Part 4: Property Of Dana And Tracy
Before the girls dropped me off at my house with my new teenage dress, (apparently on loan from Tracy), she turned in her front seat and applied some foundation to my cheeks to cover the marks still apparently visible there. The girls were quite good with makeup these days, but when they were younger went overboard with it as most girls do at that age. I seldom wear any as I don't care to stare at myself in the mirror while applying it, not to mention that I can't help but to touch my face all the time smearing any attempts the girls had made over the years to "fix me up".
It was the same story with my hair, shower, towel dry, comb, and possibly a hair tie to keep it controlled, or I would even pin it up if I wanted the sun to bake my neck and shoulders. The girls went to the salon with theirs all the time, and the results were obvious, always pretty and in the current style. Had I wanted to emulate my two pretty friends it would have been easy if I had the money they did, but that would have required me to elevate myself to their level, and to pretend to be something I'm not.
I had not been allowed to see myself in a mirror, so I had to trust Tracy's judgment with her makeup, but thankfully I was returning to an empty house so there would be no scrutiny of either my new dress, or my face. My old clothes that had been turned into cleaning rags wouldn't be missed either, and here I knew my friends were telling me something in a not so subtle way.
Before I even changed my clothes and took a much needed nap the phone rang, and Dana reminded me of our bargain on the other end in incredibly cheerful fashion. I had agreed to her terms because I had no choice, and at that particular moment I wanted to go home with my energies drained by my actions as they were. Once in the relative security of my empty house her dare terrified me, I thought the girls couldn't "make" me do it, but neither did they have to play with me any longer either. That in addition to the compromising pictures they had taken of me guaranteed my cooperation, so in effect they could make me do it, or just about anything else they wanted.
Some time later I realized that was the moment I had agreed to sell my freedom to my two pretty friends for almost nothing, but even that wasn't right. It would be far more accurate to say that I paid them to take it away from me.
"I want you to tell your family that I have invited you up to the cabin for the next week, along with Tracy. Tell them we are leaving Thursday rain or shine, and that the telephone doesn't work up there again. Don't worry about packing, either Tracy or I will be over to help you choose what to bring."
These were commands, not requests, and while part of me was terrified to be on her "home turf" for an entire week, the other was excited as I hadn't been to her families cabin yet this year. After she hung up I realized with the way Dana spoke, we might not be going to the cabin at all, and without saying a word I had committed myself to spend an entire week with my two creative friends, without clearly even knowing where that may be.
The day of our departure came quickly, and right before we left both girls and the backpack that I had carried last time in the abandoned building entered my room. The girls ostensibly helped me pack by rifling through my closet and drawers as I looked on, but I was helpless to stop them from picking through the worst of my things as they stuffed the pack so full I thought the zipper would break, my diary in the bag as well.
We said our goodbyes and I took my seat in the back of Dana's car, this time the trunk full of clothes and supplies that we would need as if we were in fact going to the cabin on our own. I suspected our destination was elsewhere, and there was still the dare that I owed Dana for releasing me from the chair that I was certain she hadn't forgotten about. That dare gave me butterflies just to think about it, not to mention what it implied.
We were driving in the general direction of the abandoned hospital and not the cabin, but as I feared Dana pulled into the parking area of a strip mall and turned the car off.
"Here is the list of things you agreed to earlier. Do you have enough money?"
I read through the list and nodded my head by way of an affirmation, my voice temporarily not working my mouth was so dry. I felt as if I were walking to the gallows as I walked across the parking lot, certain that everyone in the two stores would know the true purpose of the innocuous things I was to purchase. At least at this early hour the stores looked nearly empty, and my humiliation would be shared with just a few other shoppers.
First the pet store as that was likely to take some time.
"Excuse me sir, I need some items for, err... um... my friends new pet."
"What kind of 'items' young lady?" the man asked suspiciously, or so I thought.
"A chain choker collar, strong leash, and a personalized tag to hang on the collar" I blurted out quickly, at least without stammering too much I thought.
"We have all those things, but why don't you tell me what you want on the tag so I can make it up for you while you shop for the collar and leash on aisle three?"
