Strictland Academy (10 page)

Aghast
that she had been bared and held down before an entire cafeteria of girls and a
roomful of unidentified men above them, Molly's face flushed.
 
She could not physically see what
LeClair was doing, but by the sound of swishing in the air behind her, Molly
suspected that the woman had produced the disciplinary tool used by the prefects.
 
It was called a Stinger, twelve inches
long and thin, about the size of a conductor's baton, and made from a heavy
plastic.
 
LeClair set about using
that little implement to the best of her abilities, plying it up and down the
entirety of Molly's behind.
 
She
concentrated on the area where bottom met thigh, the place where it would hurt
the most the next time she sat down.
 
Molly delivered quite a racket, so Leclair wadded her dress into her
mouth to stifle her and additional agonizing strokes were added to her
sentence.

Although
it was small, the Stinger was lethally effective and left thin, raised lines
everywhere it kissed the flesh.
 
Even on Molly's purpled skin, the strokes showed up as satisfyingly
angry red weals that crisscrossed her flesh like tic-tac-toe lines gone
mad.
 
When the brutality finally
ended, she was given no time to recover.
 
Instead, she was dragged back to the cafeteria table with her dress still
in her mouth and her body still on display to every eye in the room.
 
She was plunked down with no
consideration to the condition of her horribly stinging and blistered bare
bottom.
 
The material was removed
from her mouth, and her plate was placed in front of her.

“
Finish
it now, quickly, or you'll go right back over my lap,
”
LeCair commanded.

Molly
was famished, so she complied enthusiastically, gulping down the tepid water as
though it were pure ambrosia.
 
She
took mouthfuls as big as she could manage without spilling any of the food and
finished quickly.
 
She then put her
plate on one of the stacks on the counter and proceeded to the end of the line,
every step reminding her of the punishment she'd just received
—
and echoing those she
had endured all during the day.
 
Her
stomach twisted as she recalled that she still had to face Attendant Hazel the
following day for their behavior in the Headmaster's office.
 
She prayed that Patricia, at least,
would be spared for the time being.

It
was just a quarter after six when they returned to the dormitory.
 
Molly never considered how valuable free
time was before that moment.
 
They
were permitted supervised time to read, rest, and study.
 
This was also 'late chastisement hour',
and Molly's gaze darted about the room to watch girls being hand-spanked or
paddled for various misdemeanors committed throughout the day.
 
Like all the other rooms, the dormitory
housed a viewing portal, and curious, unnamed eyes observed the punishments and
personal activities.
 
The wails of
pain caused Molly to shudder, as she realized that no amount of time spent in
this foul place would be enough to build the endurance needed to tolerate the
abuse.
 
This was, truly, a horror
story coming to life.
 
Something
taken out of the deviant minds of sadists.
 
She felt her heart stop as her situation fully dawned on her.

The
comments about training, perfection, finding suitable mates ... the dark faces
of men watching from glass-covered rooms above the various areas, including the
dorm ...the beauty of most of the girls around her whose faces were left
unblemished ... the fact that no one who left this place ever reported what
occurred behind these walls ... it all added up to one thing.
 
The nightmare of her realization
followed her in her dreams, as she allowed herself to sleep that first
night.
 
This was, indeed, a place
for human flesh peddling!
 
The men,
obviously Rejected, were ones who the State did not considered eligible for
pairing.
 
Molly shuddered, knowing
that the only reason a man would be disqualified from gaining State authority
to marry was if he was carrying a communicable disease, had genetic problems,
or was considered psychologically imbalanced and gave way to violence.
 
She had heard that men like this often
sought illegal means to obtain a partner, and it was rumored that many of them
were involved in criminal activities to finance the purchase of a mate and pay
for the silence from her family. Molly groaned, realizing that having the judge
working in Strickland
’
s
favor made a forged marriage and pregnancy permit easy to obtain.
 
Molly
’
s despair grew as the
circumstance began to make sense. She was here as a piece of meat to be sold to
the highest bidder.
 
In the
meantime, each of the men watching from the room above were privy to an ongoing
show to feed their perversities.

Did
Dr. Wells know all of this?
 
What
was he doing in this place anyway?

The
following day was unusually quiet, without the constant noise associated with
frequent punishments.
 
Attendant
Patience appeared to be nervous, constantly watching the doorway and over her
shoulder for Dr. Wells to barge in unannounced.
 
With a drastic decrease in humiliating
punishments, the amount of spectators in the observing room dwindled to
nothing.
 
Patricia's absence weighed
heavily on Molly's mind as she slaved over the piles of hot, wet garments,
performing a chore she never knew existed in that day and age.

The
hard, monotonous labor allowed her time to contemplate and reflect on her
situation.
 
Her life outside these
dreadful walls had been fairly easy, given the circumstances of a post-war
society and the lack of resources to comfortably support human life.
 
When her father left for war, her mother
was saddled with two young children that included a new baby who was born shortly
after they received news of Mr. Petry
’
s death.
 
