April Rising

"I read her last diary entries." Marion explained. "That's what your argument was about the night you pushed her over the side of the yacht?"

"I did not push her. She left the party to return to our hotel room ashore. Then for some reason she stayed, she was drunk and leaned over the rail of the yacht."

"That's what you wanted us to believe."

"That is the truth. Whatever she wrote in her diary was pure fantasy anyway. Like you Marion, she had a very wild imagination."

"Wait!" April lifted her hand and interrupted them. "Can we come to some agreement here? Forget the past and the whole plan? Lets just call it quits."

"Is that what you want?" Marion asked laughing.

"Yes. The whole thing was crazy and besides I think this is getting out of hand."

"I agree." Franco replied.

"I don't. Have you forgiven Michaelangelo?"

"I was stupid." April replied. "I was over-reacting. Nobody was harmed."

"Ok, lets call it quits then. But I still need to do something."

Marion rang a small brass bell four times and Alfred returned. "Yes Madam?" He bowed and stood beside his mistress. The wide smile had reappeared once more on his face, which April had now become familiar with. There was something mischievous about Alfred in a way that he always took pleasure in being part of Marion's little games.

"Have you prepared the special room yet?"

"It is ready."

"Good. Then it is time for a little fun I think. Will you both follow me please?"

Franco looked at April with a look of anticipation. She shook her head in reply and they both followed their host and her servant out of the room. She led them down a set stairs leading to the basement and then into another room.

Inside the room was like a dungeon. There were shackles hanging from the cold grey stone walls, a cage large enough to fit two people and a stainless steel operating table fitted with stirrups at one end. Along one wall were lockers containing whips, chains and various other instruments of pain and pleasure.

"My God! I should have expected this." Franco murmered.

"Impressed?" Marion asked smiling.

"Should I be?"

It was nothing new to April. Infact, she was going to treat Franco to something similar and perhaps not as hostile or as cold as this. A place that her friends kept for private pleasure; slosh. But this was something more daunting, more outrageous. She had only watched others indulge in such acts before. Her proposed invitation to slosh was merely to experience some part of it with Franco and nothing more.

"Yvette loved this room. Are you surprised at that Franco?" Marion asked.

"Not really."

"When this house was built for us she had this room set up for her friends. Then of course she met you Franco." Her voice tended to echo off the walls as she spoke, walking around Franco as if weighing him up. "Then I learned about the things she did in here. The games. I soon realised that my sister was kind of strange in her sexual tastes. I thought I might even try them myself as I got older. Feel the kind of pleasure she enjoyed."

"And?" Franco asked.

"I enjoyed them." Marion sat on a stool and reached out for one of the shackles. She took the cuff in her hand and felt its cold metal between her fingers. "I learned to enjoy the pleasure one can get from pain and torture."

"Can someone please explain why we are here?" April asked.

"Of course. I am going to let you both share in that pleasure." Marion walked over to April and gently ran her hand through her hair. "Did I not promise you April that I would show you things? I think you are ready now. Surely you and Franco have had sex together?"

"Yes." April replied. Her eyes looked towards Franco as he stood watching Marion unfasten the silver buttons one by one on the shoulder strap of April's dress.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you ready."

Marion continued on the other strap until the front and back of the dress fell, exposing April's black lace bra. A gentle tug sent the dress falling to her ankles. Franco continued to watch as April stood in her underwear. Black thong and stockings held by a suspender belt that complimented the smoothness of her pink almost flawless skin.

"Did I ever tell you April, you make me so horny?" Marion asked. Her voice almost a whisper as she stared into April's blue eyes, now holding back a certain fear inside. April glanced at Franco, wondering if he was even going to stop this as Marion unclipped her bra at the front and let her firm breasts stand free. "Such wonderful breasts April. I love them." Marion took them in her hands gently and held them; running her thumbs delicately over each nipple and watching them get into their full erectness. April closed her eyes and felt Marion's cold hands. She had never been touched that way by another woman before and somehow it felt strange but pleasing. "I'm not going to harm you. Just play with you."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I promised. Don't you remember?"

