Franie's Story

(I would once again like to thank CambriaRose for her editing of this story. There is no sex in this story and I didn't feel the need to put any in it. I placed it here even though it could also go in at least two other categories. At the moment this story is a one off, I simply wrote it to get it out of my head. I reserve the right to add another chapter to it at a later date if or when the urge takes me.)

*

Just waking up that morning should have told me enough, the e-mail I got from my niece simply capped off my morning.

'By the time you will have read this I'm sure Mom or Dad would have phoned you to see if I'm there and would have told you what's been going on. I'm ok Uncle Jack, I was at a friend's house for the night cooling off before I come and see you.'

I had tried to call her as soon as I had read her mail just as I'm sure she knew that would happen and refuse to pick up. That little bitch can be just as stubborn as me. I suppose that's why we gravitated towards each other. When my brother and his wife got to the point they could no longer control her wild ways, it was left to Shannon and I to take her in and straighten her out.

It was my wife who seemed to notice the connection first. When Shannon and I went to see both my brother and Marci at the hospital, we could tell their room from the noise of a screaming baby. The volume increased in decibels as we entered. A very pissed and harassed looking Marci simply handed the crying baby to Shannon who instantly went into mother mode and calmed the baby down some but not by much.

My mistake was to let Shannon see me smile at her efforts, that's when she handed Frankie to me and within seconds the child simply stopped crying. Even Marci looked over to see what was going on, both women instantly wanted to know what I had done. All I could do was shrug my shoulders and look at this sweet child, for the first time my niece was in my hands as those cute brown eyes looked back at me.

"Your toast Mister, you may not know it but your toast."

When I asked Shannon to explain, all she would say was that she looked forward to the next twenty years at how this little girl was going to run rings around me. My wife's prediction seemed to have held some truth. Frankie spent time with us every year over the summer holidays so that my brother and Marci could holiday together. Frankie may not have been a straight-A student and both of her folks always seemed to try to run her life with a rod of iron. But Shannon and I always seemed to be the go to people when Frankie hit a rough patch at school or home, and that's how it seemed to be all through her young life.

It just looked like now she had reached adulthood the bonds my brother and his wife had with Frankie were being tested on an almost monthly basis. I phoned them and asked what was going on, only to be told that she was out of control. It was then I lost all semblance of politeness and told Martin to put me on speakerphone.

After a short pause I heard the click. "Just what the hell is wrong with you two? How many times do I have to go through this with both you two and Frankie?"

It was Marci's turn to speak. "We can't control her anymore, it was bad enough at eighteen but even more so since she turned twenty one, you need to drill into that girl's head and find out what she wants."

I sighed; even with Shannon now passed away they both knew I would help. I suppose it would give me something to do since all I'm doing at the moment is having dark thoughts about joining her, and that's not good. Shannon would kill me herself if she ever caught me thinking something remotely as bad as that.

"Ok tell me what happened this time? I didn't think you two see much of her anymore now that she moved in with Randy."

Marci took control of the conversation from then on. Francine and Randy had another one of their fights where he accused her of cheating on him and she moved back with them. After the 'I told you so' moments were over with she seemed to have settled down once again.

"And did she cheat on him?" I just had to interrupt.

"Of course not." Marci spat back.

I had my doubts but I let her have her moment. Marci then went on to explain that Francine and my brother went over to Randy's, collected her clothes and any other stuff she wanted and moved her back into her old room. Things were fine for the first three months, it was like having their pre-eighteen year old daughter back and then all hell broke loose last night when she blatantly picked a fight with Marci causing a screaming match between them that my brother had to intercede before blood was spilt.

This particular aspect of mother and daughter seemed to be a repeat of most of her adult life; it was time to bring things to a head I just wondered if they were both willing to accept the consequences of what I had to do to sort this mess out once and for all.

"Marci she's twenty one. She can do what the hell she wants, you know that don't you?"

