Originally written for Henry Higgins
Content warnings for this story (click here for guide):
Julia was not her name. That was his name for her, and even if she answered to it, she would not adopt it completely. But waiting here in the echoing house, a breeze from the window blowing her naked skin, she felt something of the name begin to work itself loose. It was as though his strong fingers were in her mind, teasing her away from her old life.
Concentrate, she told herself. You can keep this one little part safe. Whatever else the Master took from her, she could not let herself become Julia.
How had she come here? This precious knowledge, along with fine details of her life before being an owned girl, was fading like the last scene in a film. Even if she could make it through and out the other side, it was not clear where she would go, or who she would be by then. A very different girl to the one who first arrived.
She had been returned to sender once again. The first time, she had run away from her new owner’s cane and strap. The owner had bent her over an elaborate golden mechanism which had obviously cost the earth. He had been a cruel, sneering man and she loathed him. In some ways, his oily, smug little face was worse than the thrashing.
She never thought of them as owners. More as clients. And sometimes worse, but on neutral days, clients. Nobody had been sent back as quickly as she had in the history of the organisation. That was a microscopic badge of pride.
She was found the next day, trying to hitch a lift on the main road. The Master had issued a correction in kind, leaving her crying in bed, watching the marks on her bottom change from red to amber to royal purple as the days went on. Once she had healed, they sold her to a new owner.
This time, it was much more more serious than running away. Much more. She was dreading the penalty for the crime she had committed.
The car turned a sharp bend. The bounty hunters who had brought her here had laughed as they snipped away her dress, examining her panties and commenting on them, as they exposed her breasts and pussy. They stroked and lightly slapped her on the bare, as if she were a wilful pony. She had bitten one of them and kicked the other in the shins, which earned her a real spanking, her hair pulled tightly in her punisher’s fist. She rode the rest of the journey naked and stinging.
As they drew up to the Master’s house, the couriers exchanged an amused look and she felt her heart beating double time. Then one opened the door, doing a mock-bow and laughing as she tried to cover herself.
At first she had resisted, but the couriers quickly scooped her from her seat and pinned against the window. There, they fastened and locked her into a metal collar.
“He’ll like you like this,” whispered one in her ear. “Nicely dressed up for retraining.”
To humiliate her further, the two men clipped a chain lead to the collar’s iron ring and yanked on it as they strode ahead. Julia stumbled and yelped as her bare feet hit the gravel, powerless to resist the pull.
At the door, the tall man told her to get down on the ground. It was cold and Julia was furious. She spat at him. Without a beat, he took a handful of her hair and twisted it in his fist until she cried out, her eyes watering. Her body crumpled onto all fours, where she remained as they rang the bell.
As the door chimes faded, Julia heard footsteps coming downstairs. The tall man continued to grip her hair, while the other held her lead taut.
She bit her lip as the latch lifted and the Master appeared. He looked first at the two men, then down at the naked, shivering girl.
“Very nice,” said the Master, cupping her chin in his hand before letting her twist angrily away. “Very nice indeed.” He took the lead, jingling it playfully.
He handed a wad of notes to the two men, who nodded their thanks and left. Even with her hair released and her relieved scalp tingling, Julia did not look up. Her cheeks burned at the sound of the Master’s voice, and his obvious amusement at her plight.
Two sharp claps rang out.
“Come on, Julia. Up you get and inside you go. We have some serious issues to address. Some special retraining to do.”
Julia rose to her feet and the Master paused to admire her leather collar before leading her inside. In the distance, the bounty hunters’ car crunched across the gravel and roared off into the night.