Afterschool Tie 2 (continued from here)

“Oh man,” James said as he pushed the button on the answering machine. He knew he was in for it when he heard the voicemail his mother left him while he was on the field. Now, standing in the kitchen, being stared at by his still helplessly tied brother, James prepared himself for what was to follow.

The voicemail had been brief and to the point. Things were happening at their mom’s work, and she was just checking in to make sure that James was tending to Henry properly. After all, she knew how much trouble Henry could get himself int-o if left to his own devices. She assumed that James was just out of earshot of his phone, saying she would call the house in about an hour to check in and update them.

James watched his brother, sitting bound on the kitchen table for just over two hours now, wriggle uncomfortably in his bonds. The afternoon heat had left the boy’s shirt stained from his perspiration, no doubt contributed to by numerous attempts to struggle free. He grinned nervously at Henry, waiting for the message to start, knowing that his brother, from his position on the table, had already heard it. James had to shush his brother, who was now trying to form words over the knot of the tie that had been shoved into his mouth, as the message began:

“Sorry boys, but something urgent has come up at work. I’m hopping on the next flight out and won’t be back until Monday afternoon. I need you two to act like men and behave yourselves while I’m gone. James, you take care of Henry. I know it’s Friday and you had plans for the weekend, but I’m counting on you to make sure he stays safe and out of trouble. I’ll call you again tomorrow to check on you. Love you both.”

James was stunned. She was gone for the whole weekend and he was going to have to baby-sit his brother. His mind raced as Henry’s barely muffled protests became more urgent.

“Wait a minute,” James said as he leaned against the table, next to his squirming brother. “I didn’t have to hurry back from the game to beat mom home. I could have stayed for the victory party".

Henry pulled futilely at his bonds. His back was aching from the bent over position his brother had left him in after tying his neck to his legs. He had spent hours like this, and he wanted to get loose.

“Well, since I’m home, I might as well take care of you before I head back out,” James said as he began to undo the rope around his brother’s neck.

James just manhandled his brother into compliance. After removing the rope from Henry’s neck and allowing the aching boy to sit up straight, he unwound it from Henry’s chest and arms. He then unbuttoned his brother’s damp shirt and pulled it back until it was up against his bound wrists. He then untied those and quickly yanked the shirt from his brother’s body.

“Should have just left you tied and cut the shirt off,” James mumbled as he quickly re-tied his brother’s wrists behind his back. “Nah, mom would have gotten suspicious. Guess that means I can’t cut those shorts off either.”

Henry started squirming again from his perch on the table as James untied his legs, ankles, and big toes. Once they were free, he kicked out at his brother, barely missing his groin as the athletic James managed to dodge the wildly flailing feet.

“Now that wasn’t too nice Henry,” James said as he yanked the boy’s shorts off, leaving him in just a pair of tight white briefs. “Now I’m just going to have to tie you even tighter. I can see what mom means about keeping you out of trouble.”

Grabbing his brother by the upper arm, James pulled him off the table. Henry was unsteady on his feet after sitting so long in one position, and James had to maintain a tight grip to steady him. Leaving all of Henry’s other clothes scattered on the floor, James picked up the boy’s earlier discarded socks as well as all the coils of rope, and dragged the boy toward the door to the garage. Once inside, James turned on the light and surveyed the dusty, cluttered space.

Henry shivered. The day’s heat had given way to a much cooler night, and the chill in the air as well as the cold cement under his bare feet, left the sparsely clothed boy wishing he was anywhere but the garage.

James noticed his brother’s shivering and grinned. “Sorry, but I couldn’t leave you in those sweaty, smelly clothes you wore all day, now could I?”

Henry mumbled something into his gag, but James just ignored it as he took the longest length of rope and tied one end to the bindings around his brother’s wrists. He then took the other end and tossed it up and over a support beam running along the ceiling. He caught the end when it came back down, and pulled it so that his brother’s arms were pulled up behind his back, once again forcing Henry into a bent over position. James then tied the rope off to a nearby hook, grabbed the rest of the coils of rope, and went to work.

By the time he was done, and after fetching even more rope, James was out of breath and Henry was bound into immobility. Instead of tying his brother’s arms to his chest as he had done previously, James opted for tying his elbows together. He then tied Henry’s legs at his thighs, above and below the knees, and ankles. He had then carefully taken the time to re-tie the boy’s big toes.

Henry had been attempting to plead through his gag the whole time, but James just ignored the garbled noises. Now, James picked up one of Henry’s socks and untied the tie from behind his brother’s head. He pulled it from Henry’s mouth and, before his brother could get out a word of protest, shoved the smelly sock in its place. In order to keep his brother from expelling the disgusting piece of cloth, James tied the other sock around the boy’s mouth and knotted it tightly behind his head. He smiled as he heard his brothers deeply muffled groan.

“Pretty gross, huh? But it’ll keep you a lot more quite than that little tie.” James looked his brother over quickly. “Man, this is taking too long. I’m going to miss most of the party.” He hurried over to the hook his brother’s arms were attached to and untied the rope. He pulled down on it again, causing Henry’s arms to rise further up behind him. Once his brother’s upper body was parallel to the floor, James tied off the rope again, knotting it securely this time.

He watched Henry squirm for another minute before shouting, “Yes!” and running from the garage. He returned a minute later with Henry’s second shoelace. James bent down at his brother’s feet and tied the shoelace off to its mate already wrapped around the boy’s big toes. He then took the other end, threaded it through the turns of rope above Henry’s knees, and pulled.

Henry lost his balance as his toes and the balls of his feet were yanked off the cold floor. He grunted as he was forced to put all of his weight against the rope holding his arms in order to right himself and maintain his balance on just his heels and the back half of the soles of his feet.

“There,” James said triumphantly as he stood up and looked over his handiwork. “That should keep you out of trouble while I’m gone. You just stay still and everything’ll be fine.” James gave his younger brother’s head a playful tussle and walked towards the door.

“Hmm,” he said as he reached for the light switch, “that position is good for tonight, but not really practical for the whole weekend,” he said as he eyed the small, old, dust-covered steamer trunk up against the wall. “I’ll have to come up with something better. See ya!”

Henry tried to stay perfectly still as his brother shut the light and closed the door, locking it from inside the house. Shortly, he heard the car in the driveway start up and his brother drive away, leaving him helpless in the dark, cold garage.

The end?