father parked his truck and came in the house, Amanda could hear her father and stepmother talking, but they were far enough away she couldn't hear what exactly they were saying. Soon the smell of dinner wafted up to her bedroom. Amanda's stomach growled. Her stepmother had many faults, but she was an excellent cook.
The pretty schoolgirl once again attempted to extricate her hands from the securely tied rope, but she already know that she would never be able to escape her bonds without help. She felt so alone - and so hungry.
Daddy, please help me.
**********************************
Note from author: I feel I must apologize to anyone who has read this story from the beginning. What started off as a playful story of three young sisters enjoying their tie-up games has taken a dark turn indeed. Is there no one who can come to Amanda's aid?
To be continued ...