CHAPTER Two
Tina Thompson had been debating with herself for two days on whether she was going to ask Jimmy to the prom. During this time she had been waiting for him to do it, but he hadn’t, and now prom tickets were only being sold for one more day. She was going to have to do it.
Tina had first met Jimmy Hawthorn in the lunch cafeteria way back in January when she had been forced to move from Glen Ellyn to Ashland Creek to live with her estranged mother after her father had died in a car accident coming home from a business dinner in Chicago. It had been a hard move, one she had not wanted to make, and it had only been made worse at school as she had gone from class to class on her first day at Ashland Creek High because no one wanted to talk with her. All the little groups were full, and were not looking for new members. Later she realized her shyness had probably played a part as well, but at the time it was an unknown factor.
Lunch, of course, was the worst because she had nowhere to sit. Seats in a classroom didn’t really become group possessions, but lunch tables did, and if one sat at the wrong table there was generally trouble. There were open seats around the room, but none of the tables seemed that inviting. The students at each were happily talking among themselves, and did not need her to join them.
After five minutes of standing by the wall with a tray of greasy food, Tina had noticed a boy sitting alone at the end of a half-filled table. Rather than talking with the four kids on the one end he was writing something while eating an apple.
Tina debated for a few seconds on what to do, and then finally decided to sit with him.
“Mind if I join you?” she asked.
He looked up. “Um, no, go ahead.” His voice had a startled ring to it, though he did not seem at all annoyed about the interruption.
“Thank you.” She put her tray of food down and took a seat. It was a relief not to be standing.
He looked back down at his apple.
An uncomfortable silence settled.
Eventually she said, “I’m Tina. Today’s my first day.”
“Oh,” he said without looking up. “I’m Jimmy.” His fingers began peeling away the sticker on the uneaten portion of apple.
Tina thought for a second, her mind desperately wanting a conversation, yet at the same time not wanting to press him too much or ask the wrong question. “How come you’re sitting all alone?” She regretted the question before it even left her lips, yet was unable to stop its progress.
He shrugged while giving a weak smile and said, “I don’t know, I just like to I guess. It gives me time to think.”
“Oh.” Did that mean he still wanted to be alone? “But it’s okay if I sit here?”
He looked up, a partial smile forming and said, “Yeah of course, I don’t mind.”
“Good, because I don’t know anyone yet and, well, it’s hard.” She opened her hamburger while speaking and took a bite. It was awful. The bun was stale and the meat not meaty.
“Oh, well, first days are hard,” Jimmy said. “Especially in a town like this where everyone has known each other since day one.”
“I guess you were a new student too at some point?” Tina asked.
“No, no, I grew up here.”
Yet you are sitting all alone? For some reason this intrigued her, especially since he didn’t look like an outcast -- outcasts usually didn’t have muscles pushing against a normal everyday hooded sweatshirt - and the two had talked for the rest of the lunch period. After that they realized they each had gym together during the next period and walked to it while talking, and then, at the end of the day, the two stumbled upon each other again outside the building, and walked home, Jimmy and his little brother Alan showing her the way to her mother’s house, which was on the way to their own.
Now, several months later, Tina continued the debate on whether to call Jimmy and ask him to the prom. She had hoped he would do it, but apparently he wasn’t going to despite the fact that the two were good friends. Unlike most teenage girls Tina was not insulted. During their months of friendship she had learned quite a bit about Jimmy’s personality and knew he rarely worked up the effort or motivation to do anything out of the ordinary - things like talking to people he did not know, staying after to speak with a teacher if he didn’t understand something, walking a different route between classes, and asking a young pretty girl that he obviously liked very much to go with him to prom.
The debate ended.
She would have to make the move that brought their friendship to the next level.
* * *
“Sorry, Mom, I’m still full too,” Jimmy said while pushing his plate away from his seat, one which contained enough meat and potatoes to feed a starving family. “I’ll eat it tomorrow for lunch, I promise.”
