Over the next few weeks, practically all I could focus on was working up the courage to ask my mother if I could tie her up again. Every day it seemed that it took infinitely longer for the school bell to ring, and the walk home felt miles longer. Today felt especially long, it was a cool Autumn Friday that was mostly spent trapped in a dull classroom. Worst of all, my entire friend group had seemingly ditched school for the day, leaving me alone for all my classes. My mind wandered during the lessons, briefly remembering that my older sister, Ava, was planning to come home from college for Thanksgiving break today. At least I won’t have to deal with the guys raving about her, I thought to myself. Ava was 20 years old and kept herself in remarkably good shape. She had become a college volleyball player and certainly looked the part. My friends would practically drool over her athletic body, along with many comments about her “long legs, beautiful blonde hair, ample chest, and toned butt.” As they so respectfully put it. I rolled my eyes at the thought, before finally hearing that last bell ring. I speedily crammed my belongings into my backpack and made my way out of the building to head home, eagerly looking forward to the weekend ahead.

After what felt like hours, I finally made it home, calling out “Hey! I’m home!” As I walked through the front door. I paused for a moment, waiting for a response, but still heard nothing. My curiosity began to spike, followed closely by a slightly nervous anticipation as I slowly made my way though the seemingly empty house. Just as I went to turn the corner into my living room I noticed a note stuck to the wall, picking it up and intently reading it.

“Check your email. -Michael and co.” I read aloud to myself, rolling my eyes in exasperated preparation for what they might have done. However as soon as I looked up from the not I saw exactly what they had done.

Firstly, my mother was thoroughly tied to one of our kitchen chairs, as well as heavily gagged and blindfolded. She was wearing a dark green buttoned blouse, a black pencil skirt, dark grey opaque tights, and black heels. From only seeing the front of her, I reasoned that ropes bound her wrists and elbows together behind the chair, with more ropes forming the chest harness that I saw in front. Ropes around her waist and lap pinned her body into her seat, and more ropes bound her nylon-clad legs above and below her knees, at her ankles, and even at the arches of her feet, binding her high heels in place on her feet. She was blindfolded with a green scarf that matched her blouse, and a black scarf with a large knot tied in the center of it was tightly tied between her teeth.

As if that wasn’t enough, I looked about a yard to the right and saw something even more shocking: my older sister Ava in a quite similar predicament. She sat in a chair identical to my mother’s wearing a light blue buttoned shirt, a short grey plaid skirt, patterned black tights and matching heels. Silver duct tape tightly bound her wrists and elbows together, with more wraps above and below her chest, as well as tape around her waist and arms. Her nylon legs were bound by tape at her ankles, above and below her knees, her thighs, and finally at her lap. I then noticed that zip ties reinforced the tape bondage at some points, and even secured her ankles back against the chair to entirely immobilize her legs. Ava’s mouth was clearly stuffed with something, and a generous amount of white vet wrap was wound all around her head over her lips, being tightly looped up and over her eyes as well.

If it weren’t for the note I might have thought we’d been robbed. But now my only concern and interest was to find out how this all transpired, and especially how my sister had gotten involved. I had mostly gotten used to the idea of my mom getting tied up being a common occurrence as of late, but I never expected Ava to be in the same situation. As my imagination tried to process the dozens of ways that she might have gotten roped into this, I couldn’t help but notice her lack of distress. She didn’t seem to be irritated or uncomfortable, she didn’t even appear to be bored. Ava seemed to be almost content or relaxed, simply shifting in her bonds lightly, a behavior that I had seen my mother display, but one I wouldn’t have expected from my sister.

After taking another minute to inspect their predicaments, I couldn’t resist any longer and headed up to my room to check my computer. I rushed and sat at my desk before opening my inbox, seeing one unread email from Michael. It lacked any text or a title, instead simply containing a video attachment. I eagerly opened the video, and after a few seconds of loading, it began to play.

I was immediately greeted with a shot of my mother’s tightly bound arms as the camera came into focus, operated by Steve. The video consisted of a long traveling shot, getting a close look at the intricate ropes binding the woman. Eventually Steve pulled the camera back to a wide shot that showcased my mom’s entire helplessness, though at this point she had not been gagged, but she was blindfolded. Michael and Lucas stood on either side of her, proudly inspecting their handiwork as she briefly tested her bonds, chuckling and hanging her head in acceptance of her helplessness.

“Well I suppose you’re going to silence me now? I’m sure you’ll be able to find some kind of hosiery to stuff my mouth with.” She playfully teased them, correct about her prediction as Michael stepped out of frame, likely going to her bedroom to gather materials just as she joked. Just over a minute later, Michael stepped back into frame with a pair of sheer stockings that he proudly showed to the other boys, and the camera, before asking my mother to open her mouth. I was surprised at how quickly she complied, but she simply parted her lips and accepted the soft fabric that was packed into her mouth, before they added the knotted scarf to hold it tightly in place. Not even a minute had passed since they had gagged her before a voice startled the boys from behind, causing Steve to nearly drop the camera.

“Well it seems like you guys are playing quite the game.” I heard the voice of Ava off screen, my curiosity and excitement spiking knowing she had caught them red handed. “So why do you have my mom all tied up?” I heard her ask, the camera still facing the wall in Steve’s limp hand.

“Well…” Michael spoke up, trying to seem nonchalant, “We wanted to prank Kyle when he came home from school. Don’t worry, she didn’t object to this.” He assured my sister, who knowingly giggled, “Oh I wouldn’t have thought so, in fact if I didn’t know any better, I’d say it looks like she’s having fun.” Finally Steve seemed to remember he was holding a camera and moved it up to focus on Ava, causing her to raise an eyebrow as she saw it.

“Wow, you’re filming her too?” She put her hands on her hips and hung her head in exasperation. “You guys must be really into this game, it does look like you did a thorough job.” Ava admitted as she inspected the ropes binding her mother closer, seeming to ponder the situation for a moment.

“Do you guys have any more rope?” She asked, getting a wide-eyed look from Lucas and Michael.

“Uh, no we ran out of that. Why?” My sister furrowed her brow for a moment, “Well…I was thinking, it might be an even more shocking prank if I played along too.” I could practically feel Steve’s jaw drop behind the camera, catching Lucas running to get their other supplies in the corner of the frame. “We could still arrange that.” Michael confirmed, pulling up another chair that Ava gracefully sat in. “Oh I’m sure you can. I suppose it’s better for me to just agree and accept it now, rather than have you boys just kidnap me instead.” She teased, likely picturing the scenarios running through my friends’ imaginations.

“Alright,” Ava turned to Michael, “How do you want me?”