Anna's Punishment, Day 2
It had not been a good night. My head was pounding and I felt dehydrated even though I had drank all of the water that had been left on my table. The snacks I hadn't really touched, even though I knew I probably should've eaten something. But they were dry snacks, so I knew they'd stay good even if I saved them for later.
But even if it was partly dehydration, the thing that pounded my head the most was shame. Unbridled, untamed feeling of utter shame about my whole situation. Yeah, the tax evasion had been an accident, but I could see how that could've happened. I hadn't been careful enough the year before and I had trusted some people I probably shouldn't have. I wasn't exactly rich, but clearly the discrepancy had been bad enough to land me here. And I should've known better.
So here I was, in my little "dorm room". Laying on the bed without sheets or a pillow. The mattress had a bump at the other end to create something resembling a pillow, but it wasn't that comfortable for someone who was used to pretty hefty pillows.
It was surprising how little the leather cuffs had bothered me. They were made of comfortable material and since both cuffs had been locked with padlocks, they didn't need to be all that tight. And the fact that they were locked to each other with a third padlock in front of me meant that it was lightest restraints I had been since the Takers had tied me the night before. The collar had felt weird at first, but I had gotten used to the sensation fairly quickly.
Even the ridiculous latex "uniform" didn't bother me too much. The room was maybe slightly too hot to be totally comfortable in such material, but maybe that was for the best since not having any covers on the bed would've made being even slightly cold extremely uncomfortable.
I had fallen asleep a couple times during the night, but had woken up after what seemed like a very short time. But there really was no way of knowing, since there was nothing in the room that could tell me the time. The lights hadn't changed since I had been left alone and since we were deep underground, there really was no point in having a window. There were no sounds to be heard, which I assumed was a sign of heavy duty soundproofing. The only thing I heard was the steady hum of the air conditioning.
The absence of both sleep and anything to pass the time with made me wallow in my shame. My employer, my family and some of my closer friends had gotten the vague message about me being away for the six days I was assigned here. It wouldn't say where or why I had gone, but everybody knew. And the next time they saw me, they wouldn't say or ask anything, but they'd probably all have this knowing look. Goodness knew I couldn't hide it when I saw someone for the first time after they had been Taken.
I probably shouldn't have worried about it yet since I had to first get through those six days. But I didn't know what was waiting for me here, so it was better to think of something that was familiar. Because if I had started to think what might wait for me here, I would've probably been uncontrollably scared.
Yeah, they said they wouldn't do anything that would cause me permanent harm, but who was to say that it would work out like that? And who decided what was to be considered permanent anyway? Maybe there were thousands of women out there that had come back injured, but nobody talked about it because nothing was ever said about any of this?
My thoughts had started slowly become slower and more disjointed and I finally felt myself drifting to sleep. Very thankful for it, I let it happen.
But then the door slid open and I was up in seconds, completely alert. I had no clue if I had fallen asleep for a second or several hours, but I was clearly in high alert since every trace of sleepiness had vanished in an instant.
"Good morning," Ginger said as the door closed behind her. She was holding a tray with breakfast in it. She put it down on the table beside the uneaten snacks. As she sat down on one of the two chairs she gestured at the other. "Come sit down, the breakfast is for you. I've already eaten."
I approached the table with unexplainable mistrust. It was like I was suspicious that the breakfast porridge and sandwiches were going to be the arbiters of my "lessons". I thought it better to not really trust anything in this place.
Except Ginger. I kind of trusted Ginger, but that could've been just because she was the only mental lifeline I had in this place. And I still couldn't shake the thought that she was undeniably cute, not that it really mattered in this situation. But the petite young woman just gave off a vibe that resonated with me. Or maybe it was just the cute short haircut, it was hard to say.
I sat down and if I wasn't hungry before, I was upon smelling the food. I held up my cuffed hands up to Ginger. She looked back at me, confused.
"The hands?" I asked.
"Are going to stay that way, I'm afraid."
