It was three weeks into the school summer holiday and we were bored silly. We were a mixed bunch, brought together when we were younger because there was nobody else to play with except each other. Ours was a small community in a lazy backwater that time seemed to have forgotten, at least as far as we were concerned it had. As we grew up our parents sent us to different schools depending on our educational needs and we saw less of each other, until the holidays that is, when we would hang out together at 'Our Barn'.

The old barn actually belonged to Debbie and Alec's parents who ran a farm and rarely used it now, so we had taken it over and made it our own. We spent most of our time just hanging around talking about nothing, going for cycle rides or swimming in the brook not far from our barn. Debbie was the baby of our group, just turned fourteen, what she lacked in age she more than made up for in noise. If you had a secret, you didn't share it with Deb's unless you wanted everyone to know. Apart of her problem was that she was spoilt and I put this down to the fact that she was the youngest and the only girl in a family of four children.

Alec was just over two years older than his sister and the strong silent type. His two brothers were several years older and I didn't really know them. As they were never part of our group I shall make no further reference to them. Luke was the eldest of us by about three months, which seemed important to him. In his eyes that made him the leader, and having grown up together we had kind of got use to him being in charge. His younger brother, Mark, was a bit of a rebel and had a reputation as such.

My name is Sandra, though nobody calls me that except my parents, to everyone else I'm Sandy. At the time of my story I was almost sixteen years old, about six months older than Jenny, my closest friend outside of school. Because Jenny's parents ran a hardware shop in town she used to spend much of her time at my house during the school holidays, so we were pretty much like sisters.

It was a hot afternoon and we were bored, as usual. Alec had suggested we go for a swim, another one, but none of us could be bothered to return home to fetch our costumes. Besides, we had been swimming in the brook almost every other day. The conversation drifted aimlessly as it does. We started reminiscing about the things we use to do when we were younger, but didn't do now because we were 'mature' and had grown up. Like the time we made a rope swing over the brook one summer and when Alec and I got on it the tree branch gave out under our combined weight, dumping us both in the brook. How we use to play hide and seek in the woods that ran alongside our barn. We howled with laughter at the games of tag we use to play and so when someone suggested we played again we all thought, why not?

Luke got to be 'it' first, after all he was the eldest, and so we all took off, running around the trees, dodging Luke, and then Debbie when he tagged her. It killed an hour before we got fed up with that and decided to play hide and seek again, which lasted until tea time. We went our separate ways home with the usual shouted partings of, 'See you tomorrow' echoing through the trees. Jenny returned to my house to have tea with me as normal before her parents picked her up on their way home.

The next morning Jenny was dropped off at my house and we went off to join the others. When we arrived we found the three boys huddled together and Debbie sitting on her own.

"What's up?" I asked Deb's.

"They're planning something, but I'm not allowed to know what it is." She replied grumpily.

I looked across at the boys who were breaking up and heading our away.

"Mark wants to play war." Luke told us.

"War?" I laughed.

"And we decided it would be a good idea," He continued, ignoring my scorn. "Seeing as we played your games yesterday."

"You mean bang-bang your dead I'm not war?" Jenny sniggered.

"It's more like chase really." Mark put in. "One of us is given a two minute head start and then everyone else has to go after them and capture them. If the prisoner escapes capture for half-an-hour they are free and someone else has a go."

"Then what happens?"

"They're taken prisoner and someone else gets to go."

Catching Alec's sideways glance at Luke and Mark I sensed a conspiracy.

"And what happens to the prisoner?" Jenny asked.

"They'll be tied up and left with a jailer."

It didn't make much sense to me, but it was something to do and we played anyway. Life for the prisoner and his guard was pretty dull, and when Jenny got caught a second time she protested strongly at the idea of being tied to one of the stout oak pillars of the barn again. This resulted in a group discussion and some rule changing. After some arguing it was agreed that the jailer was the one who really had the raw deal as the poor jailer just hung around waiting for someone else to get caught. The prisoner on the other hand deserved to be tied up for not eluding capture within the thirty minute time frame. As the jailer was the person responsible for capturing the prison, the game made it so as nobody actually wanted to catch a prisoner.

To break the cycle and increase the excitement for all concerned the rules were changed to allow the jailer certain powers of control over the prisoner. The prisoner could be blindfolded and gagged by the jailer if they so wished. Not that it really made much difference to the jailer's lot; it was just far more uncomfortable for the prisoner as I found out.

