Leak Ch 04

Laura had closed the door to her room and paced until she collapsed onto her bed in a state of panic. Her poor mind was filling with the nastiest images and most confusing thoughts. Nothing made sense and she couldn't imagine what was to become of her, and didn't want to try though she couldn't stop. The world was crumbling in around her and then it exploded.

Thelma entered Laura's very pretty and extremely private world abruptly. She came charging uninvited through the door between their rooms catching Laura by surprise. In a bellowing voice she ordered the startled girl, who was lying curled in a tight ball on her bed sobbing, to the middle of the room.

"Up princess! Get up right this second and stand over there," she roared while pointing to the spot. "Stand right there! And stand erect, with arms at your sides!" In shocked hesitating movements, Laura obeyed, as Thelma urged her on with another shout. Poor Laura found the authoritative voice impossible to ignore, much less disobey. She proceeded as expected and lowered her eyes under woman's weighted gaze.

Once in place, Thelma approached her like an alien invader and while scanning, took a slow orbit around the trembling figure. Thelma admired Laura's substantial bosom and round behind, apparent even under pink chiffon. In this bewildered young adult, Thelma saw something wondrous. Not only would Thelma pay Biggs back by punishing Laura, Laura was to be her ticket to stardom. Every one of Thelma's dreams was about to come true. Laura, who wavered on the verge of becoming a butterfly, was about to have her immature wings plucked. But first, Thelma intended to enjoy Laura in this larva stage, as a grub kept under foot, a caterpillar on a stick in a jar on a shelf. Here was a plaything awaiting examination, ripe and ready to be poked and prodded.

The ogress controlled her desire to reach out and touch, to grab a handful of this frightened animal's smooth pristine flesh, simply to verify what she knew to be true. She took a breath in hopes of calming down and decided to wait until the girl's father left Paines Manor. She felt that wise, though it was true she'd been granted complete authority over this splendid creature. Thelma then shocked Laura again, by asking in a crude but gentle manner, if she was yet a virgin.

"Ma'am..." Laura blurted out thinking she'd misheard the woman. A quick glance told her otherwise, and she answered in a sputteringly quiet, embarrassingly tiny voice. "Yes, ma'am." She was visibly disconcerted by such blunt inquisition. Thelma, gloating inside, frowned sternly and demanded the timid girl speak up, and Laura started again. She fidgeted, swallowed hard, and bit her lip nervously, knowing she had no other choice.

"Yes ma'am," she again stammered, not yet to Thelma's satisfaction. Thelma handed to Laura a beautifully decorated sheet of parchment, framed in smooth shiny black leather.

"Miss Paines," Thelma said in a somewhat calmer voice, as Laura took and held the frame in both hands. "I expect you to answer all my questions in a clear voice and loud enough for me to hear. Am I making myself clear?" Thelma moved her face closer to Laura's and raised her voice again. "Do you understand what I am saying?" Laura was taken back and looked up at the woman with eyes wide.

"Yes ma'am," came Laura's reply, the words rolling off her cute southern tongue in a nervously brave attempt to please. Thelma stood tall and made to tower over the smaller figure, and with intent most wicked, continued her assault.

"Now..." Thelma said while glaring down at the girl, indicating the framed parchment. "...These are the rules. The ones you will follow from this day forward. Recite each of them to me in a clear voice." Thelma stopped only long enough to put her hands on her hips and expand her chest. "And speak loud enough for me to hear, this time." With a perturbed look, Thelma stepped back and waited for the poor child to begin. Laura brought the plaque up while clearing her eyes and throat. But she was too slow for Thelma.

"Well" the hag shouted in anger. Laura jumped, nearly dropping the plaque. "I'm waiting young lady!" Laura's eyes rose and fell to the words, in quick movements.

"Yes ma'am," Laura offered with a gulp. She began reciting aloud the words written on the parchment. "Rule number one: I will be obedient at all times. I will never hesitate to obey, nor question an order." Laura swallowed the words in a moment's reflection, thinking the words absurd. Disobedience was simply out of the question for her. She looked up to Thelma for approval and found the old woman glaring. Thelma nodded for Laura to continue.

"Rule number two: I will never speak unless spoken to." Here again she found nothing unusual. Her mother had taught her to never speak unless spoken to, so she continued. "Rule number three: I may never..." Laura's words broke in mid-sentence, her mouth falling open, eyes darting to Thelma's. The woman's intimidating expression chased Laura back to the parchment and she was compelled to continue in a softer voice, her body flushed in newfound warmth. She'd never thought of these things before and tried wondering about the meaning of the words.

"...I may never touch myself in any way, at any time, without permission." Laura finished with a gulp, the words leaving her in stuttering confusion, crimsoned-cheeked and dazed.

