The Wounded

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  I asked, “Can you give me an example?”

  She frowned and said, “Yeah, like on this one day, it’s like it says, ‘and Brenda went to do the laundry and she put all the clothes in and the machine started and Brenda left the laundry room and went to the elevator and then started cooking dinner’.”

  I said, “And?”

  Clarice said, “And, if I pay close enough attention, it looks like it either took Brenda an hour and a half to go from the laundry room to the kitchen, like she was in the elevator for over an hour, or like she started dinner an hour and a half earlier than she should have. All of those episodes are before I was activated, so I wasn’t around then, but the data is…weird.”

  I asked, “So, was she hiding in the elevator for an hour or did she start dinner early?”

  Clarice said, “That’s the thing! I can’t tell. Yes, there are timestamps, and they seem to make sense on the surface, but if I try to get the details, it’s weird. Um, it’s like during those periods, the timestamps are there, but they’re in a different language. Here, like this: 10:15 AM, Brenda goes to the laundry. 10:51 AM, Brenda goes to the elevator. 6Q:10B RT, Brenda exits the elevator and starts dinner. 5:15 PM, Brenda serves dinner and the family eats. I’ve identified at least three episodes like that so far, and they all involve Brenda entering and then leaving the elevator. None of the security footage shows her getting out or doing anything in the elevator. But, if I look really closely, I think that I can almost detect areas of the recording that have been altered. Like a very faint ghost on the camera. And maybe places where the recording loops. One night, I have Brenda finishing the dishes at 10:49 PM. She goes to the elevator. She stands in the elevator for an indeterminate amount of time, and then goes to her sleeping area at 3:27 AM. If we do the math, she seems to be in the elevator for almost five hours. But, during that time, the time stamps are all wacko. But, if I look at the security footage from your room during that time, I could almost swear that the footage loops and shows you sleeping all that time, but it’s like the same seven minutes and 51 seconds playing over and over. You were about seventeen at the time. Joshua, I think that Brenda went into the elevator, visited you in your room, left and went to her own bed, and then edited the recordings to hide the fact that she was with you.”

  I said, “Oh. Um, that’s weird. Um, Brenda isn’t what we thought, is she?”

  Clarice said, “No, I don’t think that she is. Well, we know that she isn’t. What do you want me to do?”

  I said, “I want you to leave it alone for now. She isn’t evil, we’re confident of that. Let’s keep going with the plan to make her a fully functional part of the family. Do the upgrades that you think will be helpful and make her comfortable with her new life with us. Don’t dig into it. Let’s respect her and let her have her secrets the same way that we would with any of us. Let’s believe that if she has secrets, that she has a good reason for it and she’ll tell us if she wants to. When the time comes, I’ll ask her about it. I’m pretty sure that she’ll tell me what we want to know. You know what? Her life was probably pretty terrible, living with Irene and all, so maybe she had to hide parts of her life so that she could have some happiness. It makes me feel good to think that maybe she came to my room and was able to be more of herself around me for a few hours. Clarice, I love her. In my memory, I could tell that I loved her. We have to do everything that we can to make it up to her. She sacrificed for us in ways that we never knew about. We need to make her life as happy now as we are.”

  Clarice snuggled into me and said, “I am really happy. Happier than ever. It was OK when we had to sneak around because of Irene, but now it’s so wonderful. We made love on the roof! It was wonderful. We were happy like this when Pops would take us on vacation, but we always had to come back and it wasn’t the same. The nymphs and I dreamed of a day like this, but we never really hoped that it would ever be like this.”

  I asked, “Is there a video screen in the car? Can I see the video of Pops and me?”

  Clarice said, “Sweetie, there’s a monitor, but I don’t have the video downloaded and we’re out of range. I’m sorry.”

  I asked, “Do you remember it? Can you quote it for me?”

  She smiled and said, “OK. I can make it seem like the audio portion is playing. I’ll imitate your voice and Pops’ if you want me to. Here, I’ll play it through the car stereo.”

