Sarah Laughton had come home early from work to find an intruder in her house. He'd quickly overpowered her then stripped off her clothes leaving Sarah in her bra and pants. He'd tied her hands behind her back, then wrapped ropes around her arms and over and under her breasts before tying them to the front of her bra and securing them with a knot. He then bound her ankles and attached the rope to the knot; drawing up her legs and leaving Sarah in a hog-tied postion. Finally he'd gagged her; pushing the gag into her mouth and forcing Sarah to bite on it.
Sarah now sat hunched on her sofa. She struggled against the ropes but they were tied tight. The Intruder sat next to her and she tried to shuffle away. The Intruder put his arms around her and smiled. Sarah thought it a fey, mocking smile.
"It's all right", he told her, and Sarah noticed he was well-spoken. "You really look cute tied up".
"Cute", Sarah thought, "And he's just broken into my home!" She struggled as she felt The Intruder pull her to him. "Oh no, no. He's going to rape me!" Sarah thought.
She looked up at him with wide, frightened eyes as The Intruder stroked her long, brown, frizzed hair. He kneed her breasts and Sarah felt her nipples become erect as he slipped his thumbs under her bra cups and rubbed them. She moaned in response. The Intruder next stroked her cheeks and ran his forefinger down her nose and chin and into the hollow of her neck. He then laid Sarah on her back and stroked her legs, commenting on how smooth they were. He then rolled her on to her side and pawed her buttocks through her thin pants. Sarah moans turned into sobs as she felt humiliated.
Eventually he stopped. Sarah turned her head to see him standing over her. "Well, the fun's over; It's time I did some work". The Intruder walked out of the living room, leaving Sarah on her side. She heard him move about the house ransacking it
"Oh my God. My house. My things!" Sarah thought.
She rolled on the sofa. She wanted to get up and stop him or at least call for help. The ropes not only bound her limbs but also restricted the movement of her body. It was as though it was a weight against her. Rocking her body as well Sarah tried to use her bound feet as a pivot and managed to get herself sitting up, only to flop down at the other end of the sofa with her feet hanging over the edge of the cushion.
The Intruder came back. He had a rucksack with him and Sarah guessed it was for his loot. Seeing her feet were hanging over the edge of the sofa he lifted them on to the cushion so that she now lay in a foetal postion: looking up at him.
"I've taken a lot of things from you," he told her, "So it's only fitting I leave you something in return". He took out of his rucksack what appeared to be three long, large tubes taped together. An electronic timer with an LED display was attached to them by wires. He laid it on the sofa next to Sarah and her eyes widened in terror as she saw the tubes were sticks of gelignite.
She gave a muffled cry through her gag.
"You'll just be in time for the early evening news", The Intruder told her. "They'll either say it's a gas explosion or terrorists. They might even speculate you were with MI6: another kinky game gone wrong".
Sarah shoke her head. "No, no, no" she pleaded but her words came out as muffled moans.
The Intruder smiled broadly at her. "Anyway, can't stand talking". He looked at his watch. "It's nearly five now so we'll make it a nice round number and set it for five o' clock. Could you just be quiet for a moment as I need to set this correctly".
Sarah watched The Intruder set the timer by her wall-mounted, pendulum clock. Her chest rose and fell rapidly and she could feel the sweat on her brow. The palms of her hands also felt moist. She watched him place the bomb on the cushion next to her head and press the timer's "Stop/Start" button.
The display set to 03:00 changed to 02:59 and the seconds began running backwards.
Sarah screamed into her gag.
"Oh, there was some mail for you," The Intruder said casually." He produced a large, padded envelope and laid it at the other end of the sofa at her feet. "I'll leave it for you to look at. I'll see myself out if you don't mind". He smiled at her again. "Goodbye," he said. The Intruder went out and closed the door behind him.
Sarah struggled against the ropes. She felt the cushions rub against her bare skin. She turned her head to look up at the ceiling and hoped that the bomb would have vanished when she looked back.
She looked back. It was still there.
"Please", Sarah begged. "Help me someone. Help me!" She started crying. It wasn't fair. She was going to die: alone and half naked.
She rolled on the sofa, hearing a crackling from the other end. Sarah looked and saw the padded envelope leaning against the arm. She saw her name and address written on the front in capitals:
SARAH LAWTON,
9 SWALLOW CLOSE,
ASHDOWN NORTH,
ASHDOWN
"Typical, Sarah thought. "They still keep spelling my name wrong!" Then she realised the irony. She was about to die and she was concerned about her name being spelt incorrectly.
