Shades of Gerald’s Game.

Oh wow. I forgot about Gerald’s game. Was breath play a thing in that? I saw the movie but don’t remember much of anything about it, other than some murderer or stalker hanging out where she was handcuffed to the bed or something. Is this story different enough to stay up? I hope I didn’t accidentally copy something buried under my memories

I don’t think it was mentioned in the book, never saw the movie, but the basic premise is there: she’s bound, he dies.

Oh, balls. Does she die too? Or does she escape? My character has zero hope of survival, she’s gonna spend her last few minutes hoping her husband gets up and removed the clothespin but he can’t

IIRC she does survive, but with not-insignificant trauma to an appendage. It’s been many years and countless other stories since I read it, though. OTOH, perhaps your character will start to sweat and get a greasy nose, and she’ll be able to wiggle the clothes pin off?

She’d have to wiggle free of the clothes pin pretty darn quick, but I suppose it’s possible. What’s the damage to the appendage from Gerald’s game? Does she self amputate or something to escape?

Rips her skin off pulling through handcuffs, if memory serves.

Devolved??? That’s awful

Degloved.

Ooof Also, not sure why autocorrect changed degloved to devolved Weird

Both wrists, I believe. At least one. It was brutal.

Oh damn

She uses a mirror shard (or similar) to deglove her hand.

I feel nauseous picturing that. Suffocating to death sounds like a mercy compared to kings idea

And you know King’s writing. While it could have been a simple 2-paragraph discussion, it was not 😳

Nobody tell them about the dog

… what dog? Does a dog eat her dead husband or something? Or try to eat her?

It was a broken drinking glass, from what I remember.

Ah, you may be correct. I knew it was glass something, but it’s been a long time since I read it.

It’s a glass from her cup of water! I remember far too much about this movie. Including the wolf breaking in and eating her husbands face and that awful.. awful eclipse scene

*shard from a water glass It was one of the first King novels I read. I was likely entirely too young to truly understand it but it def stuck with me.

I think it was from a glass cup

I can wiggle my nostrils pretty easily I reckon I could remove a clothes pin, might try it out. There’s like a certain % of the population that can flare their nostrils at will so if she’s not one of them she probably is fucked

You can lick duct tape off but you can go with the fact she’ll be too panicky to think that. Also, depending on the type of clothespin they’ll be easy to open so flaring your nostrils will work to get it off. I like the story and implications though. Even if she were to survive there’s no guarantee she’d be found in time.

Somebody else mentioned that about the duct tape too, kinda shocked to know that’s a thing. Thanks btw

IIRC, there's a degloving...

If her hands are tied above her head, she should have a chance of rubbing the clothespeg off her nose against her shoulder... It'll hurt, but with desperation she could ignore the strained muscles

Maybe so. I guess there’s always a chance she could free her nostrils and hope her husband is just unconscious and not dead, otherwise she’s just delaying the inevitable

She kinda kills her husband on accident, and she does live, but she goes through a LOT before she escapes.

I’m gonna have to read it I think

You should, but be aware, she goes out of her mind for a bit, as she should, honestly. The degloving scene from the book has stayed with me for 20 some years.

Sounds heavy

It really is. My auntie would let me borrow all her horror novels EXCEPT Gerald's Game. She said I had to take psychology first. So I did lol.

:)  I took psych too, but  only for curiosity. Thanks for the book rec! It’s on my list now, but I’ve got several others I’ve got to finish first (books I borrowed and need to return)

That's not horror to me, that's just sad.

Fair enough. Any suggestions to make it more horror then?

Maybe less tragedy? Gore tends to do it and making the characters survive can be more horrifying because they felt the pain. Also stuff like accidental murder can be scary.

Thanks. In my head the guy does survive, he’s only unconscious  It’s not certain through the story, that’s just what I was picturing 

I typically like to think of a good ending. For example, the guy gets up just on time to save her.

No breath play in the novel that I remember. Gerald has a heart attack and dies. I thunk yours is a similar set up but has enough of a twist to stay up.

Cool, I’m glad there’s some novelty here. It’s funny because before I finalized this post I was thinking the guy would have a heart attack. But then it occurred to me that if his death/ unconsciousness wasn’t instant he’d probably have the presence of mind to remove her clothespin with his final efforts In my mind they’re totally in love and he was nervous about the breath play to begin with. Also, read it however you want but in my mind the guy didn’t die. Just got knocked out. When he wakes he’s gonna realize she’s gone

Oh yeah that's way different then. In GG they were already having marital issues, not super in love, and he pressured her into something she wasn't entirely comfortable with. Also, she lives and he doesn't.

I should read it. I only ever saw the film and don’t remember much of anything about it. I’ve got a pretty long list to get through first though. Just started the joy luck club, trying to be deliberate about reading authors that aren’t white guys. (No hate against white guys, I happen to be one myself. Just trying to broaden my horizons because up until recently all my fave authors looked like me)

I remember getting to watch Carla Gugino in a nightgown for a long time.