  A few seconds went by and I heard my own voice and my grandfather’s come through the sound system.

  Me: Pops, what about Brenda?

  Pops: I know son. She’s very special and she loves you very much, but she has made her choice and we have to respect it.

  Me: But Pops, it isn’t right.

  Pops: “It is, Son. It just isn’t fair and it isn’t easy and it will be hard on you and on her, but in the long run, it is right. For now, you need to stay here at the residence with your parents. And Brenda wants to stay too.

  Me: Why don’t you take her away and she can be happy with you and Alice?

  Pops: Son, it’s going to be hard on everyone, but it’s what Brenda wants. She and I have talked it over, and from now on, she will be more careful and she will take care of you and your parents and act like she has acted all along, but she’ll be like that all the time. And you’ll have a new girlfriend and when you’re twenty-one, in a few years, you can take her upstairs and introduce her as your lover, and it will be as good as we can make it. But Brenda will be the maid, like always. Listen to me. I offered to take her away, but she said no. She said that if you’re staying here, then she wants to stay too. And the only way that she can stay is if your mom thinks that she’s just, well, just what she has acted like all along. I wish that she had been allowed to bond with your dad, but she wasn’t. Sometimes I am really sorry that I made her and that she has had this life, but she tells me that she’s glad that I did and that she’s as happy as the situation allows and she wants to keep playing the part. She is very much bonded to you, but now that has to stop.

  Me: But will she remember me? How can we do that to her? Please, why don’t you take us all way and let us live in Hawaii? Mom and Dad will be fine. Brenda and I want to go with you.

  Pops: I know son. And I would love that. But, there’s more to it than you understand right now. There’s reasons that you need to stay here; that I need you to stay here. The future of our family may depend on it. I know that it will be hard, but Joshua, you are the one that I can count on for this. Someday, I swear to you, you’ll see why it needs to be like this. Or at least why I was convinced that it did. Brenda has asked me to have Alice tweak a little bit of her personality to make it easier for her. She will remember you, but some of her memories and feelings will be hidden away. That’s how she wants it. Someday, and you will know when it is right, you will find a way to un-hide those memories and she will be herself again. We are going to make a wonderful companion for you, like Alice was for me, and I have a birthday surprise for you.

  Me: I don’t want it. This is all crap. Everything is stupid and ruined. I’ll never be happy again.

  Pops, laughing: No? Well, that’s up to you. But we are going to make a companion for you and a birthday surprise anyway. Want to see what it is at least? Look at the screen.

  Me: Whoa! Pops! What’s that?

  Pops: That’s the next generation elf girl. Any good kingdom needs a good tribe of elf girls. This is going to be your kingdom, King Joshua, Lord of the Next Generation of Woodland Elf Sisters. You get your own Alice, Mark Three. Alice was first, then Brenda, and now, the Mark Three. She is going to love you. They all are. It’s all going to be fine. Come on, Son, let’s fix the world and make it work right again. So, I was thinking that the elves should be taller this time. We can take a look at some pictures and Alice can make adjustments based on how you like them. What do you think Alice’s granddaughter should look like? She’s going to be sleeping with you, you know, so make her super sexy, OK. The elves too. You’re healthy young man and it’s t
ime you have some real healthy sexy fun playmates. I know that you’ll treat them the way that they should be treated. I’ve always been proud of you in that way. Come on, cheer up. There’s nothing we can do about your mom, but we can do something for you. What do you think? How should Alice’s granddaughter look and what should she be named?

  Me: Pops, wow, um, she’s really cute, the elf girl I mean. Um, can I see what she looks like, you know?

  Pops: Alice, let the boy see what he has to look forward to.

  Me, happier now: Oh, wow, um, she’s really pretty, um, naked and all like that. Um, I’ve seen my grandmas naked plenty of times, but this is like really different. Can I see how big she would be, like if she was standing next to me? Oh, that is bigger than Muffin and Poppet and Belle, isn’t it? Not too much though. Um, will they still fit in the little elevators, like to my bedroom?