I just rolled my eyes at this and grabbed the spoon to get my first mouthful of the porridge. I guess it had been a silly thought, it wasn't like I had gotten to do anything without my hands restrained in this place.
"Sleep well?" Ginger asked. Her tone wasn't one of concern, but it did carry more emotion than one might've expected, as if she really did care.
"Not really," I replied between a mouthful or porridge and the sandwich.
"I'm sorry to hear that. Could you use the bathroom ok?"
"I guess."
"Good. Any questions for me before we start going over today's curriculum?"
"Maybe," I said, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. I had tons of questions, but I feared all of the answers.
"Go ahead. You don't have to be shy with me".
Well, she had seen me naked and put the latex uniform on me, so that ship really had sailed. But it was still really difficult to ask anything very meaningful since I didn't know if anything I said could harshen my stay.
"How deep are we?" I asked eventually.
"Quite deep. That's all I can tell you."
“That’s not very informative.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not allowed to tell you anything more.”
“Have you been working here for long?”
“I can’t tell you that either,” Ginger said, but to be fair, she did seem genuinely apologetic about it. Question time was not going well. I had a feeling she wasn’t allowed to answer pretty much any of the questions I really had.
“Well, tell me something you can tell me then,” I just said.
“I can tell you about today.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear about today, but it was inevitable. Maybe information was the thing that could quell some of my worst fears.
"Sure," I said.
"Good. As today is your first day, we’re going to have a fairly light curriculum to get you started. I'll take you to get a shower first, followed by restraint training and then you'll going to have a shortened lesson before dinner."
"What kind of lesson?"
"I'm afraid I don't know. They like to keep teachers and counselors separate so that I can have a more honest connection to you."
It was nice to hear that the system actually had provided someone for me that was systematically geared to be on my side, but I really would've preferred to know what was happening. Imagination sure can be ones worst enemy in a situation like this.
"Have you finished eating?" Ginger asked. Again, she seemed surprisingly pleased that I had finished all the food she had brought. I wasn't sure if she was pleased that I had actually committed to finishing all the food or just that she didn't have to keep the conversation going.
In any case, she was so goddamn pleasant and friendly in every way that it really was starting to piss me off. I wondered how a person like that could work in a place like this, but that was one question I was sure I would never be given the answer to. It was just such a shame that I hadn't met her somewhere else. Anywhere else.
I nodded and Ginger got up.
"I'll take you to be showered now," Ginger said while gathering up some of the dishes. "I'll have to restrain and gag you for the trip, though."
"I gathered," I said. It hadn't been hard to get that this was the main drift of this place. I got up as well and lifted my arms so Ginger had easier access to the padlock holding my wrists together. I saw no reason to make it any more difficult than it had to.
"Thank you," Ginger said in response, much to my surprise.
There was that unbearable pleasantness again. It might've actually been easier to cope with this place if she hadn't made herself so goddamn insufferably nice. At least I could've committed to hating the whole place and everything in it.
Ginger gently moved my hands behind my back and locked the cuffs together again with the same padlock. Her movements were smooth and gentle, and she even warned me about the gag before allowing me to open my mouth at my own pace after swallowing any excess saliva I had in there. The ball of the gag was manageable in size and pleasantly soft, so it didn't strain my jaw even though Ginger pulled the strap fairly tight.
She asked me if I was ready to go and once I nodded in affirmative, she pushed the two buttons on each side of the door to open it. She took my arm and started to walk me.
The multi-level cavern was even eerier than at first glance. I hadn't taken a good look at it the day before since I had been so overwhelmed by everything, but the vastness of it really made an impression. The doors to the "dorm rooms" lined the walls in at least eight levels with the open middle allowing clear view of almost the entire complex.
Here and there, I saw other unfortunate women being walked in similar manner than I was. Most of them were wearing the same revealing latex "uniform" I was, with some exceptions. It did seem like some of them had to be walked pretty forcefully, although most of them were as docile as me. Once again I had to wonder if those making more resistance might've been the ones who had the right idea.
