Melinda's Last Night Part 1 of 9

This is a break from my usual writing situation as this is for someone that I personally know and I have also ignored one of my own writing rules. When I mentioned this particular rule, she said about could it be broken in a certain situation. After I thought about it for a while, I saw how the story could work and this is the result.

Please note that the first two parts are innocent as there is a young damsel involved.

To say that Melinda was obsessed with Death was both an understatement and a misrepresentation of the whole situation, as she had been in love with Death from her childhood, when she saw him for the first time. As the woman looked out over the calm sea below the clear sky, from the secluded cove on what would be her last night on Earth, she thought about how she had arrived at this moment…

When Melinda was five years old, she decided to climb to the top of the apple tree in the garden, but the girl overestimated her capability and landed on her right arm with a sickening crack. Needless to say, her mother ran out of the house when she heard the scream and as soon as she had seen what had happened, she called for an ambulance which took the injured girl to hospital. While they were in the Accident and Emergency waiting room, a stretcher was wheeled in from an ambulance carrying a man who was wearing leather and covered in blood. He was taken to a special area that was right next to the waiting room and just a few minutes later, Melinda saw or to be more accurate perceived through the wall, someone who was the most handsome man on earth with a shining haze around him, appear out of nowhere. He stood alone for a for seconds, and then the man who was on the trolley stood up with a smile on his face as if this was the most wonderful thing ever to happen to him. After a few more seconds had passed by, both of them started to fade and they had gone by the time that one of the doctors walked into the waiting room.

As he spoke to a nurse, he mentioned about how the injuries that the motorcyclist had received from the clash had been too severe and that Death had managed to claim yet another victim. This puzzled Melinda as the man did not appear to be a victim of any kind as it looked as if he was very happy in the end and she said as much to her mother who was shocked by the comment. The girl’s arm was checked to make sure that there was no serious damage and as it was only a simple fracture which meant that it could be put in acast to heal, the mother called a taxi so that they could go home. There was another incident on the way home, however, as there had been a head-on car crash and the traffic was at a standstill while the emergency services dealt with the aftermath of the collision. Melinda wound down the window, before putting her head through the gap so that she could look up the road and she saw Death with a woman this time, just before they vanished. She told her mother about what she had seen and the girl noticed that the adult became worried by this, so she decided not to say any more at the moment.

After several more such sightings over the next year or so which were mentioned by Melinda to her parents, she was taken to see a man who asked her some very unusual questions and she was left in a room to play while her mother and father talked to the man next door. As the door was still slightly ajar, the girl heard parts of the conversation like “Coping with mortality”, “putting a friendly face on something scary” and “Probably more sane than we are.” When she was asked to come back in, the man suggested that she shouldn’t mention what she sees to others, as they may not have seen what has happened and they can find such things frightening. When Melinda returned home, the girl realised that they thought that she had been imagining what she had seen, so perhaps it would be best not to mention it to anyone from now on.

There other times when she saw Death during her childhood and she remembered not to tell anyone else about these appearances, although she did do her best to attract his attention. When these attempts to get noticed failed, she decided that he couldn’t see her as she was still alive and he could only see the people who are already dead. It wasn’t long before she started to have unusual romantic fantasies about her dying and Death coming to claim her, so that she could remain with him forever. Her plots began as her dropping dead on the spot for some unknown reason, but this only satisfied her for so long so her fantasies became more elaborate as time went on. Sometimes she was dying from some kind of exotic illness which drained her of all of her strength before bringing an end to her life, while others were of her being kidnapped by some evil villain who tormented her before killing her in one way or another.

These were okay for a while, although they didn’t seem to provide her with a large enough feeling of satisfaction, but everything changed at the age of ten when the local boys discovered games like cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. When the boys played their new games, they always wanted a girl to join in as a hostage of some kind, who ended up being bound and gagged in one way or another. This proved to be a problem for them, as the local girls didn’t want to play because they didn’t like the idea of being at the mercy of the boys who might end up teasing them while they were helpless. However, this was a golden opportunity for Melinda once she heard about these new games, so when the next game of cowboys and Indians started in the wood she volunteered to play the part of the hostage.  Two of the boys on the side of the Indians took her to a tree before making her stand with her back against it and her wrists were crossed on the other side of the tree.

