Recalling the first written story involving Damsel in Distress that I came across [M/f]

[mserika]

You know, writing this out feels like I'm telling a fictional story within a true story LOL.

Back when I was 12, I remember hanging around the school library, where, having been raised up with English as my second language, there were a lot of the reading materials that were in my primary language of Malay. I have at that point been mostly reading English story books and books from Enid Blyton and the Goosebump series, so when I was browsing the selection of novels from the library, I was looking for any other English reading material where I could use it to learn and improve my English comprehension! Little did I know I was about to come across a book that would solidify my interest in what I would discover much later to be the Damsel in Distress...


I came across this one unassuming short story from a local author, written in English. I unfortunately have not registered the more important details of the book - Yes, I have completely forgotten the book title and the author name! Although I seem to recall it being a masculine Malay name? - but I do recall the story being that of a girl that has been kidnapped after school from a man who had bitter relationship with the girl's father, who would be holding the girl in captivity until he gotten the ransom money for her paid.

The story started off with a man approaching the girl after school with his car, making up some stories on how her father had been busy with his work and asked him, his friend, to fetch his daughter from school. The man gave some details about her father that makes it seem believable enough - the father does tend to pick her up from school quite late after all - and after the initial hesitations the girl eventually got into the car.

They made some small talk, and so far nothing about the ride gave her any reason to be suspicious. It was when the driver took them to a road that was not only far from where her house is but also from the town in general that she realized that something was amiss. The driver eventually revealed that she is being kidnapped, and that it would be foolish for her to think of escaping - he even put the child lock on so she could not open the door on her side!

Eventually the car stopped at traffic light where there was a police on patrol nearby, and the girl was close to call for attention when the man said he would not hesitate to hurt her with a hidden knife if she did anything to attract the police attention. After they had passed the traffic light - with the girl fearfully trying to put on a front as if nothing about the ride was out of the ordinary - the man laughed at the girl naivety, saying that it was a bluff, and that there's no way he would hurt her with the police watching them. Oh, if only she had called for help then...

The man stopped an a house in what seem to be a very empty neighbourhood, with no other people visible around the area. Apparently he had some serious issue with the girl's father, and he wants to really hurt him by kidnapping his daughter.

The details of her confinement is a bit hazy... Most of the time the girl is locked in a room, with the door and windows firmly locked. I distinctively recalled there was a scene where the man had tied her on a bed, with ropes holding her either in a spreadeagle - or was it with the ropes pulling her wrist and ankle to the bed's frame? - with a lengthy description of the girl struggling in the ropes and overcame with sadness and fear. I think there was another instance of the girl being tied up in a more conventional way, with ropes on her wrists and legs as she is left on the bed of the room that she's confined in?

There is a scene where the girl was left in the room untied, and she saw some electricians working in the distance, and she desperately written some message of distress on a piece of paper and waved it above her, and she was not sure that they've seen it because after a while of trying to get their attention the men have disappeared from view.

Throughout all the time she was held there, the man have spoken of how he's contacting her father to request ransom, although any instance of the man contacting the father was not shown in page since most of the story is focused on what was happening to the girl. Then one day, after giving the girl some food and drink, he mentioned that they would move out from the house today... not because that the ransom is paid, but because he had found someone who was very interested in purchasing her for a good price.

The man instructed her to change her clothes to be more presentable to the buyer. She had been in her school uniform - yes, most of the schools here requires us to wear standardized school uniform - since the time of her capture, so she was all too glad to change into something different. The clothes that the man had handed to her was this gaudy pink dress - and she remarked that it makes her look like a clown, and hey maybe it will be so off putting that her buyer would have second thoughts and backed out!

She laughed at the thought, but then grew grim and cried... realizing that after the few days of being confined, she was never going to see her family and friends again, and who knows what horrible things awaits her...

While she was changing her clothes and more or less resigned to her fate, she heard some commotions from outside. After all the noise died down, she was greeted with police officers, who were there due to a combination of the man being so overtaken with hatred for the girl's father that he got sloppy in hiding his identity of being the kidnapper, that they were able to find out where his place of residence is. On top of that, the electrician mentioned earlier did see the girl's distress signal and have discreetly contacted the police of the situation. Finally, her ordeal is over!

The girl is reunited with her family, and the kidnapper being put into jail. I think the story went on for a bit more after that point, with the girl after school, with a scene recalling the earlier scene of the story, only this time her father is the one picking her up, and he arrives not too late.


Similar to my story the other day about seeing a Damsel in Distress scene on the TV for the first time, I'm sure that my brain had filled up a lot of the gaps in the story over the years, maybe adding up extra details here and there. But I know for a fact that I did spend several days returning to the library and reading through the chapters... feeling pity over the girl being held against her will, but at the same time feeling this strange sort of excitement over her distress. The description from the author on how she's being restrained, and how she tries to free herself but to no avail. I suppose, even if I had not voiced the exact feelings during the time I had read the book, there is a feeling of 'I wish that could have been me...' going on!

[Yatta9999]

That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing this story of your first exposure to DiD in novel form!

I remember when I was 8, looking for books in which I thought a girl might get tied up, and looking through them in the hopes of seeing such a scene. I don't remember my first time encountering such in a book though.

[Yatta9999]

Oh, I also want to point out that the story you described reminds me a lot of a recent movie.

"My Daughter's Ransom" is about a man who kidnaps a girl to punish her mom. The girl is tied to a bed and gagged, then later, tied to a chair and gagged. She spends a lot of time tied up, with many different camera angles! The movie is also freely available on YouTube.

[mserika]

Oh, I also want to point out that the story you described reminds me a lot of a recent movie.

"My Daughter's Ransom" is about a man who kidnaps a girl to punish her mom. The girl is tied to a bed and gagged, then later, tied to a chair and gagged. She spends a lot of time tied up, with many different camera angles! The movie is also freely available on YouTube.

I haven't heard of the movie and ooh from the trailer it looks promising. I'll give it a watch later when I can. Thanks for the rec!

[mserika]

That's pretty cool! Thanks for sharing this story of your first exposure to DiD in novel form!

I remember when I was 8, looking for books in which I thought a girl might get tied up, and looking through them in the hopes of seeing such a scene. I don't remember my first time encountering such in a book though.

That's quite early to be aware of such an interest aha, it was 10 years for me. Also yeah I remember browsing through other books that seem like it'd have similar scene, and usually either not finding it or finding the description pretty bare bones. And when I find that there are people who write primarily about tying up in their stories online... In the words of Neo, 'whoa'.

[StrugglingSue]

That does sound like a good story!

[kaeri]

Hello fellow Malaysian! Haha I have the same experience while browsing through my school libraries back then. People will think that I love to read books, but what I love to read is mystery/thriller one, especially that involves kidnapping xD

[angim350]

Really interesting read, thankyou for sharing! I'm trying to think if I can put a title to this, but sounds like a good story! I feel I'd enjoy the bondage elements of this mixed in with what sounds like an interesting drama!

I also really appreciate what you mean when you say that you feel for the damsel here, but also have a sense of excitement too at her predicament. Definitely understand the "imagining if this was you" element as well!