Alex Dunphy was a curious girl. Usually, this was a good thing. Usually, it caused her to learn some interesting or valuable information about whatever topic had piqued her interest. Usually, it was something harmless, like Renaissance Italy or Picasso’s blue period. Usually, her curiosity didn’t cause her to be handcuffed to her sister’s bed, topless, and with dirty underwear taped into her mouth. But here she was.
It began at school. Alex was giving a presentation in her senior history class about the colonial slave trade. Being the intelligent girl that she was, she had used the word bondage, a synonym for slavery, a couple times in her presentation, just so she wouldn’t have to keep using the word ‘slavery’ over and over again until everyone was sick of it. She had included other synonyms too: enslavement, servitude, subjugation. Yet, when she said the word ‘bondage’, a girl in her class had looked at her lap and blushed.
The girl didn’t blush at any other word. Only ‘bondage’. When Alex said it the second time, she checked the girl’s reaction. This time, she not only blushed, but she stifled a giggle. Throughout the rest of the class, and even the rest of the school day, Alex was wondering what had caused the girl to blush at that word. When she finally got home, she quickly made her way up to her room and shut the door. Then, she pulled her laptop out of her backpack and laid back on her bed.
She could have left it alone. Most people would have. But not her. Not Alex Dunphy. Not the brilliant eighteen year-old genius of her family. Alex began her search by looking up the word on an online dictionary. There was nothing amiss about the first two definitions as they simply referred to the word as Alex had used it in her presentation. But then Alex read the third definition: Tying up or restraining one partner for sexual pleasure.
She could have stopped here. She could have been satisfied with figuring out why the girl had blushed. Instead, this definition had only further sparked her curiosity. Her online research continued. She looked at pictures of people, mostly women, tied up in varying levels of complexity (she had filters on her browser preventing her from seeing anything sexually explicit). There were some pictures of girls in handcuffs and some of them bound in yards upon yards of rope. Her curiosity was now a full-fledged fire. Alex thought she should have been disgusted by the images, but instead she was…intrigued.
Alex groaned into her gag and rattled her chains. She knew then she should have left it alone. But Alex always wanted to learn. The girl had seen this type of thing once before. A couple months ago, she had gone down to the basement to ask her sister Haley if she could borrow her car to go to the museum. When Alex got down there, she saw that Haley’s door was ajar, so she peeked into the room. The younger Dunphy knew that Haley had a boy over. Still, she certainly hadn’t expected to see the boy face-down on the bed with leather cuffs connecting his wrists to the frame in a Y shape. She also hadn’t expected to see Haley spanking his butt. Alex had quickly and silently dashed upstairs; she was confident that she hadn’t been spotted, and Haley never mentioned anything about it.
Now it seemed that her best avenue towards learning more about the subject was to ask someone well-versed in it. Ironically, Alex was considering learning from Haley. This plan had other drawbacks besides having Haley act as a teacher. Alex was not comfortable talking about sex, or anything to do with sex, with her sister. Nor did she want Haley to know that she had seen her spanking her date. But she was oh so curious. And, ultimately, that got the best of her.
Alex, wearing a brown t-shirt that read ‘I only do chemistry periodically’ in blue lettering and dark blue skinny jeans, went to the basement. Giving herself a mental pep-talk, she knocked on Haley’s bedroom door.
“What do you want?” Haley asked as she opened the door. Haley was several inches taller than her younger sister which wasn’t saying much since Alex was one of the shortest seniors at her high school. For some reason that even Alex had never understood, Haley’s skin was noticeably darker than that of her blood relatives. She was almost as tan as Gloria. Alex noticed that her sister’s blonde highlights were beginning to fade, bringing out more of her natural wavy brunette hair. Haley was wearing a low-cut floral print top that showed a bit of modest cleavage with a dark, tight fitting open blazer over it and black leather pants.
“Are you checking me out or something?” Haley shrieked.
“No no no,” Alex tried to reassure her, “Sorry, there’s just been something on my mind lately, and I wanted to ask you about it.”
“Well I might help you if you keep your eyes up here,” Haley quipped, pointing her fingers at her eyes.
“Funny, that’s not where you usually want people’s eyes,” Alex shot back dryly.
“Just come in!” Haley huffed. She opened her door wider and Alex stepped through into her sister’s basement bedroom. The place was a mess, with clothes and makeup strewn over all the furniture but the bed. Alex did not miss sharing a room with Haley. She sat down on the edge of the bed and was shortly joined by Haley.
“So,” Haley began, “what’s up?”
“Well, uh, it’s kinda awkward,” Alex said, “So, a few days ago…” Alex told Haley the story, from the girl in class to the online pictures. The only part she left out was seeing Haley with a handcuffed boy.
“So, I thought you might have some experience with this stuff?” she finished, now unable to look at her sister.
“Why do you think that?” Haley asked.
“You’ve been with a lot of boys,” Alex said, “I’m sure they had a variety of…tastes.”
“They're called fetishes,” Haley said matter-of-factly.
“I know what their called,” Alex snapped, “I just didn’t want to say it.”
“Okay, okay, down girl,” Haley said soothingly.
“Sorry,” Alex apologized, “Look, can you teach me anything more about, this…”
“Bondage,” Haley supplied.
“Yeah,” Alex muttered, “Bondage.”
Haley consideringly looked at her sister. She seemed quite uncomfortable about the whole thing. Alex was blushing bright red and her eyes darted nervously about the room. Haley grinned and reached under her bed. She felt around until she felt a shoebox and pulled it out, placing it on her lap.
Alex turned her head and saw that Haley had retrieved something from her beneath her bed. Her eyes went wide when she recognized it as a box of bondage gear. She quickly tore her eyes away and looked at Haley.