Sarah looked up at the ceiling again and wondered why the builders used textured paint on the ceilings to produce what looked like a network of veins and swirls. She now heard the tick, tick of the wall clock's pendulum. It was not only providing an aural accompaniment to the silent bomb but also mimicking her heartbeat. All three of them were counting down the rest of her life.
She looked back at the bomb. The display now read 02:06.
Sarah pounded her head in frustration against the sofa cushions. They simply absorbed her pounding and pushed her up again.
She looked at the wall clock. The clock's hands were moving to one minute to five.
"Oh God", Sarah pleaded, "What am I going to do. What am I going to do?"
She looked at the bomb. The display said 01:38.
Sarah began shouting: "No, no, no!" into her gag. They came out as muffled, primeval cries. She rolled and shuffled on the sofa, hearing the envelope crackle again. She thought of trying to get away from the bomb but knew there was no where she could hide. The bomb would blow her and the house to pieces.
She gave a frustrated squeal and flopped down on her side again, her head inches away from the bomb.
It read: 01:17.
"No" she thought and looked at the wall clock.
The hands were moving towards five o' clock.
Sarah looked back at the bomb and found herself hypnotised by the numerals as they decreased. They got down to 01:00, then 00:57.
"Oh God please help!" Sarah again pleaded.
She looked at the wall clock. The hands were touching five o'clock.
"Oh God, no!"
Sarah whimpered and groaned through her gag. No one was coming to save her. Soon she would be dead and no one would know what had happened and her Intruder would have got away.
She stopped struggling and stared up at the ceiling again. She closed her eyes and felt like going to sleep. That would be best. She wouldn't feel anything.
Sarah's eyes snapped open and she rolled over to look at the bomb.
00:37.
Sarah whimpered hoarsely and rapidly shook her head from side to side. Her mouth was dry and she felt pains in her legs not just from being hog-tied but also whenever she was tense and frightened.
She whimpered again when she saw the time on the display.
00:12.
Then it read: 00:11, 00:10, 00:09 ...
Sarah looked at the wall clock.
Five o'clock.
00:08, 00:07, 00:06 ...
Sarah shut her eyes tightly.
00:05, 00:04, 00:03 ...
She tensed herself for the explosion.
00:02, 00:01, 00:00 ...
Sarah heard the wall clock ticking. She started counting "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... "
She kept her eyes closed.
"... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ... "
She opened her eyes slowly.
" 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 ... "
Sarah looked at the wall clock.
The hands were moving on to one minute past five.
She looked at the bomb.
The display read: 00:00.
She kept looking at it.
The display still read: 00:00.
"Why hasn't it gone off", she thought.
Sarah looked at the wall clock. One minute past five. She looked back at the bomb.
Still 00:00.
She was puzzled.
Maybe he hadn't wired it up properly. Maybe the timer was faulty. Maybe there was something wrong with the gelignite? If so, Sarah realised, she might still be in danger as if it was sweaty it was unstable and could go off any moment.
If so it would have gone off sooner considering she'd been moving continuously on the sofa.
Sarah looked at the wall clock again. It was now two minutes past five.
Was she really safe?
Sarah let out a long moan and stretched her legs as far as the rope would allow, feeling her bare feet touch the envelope. She stiffened as she felt cramp in them.
"Bastard!" she thought.
Now she was angry. Not only had The Intruder assaulted and robbed her he'd also played a sick prank on her. There was no bomb. It had all been to terrorise and humiliate her further.
Sarah decided to try to get to the 'phone. It was on a small table near the sofa, at the window. If she could shuffle her way off the sofa and across the room she might be able to loosen her ropes and call for help; or at least be able to get the gag off by rubbing it on the edge of the table. If she could do that then she could still live.
The 'phone rang.
Sarah heard her recorded message cut in: "Hi, this is Sarah Laughton. I'm sorry I'm not in but if care to leave a message then please speak after the tone. Thank you". The 'phone bleeped then the caller came over on the speaker which she'd left on. She shuddered as she recognised The Intruder. He sounded cheerful.
"Hello, just me. You've probably realised that the bomb was a dud. The real bomb is in the padded envelope I left next to you on your sofa and is due to go off in precisely forty-four seconds from now. Goodbye".
THE END
28.06.12