"Miss Paines," Thelma bellowed in a voice Laura would come to fear. "I feel it my duty as your governess, your mother and your trainer, to keep you informed. In fairness to both of us, I must tell you of the punishments for breaking any of these rules." Thelma was iterating her words with care, and flourishing each with punctuations meant to provide the greatest effect. Laura kept her eyes lowered and listened. "If you're caught disobeying me, you will receive spankings or whippings as needed. They will be administered by hand, paddle and birch rod, or whatever implement I deem suitable." She brought her face closer to Laura's and almost whispered. "You'll be surprised at the outrageous instruments I can find. You can rest assured Miss Paines."

Laura paled to terrible visions evoked by Thelma's words. Her immature mind was a virgin wilderness, fertile and yet incapable of understanding corruption. Faintness came to her, and a deep-seated need to hide. She was caught between fear and confusion, left unable to understand the simplest of thoughts. Her mind became as shaky and unsteady as her knees, as Thelma went on as loud as before.

"I will not tolerate even the slightest infraction of any rule. Note this well young lady, I mean business!" Thelma caught Laura stealing a quick glance and continued the assault. "And yes, there will be more rules for you to follow in the future. In fact, your life will become a book of rules. Rules for you to learn, to memorize and follow at all times. You will no longer have time to think of anything else. This is the life I have chosen for you, your destiny."

Deep down inside, where Thelma hadn't yet penetrated, Laura was screaming her lungs out. Here she wailed in desperation and spun in complete bewilderment, while a small piece of her struggled to stay in Thelma's terrible world, alert. Sub-consciously, she listened to the voice of her new governess, her new mother, this dreadful woman who'd come out of nowhere. Like a lightening bolt from heaven this monster appeared, snatched her from life and took over. Through thoughts most frightening, Laura heard her name shouted.

"Miss Paines! Miss Paines! Miss Paines!" Laura found Thelma yelling in her face, the words hitting her as gusts of hot wind. She was yanked back to reality, as if from a daydream and looked up long enough to apologize.

"Sorry ma'am," Laura offered, only to be rewarded with a stinging slap across her face. It came with Thelma's right palm and sent her reeling to the side and back, knocking her off balance. She tumbled onto her bed, landing face up.

"Ma'am," Laura queried in a squeak, her hands moving instinctively to her face with aid and comfort. Thelma moved quickly to stand over the cowering figure, as Laura's hands touched the warm cheek. She leaned over the frightened girl and slapped again. First the right cheek, then the left, Thelma slapped with the palm and the back of her hand, again and again, and again.

"Daydreaming while I attempt to explain something important to you! Touching yourself! Touching your cheek without permission! You just read the goddamn rules, ya stupid bimbo! How dare you! How dare you," Thelma shrieked, spraying her words directly down into Laura's face. Her own face was red with anger, eyes bulging with hatred, and Laura saw a beast.

Laura dropped her arms to her sides immediately, the prisoner of a fairy tale dragon. A princess recently plucked from the safety of mommy's castle. Laura caught the monster's hot breath on her flushed cheeks, breathing in a foul odor. Its words rained down on her in a warning she took seriously. She felt the fire and sensed the creature's ability to breathe it. Surely she was to be kept in a high tower, there for the pleasure of the dragon. But what is it the dragon wants of her? What do lady dragons want? And where, oh where is her fairytale knight in shining armor? 'Where indeed', Laura thought, blinking through tear flooded eyes.

"Tonight you will receive your first punishment and I hope and pray for both our sakes, it will be your last," Thelma screamed further. Laura's mouth fell open in disbelief.

The dragon then calmed down, its eyes returning to normal. Thelma's cool returned and her attitude changed completely. She began speaking to Laura again like a concerned mother.

"Come, come now," the kindly old woman said. Her hand reached down to comfort the girl's red cheeks and she acted as if nothing had happened. "You're a big girl now and everything I do, everything I expect and everything I will take from you, is for your own good. I know it isn't easy being a young lady in this crazy world now days. Life takes a certain type of character. The type of character I will help you develop. You'll see. I hope you understand," she stated with confidence, as if Laura was expected to consider otherwise.

Laura nodded readily, as if in understanding, afraid to think, speak or feel anything other then what Thelma wished at that moment. Thelma looked down on a tender morsel with just enough self-control.

"Good girl," the old woman said proudly. "Very good girl. I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Now let me dry your tears and we'll hurry downstairs to see your dear father off." Thelma used one of her thick dry fingers to sop up Laura's tears, then ran it between her own lips and smiled. After a few wipes Thelma smacked her lips, licked them clean and made to rise. Laura struggled to stand with Thelma's help. "Mmmmm. That's it, like a good girl now," Thelma said, bringing Laura to her feet. She finished drying the girl's face with a hanky and the two made for the door. Thelma stopped them long enough to straighten Laura's dress and remind her one more time.

"And dear, do remember the rules."