I sincerely doubted that this shower was going to be much like the ones I usually had. This was not the kind of place where I would've been left on my own, unrestrained, to have a pleasant clean. But apparently it wasn't part of any "educational" curriculum either, so I had no idea what to expect.
We entered a lift and I could feel it moving upwards after Ginger had keyed in our destination. It didn't take us very long to get where we were going and I was walked into a very, very humid corridor.
Steam filled the air and I could hear yelps and muffled screams echo from somewhere. My stomach curled at the sounds and I started to try and slow our pace instinctively. Ginger clearly felt it and nudged me gently to move faster.
"Don't be too worried," she said. "They only give showers here, there's no lessons and no disciplinary actions performed here."
I knew it was supposed to calm me down, but I really wasn't sure I really trusted her on this one. Sure, she hadn't really lied to me this far, but it wasn't like we had had much time to test that trust yet. Plus, the phrase 'give showers' wasn't nearly as soothing as Ginger clearly had thought it to be.
Before too long, we came to an entrance to a smaller room where an older, slightly overweight woman was waiting for us. She was wearing a loose fitting outfit and a big plastic apron that rustled every time she moved. Her voice was low and raspy, telling the tale of decades of heavy smoking.
"This one coming in?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ginger responded.
The woman took a handheld device from her pocket and put it near my collar. Once it beeped, she looked at the display and nodded.
"Ok," she said. "You coming to pick her up?"
"No, she's going directly to her first training session. A teacher is coming to get her."
My eyes darted to Ginger. She hadn't told me this and I was desperate to have her around as much as possible during my stay. But if she noticed my alarm, she did not register it.
"I'll see you later then," she said and nodded her goodbye to me. I kept my eyes at her as she walked away, trying to will her to come back. But the older woman yanked me in the room.
"This way, princess."
Once inside, she pushed a button and the door closed, leaving us alone together. She took a key from her pocket and opened the padlock holding my wrists together.
"Take your uniform off, and don't try anything funny. I might be old, but I'm a mean fucker."
I had no difficulty imagining that she was, so I complied, not really bothering to feel embarrassment about exposing myself in front of her. It wasn't like I hadn't gotten used to it by this point and she looked like she couldn't have cared less.
The latex had started to cling to my body from the humidity a little and I had to pretty much roll it off. Once off, I just discarded the shapeless latex on the floor. This seemed to be just fine to the woman as she just pulled my hands behind my back again and locked them once more.
She then lead me to the next room, which was a large bathroom tiled hall. The room was even more humid and warm than the previous ones, so I was just glad to be rid of the latex. There were all kinds of nozzles, hoses and buckets lying around everywhere.
The most striking feature was the other long wall, which housed this complex grid made of piping. Individual nozzles and sprinklers protruded from all around it as well as some metal single cuffs hanging freely, permanently welded to the monstrosity.
We went to the far end of the room before the woman turned me so that my back was against the piping and attached my cuffs to it with one more padlock or a similar connector.
Not saying a word, she then freed my left hand completely from the cuff, careful to keep my wrist firmly in her grip the whole time. She extended my arm outwards and upwards to the most convenient cuff hanging from the pipework and my wrist was soon locked in it.
My other hand was still attached to the cuffs that were locked to the piping, so she had to free my wrist from the other cuff as well before she could repeat the process as efficiently to the other hand as she had for the first one.
Having dealt with my hands, she unlocked the now unused leather cuffs from the piping and threw them in an impressive arc to a nearby contained. She then dropped to one knee with surprising agility and yanked my ankle to one side.
I grabbed hold of the chains of the cuffs to hold my balance as she locked my ankle to larger cuffs spread around near the floor welded to the piping the same as the wrist cuffs were. She did the same to the other ankle, leaving me spreadeagled against the piping.
She then reached to the back of my head and unfastened the strap of my ballgag. As she showed no interest in taking it but just let the straps hang freely as she was looking for something, I pushed the ball with my tongue and let the gag drop on the floor.
