"Please Ms. Morgan, you have to help us!" the three girls yelled, their excited faces blocking the young teacher assistant's entire field of vision.

Mandy Morgan sighed but smiled as she stroked some of her unruly hair behind her ear. There had been a lot of these requests today. It was almost summer, the final day of the semester, and the yearly "Roseberry High Scavenger Hunt" was in full progress. The students where all divided into teams of three, as they tried to accomplish tasks from a long list. It was mostly for fun, but since the top scoring teams got prizes, some teams were bound to get competitive. She had already helped several teams with everything from just handing out a hug (1 point) to performing a dance routine (5 points).

Most of the faculty stayed away from these things, but Mandy thought it was a good way to establish stronger relationships with the students. As an assistant teacher in her young twenties, she didn't have the natural authority over the students, so she tried to connect to them in whatever way possible. She wasn't supposed to have favorites, but if she did have any, the three excited girls in front of her where definitely on that list.

"Calm down, girls!" Mandy laughed as they started to tug her along. "Just tell me what you need."

"Well, you see..." Charlotte began. She was the obvious leader of the group, the other two always half a step behind her. A bit bookish and always quite meticulous in whatever she was focused on. "We wanted to ask you if..."

"M-Maybe it's not a good idea!" Jennie interrupted. "Ms. Morgan might be too busy to help us out."

Those words made Mandy's heart melt. Jennie was always overly considerate and was desperate not to put a burden on anyone. The girl really needed to work on her self-confidence.

"Well, now you've got me curious," Mandy said as they had stopped just at the doorway of a temporarily abandoned classroom. Another team rushed by with all their clothes put on backwards. Mandy looked at her cutoff jeans shorts and sleeveless top. "It's not the one they're doing, is it?"

"Oh, no, Ms. Morgan!" Lindy exclaimed. "We wanted to ask you about the mummy one! I went home and brought the wrapping and everything! We just need a picture, and if it's an adult it's worth double the points!"

"Mummy? ...As in the Egyptian ones?" Mandy asked. She was a bit hesitant. Lindy was always very excitable, rash even, and would often have to be reminded to calm down in class, but she was generous and had a good heart. Still. Getting all wrapped up in... well, probably toilet paper. Would that really be such a good idea?

"Don't you see," Jennie said defeated, "we can't ask Ms. Morgan to do this. You guys can wrap me instead. It's only half the points, but I'm the smallest so it will atleast be quick."

"Yes, perhaps," Charlotte agreed. She turned back to Mandy and actually bowed her head. "Sorry for bothering you Ms. Morgan."

Mandy's heart couldn't stand seeing this. These where three well-behaved girls who just tried to have some fun in the school spirit. If it were some of the snobs she had so much trouble with, then of course she would have said no. Like Royalty and her constant posse tail. Like, who even names their kid something like that. During Mandy's first week she had got hit with a wet tissue while walking the hallway. When she had turned around Royalty's clique had exploded in giggles. Mandy had called the parents and had talked for a very long time and things had been better after. Marginally. Anyway, the girls in front of her deserved a reward.

"No, it's no problem. Sure, I'm in. Wrap me up!"

Mandy could have sworn she saw actual stars lit up in her student's eyes.

Minutes later, in the empty classroom, things moved quickly. Jennie had closed the soundproofed door, which turned the ruckus outside into a faint murmur. Lindy was unloading stuff from her oversized backpack, while Charlotte reviewed something from a library book before nodding, seemingly satisfied.

"According to my research," Charlotte began, and Mandy had to check herself not to giggle. The girl really took this seriously, "the Egyptians started with wrapping each limb individually. I suggest we start with Ms. Morgan's leg."

Jennie brought a stool for Mandy to sit down on so she could be comfortable. In the meantime, Lindy worked to find the edge of a thick black roll of what looked like tape. Mandy tensed up just a little.

"Wait, I thought you guys would use toilet paper or something? That stuff kinda looks like it might hurt coming off?"

"Well, the appropriate item would have been something like gauze," Charlotte interjected.

"Oh, it's totally fine!" Lindy assured them, "I brought it from home. My dad uses it for work, and it only sticks to itself. I brought a whole box!"

Lindy excitedly held the cardboard box an inch from Mandy's eyes. Her thumb covered some of it, but the blurry mess she saw seemed to say, "Non-Stick Tape" and then some small print which was impossible to make out. She was just about to calm things down when she felt the most heavenly touch on her shoulders. As she craned her head, Jennie's meek voice ran out.

"I- I noticed you got a bit tense, Ms. Morgan. I'm pretty good at massages, my parents ask for them all the time. If you'd like, I'll give you one while we wrap you?"