For such a long time there was only silence on the phone, I could only imagine what was going through both their heads, it was then I heard a sniffle and then crying. A shuffling sound and a few mumbled words followed. My brother had obviously moved next to Marci to console her.

"Please Jack. You're the only one she will listen to. I know how old she is but she will always be my baby and I need to know she's happy. We all know she isn't and that's hurting me more than the argument we had last night. I'm running out of options, I even suggested we go to therapy together and she damn near screamed the house down."

I was sure glad they didn't see me smile at that.

"Ok, I want you both to listen to me and listen very carefully. I will get the truth out of her and try my best to sort her out, hell I haven't even got a time scale I can give you until I get to what's going on in Frankie's head. But brother of mine, this is going to cost you and I don't mean in family credits, we could be talking serious dollars here. I aim to make sure she stays out of the loop and that means taking her wheels away from her, and we all know how much she loves that car."

I'm not sure whether Marci wanted to thank me or wonder what I was going to do to her little girl. In the end they simply reminded me that she was twenty one once again, (as if I didn't know) and as such the laws of the land did apply to her. I tried to make my laugh sound as sinister as I could before severing the connection between us. Why not, they had to suffer just as much as Frankie and I were going to. They also knew better than to phone back.

Working out how long I had left and deciding it wasn't enough, I just got on with making sure that I had everything ready for my niece's arrival. She must have stopped on the way up here because I had most of the things ready before I heard the sounds of that hideous music she likes coming from her car radio moving up the valley. By the time she pulled up I was leaning against the door watching her.

For a moment she was defiant, all sunglasses and pout. It was only when she switched the engine off and got out the steam left her, which was difficult to do in that five foot six frame of hers. Francine Alison McManus, or Frankie to Shannon and I, was a true blend of both her mom and dad, she was a younger version of Marci. Her brown hair used to be longer, reaching at one time to the small of her back.

It was the last couple of years that she has made sure it was cut to just above her shoulders. That action alone caused a rift between Frankie and Marci, the day she walked back into the house Marci took one look and damn near disowned her. The fallout from that day took months to heal the rift between them. Frankie was insistent that she would never again grow her hair longer than her shoulders despite her mother alternating between ordering her and begging her to grow it once again.

She often seemed to bemoan the size of her shoulders I thought they complimented her frame rather well and even reminded her that there were consequences to being a track and field athlete all through school and onto college. But I'm her Uncle so I'm biased on a major scale and once she figured out I was actually complimenting her she seemed to take it well. Her face had a natural beauty that needed little if any make up and when she smiled you just felt happier being around her.

Frankie seemed to think it was her eyes that captivated people, when she said that, Shannon instantly looked at me almost pleading with me to say nothing. I kept on my wife's good side and didn't say that the rack and the great ass that she sure as hell inherited from her mother may have helped as well.

"They phoned you then?"

Nodding my head seemed like the only answer of value at that moment.

"Do you want to hear my version?"

Shaking my head caught her off balance; I had always listened to both sides before trying to sort out the troubles that brewed between my niece and her mom and dad.

"There's no point Frankie, it will just be a variation of the same theme, 'he said she said.' I'm no longer interested."

With that I held out my hand and asked her for her car keys. Frankie paused for a moment. This was the keys to her car I was talking about, her baby, hell she had even give it a name, when she used it for the first time I simply shook my head, shrugged my shoulders and walked away, much to my wife's amusement.

I'm sure that nothing that had happened so far was going according to whatever plan she had in her head. After shrugging her shoulders she reluctantly placed them in my hand and waited.

"We're not going to keep going round and round over this Frankie so I'm going to offer you a choice and I strongly urge you to think hard on both options I'm about to give you."

Frankie's defense mechanism has always been to cross her arms, she was half way there when she stopped and placed her arms once again by her side. The small nod of her head that followed let me know she was at least willing to listen. We both walked into the kitchen, Frankie sat and waited while I made us both a drink. She had her hands around her cup almost instantly and inwardly I smiled at that cute habit she had of always doing that, regardless of how hot or cold the drink was.