Kelly Hawthorn gave her two sons a disappointed look, which she enhanced by crossing her arms, and said, “What on earth possessed you two to stuff yourself with Taco Bell so close to dinnertime?”
“It was Alan’s idea,” Jimmy said. “I didn’t want to go but he specifically said we needed to hurry over there before you got home and ruin our appetites.”
“Oh, don’t even start,” Alan playfully warned. “I just asked if you were hungry and you said yes. I didn’t force you to eat four of those cheesy crunch thingies.”
“No, you were too busy stuffing your face with supreme chalupas. Mom, you should have seen him. He stuffed himself so fast that it looked like he was getting ready to shave with the sour cream.”
Kelly shook her head and was about to say something when the phone rang.
“Battle?” Alan asked.
“Um - ” Jimmy started.
“Don’t even think about playing that game until you two clean up the pans I slaved over,” Kelly said. She then answered the phone and after a second said, “Sure, one moment. Jimmy, it’s for you.”
“What? Who is it?” Jimmy asked, a puzzled look dominating his face.
“I don’t know, but it sounded like a girl.” She covered the mouthpiece. “Have you been hiding someone from us?”
“No,” Jimmy snapped. He then headed into the family room and picked up the mobile phone from the corner table near the couch. “I got it,” he shouted into the kitchen.
“Say hi to Tina for me!” Alan shouted back.
Jimmy twisted away as his mother asked who Tina was and said, “Hello?”
“Hey Jimmy. It’s Tina. Um . . . was that Alan?”
“Yeah, he says hi,” Jimmy said, his mind wondering why in the world she was calling. “What’s up?”
* * *
Tina put her head back on her pillow and looked up at the ceiling, her mind a spiral of colorful excitement. She was going to the prom. Jimmy had said yes. Of course it had taken some convincing, but he had said yes, and that was all that mattered.
There was a knock on her door.
Her excitement faded. “What?”
“I’m leaving in a few minutes for my knitting group. I expect the mess from dinner to be cleaned up before I get back.”
“Then it would make sense to clean it before you leave,” Tina said.
The door rattled but did not open since Tina had thrown the lock before calling Jimmy. “Tina, open this door.”
“Why?” Tina asked, adrenaline starting to flow.
“Because I’m your mother and I told you to.” She twisted hard on the doorknob.
“Oh, you’re my mother. I didn’t realize that since you were gone for most of my life.”
“Tina, I’m warning you. Open this door right now!”
“Why?”
“Because - ”
“Because you hate it when people don’t do what you say, right? Well, when Dad didn’t do what you said you walked away. Seems to me like that would be a good option now as well.”
“This is my house young lady and if you wish to live in it you will respect me.”
“I don’t wish to live in it,” Tina snapped. “And when I turn eighteen next month I’ll leave, and I’ll take all Dad’s money with me. So as far as I’m concerned you can go to your little knitting group and f*ck yourself with the needles.”
Tina was surprised with the control her mother showed after that, and a little disappointed, but knew it was more a result of not wanting to keep her knitting friends waiting, not because she felt she had lost the battle.
Whatever the reason, Tina didn’t really give a shit and just counted down the seconds till her mother left. Once she did, Tina allowed her emotions to break free, the thoughts of her father unbearable right now because she knew he would have loved to see her going to the prom. She also knew he would have liked Jimmy a lot, the three of them probably having dinner quite often once the two really got to know each other.
But no. A young lady on a cell phone had made sure that would never happen, her mind too focused on the conversation to see the long line of brake lights ahead of her on Interstate 88.
Tina pressed her t-shirt to her eyes to soak up the moisture, and then went downstairs to make herself some tea. While waiting for the water to boil she did the dishes, which didn’t take long. The difficulty level of the task had never been the reason for her bitterness. Instead it had been the principle of the thing, and the fact that her mother never did the dishes herself.
Finished, and with a large mug of Darjeeling tea in hand, Tina went back up to her room and started to once again think about Jimmy and the prom, concern over their status having wiggled its way into her mind while steeping the tea bag. Were the two still just friends or more than that? Were they a couple? Would the prom be the first date in a long line of wonderful evenings together? Or would their relationship crumble because they were only meant to be friends, and wouldn’t be able to handle the dating scene together?
