Kristal's Changed Life

Chapter Two-1

Chapter Two

Awakening To a New Reality

I don’t know how long I slept, but after coming muzzily awake, wondered why I had literally passed out and who had undressed me then put me to bed? I was still too bleary of mind to make any sense of the evening past and so lay quietly, snuggled under the covers, wondering about the day to come. The light coming through the large window seemed strangely distorted behind the gauze curtains, but for the moment I thought nothing of it while lying quiescent.

At last my mind seemed to clear and I suddenly became aware of the pressure on my bladder, needing to go to the toilet. I vaguely remembered my father’s words about having my own rooms complete with an en suite bathroom so decided that it was my next and immediate stop and attempted to kick off the covers of the bed.

My shock was immediate!

As soon as I moved my legs and tried to kick, I instantly became aware of the snug encirclements of my ankles and their immediate limiting when the noise of chain links came to my ears! What the HELL was that! I kicked once more and again experienced all the things just described, having affected the covers slipping off the bed, then tried to sit up. It was then that I got my second awful shock! I discovered that my neck bore a wide band that was so high it prevented me from looking down! In addition, when I did sit up, my head spinning from the after effects of the drugged wine, I both felt and heard a length of body-warmed chain links slither down my spine!

I screamed loudly and immediately clapped my hands to my throat and it was then I discovered that my wrists were also encircled by wide, thick and tight steel cuffs, complete with dangling rings and a chain between them! I gasped with dismay and terror when my fingers touched the smooth surface of the snug metal collar that, seemingly seamlessly, held my throat a captive! In a trice, I reached to behind my neck, where my fingers immediately encountered the rapidly-cooling links of a dangling chain and I pulled the loose loop around in front of me, over my shoulder, then with disbelief, stared at the substantial steel tether with dumb horror. My eyes flew again to my wrists and ankles and I moaned with horror upon revisiting the gleaming, thick bands. In a frenzy, I attempted to jerk on the chain to move the collar around my throat, but it didn’t shift at all, being oval shaped and very snugly-fitted. Next, I attempted to pull off the chain, but that was equally as fruitless and it was then that I looked down at my legs and feet once more. Each of my ankles was encircled by a tight, steel cuff of the same type that held my neck and wrists! Not only that though, but these were joined on their inner sides by a short chain of the same type as that descended from the back of my collar, only about long with a larger ring at the centre, and from this, yet another chain trailed under the covers!

It was then that I began to wail with dismay at what had been done to me and flung myself from the bed to stand trembling beside it, then sank to my knees with my head in my hands, sobbing with humiliation and distress. The chain from the wall above the head of the bed and that from the foot fell out from under the covers that remained with the slithery sound of steel links against one another and fell to the uncarpeted, parquet wooden floor with a noisy clatter. My disbelieving eyes followed their trails to see that the one leading to the back of my new collar terminated at a large ring, this being securely mounted on the wall above the headboard. At the foot of the bed, the chain from the centre of the one between my ankles was padlocked to a sturdy ring set into the massive bed frame.

“No! No! Let me out of these!” I screamed loudly, standing naked except for the steel clasped about my neck, wrists and ankles. I looked away from this horrifying arrangement of my captivity and my eyes fell upon the bed I’d been sleeping in.

To call it a bed was a substantial misrepresentation! It was far more than a mere piece of furniture upon which I would sleep. The manner of its construction was very solid with a metre high headboard of perhaps in thickness at the upper end, tight to the wall and the side panels were equally as massive, framing the mattress. At the bottom, the footboard was the same thickness, but what struck me forcefully though were the three rings set into the frames at the top and bottom, visible just at the level of the mattress, and of course the one to which my collar chain was fastened, high on the wall above! That wasn’t all though! Along the sides of the bed I saw a series of flat, steel loops and from these dangled heavy leather straps; each one terminating in a lockable snap hook! I began to move around to the other side of the bed only to be almost immediately halted when both my collar and ankle chain leash became snagged. The doubled jerk upon my neck and ankles was a horrid shock, for they immediately drove home the fact that I was a leashed prisoner and I wailed with shock at having this fact made plain. For a moment I instinctually fought against the limitations, then with an annoyed gesture, flipped my tethers free of their snags and stumbled around to the other side where I ripped the covers down and discovered a matching set of the flat steel loops and their straps on that side also!

‘Oh God! What were they all for?’ my mind gabbled in turmoil. ‘I cannot be kept like this!’

It was then that I turned to the entrance to my suite and immediately saw the tightly-barred steel door at the inner end of the entrance hall. No! I was shocked by the sight, then beyond it I discerned the thick slab of the outer door and saw that neither it nor the barred door had handles on their inner sides. It was obvious that I was doubly a prisoner in here, but then I thought of the window as a means of escape and tried to run over to it, only to fall flat on my face when the too short hobble chain tripped me. Weeping with dismay and terror, I got to my feet and shuffled towards the window, only to just be able to reach out and barely touch the curtains before the chain leashes to my collar and ankle hobble snapped tight with implacable authority and stopped me from getting any closer than that!

