Aired Out Pt. 02

It was still nighttime when Jessica woke. The first thing she noticed was the feel of wet grass across her neck and chin. She tried standing up but quickly realized her wrists and ankles were hog-tied behind her back.

"What the fuck..."

"Oh, hey there!" called a voice from afar. Jessica tried to see who spoke, but the tightly tied rope prevented her turning around. She could hear the sounds of a ball being kicked, as well as several female voices talking amongst themselves. The woman who called out knelt beside Jessica and rolled her onto her back. She immediately recognized the female as the stranger who asked about Loading Dock C.

"Sorry," she apologized. "You couldn't see anything lying there like that."

Jessica surveyed the environment. She quickly identified her surroundings to be a soccer field. Her body was positioned on a sideline in front of a bench. There were ten females practicing on the field, each wearing identical uniforms.

"What is this???" Jessica yelled.

"Practice," the woman replied.

"Let me go!" she screamed.

"Yell all you want," the woman smirked. "Nobody will hear you."

Jessica took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"What the hell do you want?"

"Just a fair shake. We hear you on the air, week after week, talking shit about soccer not being a sport. That hurts. I mean, we're fans of your show and everything, but that really hurts. You have any idea how many years we've dedicated to this sport? The blood? The sweat? The tears? I mean, to hear you talk about our passion with such vitriol...it doesn't sit well with any of us."

"Okay," Jessica pleaded. "I'm sorry. Sincerely and truly."

"Well now you are," the woman countered. "But that's just because we have you all tied up."

"No, I actually am sorry. I didn't realize it meant so much to you. Anything you care about that much has to be more nuanced than I originally thought."

"Well that's nice of you to say," she smiled.

Jessica began to negotiate.

"Tomorrow's show will be all about the intricacies of soccer and how deeply I underestimated the skill, athleticism, and discipline it requires."

"Well, that's awesome!"

The woman yelled across the field to her teammates. "Hey guys, did you hear that? Jessica's entire show tomorrow is going to focus on specifically soccer and how she underestimated what it takes to play the game!"

The women on the field clapped while congratulating one another.

"So we're good?" Jessica asked. "You'll let me go?"

"Well of course we're going to let you go. Did you think we were going to keep you here forever? We aren't monsters."

Jessica's eyes widened with optimism.

"No disrespect intended. So can you untie me? I need to get back to the office so I can start preparing for tomorrow's show."

"Totally. We'll let you go soon. We just have to make sure you fully understand our sport. If you leave here without the proper insights, nobody is going to believe your change of heart."

"Sure!" she complied. "Whatever it takes."

"Great!"

The woman looked over to her teammates. "Guys, take a lap! I'll get Jessica ready."

The women broke into a jog as Jessica tried to piece together what was happening.

"Get me ready for what?"

"To learn about the nuances of our game!"

The woman wrangled Jessica's body so she lay perfectly parallel to the bench.

Her hands and feet remained bound between the moist grass and her back. The woman took a seat on the bench, placing her cleated feet right beside Jessica's head. She then bent forward, untied her laces, and removed her shoes.

"Whewwww," she scrunched her nose while waving a hand in front of her face. "That is one hell of a nuance, if I say so myself."

"Okay..." Jessica replied, afraid and confused.

"Okay, indeed. Now let the learning begin!"

The women removed her sweaty socks and draped them across Jessica's mouth and nose.

"Phhhhphhphewww!!!" Jessica jerked back and forth, displacing the foul smelling socks from her face. "What the hell is wrong with you???" she yelled.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" the woman retorted. "I told you we're going to teach you a lesson about our game. Then you spit in our face?"

"Just let me go!!!" Jessica yelled, rocking side-to-side.

Jessica's sideward thrusts generated enough momentum to send her rolling toward the center of the field.

"And where do you think you're going?" the woman questioned her hogtied captive.

Jessica rolled with all her might, tumbling faster and faster.

"Girls???" the woman yelled to her teammates.

All ten females sprinted toward Jessica, each grabbing part of her body and carrying her back toward the bench.

"You say you want to learn, and then you try to escape. Some people just don't know how to communicate. Now..." the woman nodded to her teammates, instructed them to lower Jessica's body in front of the bench.

"Alright..." the woman studied. "I guess we need to keep you from moving."

She placed her left bare foot on Jessica's forehead and her right bare foot on Jessica's throat. "Now don't try to escape again, or I might just have to crush your windpipe. Okay?"

Jessica stared at the women with intense rage.

"Okay, ladies. Socks off!"

Each teammate took a seat on the bench and started removing their shoes and socks. Once barefoot, they passed their socks down toward their captain.

"Perfect. Okay, Jessica. Here we go, yet again."

The woman placed a pair of her teammate's steaming socks over Jessica's nose and mouth. Jessica tried to remain still, but the acrid stench was too strong. After a few seconds, she coughed and wriggled her head. Both socks fell to the grass.

"You're really making this more difficult than it needs to be, Jessica. Okay, girls. Looks like we're going to need a little help"

The woman nodded toward a girl at the end of the bench who fished a roll of medical tape out of her gym bag before passing it down the line.

"Brilliant," she smiled. "This should make life a whole lot easier."

The woman grabbed another pair of sweat-soaked socks and placed them across Jessica's mouth and nose. She then ripped two long strips of tape from the roll and wrapped them around Jessica's face, securing both socks in place. Jessica held her breath as long as she could but eventually had to give in. She took a seemingly bottomless breath from her mouth, inhaling every salty note of sweat from the socks taped across her face. Jessica started feeling dizzy. After several more breaths, she began hyperventilating. Involuntarily, her body tried rolling away.