Answers did not follow the questions, and there was no book she could look in or website she could find that would finish the thoughts. Instead she would just have to wait and see, live life and accept whatever happened. That’s the way the world worked. Nothing would ever change it.
* * *
Samantha King’s hands grew itchy as the blood flowing to them slowed. Cramps had developed in the backs of both her legs and now she was sagging forward and biting her teeth together waiting for them to pass. The pain was intense and unrelenting.
The general ache that had developed in her back and shoulder muscles added to the misery, no doubt due to the position she was standing in. It wasn’t natural for someone to have their arms raised upward and their body pulled tight for such a long time, and with each second that passed it grew more and more unbearable.
Her mind conjured the image of Moses from her old Sunday school classes and how he had stood with his arms raised in the air so the Hebrews could win a battle. How had he managed?
Slumped forward as far as the bindings would let her, Samantha stared at the floor. Her mind could not get a grip on the situation and seemed a mess of random thoughts and ideas. Hours had passed with her standing in silence, and every second it seemed like she was slipping closer and closer to hysteria.
Why would Jimmy do this?
It was the only clear thought that repeated itself over and over again, and seemed to be the only hold on reality due to the fact that she had to picture him in a real world setting to try and grasp the reasons behind his actions toward her.
Thinking about him was also a good way to pass the time, though she wondered what exactly she was waiting for. Generally one wanted time to pass quickly because something good was coming at a certain hour and they couldn’t wait for its arrival. With her present situation there was no guarantee of anything good happening, and each second that passed might only be bringing her toward some terrible end. Or even worse - terrible moments of utter humiliation and pain before the end.
Why did Jimmy do this?
Images of Jimmy over the years began to play across her mind like a slide show; Jimmy in grade school, middle school and high school came and went; memories of seeing him at the movies with his parents or at some restaurant; memories of him sitting in a classroom, at a lunch table, in an assembly; memories of him walking the hallways, or the sidewalks, or through the parking lot; memories of him everywhere. What was crazy about the images she saw was the knowledge that in each situation she hadn’t really given him any thought once her mind had put a name to the figure she was seeing, or had any fear of him harming her, yet look at what he had been capable of during that time? It was mind numbing.
Thoughts about what had happened broke through the slide show. The attack wasn’t even twenty four hours old, yet the actual events and how they had unfolded were already cloudy within her mind. The possible outcomes, however, was not.
Anger at herself for not fighting back followed these thoughts. Being surprised was no excuse. She should have done something to prevent the current situation. Fingernails to the face, a knee to the balls, or a backpack to the side of the head - all could have been avenues of escape, yet she hadn’t set a single foot down any of those possible routes. It was incredibly frustrating.
The thought of defending herself against Jimmy brought to mind some of the incidents she had witnessed in the past. There had been times during Jimmy’s school day life when he had been the victim of bigger kids. No solid memories were present, but she did remember some fuzzy details of either seeing or hearing about fights where Jimmy had gotten beaten up.
Not that it mattered now. A memory of Jimmy being beaten up didn’t help her out in any way, and thinking about it was just a pleasant waste of time.
Pain suddenly raced through her arms and all thoughts of Jimmy disappeared. She stood up fast, her toes shouting in protest, and tried lifting her arms up to a point where the ropes wouldn’t have such a tight hold. The result was a fiery tingle throughout her hands that caused her fingers to squeeze into fists.
She clamped her teeth together.
It did little to stop the agony.
The terrible pins and needles that had exploded in her hands did disappear after a few minutes, but that was only a small relief when compared to the rest of the pain her body was enduring, and would continue to endure until her hands were free.
* * *
“She asked you?” Alan said as they sat down to watch a rerun of That 70’s Show before playing Goldeneye. “Why’d you let her do that?”
“What do you mean?” Jimmy asked.
