Dear Olive,
Some days, I still wake up with the taste of you in my mouth. It fills me, brings me to the peak of pleasure. I try so hard not to think of it, I try so hard to move on. But it permeates me, the memory follows me everywhere. Will I ever see you again? It is all I think of, no matter how grateful I am for my life now. When will you come back to get me?
****************************************************************************
I woke up, tethered to red satin sheets, a heart shaped headboard and a full-body mirror above me. Tugging on my straps, I turned my head wildly trying to figure out where I was. A small desk piled with perfumes and makeup sat in the corner. Beyond the queen-sized bed I could just make out a persian rug on the concrete floor. It almost looked like a movie set... like someone had thrown everything together last minute. In the corner opposite to the desk was a heavy wooden door. On the cold concrete walls were old, ornate candelabras.
Where the hell was I? Some love nest in an old drafty castle? I tried to draw from the shallow pool of recent memory. The dance concert... Stella, and Candace. Just remembering the way they used me up made me flex my wrists against my straps in pleasure. How can I explain? Sometimes I feel surrounded by complete and healthy people. I've never felt like that. Just thinking about the future, getting a job, having a long-term relationship -- let alone being emotionally and mentally consistent from day to day -- takes a huge effort. Everything Olive has been teaching (or training?) me for, especially with Stella and Candace, changed that. All of the sudden, my future wasn't
mine
anymore. I couldn't feel down and out when there was someone always there to tell me what to do, how to feel, and where to keep my eyes. I couldn't get enough of it.
Before I could finish my thought, I heard a metallic, crackly sound. Like a loudspeaker in an old movie. For a moment there was a cool atmospheric sound, like the mic on the other end was bouncing a silent room back to me. And something in that silence made me
sure
that Olive was on the other end. I could hear her -- probably looking down the stem of the mic, a deadly mixture of love and evil swirling in her big bright eyes. I almost felt her part her lips, a smirk trailing smoothly into speech: "Well, Goldmund, we meet again. So sorry it has to be under these circumstances."
I looked down at myself, spread like a starfish across this cheap, heart-shaped bed. Something like thick, curdled joy and fear and anticipation crawled up from my stomach and into my throat. "Wah! Tear me apart! you are the pulsing ant queen of my delirium. Cull me from my fleshy tube, I'm tired of this world, this spinning wheel of shame and brutal, mistimed life." I felt the hot trashy nonsense spill from my lips. I tried to curl myself but I could only manage to press my wrists and ankles against my restraints. I felt the red, silky sheets shift under me.
"Well, we've come such a long way, haven't we? But I can't have you jumping off the deep end quite yet, Goldmund. After all, I don't want to hurt you
too
badly, just reshape you. Mold you..."
I heard Olive's words coming from the speaker, probably hidden behind the mirror above me. I looked at myself, splayed and vulnerable on the bed. "Okay, I don't know where that came from. I'm happy to be here... but Olive, please do what you need to soon. I'm officially giving up. I know you are totally beyond me, and I accept that now." It took all the strength I had to say what I needed to. Something inside me wanted to be unleashed, to spill my whole life into the mold Olive had waiting for me. To tell the truth I
did
want it, so badly. But sometimes it felt like my words moved beyond me. Almost like Olive was inside of me, telling me the words to say back to her... like her living puppet.