I had been brought up in a strictly religious home. My father was a Minister, and my mother was deeply involved in church activities. I was dragged along to every service, and was expected to follow in my mother's footsteps.
Father was a domineering man, and what he said in the home went. All talk of sex was forbidden, and according to his beliefs, sex outside marriage was one of the biggest sins a woman could commit.
When I was 18, I was finally allowed to go out with a boy from Church, if you could call it 'going out'.
His name was Bradley, or Brad, and he was a year older than me. His upbringing was strict too, but nothing compared to mine. We were rarely left alone, and we weren't allowed to do anything except hold hands.
My first shock when I started dating him was when my mother made an appointment for me with the local GP, and accompanied me to the appointment.
There she asked him to put me on the contraceptive pill. Knowing my father's objection to contraceptives, I had asked her why she had done this behind his back. She shocked me further by saying she knew what kind of feelings young women can have. Was she condoning sex before I married?
As far as I knew it had been years since my father and she had made love, and I started to feel sorry for her. Did she have cravings that she kept hidden, too ashamed to tell my father, or just too scared to tell him?
I was an 'A' grade pupil and had just passed all my school exams with flying colours. Brad had already started University, and I was due to start in a few months' time.
He then informed me of his plan to take 6 months out of University to go back-packing across Europe. His parents had been against it, but had finally allowed him to go. I was sorry to hear that we would be apart for so long, but then he dropped a bombshell. Would I go with him, at least for a couple of months until I was due to start my studies?
My Father exploded when I told him, and I was sent to my room. I sobbed on my bed, my hate for him growing. How I wished that I had a bit more freedom. As I had gotten older I had started to resent both of my parents, my father for his strict rules and control, and my mother for always bowing down to him.
An hour later I hear loud voices from the living-room. I opened my door to hear my mother let loose like she had never ever done before.
She had accused him of suffocating her all these years, never showing her any love or contact, and how she had finally had enough. She said that she couldn't sit and watch me being smothered the way she had.
I had expected my father to lose it, but he had remained silent.
Later that night my mother came to my room to inform me I could go with Brad for six weeks, just as long as I was back to start University.
My heart jumped, and my feelings for my mother changed over-night.
Three weeks later Brad and I were trekking across Europe, and I felt more alive than I had my entire life. We had been using hostels and our tents to keep our journey moving, and I started to wish I never had to go home.
Since the start of our exploration, Brad's advances on me had become bolder. Now out of range of my over protective father, he seemed to fancy his chances of finally taking me. The truth was, I was feeling the same.
We had kissed and cuddled more since we left than all the time we had been together at home. I had even let him fondle me, although usually through clothing. If we slept in our tent we would usually spoon at night. As we drifted to sleep I could feel his erection sticking into my bottom, and the naughtiness of it would turn me on.
I decided that before we left for home, I would let Brad have his wish.
Week four and we had crossed into Romania. It was like stepping into a whole different way of life. Staying clear of big towns and cities, we found the life there more laid back, kind of like stepping back in time.
We had stopped at a few hostels, then by Brad's calculations, we would be camping out a few nights until we reached the next hostel on our journey.
It was then things had turned sour. Brad started acting different. He had been starting to push things even further between us, with me having to fend him off, telling him to wait just a bit longer. I had now taken to sleeping at the other side of the tent from him, for all the good a couple of feet would make.
We had argued yet again one night, with Brad saying I had been teasing him. I finally nodded off, but I had thoughts in the back of my head that he may be right.
I awoke to feel pressure on my chest. I opened my eyes to find Brad on top of me, with my legs parted. He was reaching down, trying to remove my underwear. I screamed at him and struggled, realising he could keep me pinned and do what he wanted to me and there was probably nothing I could do to stop him.
Luckily my struggling brought him to his senses. As he finally got off me, I noticed his penis was out. He had really intended to go through with it. I was shocked at its size, because I had never seen it before. Despite not being allowed access to pornographic content, I had managed to see pictures of male genitals online. I had been shocked, but excited looking at them. Although not as big as some of the models I had seen, Brad's still looked impressive.
I didn't get much sleep that night, huddling in a corner away from him. The next day he half apologised for his actions, but I seriously thought about heading for home the first town we reached.
Our next day's trek started out decent enough, but by noon a mist had risen out of nowhere, and the further we travelled, the thicker it got. Checking my phone I realised I had no signal, and Brad confirmed the same.
We had wandered into some trees, and try as we might, couldn't retrace our steps out. We had seriously considered just bedding down until it cleared, but had finally decided to keep on for another hour to see if we could maybe get a bit of luck and come across any type of civilisation.
An hour later we were on our last legs, our clothes damp and sticking to us. The trees had gotten thicker, and the mist seemed to be sapping our energy.
Just as I was about to give up, the trees broke, and suddenly, looming out of the mist, we saw a large mansion.
We both stood in awe. "It looks like Dracula's castle." Brad said, but with a hint of nervousness.
My initial feeling was fear, and the urge to run, but something in my head soothed me. I could have sworn I heard a whispering voice, calling to me. "Come little one." I quickly glanced around, but couldn't see anything in the fog. Strangely I thought that the voice was inside my head.
We both stood, tired, chilled and beaten. With a choice of continuing our walk, or approaching this ominous house, the house eventually won.
Brad reached the door first and rang the bell. I approached behind him, waiting. Just as we thought that the house was perhaps empty, a sound of footsteps came from within. We heard a bolt being drawn, then the screech as the door was pulled open.
A pale looking man peered out at us, and both Brad and I nearly took a step back.
"Eh, we seem to be lost." Brad said.
The man stood, silent. Then he slowly moved back. "You had better come in."
We told him our story in a bit more detail, and he said that the Lady of the house was away at the moment. He then offered to take our damp clothes to dry them, so we steeped into a side room to change into some dry items.