“Why didn’t you ask her?” Alan stared at his older brother while saying this and noted that he seemed to be both excited and upset. It was a strange mixture that produced a strange expression. Confused was probably the best word for it.
Jimmy shrugged. “I didn’t realize she liked me, and what if she said no when I asked?”
Alan shook his head. “Didn’t like you?” He couldn’t believe it. “You two sit at lunch with each other and walk home with each other almost every freakin’ day. She’s had more of a crush on you than a boa constrictor could ever achieve.” Alan had come up with the metaphor several days earlier, yet hadn’t been able to use it in any conversations. Now that he had, he wondered if it really had been as clever as he had initially thought it would be.
Jimmy didn’t comment on it. “What if she just liked walking home with me? What if by asking her out I ruined the friendship we already had? What if - ”
Alan couldn’t take it. His older brother questioned everything too much, and at the same time didn’t see the huge signs people were leaving him. A girl could come up to him and say, “You wanna come over tonight, my parents are out of town and I’m just dying to get your opinion on some new sexy lingerie I bought,” and he wouldn’t realize she wanted sex and would spend several minutes giving her real honest opinions on the lingerie and then head home. “What if she wanted to go out with you, liked you so much that you both got serious and then eventually married, and then had a wonderful family. Better yet, what if through her family she found you a great job that paid a lot and you both became millionaires?”
Jimmy looked down at his hands.
Alan had hit a sore spot without meaning to. In addition to being shy around girls, Jimmy seemed unable to find a job or get any college acceptances. The problem wasn’t a lack of skills or grades, but a lack of confidence, which prevented him from sending in applications or making calls or taking trips to see what was out there. Hell, Jimmy probably wouldn’t even have gotten his driver’s licenses if he hadn’t done well enough in the course to take the test as school, because he never would have gotten together enough motivation to drive an hour to the DMV. It was ridiculous.
The opening music from That 70’s Show came on and calmed the room. Alan recognized the episode. Eric’s hot cousin Penny was coming to stay with them and would trick him into believing she was adopted so she could lure him into a trap in front of his parents. It was a good one.
During a commercial Alan suddenly thought of something and asked, “You did say yes, right?” One time back when Jimmy had been in seventh grade a girl had called to ask him out and he had told her no because he was too busy. He hadn’t been, but dating wasn’t something he was comfortable with, so he had rejected the girl. Alan often wondered if this refusal to date, or to really make friends, had stunted his social growth, which was one of the reasons why he had so much trouble now?
“Yeah, I told her I would go,” Jimmy said.
Thank God! Alan screamed to himself and then out loud said, “Just wanted to make sure. Prom is one of those things you would care about missing ten years from now.”
“No I wouldn’t.”
“You would.”
“No, honest, I really wouldn’t and couldn’t care less about it.”
Alan didn’t feel like arguing, but knew Jimmy’s was wrong. Both their parents had missed their prom and still talked about the regret they felt at not having the memory or experience of it. “Well, whatever. I’m glad you’re going because I think you’ll have a lot of fun.”
“I hope so,” Jimmy said.
The show came back on.
Alan wondered what it would be like to be inside Jimmy’s head. Was it as calm in there as he tried to portray, or was his mind a mess? Actually, looking at Jimmy now, there wasn’t an ounce of calmness about him. Something was on his mind and it was making him extremely antsy - no doubt the call from Tina about prom. It was about time. Jimmy needed a date. He needed a social life. So far, with the exception of a few kids through grade school, his only friend had been him, and though that was fine, he needed friends outside of the family.
“Hey, now you and Tina could come play pool with me and Melissa over in Haddonfield,” Alan said.
Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t think she’d like that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem like something she would enjoy. Tina’s not a pool hall sort of girl.”
“Well, you can always ask and find out.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
* * *
Jimmy couldn’t focus on That 70’s Show or the conversations Alan kept instigating because his mind was thinking about Samantha and wondering what it was like for her in the fallout shelter. Seeing women tied up with their hands over their head had been something he enjoyed ever since he was little, especially when it was long term, and now he couldn’t wait to see what several hours of standing like that done to her.
