Janet and Bill woke up slowly. It was the most confused awakening of their lives.
Bill stirred first. His initial thought was that he must have drifted off on the couch. Funny how he dropped off so early in the evening. He and Janet were planning to have some fun and games in the bedroom last night. Sleep was the last thing he needed.
Then, Bill's confusion ramped up as he realized that instead of lying horizontally in on his couch or in their bed, he was being supported in a vertical position. His hands were restrained above his head to either side, and his feet below him in a similar manner. His entire body made an X. The pressure of the restraints was incredible. He felt like he was being ripped apart.
As his vision cleared, Bill saw the figure of another man several feet in front of him. Like Bill, this man was also strung up in an X shape and...then Bill realized it was a giant screen television with his image. Judging from the angle, the camera had to be on the top edge of the TV. As Bill moved, so did the image. It was a real-time feed.
His restraints were more easily viewed on the screen than he could see directly. There were heavy leather cuffs locked around his wrists and ankles. Chains attached the ankle cuffs to the floor. Chains from the wrist cuffs went off the screen. Looking up, Bill could only see the chains disappear into darkness. They were tight enough that his feet barely touched the floor.
Bill's clothes were gone except for his speedo underwear. A dark part of his psyche wondered why he was left with any clothing at all.
The haziness was starting to lift in his mind. It was then he noticed another screen to the right of the first screen. Its image showed a woman hanging in a similar X pattern. It was Bill's wife, Janet.
Bill had not even looked to his right yet. Now that he did, he saw Janet was trussed up in the same fashion. Her clothes had also been taken, but she still had on her lacy bra and thong panties. Janet moaned. Her head still nodded to her chest. The image on her screen mirrored her movements as well.
That was enough for Bill. He finally let out a yell for help. But, instead of a scream, he heard only a muffled grunt. Something was in his mouth! Looking to the TV screen again, he could see a wide leather strap covering his mouth. A leather insert attached to the interior of the strap filled his mouth. It was a leather pouch filled with some sort of soft material. The insert extended Bill's jaws to an uncomfortably wide angle. Biting down, he found his teeth were opposed by a soft but unyielding obstruction. The insert was very effective at cutting off any coherent speech.
Looking over to Janet again, Bill could see the same gag on her mouth. Neither of them were going to be able to call for help.
This didn't stop Bill from trying. For two minutes, he screamed as loud as he could into his gag. The net result was a sore throat but no sign of help.
Most of the room was hidden in shadow. Spotlights illuminated the married couple from the ceiling and from behind the televisions. The television images also showed nothing but endless darkness behind the couple.
Janet finally stirred and opened her eyes. Bill desperately hoped to find a way out of this dilemma before she woke up. But nothing he did could dislodge any of his restraints or the gag.
Like Bill, it took a few seconds for Janet's eyes to focus and for her to become fully aware of her situation. When she finally came to her senses, Janet's eyes grew wide with ever increasing panic. She struggled in her bonds and screamed into her gag. She fared no better than Bill.
Eventually, all the couple could do was gaze at each other with querulous looks and sob. They knew they were in deep trouble.
How deep, they were about to find out.
Somewhere behind them, a door opened and closed. Bill and Janet screamed into their gags, reflexively hoping that somehow it was someone who would help them out of their predicament.
Of course, it wasn't.
Footsteps could be heard tapping on the cold concrete floor, coming closer and closer. Whoever it was, he or she was in no hurry. The footsteps sounded out in a measured, leisurely pace.
Finally, a man appeared in front of the couple. He was handsome, dark-haired, cleanshaven, possibly in his early forties. His clothing was simply a white dress shirt unbuttoned at the top, a pair of black pants, and dress shoes.
Janet and Bill had the predictable reaction of shouting as loudly as possible into their gags. The man smiled.
"Quiet!!!!" he roared.
Without even thinking about it, the couple immediately went silent.
"Excellent. Just the reaction I was looking for.
"If you keep silent, I will explain what you are doing here and what is going to be expected of you. If you don't keep silent, I will leave and come back tomorrow. Nod if you understand."
Bill and Janet hesitated.
"Very well. If you want to hang like that for another 24 hours..."
Bill and Janet each nodded, quite vigorously.
"See? I knew you could obey. In fact, you've been chosen for exactly that reason.
"My name is Jonathan. The next time you are allowed to speak, you will call me Master."
Bill and Janet's eyes widened, but they remained silent as ordered.
"My organization has very thorough methods for monitoring social media accounts for certain...choice attributes. You two came up on our radar some time ago. We started surveilling you several months ago."
Jonathan pulled what looked like a TV remote control out of his right pocket. He pointed it at the screens and pushed the remote control. The screens flashed and shifted to a new scene. It was their dining room. Janet and Bill were seated across from each other having dinner. They were conversing, but there was no sound.
Both of them were so startled, they could no longer keep silent. Each of them started to try to talk through their gags, even though they knew it was futile.
Jonathan walked over to Janet. He smiled at her.
"Now, Janet, I commanded you to remain silent, didn't I? Now, I'm going to have to punish you for your infraction."
Janet's eyes were wild with terror. Even so, they were beautiful eyes, a light blue. Her lovely face was framed with a head of thick curly dark hair that flowed down to her waist. Some of it drifted over her chest and around her breasts. Her locks shivered as she struggled in her bonds.
Jonathan pulled out his switchblade and snapped it open right in front of Janet's beautiful eyes. The point was very close to her left eye. Her terror was sufficient that she peed into her panties.
This made Jonathan's smile grow even wider.
"I strongly suggest you stay still while I strip you naked, Janet. I wouldn't want to damage you."
With that, Bill started to scream through his gag again. Jonathan turned to Bill and fixed him with a cold gaze.
"However, if Bill keeps this up, I will hurt you. Do you want to settle down, Bill, or should I hurt Janet?" Jonathan moved the tip of his blade even closer to Janet's eye until she had to tilt her head back as far as she could to keep the knife from touching here eyeball.
Bill stopped shouting, though he still looked at Jonathan with eyes blazing with fury.
Jonathan smiled. "That's it, little Bill. Don't worry, we'll get to you soon enough. I need to attend to Janet now." With that, Jonathan moved his knife away from Janet's eye. Janet allowed her head to fall forward. She was trembling with terror, but didn't try to speak.
Jonathan carefully slipped the tip of his knife under Janet's left bra strap and pulled it upward. The blade was acutely sharp. It sliced through the strap with ease.
Janet whimpered. She knew what was coming next. Jonathan mirrored his action on her other bra strap. He then maneuvered his knife under the front of her bra and pulled forward. The cloth connecting the two bra cups parted. The bra fell off her body and drifted to the floor.
Janet's breasts were of average size, but firm enough that they didn't sag like most women's tits. Her nipples poked out like small eraser nubs.
