35 photos

 

 

 This started out to be the best weekend I've had in a long time.  My name is Billy and I've been living in a dorm with a bunch of crazy animals for almost two years now.  So when I got this chance to house-sit this guy's house for the weekend, I jumped at the chance.  It wasn't a big house and it wasn't in the best neighborhood, but it sure was roomy and quiet, and quiet was just what I wanted.

 

What was that?

 

Just my nerves I guess.  This house was so quiet it was making me jumpy.

 

 There it was again!  Now what the- "How did you get in here?"

 

The big man  poked me in the ribs .  The skinny one with the scar on his cheek cut a sash cord from the window blinds.  Then he pushed me back down on the couch.

 

"Have a seat kid and keep your mouth shut."

 

I was so scared I didn't know what to say while he wrapped that cord around my chest, yanked my arms back behind me, and then tied my wrists together really tight.  Then somehow I managed to find my voice.

 

"Who are you guys?  What do you want?"

 

The big one turned around so that he could keep an eye on the front door and he looked pretty scared.  "We need a place to hide for a couple of hours.  You just stay out of our way and you won't get hurt."

 

"But," I had to think of a lie, "I'm just watching this place for some friends of mine.  They'll be back any minute and one of them is a police officer."

 

"A cop?" That scared the big one.

 

"I told you to shut up kid!"  The skinny one's bony fingers closed around the back of my neck like some kind of iron claw and started to squeeze me.

 

 "Ow!  That hurts!"

 

"Kids today don't listen, and they don't think you mean what you tell them."

 

His bony hand slipped around my cheek and then closed my jaws together really tight.  And then he kept squeezing them harder and harder until I held my head really still.  Then he bit off a couple of big strips off of this roll of tape he had and plastered them all over my lips and under my chin so that I couldn't move any part of my mouth.

 

"Watch him!" he told the big one.  "I'm gonna find some more rope."

 

 The skinny one went out of the room.  The big one came over by me and kind of waved his shotXXXX in my direction.  "Better do what he tells you kid.  If those XXXX dealers we ripped off find us here, they won't care."

 

XXXX dealers, crazy men with ropes and tape, what had I got myself into?  And then the skinny one came back into the room carrying several pieces of rope he'd found somewhere.  He came right over to me and showed me the point of his knife real close to my eyes.

 

 "Last warning, kid.  Any more silly shit from you and I'm gonna slice you a few times.  You got it?"

 

That knife he had was enough to scare anybody so I nodded my head and held real still while he wrapped and tied ropes around my ankles and my knees so that my legs were XXXX real close together.

 

"That's better, now you just lie down there on the couch and behave yourself."

 

 I lie down and put my head on the pillow, and I tried not to look at them at all.  Maybe I was trying to pretend that they weren't there or maybe that this wasn't really happening to me.  But I could still hear them moving around from room to room, peaking out of the windows, and raiding the kitchen for food and drinks.

 

Sometimes I looked up to see what they were doing, but mostly I just closed my eyes and tried not to think about them at all.

 

And then the skinny one came back to me  again.

 

"You don't look very comfortable on that couch kid.  Come on, I have a much better place for you."

 

 He pulled me to my feet and made me hop over to the coffee table.

 

"All right, down you go."

 

At first I couldn't believe it.  You don't put people on a coffee table!  But that knife was never very far away so I didn't give him any argument when he made me curl up on top of the table.

 

 But that wasn't quite what he wanted so then he made me roll over and lie down on my belly.  I didn't like that very much.  That table was really hard.

 

And I liked it even less when he pulled both of my feet up behind me and then tied them to my wrists with another piece of rope.  Now all of my weight was down on my middle and me feet kept pulling against my wrists and making the tight rope wrapped around them feel tighter and tighter.

 

"There, that's much better.  Now you stay just like that.  Don't fall off the table because we will hear you, and then I will find an even more comfortable place to put you."

 

 

 The two men left me alone like that and went into the other room.  I couldn't see them any more, but I could hear them talking in low voices if I listened hard.

 

And then I heard the skinny one say "It looks okay now.  Let's get out of here."

 

"What about the kid?" the big one wanted to know.

 

 The skinny one laughed.  "He's a college boy.  He'll figure those knots out sooner or later."

 

And then I heard the door close and they were gone.

 

But I was still here, tied up like some turkey, in the middle of a coffee table for everyone to see.  I had to get loose somehow.  What would those people think if they came home and found their trusty house-sitter sitting on their coffee table like some tasty snack?

 

The first knot came loose and my fingers felt for the next one.  How many knots were there?  I sighed through my nose and rubbed my taped face against my shoulder.  It was going to be a very long night.

 

THE END

 

Billy Played by Mark Wolf

 

Photography by Caitiff