I howled again with misery when my fingers brushed aside the gauzy fabric to reveal that the window a metre beyond was also closely-barred with the gleaming steel rods. I fainted to the warm floor and lay senseless for long minutes. Soon though, I came awake, for my bladder was insistent and so staggered to my feet with difficulty, filling with terror at the constant and inescapable constriction of the ankle and wrist cuffs and the uncomfortable weight of the collar and its dragging chain leash. With snubbed steps I slowly made my way to the toilet in a small alcove to the side, all the while feeling and hearing the rattling drag of my tethers on the wooden floor. Fruitlessly, I continued tugging my chained hands as far apart as possible, attempting to break the links. It was an intimidating sound, reinforcing to me that I was indeed fully a captive in this new home of my father’s. How much of a prisoner I was to become, I had no idea! When I’d finished, I moved slowly back to my so-called bed and sat disconsolately on its edge, staring through tear-blurred eyes at the chains that now so distinctly delineated my life, asking myself why this had been done to me. Yes, my father and I had had our disagreements about my life over these past two years, but to result in this? It was utterly unbelievable!

I looked around the Spartan chamber that was my bedroom and saw that there was only the bed. No side tables, no dresser and no other furniture occupied the barren though large, white-painted chamber. The only adornments on the walls were the dozens of rings and their dangling chains, each portending a terrifying ability to restrain me. On my right, a wide corridor led to the other rooms of my suite, but for the moment they were of little interest to me. Although I wasn’t aware of it, my accommodations were fully sound-insulated from the remainder of the house, with even the inoperable windows being a part of the design. Soon the silence became oppressive for I had always liked to have some sort of background noise in my life, be it a radio or a television, and so I looked around the suite to find one or the other, but there was nothing of the sort and I wondered why. Next, I looked for a clock of some kind but there wasn’t one of those either, anywhere. It was strange indeed that none of these common articles was in the room and I wondered even more why not. In the months to come I would long to know the time, the day of the week and the month or the year, but these desires were satisfied very seldom.

I continued to sit naked on the bed, shuddering with horror at what had been done to me and sobbing a little while I inspected the steel that so authoritatively encircled my ankles and wrists, fingering the obdurate links of the gleaming chains leading to my hobble and collar. The plain, highly-burnished cuffs so snugly clamped around my limbs appeared almost without a joint, but then on one of the wrist cuffs, I discerned a faint, square-toothed one on each side. Being oval in shape, I could not twist any of the cuffs around either my wrists or ankles and each was tight enough that it barely moved up or down on the limb it encircled. Actually, they were quite beautiful in design, but exceedingly utilitarian, having no decoration other than the doubled, swivelling rings on each. I reached to my throat and again fingered the humiliating steel band, discovering that it too was devoid of decoration other than the rings and chain. It was clasped snugly around my throat and also slightly oval in shape so that it could not be twisted around either. When I attempted it, I discovered that its higher back bumped forcefully into my jaw under my ears and so I was compelled to wear it as it had been fastened onto me, always conscious of the weight of the chain hanging down my bare back.

My sobbing eventually stopped, descending into only the occasional hiccup, then, growing ever more bored, I stood again and hobbled as close to the window as possible. When I approached it, the leash to the back of my neck slowly tightened, then rose from the floor until it looped from the wall, fully airborne. I was stunned at the sensation of its weight dragging upon my neck, but wanted to look out of the window, and so leant fully forward until the chain thrummed with tension and my collar began choking me. Even then, my stretched out fingers barely reached the curtains and I again drew them a little to the side to reveal the gleaming bars a metre beyond ... ones that I had no hope of touching or even getting close to. These, like those of the inner door to my suite of rooms were, perhaps, in diameter, spaced ten cm apart and also made of gleaming steel. Beyond, I vaguely made out the trees and gardens surrounding the house, but could see nothing of the distant wall that I vaguely recalled my father having described as encircling the estate. I turned from the window in freshly coursing tears and moved slowly around the bed, ensuring that my trailing leashes did not get snagged on the heavy frame. The bed was bolted to both the floor as well as the white-painted stone wall and beneath the frame’s wood covering; it was fashioned of square section steel tubing. Hoping against hope, I next shuffled towards the inner, barred door, only to discover that my leashes would not permit me to approach it closer than two metres. I stared into the shadowed entrance hall and inspected both the barred portal and the heavy wooden one beyond it as best I could, reconfirming that neither had any sign of an inside handle and appeared to be impossible to open. Little did I know that the apparently wooden door was in fact a steel one as well, nicely-disguised. I turned away in another fresh torrent of tears and struggled slowly to the corridor with the other doors. They now intrigued me, but all, other than the toilet alcove I’d used, were beyond the limit of my tethers. Although unaware of it then, I was to discover that each door was securely locked. I wondered with some terror at what they contained, but I’d not have long to wait, for when I’d once again seated myself on the bed, I heard a series of soft metallic clicks when the outer door’s locks were opened.