Mandy felt like she should have objected to this, but holy... what she felt was absolutely sublime. Like she suddenly realized how stiff her shoulders were and how they started to absolutely dissolve under this girl's kneading fingers.

"Perhaps..." a firm but considerate squeeze sent her arguments into the trash bin. Non-recyclable. "Oh my god, Jennie. Yes. Please."

As Mandy sat there with her leg propped up, Charlotte removed her sandals. She soon felt the surprisingly cool touch of the tape on her ankle, as Lindy started wrapping up her right leg while Charlotte instructed and inspected. As the layers got higher, the prior ones started to heat up a bit and it almost felt as if her leg got a squeeze.

"You know, this doesn't feel so bad! It's like my whole leg is getting a big warm hug. Maybe you girls should start a spa resort or some...thing..."

As the wrapping reached her thigh, Mandy decided she would rest her eyes for just a minute. This free wellness treatment wasn't a bad way to spend her workday, after all. And she had earnt it, hadn't she? By working this hard to build relationships. Sure, she hadn't gotten through to girls like Royalty yet, but surely it was just a matter... of... time..."

"Ms. Morgan? Uhm... are you awake?"

Mandy felt like she was pulled up from the depths of the ocean floor as her consciousness flickered into being. As she took a deep breath, she realized it felt quite constricted. In fact, she felt quite immobile.

"You seemed to really have needed that nap Ms. Morgan," Charlotte smiled as Mandy's eyes strained to focus, "so we finished everything up in the meantime. Now we just need to take the photo as evidence, and then we'll help you get free."

As the girls helped Mandy up on her feet, the young teacher assistant probed the extent of her situation. She realized she could move her head, but that was about it. Her legs were just a black pillar, her stomach and torso were being squeezed like a boa constrictor had wrapped itself around her. She could feel that the tape was wrapped high, over her throat and neck, ending just under her chin. And her arms...

"Why... why are my arms on my back?" she asked confused. I thought mummies had them over their chest or something?"

"Yeah," Charlotte sighed while rolling her eyes, "someone might have gotten a bit carried away."

"Well," Lindy giggled, "it's just that you're so thin, Ms. Morgan. It felt like a shame to make you all bulky with the arms. So, after I wrapped them both individually, I taped them together behind your back. I'm not sure if it was the massage or whatever, but you were so flexible! Then I just wrapped them along with your upper body. I mean, we had a whole box, after all."

"You look really good, Ms. Morgan!", Jennie chimed in. I hope I look even close to that when I'm an adult!

"Well... you girls certainly did a thorough job," Mandy said, "it's really constricting. I'm not sure I could squirm out of this even if I tried!"

"Luckily, you won't have to," Charlotte said, as they propped Mandy up and took turns to pose with their wrapped-up mummy, snapping dozens of pictures and recording some quick clips.

As the girls showed the photos to Mandy, she had to agree, the tape really was slimming. Her entire body was streamlined and there wasn't a gap anywhere in the tape. If you could wear this strategically under your clothes somehow, she might have considered doing that for dates.

Still, she couldn't wait to get out. It felt a bit weird, being totally left to these girls' mercy. They still handled her with appropriate respect and all, but it was obvious that if they wanted to try anything, Mandy wouldn't be able to stop them. If they hadn't been exactly these three, she would probably have felt quite worried.

"Okay, lets get this stuff off you, Ms. Morgan," Charlotte decided. They sat her down on the stool again, eliciting a grunt from Mandy as the tape squeezed her abdomen and lungs.

"That's weird..." Lindy said, fiddling around Mandy's legs, "I can't seem to find any edges..."

Mandy's eyebrow shot up. What did the girl mean?

Jennie started to fiddle as well.

"It's... it's like the tape has all fused together!" she exclaimed, a fair hint of worry in her voice.

"Get out of the way!" Charlotte ordered as she approached with a pair of scissors, "What the? It won't cut? It just bends slightly."

"Lindy?" Mandy asked, worriedly, "what kind of tape is this?"

"I told you already Ms. Morgan, it's..."

"Aeon Stick Tape!?" Charlotte interrupted, holding the box. "I thought you said, 'Non-Stick'!?"

"A-aeon Stick?" Mandy asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach. "What does that mean, exactly?"

Charlotte, her voice more and more shocked, read from the box:

"Aeon Stick is a Prototype Super Tape made for Extreme Conditions. While Easy to Apply it's a Permanent Solution for all Your Industrial Needs. Self-Amalgating and Absolutely Tear-Proof. May shrink up to 20% after Initial Application, Eliciting Heat. Do..." Charlotte's eyes widened, "do not use on Skin..."