What was it like? What would the mind do with the time? What would it feel like?
These were questions he had been asking himself every time he came across a scene on TV or in a movie that featured a woman tied like that, ones which he usually recorded onto a VHS tape so he could watch them over and over again, his mind often wishing he could somehow venture into the actual scene and understand it. In fact, at times he even wished it was he that was in the scene - in the female form of course since he had no desire to see men in bondage - and had recreated a few from time to time. Unfortunately his scenes never got to last that long, and often weren’t accurate. Take the scene in the 1970s movie The Four Musketeers which had featured a moment where a young lady was chained to a wall by a set of iron wrist shackles. Jimmy had first stumbled upon in junior high and had finally been able to add it to his VHS tape a few years later once he found it on TV again. Every time he watched the scene he wished it were him - as the lady - who was standing there in the shackles just so he could understand what it was like. Reproducing the scene accurately by himself, however, was impossible, especially since he had no idea where to get shackles like that, nor the medieval dungeon setting, nor the dress. Worse, his inability to recreate it caused the craving to go unsatisfied. Putting himself in the mind of the person by interjecting himself into a similar scene was just part of it. He also wished he could see what would happen to her as she stood there for days at a time, her body unable to relax due to the chains, her legs unable to hold her up after a while and forcing her to just dangle from her wrists. He had no idea why he was fascinated by this, or why it produced such an intense sexual reaction in his body, but it did, and the more he saw the more his cravings went unfulfilled. It was bizarre.
“Still want to play Goldeneye?”
“What?” Jimmy asked, his mind returning to the basement. On screen the credits for That 70’s Show were rolling alongside an ad for South Park, which the two did not care for.
“Still want to play?” Alan was holding a controller.
“Oh. Sure.”
“What’s wrong?” Alan asked while the two set up the Goldeneye battle.
“Nothing?” Jimmy lied while scrolling through the weapon selections for the proximity mine setting. “Um, where do I get a tux?”
“Wow, I don’t really know. There’s gotta be a place in town somewhere or maybe up in Haddonfield. You could always ask in the office at school. They would know. Not many kids have their own tuxes.”
“Okay.”
Alan knew his brother would not ask. Instead he would search around town until he found a place, even if it did take him two hours longer. That was his way.
Jimmy clicked on the character selection screen and the two scrolled toward the right until they each found their favorite characters. From there Jimmy hit START.
“We doing minutes or points?” Alan asked. He hadn’t been watching when Jimmy selected.
“Ten minutes,” Jimmy said. “I don’t want the game to last too long since I was planning on going on a bike ride tonight.”
“A bike ride?” Alan couldn’t remember the last time Jimmy (or he for that matter) had gone on a bike ride. Would their bikes even be big enough for them now? “Which bike you using?”
“Dad’s old one. I fixed the seat and pumped some air into the tires.”
Alan hadn’t known this. “When did you do that?”
“Last week. I’ve been riding every morning.” He hesitated. “Didn’t you know that?”
“No. When do you leave?”
Jimmy let his breath out and thought for a second. “About five. I guess no one can hear me.”
“Nope. Can’t hear a thing all the way down there. That’s why I want the room. I could listen to music all night and no one would care.”
“Well,” Jimmy started. “Too bad there aren’t two rooms down there.” He shrugged. Nothing else followed.
The statement irritated Alan. He didn’t think it was fair that his older brother could have the only basement room just because of his age, but that was always the reason his parents gave.
The game loaded up.
Right away they both went for the boxes of proximity mines and then began tossing them in all the starting locations, which they had memorized years ago. Once they had done that they went in search of each other, both of them randomly tossing mines all over the level while trying to find the other player knowing that whoever died first was going to have a huge disadvantage since they would start several times in mined locations.
Alan was the unlucky one this time around. He saw Jimmy at the bottom of a stairway and tried to charge him. Jimmy, however, pulled out a pistol and shot him in the leg and since they had set the battle on the ‘license to kill mode’ it killed him right away. “Bastard!” Alan shouted as his character fell to the ground. It was no contest after that. Jimmy kept replacing the mines in the starting locations while Alan went through them and racked up kills. Eventually Jimmy did get too close to one and died himself, but the cycle of starting location death he went through wasn’t enough to close the gap and he won.