But it was soon replaced with another one. I recognized the intricate strapping on it as a similar head harness than the one I had had on during the car ride over. But this time the ball was replaced with a medium sized ring.
She meticulously fastened the straps, probably a notch tighter than was really necessary and I could feel that the ring was more than securely locked in the middle of my mouth, behind my teeth.
"You hold on tight for a sec, princess," the woman said. "I'm gonna get a couple of other clients and then we begin."
As she walked away, I wasn't really sure if I was more annoyed with her calling me "princess" or the fact that I had to once again wait without knowing what was in store for me. This time I had a pretty good idea that water was involved, but it was starting to annoy me that nothing just simply happened here. There was always annoying amount of waiting around involved.
At least it was much easier to breathe through the ring gag. It was refreshing not having to constantly deal with a ball in my mouth and all the saliva management it involved. I guessed this kind of gag was used here so that it was more easy to let any water out of my mouth.
Fortunately it didn't take long before the woman entered again, walking another "student" to the room, naked, cuffed and gagged as I had been when I had entered. She was slightly older than I was, thin to the bone and slightly unkempt. She didn't seem bothered the least about her predicament and she had an almost bored expression that made me more relaxed as this probably wasn't her first time here.
She threw an irate look at me once she noticed that I was staring at her and I quickly turned my gaze away. But I still followed them from the corner of my eye and listened closely as the older woman repeated the steps she had performed on me to lock her in the same position I was just a few feet away from me.
I noticed that she didn't call the other woman 'princess' as she left again, presumably to get yet another "student". I still listened how the other woman was handling herself in the situation and it soothed me to note that she still didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest. It probably meant that nothing too extreme was about to happen.
The older woman entered yet again, this time dragging in a familiar face. It was the young woman I had seen struggling and sedated the day before right after I had been brought here. I was glad to see that she was ok and back on her feet. She still seemed rather agitated, but didn't resist the older woman handling her. If I could've, I would've smiled to her reassuringly. The same routine was repeated once more and soon the young woman was in the same predicament as the two of us.
The older woman then went to the other wall and turned a valve. I let out a yelp as streams of water from the nozzles on the piping hit my back, way too cold at first but quickly settling to pleasant and warm. I guessed this was the reason for the screams I had heard on my way in. Not quite the horrors I had imagined.
Suddenly a hose was turned on me and I turned my head away from the stream of water. The older woman didn't direct it to my face, but the water went everywhere. The ring gag really was good in that it was easy to let the water that went into my mouth to just let pour out.
I was hosed all around my body, careful not to hit my head or face. After soaking me all over, the older woman turned the hose off. I turned back to look at what she was doing and saw that she held a broom-like handle with a sponge on the other end of it, foaming mildly.
She started scrubbing me with the sponge from as far as the broomstick let her. Whatever kind of soap they used, it foamed like crazy as she rubbed me all around my body. At least the sponge was pleasantly soft even though the technique used wasn't the gentlest imaginable.
As she moved around my body with the sponge, she spent an awful lot of time scrubbing my crotch and breasts. I don't know if she was getting her kicks from that, but if I just hadn't been gagged, I could've said her that my privates really weren't that filthy by any means.
After she had gotten enough, she turned the hose back on me and washed away the foam. Some soap got into my mouth, as was inevitable, but fortunately I was able to turn my head so that I could easily rinse it out from one the the nozzles in the pipes behind me.
And then she was off to the next one and I was left alone, soaking wet and panting from holding my breath every time the jet of water from the hose had come even a little close to my face.
As she moved to wash the other two in a similar manner, the thin woman didn’t react much at all. She was so completely uninterested in the events that she didn’t even seem to mind that I was kind of staring again.
But as she moved to the young woman, she started making all kinds of alarmed and distressed sounds. I felt so sorry for her as it truly seemed extremely difficult for her to cope with what was happening. And the yelps, squeals and tiny screams didn't end until the older woman had finished.