Overwrought by her loss, Molly
’
s mother began to work sixteen hour days as a
seamstress to put food on the table. Molly was eight at the time and suddenly
found herself a free spirit with no restrictions other than the basic, and
unenforced, area laws.
 
By the time
she turned eighteen, Molly had completed the State required levels of standard
education and became eligible to apply for an early marriage permit which would
allow her to be paired prior to the State standard age of twenty-five.
 
She blatantly refused her mother
’
s request to pursue
this course.
 
Desperate for money,
Mrs. Petry completed the application forms herself with the hope that her
beautiful daughter would secure a wealthy, eligible man and be spared the
arduous life she lived.

Mrs.
Petry
’
s request was promptly
denied.
 
Molly
’
s resentment, and
defiance, grew as she watched her mother produce two more children out of
wedlock.
 
Things would have been so
much better for her if copulation and pregnancy restrictions had been
established prior to the last war instead of three years ago.
 
It took the State that long to voice
concern over post-war food and resource limitations, radiation poisoning, and
the determination that violence was an
‘
inherited trait.
’
 
By
limiting marriage authorization to the age of twenty-five, and suspending
pregnancy permits until the husband was thirty, the system was able to space
out the number of births and manage food resources with the present
population.
 
More discriminating was
the fact that pregnancy permits were not issued unless both the man and woman
were deemed physically and psychology sound and could financially support
another human being and the wife
’
s
entire family.
 
Molly realized that
she was refused not because she was flawed, but because she was poor.
 
The State desired to keep the wealthier,
and better educated, applicants in a separate group in order to produce a
stronger, smarter civilization.
 
By
forbidding reproduction to the unsavory, the State was effectively
‘
culling the herd.
’

Molly
supposed that the threat looming over her mother
’
s head that she would
be financially responsible for any problems Molly caused had pushed the women
into the corner to make a decision about her.
 
Molly had met Bradley, a handsome young
man who had just turned twenty five.
 
She was thrilled to discover another person who did not concern
themselves with State laws. They were in love. Or, so she thought. He had used
her for engaging in illegal sexual intercourse and then disappeared to marry a
wealthy woman.
 
He had never
informed her that he was either permitted, or Selected. That was when she began
to act out, the pain of his betrayal subsequently resulting in making poor
decisions.

Molly
had never stopped to consider how her behavior would affect others.
 
Her actions could have cost her mother a
job, since clients hired only law-abiding citizens, and her brothers would have
ended up starving or joining a street gang to survive. She glanced around the
bleak room, regretful that her situation had to come to this for her to wise
up.
 
Now she risked being sent (or
sold) to some stranger as payment for the stupid crimes of a selfish, spoiled
and senseless girl.

The
bell rang, announcing the commencement of study time, and Molly spotted
Attendant Hazel at the door with Attendant Angela at her side.
 
Reluctantly accepting the wisdom that it
would not serve any purpose to delay the inevitable, Molly boldly presented
herself to them with April dragging fearfully behind.
 
They were taken into the shower room,
where they both were stripped and told to bend over and touch their toes.

“
I
would prefer that that these two have a more lenient time of it than that wench
Franklin.
 
I heard that Dr. Wells
rescued her from Patience yesterday and is guarding her in the infirmary."

"He
can't watch her forever.
 
Eventually, she will be the one paying for his interference,"
Attendant Angela commented, cracking her knuckles.

"He
is going to be a problem.
 
These two
probably think he will rescue them, like they were damsels in distress, but
they are in for a rude awakening
—
as is he.
 
But for now, I do
believe that Petry has earned a reward for being the only one to come forward
and confess her misdeed.
 
I would
say, six strokes?"

"That
sounds appropriate," Attendant Angela said.
 
"And the standard twelve for
Compton.
 
At least she did not
require being dragged in here."

"Agreed.
 
Take care not to break skin.
 
I have heard that His Highness will be
inspecting these girls for excessive abuse, and I don't trust him to be on
board with Strictland's policies just yet.
 
We don't want to chance him finding a way to contact the State."

"Oh,
trust me, I can easily get my point across without drawing blood.
 
Very easily," Attendant Angela
snickered, producing a thick, leather paddle.
 
Attendant Hazel returned the grin,
displaying one of the same.

The
vigorous punishment commenced immediately.
 
The shower room was strategically chosen because of the acoustics,
allowing everything said or done in it to echo loud and clear throughout the
dormitory area.
 
It also housed a
viewing chamber, permitting those within to watch the girls conduct their daily
hygiene and toileting, as well as any 'special shows' of discipline.
 
It required herculean effort on Molly
and April
’
s
part to remain quiet and defer future discipline, yet soft groans and muffled
cries still managed to bounce back against the dank yellow tiles.

Panting
and covered with sweat, the two girls leaned against one another as they
struggled to walk back to their bunks.
 
April confided to Molly in a raspy whisper how desperate she was to go
to the bathroom and that she would not be able to make it until bedtime.
 
Molly said nothing, reaching only to rub
April's shoulder comfortingly.

Not
long before lights out, Molly looked up from the Handbook of Declarations to
see April creeping towards the bathrooms.
 
She was physically blocked by Attendant Hazel.