"Oh my god oh my god oh my god," Jennie repeated, "oh my god what have we done. Oh my god, Ms. Morgan, I'm so sorry!"

Mandy tried to think clearly. There had to be something they could do. And she was still the adult here.

"Listen girls, it's okay, I'm sure there must be some way to fix this," she instructed, trying to sound reassuring, "just go and see if you can find a chemistry teacher, okay? Or maybe the janitor?"

Desperate for any leadership, all three girls nodded and with a joint "Yes Ms. Morgan!" all three of them bolted towards the door. Before Mandy had time to react, they were gone.

"Did they seriously all go?" she asked aloud, incredulous, "geez, louise what a pickle."

The well wrapped teacher's assistant tried waiting. After about 30 seconds however, her impulse to struggle took over. She tried to tense her muscles and move her joints strategically. She felt like her right ring finger had a bit of movement. Warm, sweaty, movement. But it was of course trapped under at least three layers of this "Super Tape". Mandy gave up on strategic and started to squirm. Partly to test if it could yield any progress and partly... well maybe mostly, in frustration. How could she have been so stupid!? Just falling asleep like that, not checking the tape beforehand. She knew exactly how scatterbrained Lindy could be, didn't she!?

And seriously, how could they all just leave her like this? Couldn't one of them have stayed? Why wasn't anyone coming back? She started to thrash around, writhing and wriggling on the stool. The only success she had was in working up a sweat. And increase her frustration.

Well, maybe she had to try to solve this herself.

Mandy rocked back and forth, panting and trying to get momentum. Finally, she threw herself up and forward from the stool. Her sense of balance was off, and she felt her body weight tilt forward. Up on her toes, she skipped desperately forward, trying to keep up with her momentum. Just as she thought she would fall face first, she tumbled into a table. It hit her midriff, and she ended up half splayed over the tabletop. Carefully, she regained her balance and posture.

"If I fall, I'll have no way to get out," Mandy ascertained as she glanced at the self-closing door out of the classroom, it's doorknob way to high up for comfort.

With small hops, Mandy reached the desk with the cursed box of tape rolls. There were still several unused ones, all of them black, wide and thick. Who had this kind of stuff lying around unprotected at home, anyway? Yeah... Lindy's dad apparently. Obviously. Maybe it wasn't so weird how she could be so impulsive after all...

But what was that? Some documents at the bottom? Mandy tried to reach it, before being reminded how hopelessly helpless her hands and arms were. But she still had her teeth! She bent down as far into the box as she could. The papers were jammed under the rolls on the bottom. She couldn't quite get to them. God, even the most mundane task was hopelessly difficult, all wrapped up as she was. And she couldn't quite move the box. Then she caught a glimpse at the end of the visible page.

"Attention: Should residue from the tape get in contact with skin, you should..."

Mandy screamed in frustration. The rest of the text was on the next page! How much worse could her luck get!?

Frustration gave her renewed powers and she pushed her head down into the box. Standing on her toes, she managed to get her tongue on the plastic encased documents and get it between her front teeth. She would have pumped her fists if they weren't useless taped blobs pressed at the small of her back.

She spit the documents out in front of her. Soon she would know what to do! That's when she realized, whatever followed the sentence was on the backside of the first page... which meant she couldn't read anymore. Her heart sank again. Humiliated, Mandy tried to gnaw at it for a bit, but with no leverage, it was useless.

Where had the girls gone? How long had it been?

Mandy decided she needed to get help. She couldn't count on anyone in here. It was time to get to the door and get some attention. She only had herself to blame for this, she thought, as she picked the documents up with her mouth and started hopping. If she only hadn't been so stupid. If she only hadn't said yes. If she only hadn't fallen asleep. If she...

BONK. SLAM!

As her concentration lapsed while blaming herself profusely, Mandy hit a chair and fell. The chair tumbled over and slammed into the floor with a noisy rattle and the wrapped-up teacher assistant twisted in the air and fell on her back. Her head landed close to the door, the corner of the documents still between her lips. She took a couple of breaths through her teeth, restricted by the tape squeezing her throat like a wool turtleneck that had shrunk in the laundry. Everything was still for a moment. Then Mandy heard a muffled voice on the other side of the door.

"Did you guys hear something?"

The doorknob turned and as Mandy lay there, pathetic and helpless like a sausage, she saw the last face she had hoped to see looking down on her.

"Oh my, this looks absolutely delightful. Girls, quick, get in here and shut the door!"

It was Royalty.