"I'm old, Frankie, and I'm tired. It seems that every few months to a year we keep coming back to this very point. At eighteen for some reason you got a bug up your ass and no one, especially you, have been able to shake it. This shit has got to stop Frankie. Shannon's no longer here to help me so it's left to me to sort this out once and for all."

With that I stood and picked up the tape machine and returned to the kitchen table switched it on so she could listen to the conversation I had with her mom and dad. She flinched when she heard Marci suggest therapy for them both.

I tossed her car keys onto the table, they skidded to a stop inches from her hand. "There are your keys. Get up, go home and sort your own shit out and don't bother coming back here to hide, it's become way beyond old and its not going to happen anymore."

For such a long time Frankie simply looked at her keys before saying. "What's the second option?"

This time I leaned across the table, Frankie's eyes grew wider as I drew closer to her.

"We are going to strip this bare and if I have to pull every day since your eighteenth birthday out of you to get to the crux of the matter I will. You don't get a say anymore, Frankie. You're here and you stay here until I say you can go. Hell, you don't even get to have a crap unless you ask me first."

She opened her mouth, her eyes gave away what she was about to say. I just got there first.

"And I don't give a damn that you're twenty one Frankie. If you want to do what you want then there are your keys and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out."

I thought I saw fear in her eyes; it was so fleeting that I may have been wrong. Then she did the one thing that I both admired her for and yet felt sorry for her as well, she picked up her car keys, paused for just a moment and handed them to me. I took them, stepped away from the table and stuck them in my pocket.

"Go take a shower, the clothes you're going to wear while you're here will be on your bed when you're done. Things are going to change around here Frankie and trust me, you're going to hate every single minute of it."

Just for a moment I did wonder if she was having second thoughts, instead her lips came together and her face seemed to harden slightly before she just nodded her head and got up and left to shower. I was busy while she was away. They say shock value is a harsh look at reality, I just wondered if Frankie would finally tell me what was going on in that head of hers. I so missed my wife at times like this.

Thankfully, I was just coming back into the cabin when I heard the shower finish, the scream from Frankie came a few minutes later. It took another few minutes of hearing her going through all the drawers and the sound as she slammed one after another closed in her room and then silence prevailed. It took another couple of minutes for her to dress before she came out of her room in shorts and a tee shirt a towel around her hair.

She got to the center of the day room before she said. "Where are the rest of my clothes? Even the ones I always leave here are gone."

Her eyes looked beyond me and out of the window. "What have you done with my car?"

I sat down first before I answered, Frankie went to the window and looked around the clearing, her car was gone and just about all of her clothes as well. It was time to set the ground rules and perhaps this one moment was going to be a tipping point for my niece. Was she going to see this through or run for it, either way I had to make sure she knew the consequences of her actions.

"Your car and your clothes are in the barn. You see that key hanging next to the sink? That opens the barn door. If you remove that key you and I are done. I can't help you Frankie because you're not willing to help yourself. I made sure there are seven tee shirts and seven shorts in your room, when they get dirty you wash them, those clothes you're wearing are all you're getting, other than a bathing costume if you wish to use the hot tub."

"But you didn't even leave me any bras or panties. I can't even find any shoes either, am I supposed to walk around here barefoot?"

I snorted at that before saying. "You've walked around here barefoot since we bought the place. As for your underwear I told you we are going to strip this bare and I meant it, you have tee shirts and shorts so its not as if your going to get cold, just stop your whining. You know where the key to your car is if your not comfortable being here anymore."

It was only then I looked more closely at Frankie and damn near went orbital. She had tied the tee shirt into a knot under her tits exposing her stomach. I wasn't too impressed with the jewelry hanging from her navel; Frankie noticed what I was looking at and went very pale.

"You can get the ironmongery out of your body as well, any other surprises I need to know about?"

