Nicola walks through the woodland, repeating the route she had followed exactly a week before. The events of that day had occupied her thoughts throughout the week. Those events had awakened something inside her; something that, she knows, would be an important part of her forever more. Thinking back, she relives that day again.
***
She walked through the woodland with a light step. She knew these woods so well, she had played here as a girl, grown up here. Indeed the clearing that was her destination held special memories for her; she had made a den there when she was young, had her first kiss there in adolescence. Such happy memories.
As she walked, the memories replayed themselves. Endless summers, those days of laughter, fights and first love.
Ahead the path dipped then rose again. She stopped and watched the play of light through the trees. The tall beech canopy was majestic; each tree reaching for the sky, competing for its share of the sunlight against equally tall neighbours. As the breeze ruffles the leaves above, the light patterns below shift, creating caricatures of strange beasts, constantly shape shifting into new forms. Oh how she had missed this place!
She turned left here, veering off the path into a different world. The spruce plantation, an alien thing in this area famed for its beech. It felt like an intruder, so dark and almost devoid of life. Yet she loved it for what it was. Here it was possible to escape from the world; it seemed to absorb all sound and light. The only sense it stimulated was the olfactory; the smell of rotting needles was sweet, quite pleasant.
The clearing lay at the far edge of the plantation. It was bounded on its other three sides by the beech woods. She wondered how it had changed in the six years since she had last been here. She stopped at the last line of spruce and squinted at the light ahead.
As her eyes adjusted she realised that little had changed. The far tree line looked exactly the same. The clearing was carpeted with wild flowers. She knew that the flowers here were special; several species of orchid grew here. Once these would have been common in this chalk landscape, but now they were oh so rare. Butterflies flitted between flowers, stopping briefly to feed on their nectar, then moving on to the next.
Suddenly her attention was caught by a noise off to her right. It had sounded like a slap. She crept around the edge of the clearing to get a closer look.
She got as close as she dared and peeked around a tree. She couldn't believe what she saw; a naked woman draped across a man's knees. As she watched his arm rose and he delivered a resounding slap to her bottom, then another and another. The woman seemed far from upset, indeed she giggled slightly as he stopped and rubbed her cheeks.
Nicola was transfixed by the scene. The man was not handsome, yet somehow he seemed to exude an aura that attracted her like a magnet. She wondered what it would be like to be in the woman's place, across his lap, being spanked like a girl, yet not like a girl. What it would be like to surrender to his power. Little did she know that she would soon find out!
After a final flurry of spanks - gosh they looked hard! - the man told the woman to stand up. She slowly complied, smiling still as she stood before him.
"Hands on your head" he commanded. "And wipe that smile off your face."
The woman stood with her back to her, so Nicola could see how red her bottom was. It looked wondrous. The man obviously thought so too as he slowly walked around her, stroking her tenderly then landing another sharp slap on her rump.
"Tell me what is next", the man said.
"The cane, twelve strokes, Sir" she replied.
Nicola couldn't believe it and let out a gasp. She realised her mistake immediately, but it was too late as the man looked up and caught her eye. He just looked at her, his eyes boring through her. Unable to help herself, she blushed.
"Well, well, well. This is a surprise. Spying on us are you?"
"No I ... Well I just stumbled across you" Nicola stammered, looking away, unable to meet his eyes.
"What is your name?"
"Nicola."
"Stand over there, Nicola, hands on head and look towards where you came from. I'll deal with you when I've finished with Denise."
Nicola looked up into his eyes. The man studied her intensely as the seconds dragged on into a minute or more. He was trying to work her out. Suddenly, her expression relaxed as she reached a decision and she turned and placed her hands on her head. The man looked at her thoughtfully then moved back to Denise.
"Denise, bend over with your knuckles resting on that log. Stay in position."
The next few minutes were an agony for Nicola. She could not see what was happening, but she heard every swish of the cane, every cry from Denise. All the time she wondered at her own fate. Was she to receive this same treatment?
"You may stand. Next to Nicola, hands on head."
Nicola managed a quick glance at Denise before receiving her own order. "Turn round, Nicola.
