The first thing I noticed was that there was no extra light when I opened my eyes, yet I could feel the warmth of the day in the air around me; my brain was only two seconds behind the fact as I worked out that there was a blindfold of a dark satin material over my eyes tied in a knot which I could feel between my head and whatever I was lying on. The blindfold was shaped to my face so that here was no light leakage at all. My mouth was dried out, all moisture soaked up by the velvet gag that filled it.
Desperately I tried to put some recent history to my position... I came up one big blank... at the same time as this level of confusion threatened to fog my mind I realise that there was something hindering the free movement of my legs , my ankles were attached to each other, something rough wrapped around each one... hobbled by a solid rod a couple of feet long between them. I reach down to feel more but my arm movement is restricted as well. I can feel the cold of the metal manacle on each wrist as I tried to reach down, heard the clink and felt the weight of the chain that was attached to each manacle.
The discoveries bring me to as full a state of awareness as I have ever experienced. A cold sweat envelops my body and scenarios start making their way through my imagination. Each one more dreadful than the last... but I don't know what's happened.
'I'm naked,' my own voice screams at me inside my head.
I'm naked!...Last night... last night... what the fuck happened last night?
Nikki had pulled a blonde muscle-bound buffoon and gone back to his place; I remembered thinking that she was a lucky mare when she'd checked that I'd be okay making my own way back to our shared flat above the kebab shop in Monksbrook. The music had coerced me to dance on my own for a while - that was until some clodhopping local placed his size twelve down hard on my size fives which sent me staggering for the ladies loo.
After a quick rub to make sure that nothing was broken, I'd sat at the bar with a final vodka and Red Bull...
Mark!
That was his name... Mark came and sat next to me then bought me another drink. He was in the rugby club at college and from Derbyshire before he'd got here. I remembered that he seemed amusing in a dry sort of way and not pushy enough to be a drag while still being interested enough to make me feel attractive.
There was still a background fuzziness to the entire proceedings as my fevered mind tried to remember what had happened after that. He'd bought me a second drink whilst I was taking a pee, said that they'd run out of Red Bull so I'd got a vodkatini instead. I remembered that it was sweeter than I'd expected.
"Are you awake then?"
The deep voice gives me a start and I jerk in reaction to it. It's not Mark's voice...
"I guess that's a yes then⦠time to play again, I think."
I push my tongue against the gag and try to manoeuvre the knot behind my head up enough to get it off.
"It turns me on when you struggle."
For a second I was too mad to let his words sink in and in a raging fury I threw everything I had into trying to get loose from any of the stays against me. His laughter brought me back to a thinking state and my mind replayed his last sentence. Immediately I stilled myself and regained some control over my breathing. I think I was stupidly trying to remain composed; naked, restricted, blindfolded, manacled and gagged and I thought that I could hold onto an air of composure...
"I was going to kill myself... do you know that? It's been seven long years since I last gave in to temptation and I was so lonely that I was going to hang myself, today after Sunday lunch... ha ha ha. In a way you saved my life, then. I must remember to thank you."