Frankie looked down at her navel and for a long time silence prevailed. It truly felt like the calm before the storm. Frankie was taking her time, thinking about the consequences of what she was about to tell me. Then she mumbled something, I heard it but I simply couldn't believe I heard it. Slowly rising from my chair, Frankie caught the movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up as I took a step towards her, that girl must have read the intentions I had clear across the room. She took a step back shaking her head at the same time.

"I will go to my room and take it all out I promise."

"You had better girl or so help me I will stand you naked in the middle of this room and do it myself. What in the hell possessed you to get your pussy pierced? Never mind. That's going to be a topic for later, stand there and don't move."

She opened her mouth to explain. I just shook my head and went into the kitchen, quickly finding what I was looking for I came back and placed a small pair of wire cutters, a bottle of antiseptic and some cotton wool in her hands and pointed to her room, not really wanting to say anything else for now. She was halfway across the room before something occurred to me, it was then I realized I had to find out.

"Frankie."

She stopped, her shoulders slumped. I think she knew what I was going to ask. Her head turned to look at me; the tears had already welled up in her eyes.

"Tattoo's?"

Once again her mouth opened only to shut again and then nodded her head.

"I don't even know who you are anymore, do I? There was a time you would have talked to your folks or even me about all this. Show me."

For such a long time she simply stared at me, the tears trickled down her cheeks unchecked. I remained silent, watching and waiting. This wasn't a battle of wills. Frankie just needed a moment to compose herself. She placed the cutters and bottle down on the book shelf next to her and undid the knot and with her back to me she pulled her tee shirt up and over her head. Frankie held the tee shirt against her tits while for the first time I got to see the tattoo that adorned almost the top half of her back.

What I saw damn near broke my heart, my legs felt weak and I had to hold onto the back of the chair to support myself. Frankie just kept looking ahead, I could tell by the movement of her shoulders that she was quietly crying to herself. We both needed space and time to regroup for what was going to come from all this.

"Goodnight Frankie."

Those two words seem to break the spell between us. I sat on the arm of the chair too dazed to do much else really. Frankie grabbed the cutters and bottle and ran into her room as if the hounds of hell were chasing after her.

*******

The storm outside that night lit up the bedroom, rain slammed against the window. I was used to this weather and most nights would have even slept through it, yet every time the lighting flashed outside all it did was highlight the image I had seen on Frankie's back. All the intricate details were there, I should know, a smaller version was on my left shoulder blade. It answered the question of why Frankie wanted to know where I got it done when she had seen it on me I suppose.

As the storm finally seemed to settle over the top of the cabin and set about dumping every last rain drop onto the roof, the inevitable click and opening of my bedroom door closely followed by Frankie rushing to my bed. Storms she could handle but Frankie had always been afraid of lightning, before I could even say anything she was already in bed, cold and shaking with genuine fear.

Tentatively she snuggled in close, this had happened many times when she was here. Normally Shannon was here to comfort her, all I did was move over to make room for her as she used to snuggle into my wife. When she figured I wasn't going to toss her ass out, she got herself comfortable. It must have been a good ten minutes before she finally stopped shaking. Even with the thunder and lightning rattling the windows she didn't seem to be afraid anymore.

I heard Frankie say. "Thank you."

She was almost curled up into a ball under my chin, it was only when I went to pat her back to reassure her that I found out she was naked, or at least the top half anyway, the thought that she may even be totally naked and in my bed didn't bare thinking about. This did not bode well, I knew she slept naked and with the storm driving her in here at the speed of a gazelle, it didn't take the IQ of a rocket scientist to realize that in her haste she simply forgot.

Rolling away from her woke her, she looked at me when I got out of bed, and walked over to one of my own drawers and pulled out a tee shirt and tossed it on the bed next to her I sat on the bed with my back to her. The rustling sounds from behind me told me all I needed to know, when it stopped I got back in and she snuggled into me once again just as more lightning passed over us. She flinched and tried as best she could to get even closer.