I picked out a pink steel heart like pendant from the rack behind the counter, and told the man what I wanted printed on it, the words specifically spelled out on my list. He asked me to repeat it slowly so I could enunciate every word clearly, as I had developed some terrible mumbling all of a sudden.
"Property of Dana and Tracy" I said as clearly as my mouth could make the simple words form, thinking my speech with a cleave gag would have been easier for the nice man to understand.
"Name?" the man asked.
"Jackie", I answered on reflex, not realizing he meant the dog's name.
I was so frazzled I gave the man my name instead of a believable pet's one, something I never intended to do.
"Ok miss, I'll work on the tag while you shop."
I heard the man start working noisily behind the counter forming the letters on the dog tag I had just ordered, (for myself), while I walked to aisle three to shop for a collar and leash that would fit. I had specific instructions for both, and tried as discreetly as possible to try on the collars to see which size exactly would prevent me from having to go back into the store a second time.
I was in the process of trying to slip the fifteen inch collar over my head with the chain through the large ring on one end of it in slip knot fashion, (as it would ordinarily be on a dog), when I failed to notice the nice man had stopped making noise. I eventually saw him out of the corner of my eye watching me model various collars, and I thought I might have turned purple I was so embarrassed.
"Your tag is done, can I help you select your collar and leash?" he offered. Not "the" collar and leash, but "your" collar and leash, clearly indicating to me that he realized that this was no ordinary transaction.
"I, I, I was told that the proper sized collar, for the dog, should be able to go around my own neck, but not over my head" I stammered out. He no doubt thinking it a shame that the local psychriactic hospital had closed, and I thankful that I didn't live in this town.
"If worn as a choker in the traditional way it would have to be able to go over the 'pet's' head to put it on her" the man offered. "The collar you have there is a good size for a sixty to ninety pound dog, depending on the breed. Some owners elect to clip the ends of a smaller collar together using the leash's latch once it's around the animal's neck to prevent an especially clever pooch from wiggling out and escaping, as would be possible with the larger collar. Another way to contain a clever pooch is with a shoulder harness, but that can allow her to pull like mad until she is properly trained to the leash."
"Perhaps my friends expect their new pet will be of the clever variety and wish to escape, I can't say for myself as I haven't seen it yet" I lied. I hoping the nice man didn't know this, but suspecting he did by his condescending smile and carefully chosen words.
I chose the collar that just went around my neck, but couldn't possibly go over my head in choker style, knowing what my friends had in mind. I also picked the stout leash that the man had suggested, and then followed him to the counter to pay my bill, already suffering a lifetime of humiliation in less than ten minutes. He put my things in a bag and I turned to leave after paying, thanking him out of courtesy, but resigning myself that I would never come back again either.
"Jackie" the man called out after I had almost made it all the way to the door and away from this humiliation. I turned around on instinct at hearing my name, but instantly regretted it. "You forgot your receipt dear, and good luck with your new things." I felt the heat in my face as I again blushed, knowing without a doubt that the man knew who would be wearing the collar, and finding this far more uncomfortable that anything I had ever done with my friends.
The hardware store next door was easy in comparison, all I had to do was find a small luggage pad lock, the smaller the better I suspected. The man there took me right to them, and I selected one and paid my bill and left, he at least probably not knowing what was intended for it, unless of course the man from the pet store called ahead. Dana's car was still where she had parked it when I came out, but I found both girls instead looking in the windows at me with huge smiles on their faces.
"How long were you watching me?" I asked.
"Saw the whole thing, you did great!" Dana said far too loudly. "Come on 'my little pet', we have a busy week ahead of us."
Once in the safety of the car the girls wanted to see my purchases, and insisted on fitting the collar right there in the nearly empty parking to see if I needed to go back inside to "fetch" another one, their words, not mine. As it turns out the collar was perfect as the tiny pad lock held it around my neck, but once closed it wouldn't be coming off without the key. I noticed that Tracy had managed to lock the pad lock through one ring and then around the chain's links, preserving the slip knot function of the collar. The heart shaped tag attached to the slack loose end ring hung down near my tiny assets, the cold chain putting a slight tension on my throat and reminding me of it's presence.
The girls looked through the bag and found the leash, but thankfully decided not to try it on me where somebody could notice. They also found the rubber bone the man had thrown into the bag apparently as a surprise for the lucky pooch, and both girls had a laugh over it.
