House of Intrigue

by Yvonne Strickland

  After showering and drying herself, Rose stood in hesitation near the door. Was there any point in trying to hide her nakedness with a towel? She opened the door to the outer room slowly. At once she met Pauline's gaze.

  'What are you waiting for?' came the voice from near the cluster of chairs.

  'Oh, er, nothing. What shall I do now?'

  'You can start by coming over here!'

  Rose walked slowly towards her, making no effort to cover her nakedness. She felt her body trembling and told herself that it was because the room was cool after the hot shower. On the chair nearest to Pauline lay something which looked half familiar but, because of its colour, not familiar at all. Her nose was telling her more than her eyes, for the strong and yet subtle odour of latex suffused the air and all but vanquished the aroma of the black leather chairs.

  'All right,' ordered Pauline, reaching down to pick up what had caught Rose's attention, 'turn around and stand still!'

  Rose stepped back and ventured, 'What's that? What are you up to?'

  Pauline immediately dropped the item back on to the chair and pulled loose the whip, shouting, 'You will do as you're told!'

  'Hey! No!' shrieked Rose, cowering away from her. 'Don't hit me!'

  But the braided thongs swished and caught her an angry, biting sting across her thighs. She fell to the carpet and raised her arms defensively.

  'Now, say once more what you just said and say it politely!'

  'I ... I .. .' Rose stuttered. 'Please don't hit me.'

  Pauline watched her eyes moisten with tears then ordered, 'Now get up and stand still or I promise you you'll get more!'

  Rose, her eyes fixed on the hand holding the instrument of persuasion, clambered to her feet and stood silent.

  'Let's try again,' said Pauline.

  Rose wiped her fingers over her eyes and waited. Pauline laid down the whip and moved behind her to the chair. Rose knew what Pauline was about to put on to her but made no protest and no attempt to resist.

  The first part of the procedure took little time at all. Rose pushed her arms past each other across her middle and inside the cool, powdered embrace of the thick, rubber sleeve. The heavy latex garment was then pulled quickly about her body and over her shoulders to enclose her from neck to waist. The second stage took longer, for Pauline reached back to the chair and picked up a long length of white cord. Starting at the collar, she threaded the lace to and fro through the metal eyelets, working down and tightening the straitjacket about Rose's slim form as she went. With each tug, it constricted further, almost overbalancing her so that Pauline ordered her to lean forward to counteract the pulling. By the time Pauline had finished and tied the knot just above her behind, Rose's arms were squeezed immobile across her abdomen by the thick latex. From behind, she heard a breath of satisfaction.

  There were other items heaped by the side of the chair. Pauline turned her attentions to these. Rose saw that they were long boots in the same colour and material as the restraint which held her. Pauline kept her standing but positioned her against the back of one of the chairs in order to put them on her. Even so, Rose found the proceedings difficult. The boots fastened with long zippers from heel to thigh, and each was fitted with a rubber strap around the top to secure it firmly about the leg.

  'Don't move until I tell you,' came the order.

  Rose remained, propped against the chair, her feet poised on heels of a height to which she had not yet become accustomed.

  She next heard the sound of rustling paper but dared not turn around. Pauline soon reappeared and Rose caught her breath when she saw what was held in the fingers.

  'Close your mouth tightly!' came the inevitable order.

  Rose obeyed. Moments later, her mouth was sealed shut by the strip of white plastic tape, the pressure of Pauline's thumbs ensuring that adhesion was complete.

  'Now go and wait in there while I deal with the other one.'

  Pauline indicated the direction of the small kitchen and gave Rose an initial push to start her on her way. She walked with caution for not only were the heels at first a little precarious, but the long, tight boots did not allow her to flex her legs properly. As she moved across the room Rose caught a glimpse of herself in one of the large wall mirrors. The restraint, like the boots, was all but invisible, for it was translucent pink and blended closely with the colour of her own skin.

  Jackie had heard the cry and the crack of the whip from the other side of the curtained arch. She knew that Pauline would eventually call for her and wished that the waiting was not so prolonged. When Pauline did appear, it was almost a relief and she went in subdued obedience.

  As Pauline unzipped and removed the vinyl restraint, Jackie glanced about the room. Rose was not to be seen, but she knew that it was not a good time to ask about where she was. For Jackie, the course of events was the same, and after the brief episode of freedom in the bathroom, she found herself once more inside a restraining cocoon, albeit a variation of the previous one, as her arms were now folded in front of her.

  With Jackie silenced in the same manner, Pauline summoned Rose back into the room and each contemplated the plight of the other. Jackie saw the inflamed track across Rose's thigh where the whip had caught her. Each wondered what fate held in store and if they were to be left as they were or if Pauline's plans went beyond what they had so far endured. Part of the answer still lay upon the, chair, white and folded neatly against the black leather. Rose and Jackie were each bedecked in cotton gowns, pulled about them and done up with tapes at the back. This told them one thing at least - that they were to be taken elsewhere in the house other than just across the corridor.

  Pauline walked over to the main door and pulled it open. Rose and Jackie looked at her questioningly even though their restraints and nakedness were covered up.

