When Cindy had first heard about the clowns popping up on the side of the road scaring motorists, she thought it was one of the stupidest things she had ever heard. She and her friends had laughed about it as reports continued to come in of clowns stopping cars on highways and more. Some with happy masks, some with sad masks, these clowns seemed to just be popping out of the woods and then disappearing without doing anything nefarious and seemed pretty harmless.
So when her car had suffered a flat tire on the way to visit friends with Soomin and Maddie riding with her, Cindy had been more annoyed than scared when a clown emerged from the woods near where her car had pulled over. Maddie had risen from where she had been inspecting the tire with Cindy to meet him. “Look.” She said, “We’re not in the mood. Can you just get out of here and let us be on our way when we’re done?”
It was an eerily quiet evening, barely any cars were passing along the road and the girls hadn’t had a chance to really flag anyone down. The clown didn’t answer. Instead he tilted his head to the side a little bit. Maddie was confused and irritated, but all of those emotions vanished when his hand came up from behind his body and levelled a pistol at her. “Holy shit!” She screamed as her hands shot into the air.
Her scream caused Cindy and Soomin to whirl around. Of the three Asian girls, Maddie was definitely the toughest with a take no shit personality and more than willing to argue anything with anyone. Soomin was far more meek and quiet, with Cindy sitting somewhere in the middle of her two friends. However none of that mattered to the clown. “Hands up.” He demanded. “Anyone screams and you all die right here and right now. Get up.”
The other two girls rose to their feet with their hands in the air. The clown indicated with his pistol. “Walk, single file down the path.”
Looking at the forest, they realized there was a bit of a path from someone walking back and forth. Glancing at each other, they were unsure what to do until a phut sound was heard and dirt was kicked up in front of Maddie. Jumping, they looked at the clown with the now smoking barrel aimed back at them. “I won’t ask again.”
Glumly, the three girls started walking single file into the forest. While there was a path, the dimming light and non suitable footwear made it difficult and the girls tripped more than once along the path. On their way to see friends and expecting to go out to dinner and a party, the three girls were not dressed very practically. Cindy was wearing a black leather skirt, white turtleneck, stockings, and platform high heeled ankle boots. Maddie was dressed in Doc Martens with a tall platform, leggings, and a cropped long sleeve top. Soomin on the other hand, had surprised the other two girls appearing in over the knee high heeled leather boots, miniskirt, a tube top and a black leather jacket. She had confessed that she was trying to impress one of the friends they were meeting, whom she had a crush on, but currently it didn’t look like they would be impressing anyone anytime soon.
Several hundred meters into the woods, they arrived at a small clearing where several bags were off to the side. “Kneel.” They were instructed. “Hands on your head and don’t move or make a sound.”
Unable to resist with the pistol still a threat, the three girls complied. Cindy winced as sticks dug into her knees but didn’t dare move. From one of the bags, a duct tape roll was pulled and the clown walked towards the three girls. Soomin had broken down a while ago and was crying, the sight of the roll of tape made her even more hysterical while Cindy and Maddie exchanged a glance. True to the expectations, the clown grabbed Soomin first, pulling her arms behind her and wrapping her crossed wrists in layers of duct tape. Then a cloth was pulled from a pocket and stuffed in her mouth, muffling her sobs further before duct tape was wrapped around her head, tangling with her hair to gag her. “Please, you don’t need to do this!” Cindy begged as the clown took Soomin’s booted ankles and taped them up as well.
The clown looked at her but didn’t answer. The silence was even worse, as Cindy’s arms were wrenched behind her and taped up. Maddie looked like she wanted to rise and fight the clown as he was taping up Cindy, but as her arms twitched, the clown paused to pull the pistol again and set it against Cindy’s head. Seeing the threat, Maddie froze and reluctantly cast her eyes downwards as the clown finished binding and gagged Cindy. Maddie received a similar treatment before the clown rose and went back to the bags, tossing three bundles out in front of his captives.
To Cindy’s surprise, they seemed to be sleeping bags of some kind. “We’re going to play a game.” The clown said as he unrolled one of the bags, revealed to be mummy style bags. “I’m going to leave you here for 24 hours. If in those 24 hours, someone discovers your car and subsequently you, you’ll go free. After those 24 hours, if you still aren’t free, I will return and make you all disappear and you will never return to your lives again. Clear?”
Three gagged whimpers answered him. He went for Maddie first, grabbing her and dragging her over to the sleeping bag. Maddie resisted, struggling and shouting behind her gag as she was pulled over to the sleeping bag and earned a slap across the face. Her resistance earned her even more bondage, as duct tape was wrapped at multiple points over her chest, waist, thighs, and knees. Cowed, she didn’t struggle further as she was stuffed into the sleeping bag and it was zipped up. Cindy realized with a start that with their arms bound, it would be impossible to get out of a mummy style bag. She owned one, they were hard enough to get out of without any bondage.
With Maddie zipped up, the clown wrapped tape at multiple points around the outside, the nylon bulging between the silver bands as Maddie was turned into a mummy. By now, her spirit had been broken and Maddie had broken down crying as she squirmed on the ground like a worm. Seeing how Maddie had been treated, Cindy didn’t resist as she was picked up and carried over to the second sleeping bag. She didn’t get any more tape wrapped around her body, but once she was inside the sleeping bag, boots and all, the tape came out. She really did feel like a mummy in the confines of the bag and tape bonds. Cindy also realized that it was getting quite hot inside the sleeping bag and she had no way to cool herself down.
Soomin was next and went into the third sleeping bag without incident. Finally with his three taped up mummies squirming on the ground, the clown grinned behind the mask. The final step was to get some coils of rope and wind them tightly around each of the ankles of the girls through their sleeping bags. Satisfied that their boots would be enough of an anchor, he tossed three ropes over a broken tree trunk several feet in the air and attached it to the ankle bonds. Pulling on each rope, each girl was yanked up off of the ground and soon hung suspended upside down several feet in the air. He grinned at their screams, panic fully setting in as they hung, mummified completely and helplessly suspended. Now the game started, he grinned as he walked back through the woods towards their car. He would drive that off to leave it somewhere where it would eventually be found, but by then it would be far too late for the girls. He loved this game.