“Play again?” Alan asked.
Jimmy glanced up at one of the darkening windows and said, “No, I think I’ll head out on my bike ride now.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” He couldn’t wait any longer. He had to see her.
“Okay,” Alan said while wrapping up his controller. “Well, have fun.”
“I will,” Jimmy said, a nervous ring once again present in his voice. With that he headed up the stairs and out into the garage.
Alan followed a second later but continued all the way to the second floor and then looked out a window. Sure enough Jimmy was heading down the street on their father’s old bike. He watched until his brother disappeared into the darkening landscape, and then went into his bedroom where two hours of homework waited.
* * *
Samantha had actually just started drifting off to sleep when the sound of the door opening jolted her awake. All the pain came back, along with the fear.
Jimmy walked in.
Samantha stared at him as he closed the solid door and then turned to look at her. This time he was wearing gym shorts rather than jeans, and poking against them was an erection.
He’s going to rape me.
Jimmy looked up at the rope and then back at her. “Is it tight?” he asked.
Samantha didn’t know what to say.
“I asked you a question. Is it really tight?”
“Yes,” she said dryly.
“Well I’m going to lower you a little, but first you have to promise to do something for me.”
Anything to be let down.
Samantha tried to pretend it was her boyfriend Steven who had reached up her shirt and was now fingering her nipples and squeezing her breasts, but no matter how hard she tried, even when closing her eyes, she knew it was Jimmy and this made her feel sick.
Just tolerate anything he does to you and then spend time on the ground, Samantha said to herself. Don’t say anything.
Her body nearly shook with the thought of being free from the ropes and she couldn’t even begin to image what it would feel like. She had only been tied up for half a day, but already it was all she knew. This, now, was her life.
Jimmy’s hands stopped and pulled out from beneath her shirt. They were shaking.
“Let me down now?” she asked.
Jimmy nodded and then said, “But remember that there is more, and if you refuse to do it then I will hang you so high your toes won’t touch the ground.”
Samantha nodded silently, which was awkward with her arms pressing into her head, and said, “I know.”
Jimmy turned and walked over to the rope and began untying it.
One moment she was stuck with her hands over her head, the next her feet dropped to the ground as her body sagged. Relief did not come, however, because instantly her body was racked with muscle cramps. She cried out in pain.
Jimmy slowly lowered her all the way to the ground. It was basically a controlled collapse.
Samantha withered in agony as the fierce pins and needles raced across her body. The areas of pain were so large that she couldn’t distinguish where one ended and another began.
Tears fell from her eyes.
Her hands had the worst of it. For hours they had been a purplish tint, which meant blood was failing to get through to them. Now there was an onrush.
Slowly the pain began to fade and she managed to open her eyes. They drifted right to her hands, which were still bound, but not suffering. Hours earlier she had squeezed them into tight fists. Now she opened them. The pins and needles returned.
She ground her teeth together.
Jimmy came and stood over her.
She looked up at him.
He took a knee and began untying her wrists.
White impressions marked where the ropes had been pressed into her skin. It would be a long time before they faded.
Jimmy suddenly took her right hand and slowly began to massage it. His fingers worked some of the tenderness away and brought a bit of life back into them.
Initially she felt warmth toward him and wondered if he would let her go, but then it faded as the situation changing quickly.
He dropped her hand and stood up.
She felt a new fright as he looked down upon her.
“Reach up into my pants,” he ordered.
Samantha did not move.
“Do it or I will hang you from your wrists for an entire night.”
Samantha didn’t feel like she was in control as her hand went up his right leg and into the opening of his shorts.
