When Ann invited me to spend the summer with her and her siblings at her brother's house, I was overjoyed. I'd met her older brother David and her younger sister Susan before, and got along well with them both. And I'd heard tales about the house – a few years back, David had purchased an old house near the woods, about twenty minutes by car out of town.
My parents were going on a vacation soon, and I didn't want to go with them, but I also didn't like the idea of spending weeks alone. The freedom would be lovely, but I've always found empty houses a bit unsettling. So the joy must have been apparent on my face when I accepted Ann's offer.
Ann had just gotten her license, so she picked me up and drove me out to the house. She took the opportunity to once again remind me to behave while I was there – David might be lovely when he's in a good mood, but he could be quite strict if he had to. I rolled my eyes, but told her I'd behave. Please, what was the worst he could do?
We were soon at the house, and I discovered that it was even more beautiful than I'd imagined. My part of town was all concrete and block houses, and to see a quaint old wooden house against the woods was something else. I even spotted a large woodshed at the back of the house.
When I entered the house, I was greeted by David and Susan. Susan was young and perky, and had her long red hair tied back in a ponytail. David was tall and handsome, and his hair was getting long. He smiled as he shook my hand, and carried my suitcase to my room after telling Susan to show me around. After the guided tour, which was very short, David sat down with me and went over the rules of the place. I have to admit, I was only half listening. I was still giddy with the rustic charm of the place, and David had very dreamy eyes.
A few days later, I was walking in the woods near the house when I heard what sounded like angry lecturing. As I moved closer to the house, I saw David walking across the lawn, one hand firmly around Ann's wrist as he dragged her behind him. Ann looked incredibly scared as she went, and she promised him again and again that she would never smoke again. I stared wide-eyed as he dragged her into the woodshed.
I knew that Ann smoked, and I also knew that her brother was not happy about it. She'd told me once that if he ever caught her smoking at his house, he'd take her to the woodshed, but I'd assumed at the time that she meant it metaphorically. She was an adult, for crying out loud! He wasn't planning on spanking her at that age, was he?
A few seconds later, I heard the sound of leather whistling through the air, followed by a high-pitched squeal. I moved closer to the shed, listening as the sound of hard leather striking something soft was drowned out by squeals, sobs, and promises to be good. The door was open, and when I looked inside, I saw David standing there with his foot on a low stool and his sister over his knee. Her skirt had been raised and her knickers lowered, and she screamed as he lifted an old leather strap, swinging it hard at her bottom as if he was trying to break it. I think I must have gasped, because he suddenly stopped the strapping and looked at me.
"Hello, Jessica." There was little of his usual friendliness in his face right now. When she heard I was watching Ann squealed again and tried to stand up, but David easily held her down.
"What's going on?" I said. I wasn't entirely sure why I asked – I think I wanted confirmation that I wasn't experiencing some sort of hallucination.
"I caught this little brat smoking earlier, and I'm reminding her that it's not allowed," he said calmly. He tapped the strap lightly against her sore cheeks. "Are you going to smoke again, Ann?"
"No, sir, never, I'll be good," she babbled. I think that she would have said anything if it meant an end to her punishment.
"See?" he said to me. "It's already having an effect. A few minutes more, and I think the lesson will really sink in." A thought seemed to strike him, and he told me: "Ordinarily, I ask the girls to show each other some privacy – when one's getting a strapping, anyone who peeks will get the same punishment. But you're new, so I'll cut you some slack. Just pop along."
I think he expected me to feel relieved, but I felt a cold shiver running down my back and a tingle in my bottom. Did that mean that he expected me to submit to the same punishment as his sisters? But I was a guest! And far too old for that sort of thing. And I was going to tell him that, but later, when he wasn't holding a strap and showing every intention of using it.
I left, but Ann's haunting screams followed me as I made my way back to the house. Susan was sitting in the garden, smiling as she listened to her sister's punishment. "She's getting it good," she told me with a grin.
"Does this happen often?" I asked her.
"Not as often as it should," she told me. "I must have gotten two strappings for every one of hers, even though I'm such an angel," she told me. I almost laughed; there were many words that could describe Susan, but "Angel" was not on the list.
After what seemed like hours to me, and probably felt even longer to Ann, the two emerged from the shed. Ann was walking gingerly, still drying her tears, while David held his arm around her shoulders, whispering comforting words to her. I helped Ann to her room, where she pulled out a jar of cream, and I spent a few minutes rubbing some soothing lotion into her bruised bottom. Her bottom was fiery red, and I suspected that she wouldn't sit comfortably for days. I thought about my own backside ending up in such a state, and decided that, guest or not, I was going to try to behave while I stayed here.