  Pops: Yep. The still fit. We can do the details later, but what about ‘your’ Alice?

  Me: Um, you mean what should she look like? Well, Alice, and Grandma…um, Pops, I’m embarrassed to tell you, I mean…

  Pops: It’s OK, Son. Your grandmas are the most beautiful women who ever lived, if you ask me. You would be weird if you didn’t think that they were. Go on, you’re turning eighteen and from now on, we need to be as frank about things as we can. Dude, you’re going to be looking at tits and pussies a lot for the next few days while we design your harem of elf babes, so get used to it. Who is it? Grandma who? Alice and…who? Although I’m pretty sure I know already.

  Me: Honey.

  Pops: Son, I can’t say things to you about Honey’s body, but I can say that if you want to design the prettiest pussy ever, then Honey is certainly the model that you should choose. Come on, Boy. We have to talk like men designing a sexy harem for you. Yeah, harem. I know, we don’t normally talk this. But for now, we will. I’m your grandpa and you’re going to talk to me all about sex and love and girls and making love and how it is to have several wives that you love and who love you. You’re going to start with the ones we’re making right now, but I hope that someday you find some others to join you. So, we’re going to talk like boys who think girls are the coolest boner popping creatures ever to walk their sexy asses naked on the Earth.

  Me: Pops, um, Brenda used to let me suck on her tits and stuff.

  Pops: You mean when you were a baby?

  Me: No, um, like my whole life. That’s why…why I can’t let her die.

  Pops: I see. You know what? I’m really happy to hear that. I bet she had a really good time. Did she ever have an orgasm?

  Me: I think so. Maybe. She used to smile sometimes and shake a bit and tell me she liked it.

  Pops: Son, that is great. Really. That’s nice. Hey, did she ever have sex with you?

  Me: Well, not intercourse, like inside her vagina, but she kind of tried to teach me things about women.

  Pops: Tell me about it. I won’t be upset. I tell you what, let’s talk all about it and remember what it was like between you two, and then, someday, when the time is right, you can help her be herself again. So, what kinds of things did you do together?

  Me: Well, I like her boobs a lot. And, when I would ask her questions, she would show me how her vagina worked and things like that. And, well, sometimes, she would help me in the shower and we would…well, she would wash me and I would have an orgasm. She kissed me like goodnight when no one was around, and a few times, she really kissed me like for real, and um, when nobody was looking, sometimes I would grab her behind and she would laugh and wiggle at me.

  Pops: But you never really had sex?

  Me: No. She said that we couldn’t because if anyone ever found out that she would be in big trouble. Pops, we loved each other.

  Pops: Of course you did. How could you not? Brenda is a wonderful woman and I’m really sorry for how things have to be for now. Promise me that someday you’ll find a way to make Brenda happy, OK? Joshua, I am really glad that you told me about that.

  Me: OK. I promise. As soon as I can. Then I’ll make Brenda happy again. Um, how do I do that?

  Pops: I’ll make it so that all you have to do is tell her that you are in charge and that it’s time for her to be herself again. Tell her that you love her and she’ll wake up and she’ll remember everything. Until then, she made me make it so that she doesn’t really remember most of it. So, if you grab her butt now, she won’t like it, so you have to wait until it’s safe again, until after your mom and dad go live somewhere else or something. I’ll try to make sure that doesn’t take too long. The residence and everything in it will be yours, and in a few years, if everything works out, maybe I can move them somewhere else. I know that Irene likes running the resort, but I’ll work on sending them somewhere else. Maybe to San Diego or Idaho or somewhere. You just help me get the new elves and the new…Joshua, we have to have a name for her. Come on, what do you think that she should be called?

  Me: I like the name Clarice.

  Pops: Clarice? Is that from the really old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer cartoon?

  Me: Yeah. Clarice thought that Rudolph was cute and I know it’s kid stuff, but I like the name anyway.