"Nuh-uh-uh," the woman replied, waving her index finger side to side. "Girls?"

On cue, each member of the team pressed their soles against Jessica's body, preventing her from rolling away from the bench.

"Very good, girls," their captain commended. "Okay, on to the next pair."

The woman removed the second pair of socks from Jessica's face and replaced them with a third.

"Hmmmmmmmnnnnnn!!!!" Jessica writhed, unable to free herself from the pungent musk.

The more she resisted, the harder the teammates pressed their soles against her body.

"You're not going anywhere, Jessica. Not until you fully understand how hard us soccer players work out there."

The woman removed the third pair of socks and replaced them with a fourth.

"There you go. Deep breaths in, deep breaths out..."

Jessica tried to separate, but her efforts were futile--the pressure from all twenty feet preventing from moving an inch. The captain taped new socks to Jessica's face whenever she felt her captive had huffed the current pair dry. She fought with all her might through pairs five and six but had completely exhausted herself by the time she encountered pair number seven.

"Mmmhhhhnnnnn..." she whimpered through the socks, slowly breathing in and out.

"See girls, I think she's starting to understand!"

The teammates murmured in agreement while keeping Jessica in place.

"Very good," she praised. "Very good..."

The woman secured pair eight, then nine, then ten. Jessica felt drunk. Her eyes crossed back and forth as her body begged for fresh air.

"Wow, Jessica. You made it through!" she announced, removing the final pair of socks from her face. "Incredible. I now feel confident you are more than qualified enough to properly speak about our sport."

Jessica inhaled a monstrous breath of clean air as soon as the final pair of socks were removed.

"I can..." Jessica wheezed. "...I can go now...?"

"No reason to keep you," she smiled. "We need you back at work telling the world about the massive mistake you made."

"Yes, yes, exactly," Jessica woozily replied.

"Ok then," the woman smiled.

"So...you'll untie me?"

"Yup. In just a second. We'll drop you off at your car, but we can't have you knowing exactly where we brought you. This isolated location is best kept secret!"

"I won't tell anyone anything. I swear! All I want to do is tell the world how wrong I was about soccer. That's it!"

"And we completely believe you. We just prefer to be safe instead of sorry, you know?" The woman reached beneath the bench and grabbed a dark glass bottle.

Jessica started to panic. "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry," she said, unscrewing the cap. "Like I said, we're going to drop you off at your car and everything will be just fine." The woman placed one of her socks against the top of the open bottle and repeatedly turned it up and down until the sock dripped with liquid.

"No!" yelled Jessica. "Nnnnnnnnnnnyyy--"

The woman pressed the chloroform-soaked sock against Jessica's face using her right foot.

"Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!" Jessica strained without success.

"Like I said, there's nothing to worry about. Not as long as your next show goes to our liking."

"MMMHHHHNNNNN!" Jessica screamed.

The captain noticed Jessica was holding her breath.

"Girls?"

The teammates with their feet pressed against Jessica's torso raised their knees and slammed their soles into Jessica's diaphragm. The blows knocked all the air out of Jessica's lungs, forcing her to inhale deep, heavy breaths from the heavily medicated sock. Just like in the parking lot, Jessica could feel her body hum with a tingling sensation.

"HNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!" she wailed, knowingly inhaling the chloroform against her will.

"There you go," the woman whispered, using the pad of her sole foot to gently caress Jessica's forehead. "Just in and out..."

"HNNNNGGGGG...HNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!"

"I know," the woman replied. "Quite the fighter. I mean, seven-time Golden Gloves champion. We didn't expect you to go down easy. We thought this was the most...gentle way of getting our point across."

"NNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!!!"

"I know. Must be an uncomfortable feeling so helpless. So...dominated. "But it's nothing to be ashamed of. We've been planning this for a while. And once we tracked down that bottle of chloroform, we new you didn't stand a chance, no matter how tough you are."

"...hhhhhhhnnnnggggg!"

"See? There you go. Already starting to fade. Like I said, nothing to be ashamed up."

"hnnnnnnggggg...hnnnnnnnnnnnnggg..."

"Mmmmmhmm -- that's it," the woman smiled, softly gliding her sole across Jessica's hairline. "Just relax. Breath it in."

"mmmmmmmmmmpppphhhhhh..."

"Exactly. It feels so good. Just breathing in and out. Feeling so light. Not a care in the world. In and out..."

"..hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggg..." Jessica released an extended moan as eyes began to cross.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...just in, and out..."

"hnnnnnn...hnnnnnnn...hnnnnnnnn"

Jessica's erratic breaths slowly turned rhythmic.

"In, and out...and in, and out..."

Jessica's breathing began to mirror the cadence of the woman's voice.

"...and in...and out...and in..."

The darkness hugged Jessica with a serene warmth. Once again, nothing made sense. Only that the darkness felt good. Jessica's eyes wandered upward before turning unresponsive.

"..hnnnggggggggggg...hhhhhhnnnngggggggggg...hhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg..."

Jessica's rhythmic breaths morphed into bellowing snores.

"That's a good little girl," the woman smiled, continuing to graze her milky sole up and down, and up and down. "Just in and out...and in and out...and in and out...and in."

The End...?