Frau Baxter stepped quickly and daintily through the door, her long, heavy black skirt swirling around her booted ankles while it swung closed behind her to the sound of doubled clicks when it was fully landed in its frame. I briefly managed to see its thickness and the heavy bolt mechanisms that secured it while she glided forward to the barred door and taking a plastic card on a ring fastened by means of a light chain to the wide belt around her waist, inserted it into a reader mechanism high on the wall. Again I heard the distinct mechanical sounds when the locks snapped open and she pulled the barred panel towards herself to open it, something I would never be able to do thanks to the shortness of my leashes, and then stepped through. It automatically swung closed behind her as had the outer door, locking with yet another series of distinct mechanical clicks. I wasn’t aware of it, but the two doors could not be open at the same time and each one allowed only a ten second span to pass through before automatically closing. My security of confinement was trebly guaranteed, for both doors required the use of a magnetically encoded, plastic key card, and these cards were biometrically sensitive to the person to whom it was registered. I might somehow obtain one and attempt to employ it in the reading device, but it would not work for me. Turning from the door, she stopped to look at me sitting on the edge of the bed, and then strode authoritatively over to stand before me, smiling with satisfaction.

“Good Morning, my dear Kristal!” she greeted me heartily, a cruel smile curving her lips. “I hope you slept well?”

“I-I-I did, but ...”

“I am very glad to hear that, young lady, for you have a most interesting and strenuous day to come.”

“Frau Baxter!” I cried angrily and with some humiliation, being naked but for my chains and cuffs before her, “Why am I wearing these horrid things and kept on leashes? Why?!” I demanded in a shrill voice, nearly in hysterical tears. “I demand that you free me this instant!!”

“Kristal!” she spoke with calm cold deliberation, “Don’t you ever again dare to raise your voice to me in that manner, or you will be extremely sorry! Your new jewellery has been fitted to keep you under control, as must be patently obvious, even to you. What you wear now are only the temporary versions of what you will soon wear on a permanent basis, and they are only the very first stages of the full ensemble that you will soon have to bear.

“Now, you shall come to the bathroom with me and be given a shower. When you are finished being bathed, I will then dress you in a robe and take you down to breakfast with your father. After that, you will be returned to these rooms and further orientation for entry into your new life will commence.”

“Frau Baxter?” I gasped in dismay, now badly frightened just by her tone of command and by what she had just said. “What do you mean that I will soon wear more permanent ... th-things, like these? And-and ... you said that there are yet more things that I will be fitted with? What do you mean?”

“All will be revealed to you in due course, my girl!” she replied, once more fixing her icy eyes upon me. “It is yet too early in your training to reveal the full breadth and depth of what is to come. You will learn more soon enough.”

“I am nearly mad with terror of what was been done to me while I slept last night,” I wailed, struggling to rip the bracelets from my wrists, with no success whatsoever. “To awaken and find myself chained and imprisoned was horridly disconcerting and so I spoke as I did. I am sorry that I have caused any distress for you.” I was nearly begging her forgiveness, but she just stood and stared at me with a hard expression on her face, then spoke once more,

“Very well, Kristal. Your apology is accepted ... for the moment. You have a great deal to learn and many new hurdles to overcome in the next days and months. Your new life and the roles you will play in it will not be easy for you. Discovering the security of your restraints, your leashing arrangements and your new quarters is but the first and easiest step. I shall inform you of the plans for your voyage as I deem necessary, but you will learn more later today.” She withdrew a light shiny chain from a capacious skirt pocket and approached me with it.

“Now! It is time for you to accompany me to the bathing area. Get off the bed and turn your back to me.”

I said nothing more and did as she commanded, and then felt her clip the end of this newest chain to the rear of my collar before releasing my wall leash. Holding it firmly in one hand, she quickly knelt and disconnected the other from between my ankles and once this had been done, grasped my new tether close to the back of my neck in her surprisingly strong, well-manicured fingers.

“Walk!” she commanded, snapping the chain harshly, frog-marching me along in front of her.

I was terribly humiliated to be treated like just a wild animal and sobbed pitifully while dancing along before her in chain snubbed steps, accompanied by the sound of it being snapped tight with every pace I had to take. I shuffled as quickly as I could manage to the corridor and we proceeded slowly along it to a locked door. She halted my progress with a sharp, commanding jerk on my leash, and I continued to stare straight ahead while she opened the door, already knowing better than to turn and face her with any sort of question. Unlike the others, this one did not close automatically. Frau Baxter again jerked firmly on my tether and drew me into the large, white-tiled chamber, then lessened her tension on it.