Haven Pt. 01

She couldn't hold her breath any longer. Her body began to convulse as the realisation hit her that, against all logic, she was going to laugh!

She closed her eyes in a vain attempt to zone out the maddening sensations but her lips began to curl up, which is when Sora grabbed her waist.

'PAA-HA-HA-HA!' Olivia laughed in surprise.

Sora's fingers probed into her oblique muscles and she growled through her laughter in a frustrated attempt to build her defences, but it was too late -- they had already been broken.

Sora stopped. 'I think she a category seven or eight, ma'am,' she said to Kisi. 'She does not need sensitisation treatment.'

'I agree, Miss Aoki,' said Kisi. 'You may continue.'

Olivia was angry at having been forced out of her stoical act. 'You can't do this! This is assault! Stop touching me!'

'Yes we can,' replied Kisi. 'If you like, I can show you the document you signed in order to be a L'île de la Paix resident. You agreed to be subject to the laws of the country, including the use of corporal punishment as seen fit by L'île de la Paix's lawmakers. From what I know about you, you are the definition of someone who will benefit from it.'

Olivia struggled for an argument that would be listened to. The digital display read just 00:07:24. Then she noticed she older woman in the observation room; her blank expression had been replaced with the tiniest of smirks. Indignant, Olivia snapped, 'How much longer do you intend to do this?'

'I told you, I do not answer your questions. Miss Aoki, you may continue.'

'Fuck that! I demand--!'

Olivia's rant was stopped in its tracks as Sora grabbed either side of her waist, causing her to tug forward and burst into peals of laughter.

CHAPTER 11

This time the touch was not short-lived. Sora massaged circles into Olivia's tummy muscles with her thumbs and edged unpredictably up, down, left, right and diagonally to keep Olivia at a consistent level of hilarity.

Very quickly, Olivia's eyes began to fill with tears of laughter. Sora darted behind the chair and, without pause, scrabbled her fingertips into the hollows of her armpits. The effect was electric -- she slammed back in the seat and her laugh reached a higher pitch.

Olivia couldn't believe what was happening to her. Of all the things that could be used to punish her, she would have never believed they would use this and she had no idea it would be so effective on her. A small, dissociated part of her brain seemed to levitate above the chair, looking down on her, enquiring why on earth she couldn't just stop laughing and retain some dignity?

"It's not as if they're burning you with branding irons! Just ignore it, for Christ's sake!" she thought.

But she couldn't even muster the jaw-clenched growl that she gave just minutes ago; her mouth was stretched wide open as laughter was forced from her with ludicrously simplistic strokes of the skin under her arms.

Then Sora took her by surprise by scurrying her fingernails up and down her sides and ribs. The surprise was joined by another bout of annoyance as the actions unearthed a new brand of unstoppable laughter: 'Oooh! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!'

Olivia was especially irritated by this because, while it was born out of an attempt to stop laughing, it gave the impression that she was somehow enjoying herself.

It was a battle between brain and body as the stone-cold and resolute Olivia of one hour ago bawled at the current iteration to pull herself together. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop her reactions.

'Do you know what's happening to you?'

Olivia's eyes popped open at the surprise of Sora's voice being so close to her ear because she hadn't noticed her move.

'Do you?' repeated Sora.

Olivia couldn't believe it -- were they taunting her now!? She struggled at the restraints in anger but the strength of her laughter was unchanged.

Sora slowed to give her the chance to speak.

'Get y-your f-f-fucking hands off me! Y'fuckin' lesbian bitch!' Olivia shouted, her face still distorted into a gaping wide smile.

Sora ignored the anger; at this stage it was par for the course. 'I don't think she has ever experienced this before,' she said to Kisi.

'It's possible,' replied Kisi.

'Is that correct?' Sora asked Olivia. 'Did you not know you were ticklish?'

'I'm-I... I'm not fffucking ticklish!' shouted Olivia.

Sora cocked her head skeptically and scampered her fingernails all over Olivia's tummy. Olivia screamed with startled surprise and felt a sheen of sweat sweep over her entire body.

'Yeah: you ticklish,' Sora confirmed.

Olivia drew a deep breath, almost gagging on her own tongue in the process. 'S-S-STOPPP!'

Sora slowed to ensure she wasn't about to induce a fit.

'Stop! Stop! For fuck sake! I need the dunnie!'

Sora and Kisi looked at one another in confusion. Olivia cursed herself for lapsing inexplicably into country lingo she hadn't used for over fourteen years.

