Chapter 2: What She Wants

Chloe started to move towards the tightly bound and gagged black rubber-clad Grace, crying out she would rescue the poor woman. She got no further than a step as Freya at once put her walking stick out and across Chloe’s belly. “Wait,” she said.

“Wait? Why?” This time it was Alyson speaking, though she hadn’t made a move forward.

“There’s something not right here,” said Freya.

“Of course there’s something not...” began Chloe.

“Think, Chloe!” Freya said sharply. She called out in a loud voice: “Grace, it’s us. We’re here. Do you want help?”

There was no response from the heavily-bound female. Freya called again, louder, but once more there was no response. The figure bound to the post was as unresponsive as before.

“As I thought,” said Freya.

“Thought what? What is there to think?” Chloe wanted to know.

“Just this,” said Freya. “We all got a letter in Grace’s handwriting, bringing us all together here at the same time. No break in, no threat to her. Yet here she is in a way she could have done herself. Unless someone secured her, this looks as if it is something she did to herself. She doesn’t know we are here, see the wires going to her hood? She’s got ear pods in, listening to something. Music, or maybe white noise. She isn’t meant to hear us. She’s blindfolded too, as part of that hood. I suspect she’s utterly oblivious to us being here. She’s obviously not gagged because of the slit for her mouth, so she can breathe, and she’s not struggling or trying to shout for help. If it were one of us, we would be struggling, however feebly. She isn’t. In short, I think perhaps she did this to herself.”

“That’s kinky,” said Alyson. “Seriously kinky.”

They looked at the opening of Grace’s crotch, her cunt exposed. It looked, moist.

“Yeah, but we can free her,” said Chloe anxiously. Yet, she didn’t try to push away the stick holding her back.

“No,” said Freya, finally lowering her walking stick. “I think this either a clever trap, or she doesn’t want us to do anything.”

“How do you know?” Demanded Alyson.

“Because when I was in the police we came across this every so often. Bondage addicts. People who want to be tied up, going to extraordinary lengths to do it. Even keeping themselves helpless for hours. Inventing ingenious ways to get out of it at a certain time, like a key in a block of ice, melting slowly. Or a letter posted to themselves with a key. You see, I think our Grace has secured herself here. She wanted us to find her, which is why she sent us all keys to her house, but I suspect by her attire and method of restraint, she is not in any hurry to be released.”

“I don’t know how you can say that,” responded Chloe. “She’s our friend. Well, mine anyway if no one else.”

“She’s my friend too,” protested Alyson. “But, maybe Freya’s right. I think Grace has done this to herself.”

Freya stepped forward and slowly circled the post where Grace was fastened. “See,” she pointed from the side. “The way the straps have been done. All reachable from the front, but her arms are only held by a pair of handcuffs: she could easily have clicked them on herself when she had done everything else.”

“For fuck’s sake,” snapped Chloe. “She can’t see if she’s blindfolded!”

“Feel,” said Freya, calmly. “It’s not hard to cuff your own hands behind you without looking.”

“Okay, so Grace wants to be trussed up like ... like some fetish doll, but what do we do now?” Alyson asked as she rejoined the other two.

“We need to do three things, I believe,” said Freya. “First of all we must give our friend Grace every support for what she’s doing. I would imagine if we look in her wardrobe we would find more fetish-wear similar to what she is wearing now. Probably all sorts of restraints too. More handcuffs, gags, that sort of thing. I suspect then she may have had this interest in this lifestyle for a long time, but never told any of us about it. However, we’re her friends, probably her closest friends, and we should help her, whatever we may think of her practice.”

“And second?” Chloe looked at Freya.

The older woman spoke quietly but with authority born of experience. “Second, we look for some document which Grace will have put somewhere, and one that explains why she is doing this and perhaps what she wants next. I don’t know, but in the case of willing self-bondage, there is usually some clue or information left lying around.”

“We didn’t see a note of any sort,” Alyson said.

“No, but we must look harder,” Freya glanced at the other two women. “Grace is not stupid, we know that. So she is doing this for a reason and I think one she wants to share her fantasy with us. That brings me to the third thing we have to do. We must digest whatever information our friend gives us and decide what to do next to help her.”

“That’s obvious,” said Chloe, “Grace won’t want to stay like that.”

“I’m not so sure,” said the older woman. “People are complex. If she didn’t like doing what she’d done, she wouldn’t have done it in the first place. She has and that is a big risk. Had we not come here she would have been quite alone and the outcome, if she has locked herself into that position, would not have been good. But for now, let’s search for whatever she’s left us and then discuss what we should do.”

The three women gave a look round the garage, but the place was clearly empty. Just as Freya was saying they should search drawers and so on more carefully, Chloe gave a gasp. “On the mat, inside the door, there was a letter. I saw it as we came in; as we opened the front door the letter must have been pushed to one side. Maybe that’s it.”

They left the garage, and the bound and helpless Grace standing immobile, and went to the hall. Chloe picked up the letter. “It was sent here, but it has our three names on it. See?” she held the letter out and Freya took it.

“I suggest,” said the older woman, “we go and sit in the lounge and read it. Then we should decide what we think Grace wants. I believe, however, the letter will make it clear what she wants.”

“But what about Grace?” protested Alyson. “We can’t leave her there.”

“I bet we can,” chuckled Chloe. “She isn’t going anywhere.”

“We will see to her when we know more,” said Freya in her no-nonsense way.

In the lounge the three women sat, with Chloe and Alyson on the sofa (though one at each end in case anyone thought they were friends) with Freya taking the large armchair. Freya opened the letter and began reading aloud.

‘Dear friends.

‘Thank you for coming to my rescue, except perhaps it isn’t quite that. If you are reading this you answered my call and came, but you may be puzzled why I sent three letters. I’m assuming all three of you are here, but while that’s for a good reason, it was also a safety mechanism. You will appreciate I couldn’t take the risk of a letter going missing in the post, for obvious reasons!

‘I assume too you have found me, and I guess you have realized that my bondage is inescapable. I can’t get out of this on my own, but I had no intention of doing so. I made it all as escape-proof as I could. If you were on time, and for all your faults dear friends you usually are punctual, you will have found me and would like to know how long I have been like I am.

‘As I write this before posting it to my own address I planned to close the last part, the handcuffs, on me at six this morning. This means I would have been like I am for at least six hours by the time you arrive, if you do! There is a certain terror in doing what I did, not knowing if the letters got through and whether you would come. But, it’s what I want. I was prepared to take the risk.