“Oh, I can teach you,” she said with a predatory grin, “But we are gonna do this my way.”
“What does that mean?” Alex nervously asked.
Haley’s eyes were eager as she sultrily whispered, “You just have to do whatever I say.”
In hindsight, that was the largest red flag. Alex’s curiosity had gotten the best of her at every previous step, and she could see how it was justified. But at that moment, she should have run. She should have forgotten about this whole bondage thing and run. Now, it was too late. Alex looked down at her topless, helpless form. Far too late.
Instead, overcome by…something, Alex closed her eyes, nodded, and said, “Okay, deal.”
“Yay!” Haley squealed, “This is going to be so much fun!”
“So, what do I have to do first?” Alex asked.
“Well,” Haley began, “I think the best way for you to learn about bondage is through…example.” Haley’s expression curled darkly around the last word.
“You’re going to tie me up?” asked an alarmed Alex. But, also, maybe, excited?
“No,” Haley whispered, leaning in close, “You are!”
“Wait, what?” Alex wasn’t used to being confused.
“First,” Haley said as she stood, holding the box in one hand, “Shirt. Off.”
“Wait, what?” Alex was somehow more confused.
“Alex, part of bondage is the loss of control for one partner,” Haley explained patiently.
“Okay.”
Haley leaned in and towered over her sister. She sternly said, “And the total control of the other. So tell me, who’s in control?”
“You are,” Alex squeaked.
“I can’t hear you!”
“You are!” Alex cried.
“Good,” Haley said cheerfully, standing up straight, “And what are you gonna do?”
“Take off my shirt?” Alex replied.
“And?” Haley pressed.
Alex thought it over, but at this point she was committed. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
“That’s right,” Haley said, giving her little sister a pat on the head, “Now take off your shirt and lay down on the bed.” For some reason she didn’t totally comprehend right then, maybe it was that Haley was so…dominant, Alex complied. She nervously and hastily pulled her shirt over her head, revealing her plain white 34 D bra, and laid down on Haley’s bed, all the while keeping an anxious eye on her older sister.
Haley knew her sister was well-developed. The sweaters that had previously belonged to her that Alex wore fit tight enough around the younger Dunphy’s bust to reveal that. But she hadn’t known quite how developed. Haley’s eyes widened slightly at seeing her sister’s figure like this. It was quite impressive. Haley now knew how Alex kept getting boyfriends despite her nerdiness.
“Here,” Haley said, handing Alex a roll of duct tape, “Tie your ankles together.”
“O-okay,” Alex stuttered. She put her bare feet together and began wrapping the tape around them slowly. She went around once, twice, three times before glancing at Haley.
“Make sure it’s tight,” Haley intoned. Alex wrapped the tape around one more time, pulling it tight before ripping it.
“Good,” the eldest Dunphy said cheerfully, “Now, put these on.” Haley tossed a pair of metal handcuffs to her sister. Alex held them as though they were bite.
“Like, on my hands?” She asked.
“You’re smart,” Haley said, “What do you think?”
Alex gulped but placed her left wrist in the open cuffs. She began to close the metal around her wrist, the clicking making her heart hammer. Haley watched eagerly until she gave a satisfied nod at the cuff’s tightness.
“Cuff yourself to the head of the bed,” she snapped. Alex complied instantly and laid back down and stretched her arms over her head. She tossed the open cuff over a horizontal bar on the bedframe, then placed her right wrist in the waiting metal. Finally, she snapped the cuff closed. She was trapped.
“Now what?” she asked, unable to keep a slight tremble out of her voice.
“Try to get out,” Haley said, “Struggle.”
Alex began with her ankles. She worked her legs up and down, side to side, and all around. The tape didn’t budge, so she tried thrashing her lower limbs which likewise accomplished nothing. She fared no better with the handcuffs. The cool metal was unforgiving. Her body shook and her breasts jiggled in her bra as she fought against the restraints. After a few minutes, she gave up.
“I can’t,” she breathed. Haley watched her now red-faced and panting sister. Her skin had just started to glisten with sweat and her breasts heaved with her breaths.
“Too bad,” Haley said as she straddled Alex’s waist, “How do you feel?”
“Um, well, uh,” Alex stammered as she watched Haley climb on her, “I’m kinda tired. And, uh, hot.”
“You are?” Haley said mockingly, “What if I did this?” Haley began to run her fingers along her sister’s exposed sides. Alex squirmed and writhed under the touch. This only encouraged Haley, who began to tickle her sides, then her stomach, then her armpits.
“Haley, stop!” Alex cried. She began to laugh, “Please, Ha-ha-Haley-ha-ha! Hahahaha-let-hahahaha-me-hahaha-free!”
“What was that?” Haley said, still tickling the bound girl, “Let ‘em free? Okay!”
“No-!” Haley clamped a hand over Alex’s mouth as she leaned over the shorter girl. Haley reached under Alex and unclasped her bra.
“Ya know, if you keep making so much noise, I’ll have to gag you,” Haley said matter-of-factly as she tossed the raven-haired girl’s bra across the room. Haley finally removed her hand.
“What are you doing, you bit-!” Alex’s scream was once again cut off by Haley’s surprisingly strong hand.
“I warned you,” she said sadly. Haley kept her eyes on Alex as she reached to her nightstand and picked up the first piece of cloth she blindly touched. Once she had it, she let go of her sister’s mouth.
“Are those pan- mmmph?” Haley stuffed the red material into Alex’s lips then grabbed the roll of duct tape and quickly applied a strip over her mouth. Alex’s brown eyes widened in surprise.
“Well, I’m thirsty,” Haley declared, “I’ll be right back.” With that, Haley exited the room, closed the door, and headed upstairs. And now Alex was topless, helpless, gagged, and handcuffed to her sister’s bed.