The next day, I emerged from another one of my forest walks to the sound of strapping. The squeals that accompanied it were far more high-pitched, and I guessed that it was Susan's turn to visit the woodshed. When I got back to the house, Ann told me that Susan had used some foul language in front of her brother, and he was reminding her not to use those words. There was a glee in her voice, and I realized that she derived as much pleasure from her sister's punishments as her sister did from hers.
As I listened to the whistling of that awful strap, and to Susan's blood-curdling screams, I promised myself that whatever happened, I would not find myself in that woodshed.
Less than a day later, I found myself being dragged across the lawn by a very angry David.
The night before, Ann and I had decided to open a few beers. We were old enough to drink, but he'd warned us not to get drunk. Ann had retired, but I had told her I'd finish my beer before going to bed. With a few drinks behind me, I spotted David's liquor cabinet, and a golden bottle that looked quite tasty. The sounds of the strappings were still in the back of my mind, but the beer had pushed them way back, and that bottle looked delicious. I opened it and had a drink, followed by a few more, and I don't remember much more than that.
The next morning, I was woken up by an angry shout. As I made my way to the living room, I discovered what I'd left behind. What was left of the bottle was now spilled all over the floor. In addition, a few chairs had fallen over and probably damaged. I seemed to have made quite a mess of the room in my drunken state.
David looked at the three of us. "Who did this?"
Susan looked over at Ann, who looked back at her. After a second or two, they both turned towards me, staring wide-eyed. My pale complexion told them everything they needed to know. "Care to explain yourself?" David asked as he marched towards me. Ann stepped between us, telling him something about how I was a guest, and it was just a small mistake, but he gently pushed her aside. The look on his face told me that there was little I could say to make the situation better for me.
He turned towards his sisters. "Could the two of you please clean up a bit? I'm afraid I'm going to have to have a little talk with little Jessica." I hated it when someone called me 'little', but I had a feeling that this wasn't the time to voice those objections. The two nodded, and he turned towards me with a look on his face that made me take a step back, both hands protectively clasping my bottom. He stepped forward and grabbed my wrist, and with a hard smack to my backside, he told me to move.
Being dragged towards the woodshed felt almost surreal. Here I was, on the verge of adulthood, about to be dragged into a shed and spanked by my best friend's brother. I tried to tell him how sorry I was, but he replied: "You're going to be even sorrier in a few minutes."
He dragged me into the woodshed, where he finally let go of my wrist. I rubbed it gingerly, and for a brief moment, I pondered running away. I quickly decided against it – David looked like he could run much faster than I was, and trying to escape probably wouldn't lessen my punishment.
"You can't do this," I said, trying to sound authoritative. It didn't work.
"Give me one good reason why I can't," he replied as he picked up the strap hanging on the wall. It was a large, heavy, vicious-looking leather implement that looked like it stung like hell.
"I'm a guest here," I told him.
"When I invite you into my house, I expect you to behave yourself or suffer the consequences," he replied. "Are you proud of the way you have acted?"
I had to admit I wasn't. "But I'm really sorry," I told him. "I won't do it again!"
"I'm glad to hear it," he said. "And soon you'll have a burning bottom to remind you to keep your promise."
"But-" I started, but he cut me off.
"No. No more talk. If you can't act like an adult, you can at least take your punishment like a big girl." Like he had done with Ann, he placed his foot on the low stool and pulled me across his leg. My legs were off the ground, and once he wrapped his arm around my waist, there was nothing I could do to escape. He grabbed the hem of my skirt and raised it to my back, and for a moment, I thought he was going to leave my knickers in place. Considering my situation, it wasn't much, but it was at least something. But when he grabbed the waistband of my thin knickers, I began to protest. "Please, can't I keep them on?"
"Any proper spanking is delivered on the bare," he told me as he lowered them to my knees, depriving me of my last defence. And I heard him lift the strap.
I'd now heard the whistle of that awful thing during two long strappings. I'd seen the effect it had on Ann, and the aftermath of her punishment. I'd seen Susan enter the house, head low as she tried to rub the sting out of her tail. But none of that had prepared me for the terrible sting that suddenly burned into my bottom. I tried to wriggle my way free, but David held me in place. "Save your energy," he told me. "You have a long strapping ahead of you, so you might need it."
The hard leather of the strap bit into my bottom as he continued to lay it on me, and I grabbed hold of his leg. I was sobbing and pleading loudly, my backside felt like it was on fire, and I think I almost fainted as the strap painted my backside red. Again and again, there was that awful sound of the strap, followed by a pain too horrible to describe. I became vaguely aware of the fact that I was screaming my head off.
After what felt like a torturous eternity across his knee, with the pain of the strap the only thing I was aware of, he finally put it down. He helped me up, and I cried into his shirt as he gently rubbed my back, telling me that I had been very brave, and the punishment was over now.
After a while, he led me back to the house, where Ann applied some cooling lotion to my burning bottom. Once again, I swore to myself that I would never find myself in that shed again. And this time, I would make sure I kept my promise.