Marion turned to look at Franco and laughed at him. "Look at him? He loves to watch. I bet his cock is standing hard right now, wanting to be relieved. Did you know that Franco loved to watch and at the same time as being sucked?"

"Stop this." Franco replied.

"Why should I?"

"April, tell me now that you want this to go further?" he asked.

"And if I said no?" April replied. "What will you do to stop it happening?"

6.

April faced the blank grey wall. The metal cuff of the shackle snapped closed onto her wrist and Franco stepped back, running his hand over her naked buttocks.

"I promise I will be gentle," he told her. She trusted him, but at the same time could not believe how far he was going with this.

As he turned; Marion pointed a small handgun close between his eyes. "Stop! Now it's your turn Franco. Strip naked."

"I don't think there is need for that gun."

"Well, it kind of makes me feel better." Marion replied pulling back the trigger.

"You don't trust me do you Marion? You must hate me really bad."

"I don't hate you. I just like playing with you," she smiled.

Franco began to remove his clothes slowly as Marion sat on a stool watching. He could see that she was not used to using a gun by the way she held it. Although it was small and lightweight, it looked heavy in her hand. She watched him strip, taking pleasure from it. April tried to look back, her arms suspended limp from the shackles. "I don't mind playing your games Marion, but this is crazy," she remarked.

"Not really. You are not used to domination that's all."

"A gun? That isn't domination. That is insanity."

"Lets just call it a new toy. More fear, makes the game more interesting don't you think?"

Franco stood naked as Marion stood and walked up close to him. She pointed the gun at his chest and then slid it downwards over his navel and then at the top of his manhood, limp and yet threatening. "I can see now why Yvette liked you," she told him. "Very nice."

"I am so glad you like it." Franco grinned. He was scared deep within, but hid it, not showing that Marion was totally in control. But she knew about fear and how men try so hard to be brave under such pressure. To her it was part of the game.

"See that whip in the cabinet over there?" Franco looked and saw a red leather whip hanging by its handle from a hook in the open cabinet. It had many tails that trailed from it almost a metre long. "Get it out."

He walked over to the cabinet and took it out, running the tails between his fingers and then realised what the significance was. "Feels good don't it Franco?" Marion asked.

"Yes it does."

"Yvette loved it didn't she?"

"She wanted it. She begged me to do it."

"No. She begged you to stop, but you didn't stop that particular night did you? Instead you kept on thrashing her and thrashing her until her back began to bleed. Took it beyond the limits."

"That isn't true Marion," he replied, turning to her and noticing the angst in her eyes. "She wanted more and more. She forced me to do it. Said that she would leave me if I didn't. I loved her so much I could not bear for that to happen. So I carried on until she fainted."

"That isn't what the last entry said."

"I told you. She wrote nothing but fantasies in her diary."

"Then what did you two argue about?" Marion stood close to him, demanding.

"It wasn't about that. It was about her new ideas which I could not accept."

"Tell me?"

"She wanted to share herself with another man apart from me. There was no way I was sharing her with someone else."

"Go on..."

Franco began to tell his story; "We got to the party on the yacht and we began to mingle with the other guests. The dress she wore hid those appalling welts on her back, but there was a hint of blood seeping through the material still. I told her that the party was a bad idea and that we should go back to the hotel. She disagreed and began to talk to this man who we had met at the festival a few days before. I watched them both. They found a quiet spot away from the crowd and he was touching her intimately. He noticed the faint dark patches of blood through the material and he obviously asked her about it. They saw me watching and both of them smiled, whispering. I knew what they were talking about."

April listened. And she also knew now what Marion had planned for her and Franco in that dungeon. Franco continued;

"Gradually as the night went on Yvette got drunk. The man was all over her. Then she came back to me and told me that she had invited him back to our hotel later for more fun. This time she wanted something more than just pain. She wanted us both to fuck her."

Marion looked at him. His face was sad because of the memories. "And you obviously told her no?"

"Yes. I told her that the idea was crazy and she said she was leaving. I knew that if she left on her own then I could watch this man. Make sure he did not follow her atleast."

"Then when she left..?"