I had dreamed about being a pet dog once, and had worn a collar in that dream that I had documented in my diary. I had also daydreamed about being a collared servant of the girls, coming close once in reality as I cleaned the house with my lost bet while my two pretty friends watched. I realized the duality of those dreams for the first time while sitting in the back seat wearing a collar that could serve either purpose. I had been compelled to purchase the collar that could be used to ensure my servitude to my two friends, in effect gifting myself to them. I wondered what they intended to do with their gift, and where they intended to do it as we drove toward the hospital once again.
Once back in our familiar parking spot the girls made no attempt to get out, Tracy instead giving me a task, and a choice that I didn't expect. "Slaves wear a collar, and possibly the uniform of our choosing, but can expect to serve their owners all week long while we relax. In any event, you won't need a thing in that bag full of rags you call clothes, only the keys to the medical restraints we found last week, you kindly carrying them out for us in the bag without even knowing about it. There was a forgotten store room rumored to be up in the back part of the facility that we were told about, but who told us about it must remain a secret for the time being."
"The unique keys still hopefully hang in the number one locker in the pool room where we left them, the cuffs and other things safely packed away in our trunk if needed for our slave. Pets don't work, or wear a thing, but don't get to live inside with the humans for the week either unless the weather turns ugly. In either case, go to the locker with that bag of rags you call clothes and leave them there if your up for a real dare, and either return with the keys to the medical cuffs or not, but leave the keys to your new collar hanging in the locker so you can't have any second thoughts on our little dare this week."
The little pad lock came with two equally small keys, both on a common ring and in the girls possession since it was locked closed about my neck. Before the backpack was handed to me from the front seat, Dana took out my diary and put something in it's place, the zipper at least this time not looking as if were about to burst with the little book's bulk removed.
"Be quick" Dana said, "If we finish reading this before you're back we might just leave you here for one of my brother's friends to pick up later", ending all doubts for me about their reading of my most private thoughts. The only way my privacy could have felt even more violated would have been for the girls to have made me read it aloud to them myself!
****
I ran for the distant hospital wearing an old dress this time, and carrying the backpack with the leash draped around my neck and the keys to my freedom I was about to give away pinched tightly in my hand. I played the girls words over and over again on my way, wondering what exactly they wanted me to do. What if I came back with nothing but my clothes, would that mean that I didn't want to play any more? I could unlock and remove the collar from around my neck and leave it in the locker, telling them I wasn't going to do any more dares for them, but was that what I really wanted?
I had also been told Dana's old high school combination lock, hasp open, was in the bag as well, and I was to lock my things into the locker with it, ostensibly to keep them safe. The lock would do that obviously, but also keep me safe from backing out on my commitments to them once closed.
On the subject of backing out, I was certain that there would be a steep price for it on this dare, the girls going to great lengths on my behalf to fulfill my dreams and fantasies, but this time profiting from them as well if I chose to serve them as I had once before. The price for backing out on a dare in the past had always been proportional to the dare itself, and the last pages of my diary outlined a particular punishment that I had day dreamed about, but never expected to try out for real that would be more than adequate.
I had no flashlight this time, and while I knew where I was going, the darkness and lack of company had me feeling quite afraid. I also thought that the girls threat to dump me off and leave could be more than an idle one, and I knew I had to do whatever I decided as quickly as possible, before the girls lost their patience with me.
I found the pool room once again, and the locker in the low light with some difficulty, only possible because number one was in a predictable spot, top left on the first row. I swept my hand into the locker and came across two odd keys with a strange shape that I intended to examine once outside in the light. The cleaning supplies from the backpack were in the locker as well, along with some of the remaining rags that used to be my clothes once.
I stuffed the backpack into the locker, hung the keys to my collar on the coat hook where the other keys had been seconds before, and prepared to lock it closed with the combination lock I had removed from the bag as instructed. What awaited me outside, but more importantly what did the girls expect me to do? My thoughts and desires were irrelevant, as pleasing my two friends was the focus of my attention.
I opened the locker once again, grateful for the hesitation I had in locking it closed seconds before...
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12.11.14
story continues in My Summer Of Dares 5: Property Of Dana And Tracy 2
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