The older woman then went back to the valve and the water jets ceased hitting my back. In a way it was a bit of a shame since the warm streams of water running on my back could've been very enjoyable had the circumstances been such that any kind of enjoyment was even remotely possible.
"Ok, princess," she said as she approached me. "You came first, so you get to leave first."
She knelt down to release my ankles first and then swiftly released my arms. I expected to be cuffed again, but without as much as a gesture, the older woman grabbed my arms and simply kept them in an arm lock behind my back.
The hold forced me to bend forward to ease the tension and I grunted loudly. She started to quickly take me to the other side of the room. I was so stunned by the swiftness of her movements that I didn't really even had processed what was happening when she already shoved me into another small room.
"You can take the gag off," she said as the automatic door slid closed, leaving me alone in the small cramped space that was more a closet than a room. There was nothing there and only enough space to hold one person at a time. Two opposing walls had holes in them, but they weren’t large enough to get anything through or even to see what was on the other side. Fortunately I wasn’t claustrophobic.
There was something to be said about the efficiency of her method in getting me here, but given the option, I actually preferred the cuffs. She hadn't really hurt me, but she had been in a position to do so at any moment had she wanted to and that wasn't a very nice feeling.
I unstrapped the head harness, although it took me a while to locate all the necessary buckles. I had just spat out the ring when a wind started blowing through the room.
I couldn't figure out what was happening at first, but then when the warm streams of air strengthened, I realized that this was to dry me off. It was like I was in the middle of a warm hurricane for a while and it didn't take long for my skin to be completely dry. When the wind stopped, only my hair was still a bit damp.
"This place is nuts," I couldn't help but mutter to myself.
For a while, everything was quiet. I couldn't hear anything and I just enjoyed the moment of being completely unrestrained. But it was not to last, because a small hatch was opened on the door opposite to where I had been pushed in.
There was a woman on the other side, but I couldn't tell much about her, since the opening was so small.
"You Anna Hood?" the woman asked. She had a surprisingly high voice.
"Yes."
Some kind of cloth was pushed through the opening. As I hadn't prepared to take it, it dropped on the floor.
"Put that on, it's your assigned outfit for your first training session. You have two minutes," she said and immediately slammed the small hatch closed again.
I took the cloth up and examined what exactly they planned for me this time. But when I realized what it was, I still didn't believe my eyes. It was this skimpy sleeveless black leotard that was just about the most ridiculous item of clothing I had ever subjected to wearing. And that included the latex "uniform".
I thought about knocking on the hatch and saying that they had to be fucking kidding me, but then suddenly remembered where I was. Yes, they were serious and I probably would not want to know what happened if it wasn't on me within the allocated time.
So I just sighed and stepped into the outfit. At least it was easier to put on than the latex. And the fabric itself wasn't uncomfortable, so I guess it could've been worse. But if they hadn't forced it on me, I really wouldn't have seen dead dressed like this.
The hatch opened again.
"Face the other way and put your hands against the wall," the woman said. Her voice was indeed surprisingly high and thin, but she was clearly used to giving out commands.
I did as she had said, not really wanting to. I really missed Ginger since at least she was fast becoming a familiar face. It was starting to be really tiring to be confronted by different people all the time and having to gauge if they were going to flip out on me like the Takers had.
I heard the other door slide open and the new woman stepped in. She was shorter than most that I had met so far and she had Asian features. She quickly grabbed my hands, pulled them behind my back and held them close together by the elbows with her left arm.
I grunted as she tested how close together she could pull my elbows. She clearly had an experienced touch, because she let them slightly looser while she started to expertly wrap rope around my wrists. Pulling a tight cinch and locking the rope between my wrists, I was surprised that she didn't continue tying me further but rather just held on to the remaining rope.
"Open," she said and I didn't have to guess twice what was coming up next.