  'Move, will you?' she addressed them. They stepped to the doorway. 'We're going down to the beauty parlour via the back stairs. I doubt if anyone will see you both, for what that is worth. Most of them are away, in case you didn't know.'

  They followed her with difficulty because of the boots, having no alternative other than to face her anger and its consequences, until they reached the blue door halfway along the ground floor passage. Jackie was surprised that Pauline should have access to the parlour in this manner. She wondered if Sonia knew and what Valerie would have to say if she found out.

  When they entered through the unlocked door, the lights were already on. Jackie almost expected to find Kim inside, but she was not to be seen. Instead, they encountered the soft pink lights and luxurious emptiness of what was Valerie's domain, now entered by an intruder who Jackie knew had no right to be there. The beauty parlour should have been a welcoming and friendly place, as it always had been, but with Pauline here it had lost its soul and became a place of indifference.

  She pulled around the two swivel chairs in front of the sinks and the long wall mirror.

  'Sit down!' she ordered.

  They sat.

  Pauline walked to the large cupboard at the far end of the room and pulled open the doors. They saw her reflection in the mirror as she returned, with an array of black leather straps hanging over one arm. She at once, beginning with Jackie, secured the two girls on the chairs with straps buckled about their ankles, thighs, chests and necks. Both sat looking in helpless wonderment at what she might be about to do, expecially Jackie, who even after some considerable experience of life under Pauline, had not yet encountered this train of events. Pauline's next moves caused them both a surge of alarm.

  She pulled open two of the drawers but not finding what she sought, closed them. Then from a third, she extracted a roll of the white adhesive tape which they were only too familiar with, and a pair of scissors. Having cut from the roll four lengths of some eight or nine centimetres, she turned first to Jackie and said, 'Close your eyes.' Jackie let out a muffled protest and twisted her head away. Pauline moved closer. 'It goes on whether they're closed or not but it wil
l be better if they are. Make your mind up quickly!'

  Jackie hesitated for a moment, but seeing the tape move closer still, did as she was told. Pauline applied the tape deftly, sealing shut first her left eye and then the right. Rose watched with incomprehension, knowing that her turn was imminent. She closed her eyes without being ordered and waited. The sensation was very odd, for though only three small pieces of adhesive material had been applied to her face, Rose was deprived completely of speech and vision. With the other things they had put on her, she expected such limitations, for that was what they were designed for - so why do it this way? And what was Jackie thinking? Did she have the answer?

  'You have both continued to defy me,' came the voice, i have told you not to do it! I have warned you time and time again!'

  There were sounds which, for the time being, meant nothing; drawers opening and closing, objects being placed upon the work surface; something, a litter bin perhaps, being placed by Jackie's chair.

  'Now,' continued Pauline, 'I am going to make sure you do take notice. Things are going to be different after today!'

  The first either of them knew of her intentions was when Jackie felt her hair being pulled back. The snap of scissors close to her ear made her start and utter a long, 'Mmmm!'

  She knew the futility of struggle but tried all the same, tensing against the straitjacket and the straps as the scissors continued their work, letting out stifled protests until it became obvious that they were as pointless as her endeavours to get free.

  The snipping became more rapid and seemed closer still to her ears. Her scalp felt oddly cool. When the scissors stopped, the clippers took over, and before long, Jackie felt their cool touch upon her scalp. Rose knew the meaning of the sounds and she too tensed her body against the restraints, imagining that the rubber straitjacket tightened further as she tried to move her arms inside its stubborn hold. And for Jackie, after the clippers came the electric shaver to do its final work.

  Rose waited, her heart beating strongly, as the hands took hold of her. She uttered no protest, nor did she attempt to move again, but allowed herself to relax and accept what she had no means of avoiding.

  A few minutes later, Jackie instinctively pulled her head around as unseen fingers touched the side of her face.

  if you do that again,' came the voice, 'I'll leave the tapes on!'

  Jackie stayed still and the fingers returned. The smell of methylated spirits assailed her nostrils and her skin instantly chilled as the liquid soaked under the edge of the adhesive tape. First one eye and then the other was uncovered, and though she could have opened them immediately, she did not. She was afraid. When she summoned enough courage to look, she would have gasped in astonishment had she been able to use her mouth. She glanced sideways at Rose, who regarded her too for a moment. Gone was her own golden brown hair and gone was Rose's straw blonde too. Jackie began to wonder if soon she would wake up in bed next to Rose and find that it had all been an unpleasant dream, and the hairless features which stared back at her were only a memory.

  That possibility was dispelled as Pauline began to undo the straps which held them both to the chairs. After they were released and able to stand, Pauline moved to the end of the work surface and took up something which had lain so far unnoticed by Rose and Jackie.

  'You're both going to need these,' she said, holding up the two wigs. One of these she fitted over Jackie's shaven head, the other over Rose's. Jackie looked at their reflection in the long mirror. The glossy, silver-blonde hair was shot with strawberry pink. It hung down her back and over her shoulders and its fringe part way down to her eyes. The two girls saw themselves transformed.

  'Come on, we're going back up!' announced Pauline after she had fixed the white cotton surgical gowns around them both.