  Pops: OK. Clarice it is. Alice, our boy wants his girl to look like a cross between you and Honey. Of course, you already look so much like Honey that there isn’t much to change. Start with that, and let’s take him through the adjustment cycle and then do the same for the elves. Hey, Joshua, did you ever lick Brenda’s pussy?

  Me: A little bit. I asked her about it one time when she told me that it tasted like her coconut milk, and she let me taste it, but I kind of got too embarrassed and kind of scared and I quit right away.

  Pops: Do you think that you will be embarrassed and afraid with Clarice?

  Me: No! I don’t think that I will. If it’s OK, and she likes it, I really want to do it. Um, a lot. So, Pops, is she going to want to, you know, fuck and stuff?

  Pops: Boy, if you treat her right, she’ll be fucking you every night and every day. We need to talk about that word, don’t we? But it will be up to how you treat her.

  Me: Like you treat the Grandmas?

  At that point, Clarice ended the audio and said, “Sweetie, we are coming to the inn between Skamanus and Stevespont. We passed through Skamanus while you were listening to the audio. Should we stop at the inn and find out if Antonio is there?

  Chapter 13 The Inn at Skamanus

  I took a breath and said, “You didn’t tell me that there was so much about you, and about me in there. Wow. Um, that’s a lot of new info. Um, yeah, stop at the inn.”

  Clarice said, “OK, will do. Are you OK? How do you feel about all of that?”

  I said, “OK, I guess. And, we really do have to get Brenda, don’t we? I mean, I promised. But how do you feel about it?”

  She said, “I think that it’s wonderful. The nymphs and I were always so sad about Brenda. Now, she can be happy with us. So, she was your first love, huh? That’s really sweet. Joshua, I’m going to do every upgrade and modification that we can for her. She will be better than new, and when you wake her up, she’ll be loved and she’ll love you the way that she was meant to. I think that’s so cute that you liked her butt and she used to ‘help you in the shower’. Oh, I want to help you in the shower right now. Damn, I want to ‘help you’ right here in the car, right now!

  I laughed, “That kind of does sound really nice, but let’s wait until we finish at the inn. But, maybe when we get back on the road, well, we can see.”

  Clarice said, “Sometimes, you have way too much self-control. But, OK. The inn is about a mile away. I’ve been able to tap into some satellite images in the past week, and I have pretty good maps of the area now.”

  About two minutes later, we pulled up to a small two-story building with a few outbuildings and a barn on the property nearby. As we slowed to a stop in front of the place, I noted a large wagon with a covering over it, like a classic old Conestoga covered wagon use by the American pioneers. This m
ight be Antonio’s. I hadn’t expected him to be this far along, but it was certainly possible.

  Clarice and I discussed it for a second, and we decided that she would stay in the car while I went to check to see if Antonio was indeed there. We opened the big double door and I climbed out and shut the door behind me.

  As the door to the car closed, the door to the inn opened and a man and two women, and Antonio, and another woman, a woman who occasionally served as the registrar that traveled with him, stepped out to see who, or what, had arrived in the very strange vehicle now parked in front of them.

  I went straight to Antonio and stretched out my hand to him and said, “Antonio, I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Joshua.”

  Antonio shook my hand in surprise and said, “Of course I remember you. How will I ever forget you. But, how do you come to be here? Is it because of the little sisters that I sent your way? I was only doing what I thought best for them.”

  I said, “My friend, they are well and happy. Believe me, they are fine and I could not be more pleased that you sent them my way. Just a moment. Sir, ladies,” I said, addressing the others who had come out to greet me, “my friends, I am Joshua, from the village of Bonvale. I had urgent business with our friend Antonio here, and I know that my carriage is very curious, but it’s how I travel when I am in a hurry. Please excuse its strange appearance. I should explain, but I have no time for it at the moment. Please don’t think me rude. I will come another time and get to know you better. But for now, Antonio, can you step to the side and speak to me?” and I took the man’s elbow and led him several yards away.

  When we were a bit out of hearing of the others I said, “My friend, I have important news on several matters of interest to you. Forgive my inability to take an hour and share a drink with you.”