"Nobody knew she was still there, walking around the deck waiting for her cab. That's when it happened and nobody knew until I returned to the hotel and found our room empty. I thought she had found someone else, so I did not think about it any further. Then in the morning..."

"I still don't believe you."

Franco took a deep breath and looked at her. "I didn't expect you would."

"So, its time for you to re-live that night. The moments in the hotel room before the party." Marion turned to look at April. "There she is. The woman you love so much to hurt and torture."

"No! April is different."

"Really? That is even better still. I can enjoy watching you punish her."

April began to struggle against the shackles, but the cuffs were locked around her wrists. "You can't make him do this Marion!" she shouted. "Please don't make him do this, please." Her cries sounded out echoing with desperation around the walls of the dungeon.

"I'm not going to do it." Franco replied.

Marion looked at him and then pointed the gun up to his face. "Yes you are. It's for both of you. It's for your lives."

"You intend to kill us both if I refuse?"

"No problem."

"And how far do you want me to go Marion?"

"All the way."

Franco walked up to the wall were April was restrained. He could hear her crying, filled with fear of pain that she anticipated and the horror that it was Franco that was going to administer it. Then she realised within herself that maybe she deserved it for plotting to kill him and Michaelangelo, and then her crying stopped.

"I love you Franco," she murmered, her face against the wall, marking it with her tears. "But I will forgive you."

"I can never hurt you intentionally April. You do understand that?"

"Yes. But perhaps I deserve it. That is why I will forgive you."

"No. You don't deserve it." His fingers traced the line of her backbone. "This is not my doing and I am weak." He turned and looked at Marion, sitting and still pointing the gun at him with a grin on her face. "Weak because I am forced to do it."

He stood back, halfway between Marion and April with the whip poised in his hand. He then stood to the side and felt its weight, estimating the swing he would need to make the first lash. He looked ahead towards the door and raised it slowly.

"I see you are already an expert. Very good, this could be fun." Marion commented. There was a look of concentration on his face and he looked from the corner of his eyes at Marion. The whip flew side-ways. Not against April, but towards Marion. The tails instantly wrapping themselves around her neck in a coiling grip, taking her by surprise. The handgun fell to the floor and he picked it up as Marion fell back from the stool.

"Bastard!" Marion gasped. The tails of the whip had coiled so tight that it almost restricted her breathing. Franco stood and looked down holding the gun to her.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"Fuck you!" she replied, unravelling the tails. They left red marks around her neck, sore yet not a sign of broken skin. She sat up and threw the whip away from her.

"No Marion. Maybe it is I who should fuck you now. The door is closed and nobody can hear a thing outside or above us."

"Franco! Please don't!" April cried out.

"You will never get out alive." Marion warned. "Do what you will, but it will be your last. Both of you."

He stepped back towards April and unlocked one of the cuffs to free her so that she could free the other by herself. "Do me a favour." April rubbed her wrists and looked at him. "Go upstairs and ask Alfred to join us."

"No. Why should I?"

"We need him to get out of here."

"You're not going to harm him are you?"

"I will try not to."

April ran to the door and opened it. She was totally naked, but it did not matter now. She ran up the stairs and found the drawing room door open "Alfred!" she called. He was waiting. A gun in his hand pointing to her and that distinctive grin across his face. She noticed the TV and the vision of the dungeon displayed upon it. Alfred had been watching the whole thing in the comfort of an easy chair.

7.

Alfred placed the gun on the low table and gazed at April standing before him. "Don't worry Miss April, it isn't loaded," he said. His eyes scanned every inch of her naked body in admiration.

"You were watching us?"

"Yes. And recording. The mistress likes to record everything. There are hidden cameras everywhere in this house."

"You have to help us get out of here."

"Sorry Miss April, but you will be the only one leaving."

"What do you mean?"

Alfred smiled and his eyes settled on someone behind her. She turned, but only to feel a sharp pain in her buttock that seemed to burn like fire and the face of one of the bodyguards looking back with his penetrating blue eyes. "What..."