  She conducted them out of the parlour and into the short passageway to the main door, switching out the lights behind her. Soon they were ascending the rear stairs to the first floor, Pauline leading them like a priestess with two weird acolytes. They were comparatively relieved upon reaching the corridor not to have been observed, though it could be doubted they would have been easily recognised.

  Jackie expected that they would be taken to Pauline's room but they were not. Instead, they stopped outside Jackie's own apartment and Pauline opened the door to usher them in. When they entered, the door closed behind them and they both waited for Pauline's next move. There was only silence. After a time, Rose and Jackie slowly turned around. Pauline was not with them. They looked at each other and moved their heads and eyes questioningly. For the lack of anything else to do, they walked into the middle of the room and waited in enforced silence. They could not have said how long it was before Pauline returned, though it was probably not as long as it had seemed. She swung open the door and stood by it, waiting.

  'Come along both of you, quickly!' There was no question of disobedience. 'I've had a few things to get ready,' remarked Pauline as they passed along the corridor towards the front of the house.

  It was at the last door on their left that they were brought to a halt, Rose looking at Jackie with apprehension. Jackie recalled that this was the room where Pauline had held the mock school class. She and the other girls who did domestic duties knew it was not replete with the furnishings and fittings to be found in the other rooms for it was intended to be adaptable - it had even been used for private parties, as Jackie was aware from her own involvement.

  They passed through the ante room and into the cur-tained-off area. Pauline moved ahead and pulled aside a section of the curtain on its ceiling track, allowing the afternoon sun to flood across the carpet and pointing the way through for Rose and Jackie.

  The room was largely empty. A low, black leather bench stood along the wall to their right. Jackie regarded it for a moment with mixed feelings. Directly in front of the window stood two upright, high backed chairs finished in heavy pine and black leather. The chairs faced each other less than a metre apart and the straps hanging at various points from them rendered their purpose unambiguous.

  'Over here,' ordered Pauline, stepping across the room to the chairs. 'Now, sit down.' The girls hesitated. 'Sit!'

  They sat, facing each other. Pauline at once set to work with the straps, securing both of them to the chairs at ankles, knees, thighs, waist and chest, the metallic rasp of the buckles speaking the language of complete restraint. Pauline tugged the wig from each of them, leaving their heads startlingly naked in the bright light. Finally, she attached the neck straps so that, apart from limited movement of their heads, Rose and Jackie were utterly immobile.

  'Good,' breathed Pauline, picking up the two wigs. 'I don't expect either of you will get up to anything for the time being. Now, you had better listen to me carefully. You are going to be under my direct jurisdiction for the foreseeable future. It's going to be weeks before you get enough of your hair back to go out, and if either of you do anything stupid, it will be shaved off again so you have to start anew. They watched her cold blue eyes intently, as well as listening to her deceptively calm voice as she continued, unblinking. 'You will both do increased domestic duties on this and the second floor. At such times, provided you behave, you will wear these -' she held up the wigs '-otherwise people will see you as you are. Daytime meals will be taken in your room. Before you take exercise outside the house, or when you take an evening meal downstairs, you will again have to come to me -' she turned to Jackie '- as you will when your services are required by our visitors, though I dare say a few of them might prefer you as you are now! You will be accountable to me every minute of the day and night, and if one of you fails to be where you should be at any time, both will be punished. You will find yourselves more often under restraint, so you had better get used to it. It won't, however, be entirely wasted time. We already doubtless have some interesting photo studies in the can from today's little frolics and I'm sure there will be opportunity for plenty more.' She turned to go, then hesitated. 'Oh, and in case it isn't alr
eady obvious why I put you in here, it may become so during what is left of the afternoon. You will at any rate have the next three hours to consider it.'

  Three hours! Jackie had seldom spent half that time under such strict restraint. What, she wondered, must it be like for Rose? Rose, not considering yet how heavily time might lay upon them, wondered how Jackie would behave towards her as a result of their folly, undertaken at her instigation. She wished she could speak to tell Jackie that she would somehow make up for it. Jackie too, frustrated by her own enforced silence, wanted to talk to Rose, to reassure her that she was not to be blamed in any way and that things would not be spoiled between them.

  They turned their faces to the net curtains and felt the warmth of the afternoon sun through the glass. Close to the poolside stood Mike, and behind him on the pathway, a parked wheelbarrow with a spade propped against it. He was talking to Lorna and Kim, both of them circling about in the clear, shimmering water under the mellow blue sky. On the other side of the pool, where the tables, chairs and coloured sunshades were, Annette sat with the four male guests. Angela, in her short, blue, satin halterneck dress appeared bearing a tray of drinks and joined them at the table. Jackie realised that this was to be denied to her and Rose for a long time to come.

  Adventures in Paris

  It was late afternoon when Karen disembarked from the high speed train. Never having visited Paris before, let alone a Paris railway station, La Gare de Lyon proved moderately intimidating. Nevertheless, with one hand over her shoulder bag and the other clutching a small fawn suitcase, she soon found her way to the main ticket hall and located the bureau de change where Sonia had said she should wait for Armand.