Yeah, she wasn't a really friendly type. I had a feeling that she probably had at least spent some time as a Taker, considering her technique and the fact that apparently she had no interest in communicating to me with anything but orders. It would've been nice to know what the "training" consisted of exactly. But I knew better than to ask. One didn't have to learn some basic lessons twice about this place.
I opened my mouth and a ballgag was thrust firmly in my mouth. This one was bigger than the one Ginger had put on me and I guessed coping with a larger ball was a part of this whole "training" business. As apparently was handling the strap pulled as tight as the corners of my mouth allowed.
"Move," she said as she yanked on the rope to get me moving. I shot an irate glare at her in protest as I really did tend to comply without the roughhousing. But it was probably for the best that she didn't notice.
She led me back to the corridor we had entered through earlier, this time feeling much better about the yelps and screams echoing from all around. Yeah, the showering hadn't been the most pleasant experience ever, but it was one of the more bearable ones so far.
Entering the lift, the woman pushed a button and we started going down. Way down, deep below the "dormitories", from what I gathered. Not that it really mattered, but it felt slightly ominous to go further down into the machinery of this place.
When the door opened, we were in yet another corridor. There were no sounds apart from our footsteps as we ventured further and from the doors we passed, I guessed that they were all heavily soundproofed.
This made me feel very nervous again since I was facing yet another new unknown. This was going to be my first real session in the center and there were no clues offered as to what was to come. I didn't know if I would've preferred hearing something from the rooms we were passing since at least it could've given me an idea, even if the idea had been deeply unpleasant.
I tried not to worry about it since there was nothing I could do about any of it anyway. Whatever was to come was just something I had to deal with. But trying to achieve any level of zen about the whole thing was quite preposterous. I was terrified and there was nothing I could do about it.
After a surprisingly lengthy walk, we came to a door and the woman punched in a code. The door swung open and she lead me in.
The room was heavily padded all around, completely featureless and deadly silent. I guessed the padding added to the soundproofing as well as providing a soft surface for whatever was to happen. At least I wouldn't get hurt falling down.
The woman scanned my collar the same way I had been scanned before the shower and she scrolled the screen.
"So it's your first session, eh. I should've guessed," she said. I wasn't sure if she was just muttering to herself or talking to me, but I was glad to have any information she might have had on offer.
"They're telling me since this is your first endurance restraint training, we should keep it fairly light and at about two hours," she continued. "Alright, sit down and I'll come up with something."
I sat down, making sure to keep my balance. Even if the surfaces were padded, I wasn't keen on falling down while restrained. When I had sat down, the woman knelt next to me and I noticed that there was quite a lot of extra rope to work with.
She pushed my knees together and bent them, so that the soles of my feet were flat on the floor. I had to concentrate on not falling backwards while she ran the rope around my waist and then tied my knees together. Still using the same length of rope, she tied my ankles together and then ran the rope back so that she could tie it off to the front on the rope that was circling my waist so that there was no chance of me reaching the knot.
"Ok," she said as she tested and examined all the elements of the tie. "I guess you're good there for a couple of hours."
And with that, she got up and started going to the door. I let out some kind of a mumble in protest but she wasn't paying any attention to me anymore. She just looked at her handheld device, probably reading the details of her next "student".
I tried to make a more demanding sound, but she paid me no attention as the door slid closed behind her. I was again completely alone.
Very carefully, I let myself fall down on the ground to my side. Trying to keep myself falling backwards was way too much trouble, so I rather made a controlled collapse on my side than fell down on my back.
I tried to relax as much as the ropes allowed me to. It was going to be as long couple of hours as I’d ever experienced. I really perked up my ears, but I heard nothing. Not even the sound of the air conditioning.
I let out a very long sigh. It was like in the apartment, but this time I didn't even have my things to look at. And no TV to wonder if I should turn on. There was nothing there but for the padded walls and myself.
I closed my eyes. Maybe I could just let my mind wander. I probably should've used this time to consider all the bad things I had done that had gotten me here in the first place, or some crap like that. But that was quite literally the last thing I had any interest in thinking about.
