"You guys sure you want to go on with this? I mean you could back out midway but now it's like your last chance before any happens," the man warned us.
"Let's just get this over with and see where this goes," I told him. "You ready, Beth?"
"I mean sure, kinda nervous but yeah let's just see how this goes."
***
I suppose I ought to start by telling you a little something about myself. My name is Holly Butler. I'm 39 years old, I'm divorced and I have a 20 year old daughter, Beth. I work as a high school English teacher and my daughter is a beautician with her own small business. This is the story of what happened to Beth and me a little over two months ago.
It was a Sunday afternoon, a beautiful sunny day. Beth was visiting with me and both of us were out on the patio of my home, enjoying the sun and having a good time. Beth and I get along wonderfully and the two of us were chatting and having a couple of drinks.
It was a warm day and we were both barefoot, dressed in thin white cotton short shorts and matching halter-tops. It was back to work the next morning but today was my day.
It was perfect. We sat there, the two of us, chatting and laughing, basking in the warm sunshine bathing our bare limbs and enjoying ourselves.
With the last few minutes of freedom before the nightmare.
At about 4 PM, we heard noises coming from inside the house. I got up and went inside to check it out. When I got inside I froze. There were two men in black ski masks going through my living room. I found out later that there was a third man with them but he was upstairs at the time. One of the men, short and stocky and wearing jeans and a white T- shirt, came toward me. He had a gun in his hand pointed right at my head. As I stood there, frozen in my tracks, he clamped his gloved hand tightly over my mouth.
"Not a sound, bitch, or you're dead," he whispered fiercely, jabbing his gun into my stomach. I nodded my head and he shoved me until my back was up against a wall. I was paralyzed with fear.
"Anyone else with you, bitch?" he asked, still whispering. I could feel his hot fetid breath on my face. Terrified as I was, my first thought was to shake my head. But then I decided it was no good lying: Beth was sure to come in looking for me and then we would be in even worse trouble.
So I nodded yes. He forced me to give her location as I fearfully complied as I looked at the direction of the patio.
The man made a quick gesture to his companion, a tall slim man dressed in a turtle neck sweater and chino pants who promptly picked up a duffel bag that was lying on the floor and dumped its contents on the sofa.
I blanched when I saw what came out: coiled lengths of white cotton rope and rolls of black duct tape together with plastic zip ties and folded strips of white linen cloth. I had no trouble figuring out what they were for.
The man took some rope and some strips of cloth and went out to the patio, gun in hand. Meanwhile my assailant removed his hand from my mouth and pushed the barrel of his gun up against my neck. "Not a sound, bitch," he ordered and put his finger across my lips. I nodded fearfully.
As he looked at me up and down, his lustful eyes taking in my body, I heard the surprised gasp from Beth that was quickly muffled as I realised the other intruder had found her, causing my heart to drop
"Take your top off," he hissed. I shook my head frantically and opened my mouth to protest. Without warning he dealt me a quick sharp slap across my lips. The blow stung. The shock of it made me start trembling and I felt tears forming in my eyes.
"That's just a warning," he growled, "now lose the top. Do it now." Sobbing quietly I quickly undid my halter and let it drop to the floor. The man eyed my breasts hungrily then dropped his gaze to my bare legs. "Now your shorts, pull 'em down," he ordered me.
Trembling, my eyes blurry with tears, I pulled my thin cotton shorts down to my ankles and stepped out of them. I faced him, my face red with embarrassment and humiliation at being stripped to my underwear. The man grinned as he eyed my lace-trimmed white silk panties. "Cute panties you've got on," he sneered. He spun me around and pushed me up against the wall.
"Lean forward. Forehead against the wall," he ordered curtly, "legs spread wide." As I was slow to comply I received a couple of swift kicks to my ankles that knocked my legs apart and a sharp shove between my shoulder blades that hurled my head forward against the wall. "Please," I gasped, "Don't hurt me."
"You'll get hurt you a lot worse if you don't do what I say," he snarled. "Now put your hands behind your back and keep 'em there while I get some rope." The slap to my face, the stripping and the brutal manhandling had crushed any will I might have had to resist.