“And what are you thankful for?” Jerry took another long drink. He was thankful for his buddy Jim Beam, and at this point he was barely even aware of the amber liquid splashing over the side and running down his fingers.
His family sat in frightened silence.
“You yammer and scream the whole time, but the moment I ask you all a question, you all clam up!” he yelled, slamming his glass down on the table, more bourbon splashing out all over the white tablecloth.
His violent tendencies and growing problem with alcohol was the biggest catalyst for the divorce. Even at his drunkest, Kathy had never been worried about her safety before, but now, well, Jerry had taken the divorce harder than she’d ever imagined.
But Kathy was far more worried about her daughters, sitting on either side of the table between her and her ex-husband. Still reeling from the ugly divorce herself, it was supposed to be just a quiet, low key Thanksgiving with her two daughters home from college. Her wide eyes flicked from her husband to each of her daughters. Sarah, who’d already been off to college when she’d remarried, and hadn’t really had to deal with Jerry before, stared at him with a look of abject terror. Kathy’s eyes flicked across the table to her younger daughter, who’d only just gone off to college. Brittany had seen first hand a few of Jerry’s drunken outbursts, and but not enough. She glared at her former stepfather with rage. That, to Kathy, was much worse than Sarah’s fear. Jerry wouldn’t respond well to that. No he would not.
“HMMMGG MMMMPH!” Kathy cried, trying to draw her ex-husband’s attention to her.
“Yes Kathy? And what my dear, are you thankful for?” Jerry asked, staring hard at his ex-wife.
Had Jerry not stuffed and taped a washcloth in her mouth, Kathy wasn’t sure what she’d say. She certainly wasn’t thankful for her ex breaking into her house on Thanksgiving and tying up her and her daughters. Perhaps it was good she was gagged, because, Jerry would certainly not appreciate sarcasm.
She moaned nonsense and gibberish into her efficient muzzle, just to keep the madman’s attention on her and not her girls. “Mmmmph nnnnggg hhmmfff.”
“Are you thankful for those big old fake titties I bought you?”
Kathy blushed above the strands of duct tape cutting tightly into her cheeks holding her gag in place, and she glanced down. Jerry had been significantly less drunk when he’d bound her to the chair, passing the rope above and below and between her breasts, framing them in the thin rope he’d had a seemingly endless supply of. With her elbows tied painfully together behind the chair she was affixed to, her surgically enhanced chest was thrust out, and her silicon augmented chest strained against her tight sweater. Yes, Jerry had bought them for her, and she alone had kept them in the divorce.
Until now.
“I bet you are,” Jerry said, finishing his glass. He reached back and floundered behind him, nearly knocking the bottle of whiskey from the table before his fingers clenched around the neck of the bottle and he snapped it around and refilled his glass. “And I bet you’re thankful for my house. Sure, I’m living in a shithole 1-bedroom apartment that reeks of mold and onions, but you’re sitting pretty. I like what you’ve done with the place by the way. The wallpaper in our- I’m sorry, ‘your’ bedroom, looks great,” he said, spilling more bourbon as he sloppily air quoted. “I bet it makes it easier to fuck other guys in our bed.”
Kathy let out a strangled sob into her gag. She’d dated one guy since her divorce, but he ended up being more of a friend helping her deal with the separation and she’d never even slept with him. Not that she could tell Jerry now. Not that he’d listen like this.
He set down his glass and reached across the table and ripped a leg off the turkey. He took a huge, savage bite out of it, the ripped flesh slapping wetly against his cheek as he sucked it in. Kathy wailed into her gag as he turned his attention to Brittany, her youngest daughter still glaring daggers at her former stepfather.
“And what are you thankful for?” he asked around a mouthful of turkey.”
“AAAUUUMMM FFFMMMPHMMMPH MMMM HMMM MMMPH MMPHRR!” Brittany screamed, roughly translated to ‘I’m thankful you have dick cancer.’
Jerry didn’t understand, and at that point, it was unlikely he would have cared. Cirrhosis of the liver was probably a more pressing concern at this point for him anyways.
“You’re probably thankful I turned a blind eye while you fucked your trashy boyfriends under my roof, and stole my booze and trashed my stuff throwing your little parties when I was away. No, you weren’t my daughter, disciplining you wasn’t my job. And so I just ignored it. Well not today!” he bellowed, switching from calm to enraged so fast it cowed the angry girl, and she stopped straining against the heavy ropes used to tie her to the chair, trying to sink into the seat and away from the dangerous man. Even when she’d come home and found her mother already tied to a chair and gagged with what looked like a half a roll of duct tape, and her former stepfather had grabbed her and forced her to sit in another of their dining room chairs, threatening to hurt her mother if he struggled while he tied her, she hadn’t really taken him seriously, struggling and fuming into her stuffed and taped mouth and shouting incoherent threats at him. The look in his eyes told her he was serious, and it finally dawned on her that they might be in some very real trouble.
“Today we all come together as a family, and we take stock of the things we’re thankful for!” Jerry continued, turning his attention away from Brittany and back to his drumstick, tearing another massive bite off.
“And you?” he asked, turning to Sarah. He chewed noisily and swallowed, his lips and mouth shining with grease. “I’ve got nothing against you. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Sarah nodded, barely perceptible. She’d never lived with Jerry, had never even spent a single night in his house. She’d never been a fan of her mother’s new husband, and while she’d come to visit plenty, she’d kept her interactions with him brief and had always been willing to make the two hour drive back to her own apartment to sleep. As much as she hated the idea of her mother and little sister in the hands of this madman, a selfish part of her really wished she’d taken up her boyfriend on his offer to go spend Thanksgiving with his family. But instead she’d come to her mom’s to find that Jerry had tied up and gagged her family, and in no time, she’d joined them, tied tightly to her own chair, waiting and struggling while he finished making dinner. And now was the reckoning. She could only hope that his lack of issue with would mean he’d go easy on her.
His expression slowly changed, his face twisting into a snarl, and she realized she might not be so lucky. “You’ve never liked me.” She shrunk back against him, watching the wheels turn as his drunken mind made amazing leaps of logic. “You were always nicey-nice to me, but I bet you were always pushing your mother to divorce me. I know you,” he hissed. Sarah cringed as he sprays bits of saliva and turkey into her face. She gulped, the thick napkin stuffed in her mouth tickling the back of her throat, and she gagged and choked, her eyes watering.
“You’re thankful your mom divorced me, aren’t you?” he whispered, leaning across the table, his bloodshot eyes staring deep into her terrified eyes. She looked back, frozen in terror. The sound of splashing liquid broke the tense silence, and Jerry looked around, laughing as he discovered the source. Sarah screwed her eyes shut, a fat tear dripping down her face and rolling over her tight tape gag. She’d pissed herself in her terror. Her jeans were soaked and her pee had dripped through the cushion of the chair and was still splashing onto the hardwood floor beneath her chair.
“You know what? I’m thankful those aren’t my floors you’re pissing on,” he said, sitting down and leaning back in his chair. He filled his empty glass again and held it up to his helpless former family. “We’re going to have a great Holiday girls.” He gestured clinking his glass, spilling more all over the place, and he drained the rest of it. It was going to be a very good holiday indeed.