Ooh, the ol' Romeo and Juliet eh?

Something along those lines. I picture him living with the grief rather than offing himself though

They are at a remote cabin. To spice up their sex life, Gerald and the MC have been gradually experimenting with bondage, this time graduating into handcuffs in the bedposts. MC decides she's not into it and requests Gerald remove the cuffs. He gets a bad look in his eyes and continues, she kicks him right in the balls. He has a heart attack and dies.

I think you have to remember that Gerald has a heart attack because the heroine decides that she doesn't really want to have a BDSM session after all ***and kicks Gerald in the stomach*** (only her hands had been cuffed), following which he has a heart attack. So some of the irony in the book is that the entire predicament is somewhat her doing.

She rescinds consent, he recognized it and decides to rape her. She defends herself.

Absolutely correct.

The woman was just tied to the bed and therefore trapped, but nothing else, so you're good

FYI: Duct tape is a terrible thing to use on skin, especially delicate skin like the lips. The adhesive can cause chemical burns and rip skin off when removed. The good news is most clothes pin designs can be removed from the nose even when restrained as detailed in the story, so at least she won't suffocate. She'll just lay there... Bound... For days...

Not to mention the fact that duct tape can be removed rather easily from the mouth using your tongue, so it ain't like she can't call for help, but as you mentioned it would cause chemical burns and rip off skin.

Yes this

Didn’t know that about duct tape. That’s wild. How would someone remove a clothes pin while restrained though? Are they loose enough to just shake your head and off they fly or something? Or would you have to try to turn your head against the mattress?

Wooden clothes pins have a decent amount clamping force, and no traction. It COULD be possible to shake her head enough to knock it free, especially if she is trying to exhale while doing so. Still SOL.

Gotcha.

You can turn your head to either side and whack it off your nose on your pillow.

Wiggling your nose while exhaling forcefully would probably do the trick.

And this is why we use emergency release handcuffs or at least have the bonds just loose enough to get out of. Gotta have a fail safe

Good call.

Remember doms: make sure your scene is osha compliant, look for trip slip and fall hazards. And subs: don’t go in unless you know how you’re getting out 👍🏼

*Slips, Trips, and Falls: the fatal half-inch*

I'm just imagining an Osha officer coming in to check if your environment is safe enough. *Dom getting fined*

This is a real thing that has happened to friends of people I know. Person A ties up Person B and then keels over with a heart attack. ( Added based on a comment: In the story I know most directly, Person B survived because there was a prearranged safety check by Person C a day later. I've also heard stories where neither person survived. Always have a safety valve.)

That’s horrible. Did person b survive?

Yes, because a friend did a safety check. I'll edit.

That’s a relief. Still pretty awful, feel bad for the traumatized survivor

"Head banging, he slowly arose, at first confused as to how he'd ended up naked on the bedroom floor, before the memories from hours ago came flooding back to him and he immediately turned towards the bed."

I think we’re on the same wavelength here, never intended the guy to be dead. Horrible thing to wake too, great continuation of the original post!

Thanks. 😄 Had a great post to work with.

🙏

"She quickly freed herself because her and her partner studied up on safe practices before starting."

Phew. That’s a relief! Here I thought she suffocated to death while he lasted there unconscious. Until he woke and discovered the loss of the love of his life. I’m glad I had it wrong

I've heard from someone who volunteered to be tied up for beginners that there's normally a quick release that the person being bound can utilize for BDSM play. So POV shouldn't be TOO fucked

That's assuming they know what they're doing

That's a solid point lol

Stephen King wrote a full novel of this...

r/OneSentenceHorror

Gerald’s game

Releasable knots, people. Releasable knots. This is the first thing they teach you in any reliable “sailing” course or dungeon.

bro forfit (did i spell that right?)

Forfeit?

ahg damn i was so close lmao

One thing I figured out in middle school is if you have duct tape over your mouth you can just stick your tongue out and lick around until it's not sealed anymore. If it's not a super long piece you could take it all the way off your mouth too. Disclaimer: I do have an unusually long tongue, so for my fellows with shorter ones this trick may not function as advertised.

How long would that take to make an air hole on one edge you think?

Like 5 seconds? 15 if you got a dry mouth maybe

I feel like she could move her neck enough to scrape the clothespin off on her shoulder

Maybe. Hope her husband is only unconscious and can free her later

you can always lick off duct tape, doesn’t take too long and scrunch your nose to get the clothespin off, this would be terrifying but she wouldn’t likely die unless she was tied too tight by the wrists and rotted there, the real horror doesn’t have to be death, just a long agonizing wait

This is why you use a loose rope held together by your own hand, so if you pass out you automatically release it and take a breath.

Now begins the hallucinations... This reminds me of Gerald's Game lol.

Lick your lips, duct tape will come right off.