"Pleasant dreams Miss April...pleasant dreams." Alfred's voice seemed to echo around the room, around her head as the face of the bodyguard became contorted in her vision. A calm feeling came over her and suddenly everything around her seemed to melt away in a grey mist and a peaceful silence.

The limousine slowly made its way down the back alleyway. The dark of the night forced the driver to illuminate the way through using the headlights full on and then it stopped. Two burly figures emerged from the back carrying the limp body between them and then swung it gently into a pile of plastic garbage bags. The body sank into them, almost disappearing as the bags closed in around it under the weight. The figures stood back for a while and just as silently as they had arrived they returned to the car.

The dawn spread its light across the city. The garbage collector walked along the alleyway checking on the loads that needed to be moved to the waiting vehicle on the street. He came upon the garbage bags and kicked them, checking their weight and then a slender arm fell limp towards him. "Holy Shit!" he exclaimed. Looking closer he discovered the arm belonged to a woman. She wore a coat and her long brown hair covered most of her face. With his heavy gloved hand he swept the hair away and looked at her. "Ay guys! I got a stiff!" he shouted.

April opened her eyes. The pale green of the ceiling was the first thing she saw as it came into focus, followed by the sound of a constant beeping that resembled a heartbeat. She felt herself lying still on a mattress and there was no pain as her feelings came together, but there was an inner feeling of fear and unknowing which began to emerge as the rest of her senses began to awaken.

"Where am I? Somebody help me."

"Its alright." The voice of another person came to her and then she saw the face of someone looking down at her with a smile. The familiar shape of the white nurses cap gave her some assurance. "Stay calm honey, everything is just fine."

"Where am I?"

"Your safe. Try to stay calm, everything is just fine." The nurse brushed her fingers over April's face. "You are in the City Hospital and everything will be ok."

"Franco? Where is Franco?"

"I'll send for the doctor. Please stay calm."

April lay in the hospital bed looking up at the doctor. His mature yet handsome looks made her feel safe atleast as his stethoscope touched her chest. The nurse stood behind him sending her a reassuring smile, telling her that everything was safe and in order. He looked at her firm breasts and erect nipples as he sat back, slowly closing the gown over them. "You'll be fine miss. Everything appears to be normal."

"But I still can't remember how I got here," she told him.

"All that will come back to you in time. All you need to do now is rest."

"I remember one person, that's all. I don't even know my own name."

"That person would be Franco?"

"Yes. But I don't know exactly who he is. All I can see in my mind is his face and his name, but nothing else."

"Like I said..." he gently put his hand on hers, "...all of that will come back to you. Just rest for now and give it time." The doctor smiled at her and stood up. His tall frame towered over her and even that of the petite nurse who stood beside him. "We checked for other things which might have happened to you. Atleast it seems that you were not sexually assaulted, which must be a relief to you."

"Yes. But remembering how I got here in the first place would help."

"Well, I think I might be able to throw some light on that," he continued. "Although you were almost naked when you were found in the back alley, the coat you wore was a very expensive designer label. A name was sewn inside."

"My name?"

"I don't recall who April Rising is supposed to look like myself, but that was the name inside the coat. A supermodel I believe?"

The mention of the name April gave her a feeling of warmth deep inside. Although it was her own name, her memory failed to identify it exactly, even though the sound of it seemed to trigger something in her deeper conscience.

"You have a visitor Miss," the nurse explained. "Police Inspector James Walsh. But I suggest you only speak to him if you feel well enough."

"Exactly," the doctor replied. "You need to rest. They can talk to you later."

"No." April eased herself up to a sitting position. "I want to see him now."

"Sure. But ask him to leave if it gets too stressful for you, ok?"

"Don't worry, I will."

The medicos left and for a brief moment April began to see images rushing through her mind. They were arousing to her as she saw Franco's face looking at her as he pushed himself into her sex. She could feel him as if it was so real. Then the images faded again just as quickly as they arrived as the door to her room opened.

"Oh my! I don't believe this," the short middle-aged man said as he stood looking at her. "I'm Jimmy Walsh." He held up his badge confirming who he was, although too far away for her to see it clearly. "You are Miss Rising. I knew it."