Part 2 (2/2)

”Y-yes s-sir.” she quavered from the floor. Her small gloved hands making a warding off gesture.

This girl was going to have bruises from this. d.a.m.n good bruises too. Especially where he kicked her. The face slaps would be just high colour for a while, but those kicks were vicious on an unprotected body. I wasn't quite sure what was going on here, but I had a d.a.m.n good idea. On the other hand it could be really realistic role playing. But I doubted it. The only question was, whether to take them in real time with the gun, or slow Mayer down and find out what was happening with the girl only. She might talk to me if she saw Mayer was out of the way.

I opted to talk to the girl alone first. Mayer turned around and began to walk back towards the closet. Probably intending to change out of the soiled suit and return to ”normal” life. We'd see about that routine today. His life was about to become decidedly UNnormal. No matter what the girl said.

As he turned around and began to walk back towards the closet, I isolated his body s.p.a.ce from the continuum around it and restricted the time flow to about a pace of a thousandth normal. He'd actually almost be in sync with Gertrude's time phase. Until I released him.

I took a deep breath and exited the closet.

Chapter 68.

The girl was still lying on the carpet quietly weeping. Her head covered in b.l.o.o.d.y caesar and c.u.m cradled in her arms. She sobbed, not realizing that the world had changed for her again. I could see her whole body shaking with her distress.

My running shoes were soundless on the carpet. I was right beside her p.r.o.ne figure before she realized that someone was there. She didn't even look up.

”Please no more,” she moaned.

I gently touched her shoulder. She raised her head and looked up at me. She screamed and scrabbled away across the carpet sideways like a crab. Fear radiant on her face. She moved away until she backed into a wall. She drew up her nyloned knees, hugged herself and just watched me out of fearful eyes.

”Wh-who are you? H-he didn't give me to someone else again. Did he? Please don't hurt me? I have to clean up the carpet first. Please.” Her breathing was really ragged. I wasn't surprised.

”I'm not going to hurt you.”

”Wh-Who are you, then?” Her eyes darted to the frozen Mayer. ”Wh-What happened? Wh-Why i-isn't he moving? Please.”

”Is Sheila your name? Your real name?” It could have been a play name for all I knew. Though I was pretty sure that Gertrude had hollered for Sheila as I took her. At the time, I thought it was the cook.

She nodded.

”Sheila. I want you to calm down. Okay? I promise I won't hurt you.” The frightened girl just nodded. ”I just want to talk to you for a minute. Okay?” She nodded again. ”You'll talk to me? I'll stay over here if you like.” Again she nodded.

”Do you mind if I sit over here?” I indicated the chair that Mayer had tortured her from. She shook her head and then looked down at herself and realized that her panties were still around her knees and her right breast was poking out from the flimsy uniform that she had on. She swallowed and used her gloved hands to pull back on her panties, returning them to her hips. Watching me out of the corner of her eye, she carefully and slowly tucked her breast back into the bodice of the uniform. Tears were still coursing down her dirty face. I recalled the beauty that was hiding under all that clamato and tears.

”Wh-who are you?” she finally asked me.

”I really don't know anymore.”

She accepted that. ”What have you done with him? How'd you get in here? Did he let you in?” She had indicated the semi-frozen Mayer with a quick jerk of her head. She had tucked herself back up into a ball against the wall. She was deeply afraid. I suspect of Mayer, but also of me. She thought that I was a friend of the judge.

”Sheila. I just stumbled in here. I swear it.”

”But he keeps it locked when he's *playing' or *working'. I don't understand.”

”Sheila. I'm not sure you can understand. But *I* froze him. The whole world is frozen except us.” I stretched the truth a bit. Sheila would meet the rest of the girls eventually, but not now. Not until she was calmer.

She just shook her head.

”Sheila. Will you come over here? I won't hurt you.”

She again shook her head. I could have forced her, but I was suspecting that she was in a very fragile state of mind at the moment. Frightened badly and in pain. I'm not sure I'd be overly cooperative after I'd been beaten senseless and raped either. I decided to find out what the h.e.l.l was going on before I began to a.s.sert myself.

”Okay. That's fine. Will you talk to me?”

”I guess,” she mumbled.

”What is going on here? I saw that little display out here from the closet. He was knocking you around a lot.”

She glanced at the frozen Mayer and pressed her lips together. Her eyes began to brim with tears again. She hugged her knees and rocked herself.

”Sheila. Listen to me. Are you here willingly? Do you enjoy this treatment?” I had to know whether I was dealing with consentual, albeit really rough, s.e.x or abuse and rape here. I would have put money on abuse and rape.

Sheila slowly looked up at me. Her eyes blazing. ”You think that I like being treating this way?” Anger was beginning to creep into her voice. ”You think I like being kicked around?”

”Sheila. Please. Calm down. I don't think anything. Honestly. You have to understand I just watched some bizarre stuff, and I know some people like abuse. B&D. S&M. That sort of thing. I just want to know if that was the case here. It matters on how I'm going to treat this guy when I unfreeze him.”

”You're going to unfreeze him?”

”Eventually. But he can't hear us now. And I won't be telling him anything that we talk about. I swear it.”

”Oh G.o.d. Please don't unfreeze him. Are you a cop?” Hopeful.

I shook my head. Her face registered confusion. ”He can't hear us?”

”No.”

”Oh G.o.d. No. I hate him. I'm not here because I like it. I swear it.”

”Then what the h.e.l.l is going on?”

”You'll help me?”

”Sheila. This is a very weird situation. I'm not sure what your definition of help is. But you have to tell me what is going on. Will you let me show you something?”

”What?” Suspicious.

I got up out of the chair and walked to the window. I opened the curtains and Sheila squinted in the sudden brightness. I walked away from the window and sat back down. A safe distance away.

”Go to the window. Look out.”

Sheila glanced at Mayer. Still frozen. Glanced at me. I was doing my best to be non-threatening. She slowly got to her feet. Wincing. Probably at the pain in her side. She kicked off her remaining shoe and padded in her stockings to the window. She looked out.

”What am I supposed to see?”

I could see some of the tree tops from the chair if I twisted around a bit.

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