We broke for lunch and Jenny and I returned to my house. On our way we discussed the new game and decided it was silly. So we settled on getting changed into our swimming costumes and going swimming in the afternoon. Arriving back at the barn suitably dressed with our costumes underneath our shorts and t-shirts we discovered the rules had been changed again. This time the jailer would be allowed to torture the prisoner.

Torture conjures up powerful images and I wasn't very sure about this latest development. "What do you mean torture?"

"Not really tortured." Luke added quickly. "Tickling and stuff like that."

"He means touching you up!" Deb's injected quietly to Jenny and me.

She might be right. There was definitely something they weren't telling us, but I seriously doubted they would go that far. Though the idea of Alec touching me up a little wasn't such an awful idea — I had always had a bit of a crush on him. However the thought of Mark doing any touching was totally repugnant.

"Us girls want to talk first." Jenny answered.

The three of us walked toward the barn away from the boys.

"What do you think?" Jenny asked.

"They're only saying tickle so they can get to grope us." Deb's answered straight away.

"You all ready said that..." Jenny answered.

"So, it's true."

"Do you know that for certain — did they say that?" I was fishing.

"No — not exactly."

"I wouldn't want to be left tied up and alone with Mark to find out." Jenny echoed my earlier thoughts.

We talked for a while, tossing things around between the three of us before deciding that so long as there was no foul play, we would give it a go.

Things have away of moving forward without anyone really understanding that they have. Looking back it's easy to see what happened when Luke complained that Alec had proved difficult to tickle because of his clothes. Mark told him he should have taken Alec's shirt off and that was the very start of it.

To cut a long story short, by mid afternoon we were too hot to run around. The game was abandoned and we all went swimming. It was the next day when things really developed. Again the rules shifted, but without any real discussion about it. We were all present when Mark stripped off all his clothes except his boxer-shorts. He was tied, not to the stout oak pillar, but with his arms extended outward and up, so he stood before us forming a human 'Y' shape. Jenny started tickling him with a piece of grass and he squirmed and twisted as he laughed in the ropes Alec and Luke had used to bind about his wrists.

We all stood giggling at him as he tried to kick out at Jenny in an attempt to fend her off. Being blindfolded, his kicks were often wildly off. And then his elder brother stepped up smartly behind him and yanked his shorts down! For the briefest of moments there was absolute silence before Debbie shrieked with laughter and we all fell about the place. Mark shouted angrily whilst trying to twist himself round in an attempt to hide himself from us as we laughed and poked fun at him.

From that moment the game took on a completely new concept. The jailer was given complete power over his charge. The prisoner was not supposed to know who the jailer was, unless the jailer decided to tell. After a while you got to know who was who, so it didn't really matter.

Secretly the boys wanted to undress one of us girls, Jenny and I were sure of it. But they were too scared and didn't dare. Nevertheless, these new rules were leading up to that momentous occasion. The act of sex was not lurking in the back of anyone's mind. The driving force was more of curiosity being pushed to its limits, like the ultimate dare — we shouldn't do it, therefore we must.

I was the first girl to be publicly stripped. As it was I only lost my bikini-top thank goodness, but even that was a deeply humiliating experience. I stood blindfold, arms outstretched, having first surrender my tee shirt and shorts, which was embarrassing enough with all my friends watching me. Luke and Alec tied my hands off while Mark put the blindfold on.

In the deepest recess of my mind I had a vague inkling of what might happen, but I refused to acknowledge it right up until the moment I was left standing alone, shrouded in my own personal world of darkness. I could hear them whispering and giggling, which was the real give away as to what was about to happen. Jenny told me later that it was Debbie who did the dirty deed, though I had half suspected as much, the boys lacked the courage to do it themselves.

I never heard her creep up behind me. I just felt a pair of hands circle round me, grab the front of my top and pull it up over my breasts. I just stood there, my legs partially crossed, my buttocks and thighs squeezed tightly together for fear of them being pulled down next. They sniggered and laughed, made a few comments about my 'boobies' and that was it.

We went off and played again. Luke was caught and when Mark stripped him of his pants I must admit I thought he was deformed as we stared at him, doubling over in our mirth. He looked enormous, though I later came to realise he was semi-erect. Debbie got her comeuppance when she was caught because Mark (again) not only yanked her top up but pulled her pants down as well, which didn't interest us girls at all, but the boys thought was great. The only pleasure I got from it was watching her wriggling around after Mark had pulled her top off and took hold of her knickers. She hollered at whoever it was not to do it, but the boys urged him on and I silently added my voice of consent. Mark needed no encouragement and down them came.