As a length of rope was wrapped in five vertical and five horizontal winds around Melinda’s wrists, she experienced an incredible thrilling sensation as four cinches were wound between her wrists, with a knot added to secure the rope. Her feeling was increased when her ankles were tied together with six loops, tightened by four cinches and soon ropes were taken around her waist and chest eight times each which forced her back against the tree. A cloth strip was tied over the mouth of the helpless girl, who already knew that this would not stop her from speaking but she played along by pretending that she could only make muffled sounds. As the girl struggled in her bonds while the boys played their game, she discovered that this thrilling feeling was something that she wanted to experience again.

In this first game that Melinda took part in, the Indians ended up winning and the leader of the team pulled her gag down to ask her if she wanted to be untied. To their surprise, the girl said that as they had won, she should be sacrificed with them doing their victory dance around her and dead branches should be placed around the tree to provide the base for a fake fire. Her gag was put back in place, and the winners collected enough material to make a sizable wood pile at her feet before the leader pretended to set the makeshift bonfire alight. This was the cue for Melinda to scream and struggle while the boys danced around her and the girl found out that this was her most incredible experience to date as she pretended to be consumed by the flames.

There came a point where she emitted a long and final scream, before she slumped in her ropes and the girl fantasised about Death coming to claim her while the boys finished their dance. As Melinda’s gag was removed, the leader of the cowboys’ side complained that they wouldn’t have been able to do this, as they could only rescue the helpless cowgirl, so she decided to make a suggestion. She should remain tied to the tree, but this time as an Indian squaw who has been kidnapped by the evil cowboys who should be allowed to win this time, so that they can have the same amount of fun. Melinda’s gag was put back in place; the two teams played their battle while she acted her part as the screaming damsel and she put on an incredible performance as she was ‘burnt to death’ by the winners.

For the next two years as they played these games, Melinda was much sought after as a damsel in distress, especially as she didn’t mind a bad end happening to her in the game. For her though, there was nothing bad about the game ending like this, as in her mind she got to meet Death in the end and she found this to an intense and enjoyable experience. Soon Melinda graduated to playing cops and robbers games as well, which meant that she ended up as the tied up hostage of the robber and the girl suggested that if the robbers won the game, she was a witness that needed to be eliminated.

During the end part of the two years, however, the boys started to develop other interests and there came a point when Melinda found it difficult to find someone to tie her up in these types of games. One boy by the name of Kurt did notice that she was trying to find someone to play with, so he suggested that they go somewhere in the wood on Sunday afternoon to play a game of kidnap. When Melinda heard what was involved in a game of kidnap, the mere idea thrilled her to the bone as it meant that she would be the bound and gagged captive of an evil villain, with her life in his hands. She had been reading newspaper articles about what happened to kidnap victims in real life and she had been wondering what it would be like to end up in that situation, so the girl hoped that she could encourage Kurt to help her achieve some of this.

It seemed to take forever for Sunday afternoon to arrive, but they both met at a quiet location just outside the wood at one o’clock with Kurt carrying a large bag and wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans and white trainers, while Melinda was wearing a blue halter-neck knee length sun dress with matching open toed sandals.

“Kurt, before we start the kidnap game while I look at the woods, can I give you this folded piece of paper, with some ideas on what to do once I am at your lair?” Melinda said as she held out a small sheet of notepaper which had had been folded over so that the writing was hidden, and Kurt took it before putting it in his pocket without thinking.

“Okay, now turn around, face the path that leads into the wood and in a minute you will know when I am ready.” Kurt said, and Melinda’s heart started to race as she followed the instruction so that her back was to her friend.

At least my own personal kidnapping and I can dream about Death coming to claim me at the end!

(To Be Continued.)