* * *
Jimmy quivered with pleasure as Samantha’s fingers got closer and closer to his penis, which was thumping with anticipation and excitement. And then her fingers wrapped around it and began stroking. Never before had a girl touched him like this and his knees actually vibrated uncontrollably each time her fingers twisted around the head of his erection, almost as if there was a reflex point within it, one which the doctor had never explored with his tiny little rubber hammer.
The moment was amazing, pure bliss, yet over much too quickly, the pleasure fading fast once he had spurted his load. At home he would have stopped jerking himself off at that moment but Samantha didn’t, and when her fingers came back around over his wet penis head it actually hurt, as if the nerves were so fired up that they couldn’t take the slightest contact.
His hands had been in his hair during the moment of ejaculation, but then quickly went down to stop her hand, his lips going, “Okay, okay, that’s enough.”
Never in a million years would he have thought pain would so easily follow, or that he would need several minutes to recover.
* * *
“You can wash your hands if you like at the sink back there,” Jimmy said afterward. He was sitting in the corner, his breathing slowly but surely returning to normal. “The water runs. I tested it last week.”
Samantha went to the sink as quickly as possible and made sure to get everything off. She didn’t even want a molecule or atom of his semen to remain on her and wished the Hoods had installed a nuclear or biological decontamination shower in the small shelter that she could jump into.
“That’s enough, they’re clean,” Jimmy said after she spent several minutes scrubbing. “I have to leave soon, but before I go you can have a bottle of water from the shelf. Drink as much as you want.”
Samantha did as she was told, her mouth and body craving the water. Cramps hit about a third of the way through the bottle, which is when she stopped, her shaky hands struggling to recap it.
“Finished?” Jimmy asked.
“Yes,” Samantha said. Her voice was still weak. She then put a hand to her side hoping the water cramp would pass.
Jimmy stood up and grabbed the rope that had bound her wrists earlier and said, “Okay, give me your hands.”
“Wait,” Samantha said once she realized what he was going to do. “I thought you were going to let me stay down?”
“No,” Jimmy said. “You’ve been down half an hour. I have to go and I can’t leave you like this.”
“Please, don’t tie me up like that again. Please don’t. Please.” The tears returned as she slowly backed away into the corner of the room. “I won’t try to get out, I promise.”
“Don’t make me force you. You don’t want that.” His voice was calm, yet had a terrifying edge to it.
Samantha continued crawling backward, like a kid trying to escape a spanking, her sobs echoing through the small room.
Anger suddenly distorted Jimmy’s face and he came toward her, rope in hand. Seeing this, Samantha wished she hadn’t put up any resistance.
Jimmy grabbed her right wrist and pulled her toward him. Pain shot through her arm and shoulder.
“Please, I’m sorry,” Samantha whimpered.
Jimmy ignored her as he twisted the rope around her right wrist several times and then grabbed the left one and did the same. He then wrapped the rope around both wrists and tied it.
“Get over here,” he said while yanking her toward the rope that hung from the pipe in the ceiling. In one quick move he had a knot tied to the rope that bound her wrists and pulled her up.
Her feet left the ground. Her wrists felt like they were on fire.
“OH! Ahhh.”
Jimmy held the rope. “This is what it feels like to be suspended by your wrists. Do you want that?”
Samantha couldn’t say anything. Her feet kicked madly through the air trying to find the ground.
“Do you understand me?” he shouted.
“Yes,” she cried, the word barely coming out.
The pressure on her wrists disappeared as her feet were once again lowered to the ground. The relief she felt was indescribable.
“You ever act like that again and I’ll leave you up there all night and hit you a hundred times with my belt.” Spittle flew as he spoke.
“I’m sorry,” she said while crying, tears nearly choking her. “Please, I’m so sorry.” A part of her was angry at the way she apologized, but the reasonable part knew this was the only way to survive.
Jimmy turned away and tied the rope back around the pipe. He then flicked the light switch off while leaving, which left the room in complete darkness. Samantha couldn’t see a thing, but the relief at him being gone kept her from being upset about the darkness. He had also tied the rope in a way that allowed both her feet to be flat on the ground. In time this position would grow unbearable as well, but at the moment it wasn’t, and that was all that mattered.