All my life, I had been taught about this whole system of law enforcement and had accepted it as a fact of life. But now that I was here, in bondage and in this ridiculous outfit, I couldn't help but wander what all this was supposed to teach me.
To not break the law? Well, I hadn't broken the law on purpose, so there was really nothing to learn in that department. It all felt so random and frustrating. Did I have anything to learn from this experience? Was it even the point or were they just trying to bully me into submission for the benefit of the state?
I realized that I could drive myself nuts if I started to wallow in any kind of self-pity. I had to think of something to do during these sessions.
I tested the ropes and realized that I had some mobility left. The ropes let me move my legs back and forth to a point and my upper torso was practically free. So I decided that what I could do was get some exercise.
It was such a dumb idea that it was sure to work. I could make bondage workouts a part of my regular routine here. And if they took me to the same or similar room every time, I could even make it into a competition with myself.
And so I started to inch my way to the nearest wall, kicking with my feet, lifting myself with my elbow and rocking my torso back and forth. And once I was there, I decided that I'd go back and forth from wall to wall, counting how many times I'd get across the room. Next time, I’d try to break that record.
It didn't take long to develop quite a sweat. The gag didn't really obstruct my breathing, but I had to take into account that I couldn't pant quite as easily and had to slow myself down a bit. But it was surprisingly fun.
Once I reached the opposite wall, I used it as leverage to turn myself to the other side, giving the shoulder and elbow that had been against the ground much needed respite as well as a good kick start on my way back.
I was really starting to get into the zone, honing my technique. I was getting much faster as I went. I sure as hell couldn't keep on doing this for two hours, but it felt fantastic that I had found at least something to do to occupy my time.
But when I was about two thirds of the way across, my wrist suddenly slid out of the rope and shot forward. I was so surprised that I didn't even realize what had happened at first. And now that one hand was free, there was no tension in the rope to keep the other wrist, so I just pulled that free as well.
It was such a weird situation, I really was at a loss as to what I was supposed to do. I pushed myself up to a sit and looked around me. Clearly this was not supposed to happen, but now that it had, it wasn't like I could tie myself again.
I considered just staying like this and wait for the woman to come and check on me, but then decided against it. It was probably for the best to try and get their attention and then let them secure me again. It was kind of absurd to want them to keep doing this to me, but I didn't want to even think what they’d do to me if they thought I had weaseled my way out of the ropes on purpose.
I reached for the buckle and released the gag. It was so nice to be able to just do that. A simple act of autonomy feeling like a luxury. Unfortunately I knew that the probably would find itself back behind my teeth pretty soon.
"Hello?" I called out.
I waited for a response, but there was nothing but silence. I didn't know what I had been thinking really, it was blatantly obvious how soundproof these rooms were.
But logic would dictate that there had to be some sort of a communication line out of here. And then my eyes fell on the keypad next to the door. I decided that it probably had a comm line out of here. Or at least they'd notice if I started mashing numbers at random.
So I decided to strip away the rope. I opened the knot and began untangling the coils around my legs, following the tie. Once free of the rope, I carefully stood up in case my balance wasn't quite there yet. I wasn't at all sure as to how long I had spent tied up this time around.
But since my balance seemed to be fine, I started to move towards the door. However, I had not had time to even take more than a couple steps before the door swung open and two heavily built women immediately burst in the room, running towards me.
"No, wait!" I shouted, but it was all too late. I was brutally tackled to the ground and pinned down with the might of two very skilled handlers.
I tried to squirm my way free enough to explain that they had the wrong idea about, but was stopped when I felt a sharp sting in my thigh. I knew immediately that I had been injected with something. A cold sensation started to spread up the leg.
"Oh, fuck..." I said, but even the latter part of that was starting to be slurred.
And then everything went black.
* * * *
At first I saw the featureless ceiling. I had no sense of where I was or what had happened. It was all just a confusing blur to me and I wasn't really even sure if I was lying down or standing up.
But soon the sense of balance returned and I realized I was lying down on my back. I looked around.
Fuck. I was in my "dorm room", lying down on the bed and soon everything flooded back to me. I remembered exactly where I was and what had happened. Unfortunately.
I tried to move, but could barely even twitch. I looked down and I saw that I was restrained to the point of absurdity. I was strapped down with the same kinds of restraints that they used in hospitals as limb restraints, but the belts were placed from my shoulders down to my ankles every five inches or so. My arms, torso, wrists, legs and ankles were all anchored tightly to all of those belts, so there was almost no movement that I could make before the straps stopped me.
But the most distressing sight was sitting on a chair next to my bed. It was Ginger, who had turned her attention to me as soon as I had moved. She looked at me intently, and she did not look happy.
My mouth was bone dry, but I still tried to tell Ginger it was all a mistake. She stopped me by starting to talk as soon as she saw that I was about to.
"I really thought better of you."
Her words and the disapproval in her tone were like a punch to the gut.
"I didn't try to escape," I managed to say in a hoarse voice.
"That's not what they told me."
"No, they got it wrong. The ropes slipped, I didn't know what to do."
Ginger sat back a little and looked at me like I was an idiot.
"So you thought that the best idea around here was just to let yourself loose? What did you think was going to happen?"
I shrugged.
"Maybe I didn't," I said and hacked out a cough from the dryness of my throat.
Ginger got up and got a glass of water with a straw from the table. She brought it to me and I started sucking the water. I don't know if it had ever felt so good to get a simple sip of water.
"You know, I really did think you were smarter than this," she said while I was still sucking in the water. "I know this isn't exactly nice, but it's just what it is and I thought you got it."
Having regained my voice, I spat out the straw.
“Exactly dumb do you think I am?!” I asked. “Even if I did try to escape, where could I have gone? What would be the point?"
"Believe me, that hasn't stopped people before."
"Look, it was an accident! I fucked up, ok. I did. But it isn't like you guys have gone out of your way to explain the rules either!"
"So you're honestly trying to tell me that you thought that the best option in your situation was to behave exactly the same as someone who’s trying to escape?"
"Yes!... I mean, no! Or maybe. I don't know!" I shouted, desperation creeping in. "This place is so messed up, I don't know what to think!"
Now Ginger started to look and sound emotional as well. But in quite the opposite way than how I would've hoped. She slammed the glass to the table.
"You really think that's going to work on me?" She was angry as all hell now. "You think you're the first girl I'm working with here? This act doesn't work on me, so forget it!"
I stayed silent. The wind had been blown right out of my sails. The only person I had trusted in this place had just lost her trust in me. The trust I had given her was probably just because she seemed to be the only one in this damn place who was at least somewhat on my side. And now it seemed that she wouldn’t be any longer.
I tried to stop it, but I couldn't help tears welling up. This was not how it was supposed to go. Even in this messed up place, I thought I could've at least had some control. But now all that was thrown out the window because of one slipped tie.
Ginger calmed herself down and spoke in much more controlled tone.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten so emotional, it was very unprofessional. I just thought... I don't know."
She seemed to be lost in thought for just a couple seconds before continuing.
"Well, it's late, you were knocked out for quite a while so we've waived off today's lessons. You're just going to stay like that for the night. We'll continue this conversation in the morning."
"But..." I started to say, but she was already storming to the door.
“Wait!” I begged, but she triggered the door and just like that, she was gone.
And with the door closing behind her, the tears started to flow freely. For some reason, this felt much worse than anything that had happened to me so far. I hadn't realized that I had invested so much of my strength in Ginger being my ally here. It had probably been incredibly naive, but it was the only thing I had.
Now I had lost it by making such a silly mistake. And it was only the second day! I honestly wasn't sure if I could get myself through the whole ordeal, feeling so alone.
Wallowing in self-pity and feeling the tears dry on my cheeks, I could feel myself drifting to sleep. The sedative still having an effect.
And so I fell into restless slumber.
story continued in part three
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21.01.19