'Toilet! I need a b-bloody restroom! Ha ha ha ha haaa!'

'No bathroom breaks -- you should have gone before.'

A glare of disbelief from Olivia was shattered as Sora jumped her fingers to the pincer grips just above her knees. Olivia squealed in high-pitched desperation at the unbearable sensations that shot through her body.

She thrashed her head from side-to-side in open-mouthed laughter. The tears streaming from her eyes caused her nose to run but she could do nothing about it; not even ask for a tissue.

Frozen in a permanent state of enforced hysteria, Olivia looked through the blur of tears to see the time: 00:54:01. She didn't want to look at the crowd of unsympathetic spectators behind the glass, although couldn't help but notice some new figures had joined them. She blinked away the tears enough to recognise Officers Williams and Martinez watching contently from the back of the room.

A wave of humiliation caused her to shiver and let out a one-off girlish "cooing" sound. Her muscles contracted and her bladder suddenly felt like an overfilled water balloon.

'STOP! STOP! P-PLEEEASE! I... I'm going to PEEEE! HA HA HA HA! STOP THAT ON MY KNEE-HEE-HEE-HEES! I CAN'T STAND IT! HA HA HA HA HA!' she hated that she was admitting this in full view of the guards who would be watching over her day in, day out for the next 199 days but she couldn't help it; it was like the begging was being forced from her in the same way as the horrible and irrepressible laughter.

The torture continued for hours. Olivia Jenson was compelled to laugh constantly. There were no breaks except for the occasional sip of water. The temptation to spit this back in Sora's face was strong but she did not want to make things worse for herself. At least she was proud that her 24-year-old bladder had proven itself to withstand anything she was exposed to but it was starting to throb.

However, amid the non-stop tickling of her knees, thighs, waist, belly and underarms, she been too preoccupied to recognise that Sora had not yet gone anywhere near her feet...

CHAPTER 12

The clock reached 03:30:00, prompting Kisi to announce: 'Thirty minutes until lunch.'

Sora stopped her current barrage of tickles on Olivia's ribs and stepped out from behind the chair to indicate she had heard this.

Olivia's head flopped onto her own shoulder. Sweat dripped from every pore of her body as snot and tears streamed from her chin and collected inside her cleavage.

During the last fifteen or so minutes Kisi had noticed the micro-expressions of exhaustion and distress on Olivia's face whenever there was even a brief cessation in the tickling.

'And now, these...' said Sora

Olivia opened her eyes to see Sora standing at her feet.

'No...' Olivia whimpered. The buzz of dread and anticipation returned to her feet with a vengeance and her toes curled tight at the thought.

Sora met Olivia's eye and wriggled her fingers on a slow journey towards her soles. Behind Sora, Olivia noticed some of the other trainees nudging one another in amusement at this taunting technique. She lifted her chin and refused to beg or let herself be humiliated any further.

'So, now do you see that you're ticklish...?' said Sora with a bedevilling tone that vexed Olivia beyond description and reinforced her determination to stand strong.

...but as soon as the first fingernail touched her sole, she knew she was done.

She wailed with panic and was powerless to escape or mask the effect this had on her. She could only watch and laugh like a maniac as Sora revelled with glee in tickling her bare soles with her lethally long fingernails. Seeing her own feet trapped in place and moving independently as they attempted to dodge the relentless tickling led her to a surreal concept that it was like watching someone torment two innocent pets behind a glass wall without being able to stop them. The difference, the disassociated part of her brain supposed, was that her feet were not separate entities; they were connected, and it was because they were connected that Sora tickling them was forcing Olivia to laugh harder and feel more powerless than she had ever experienced before.

'Fifteen minutes!' called Kisi as she watched with interest. As familiar as this was to her, she was still fascinated at how Olivia was making sounds of undiluted hilarity while her face displayed pure distress.

Sora stopped again and made her way to the back of the room.

Olivia's mouth was so dry, and her body quivering so much with alien sensations, that she couldn't even swallow. Sora opened one of the cupboard doors and returned with an unlabelled jar of translucent liquid and what looked like two handled, circular pads with tens of rounded rubber nubs of varying thickness on the bottom.

Olivia watched, baffled and terrified as to what would happen next. The unscrewed lid of the jar had an in-built thick paintbrush. Although she knew it was hopeless, Olivia's body again instinctively attempted to retreat as Sora applied the the bristles and smeared syrupy oil onto her soles. She screwed her face up in an attempt to resist, but the giggles came with little effort from Sora. And, when the tip of the brush began to flick and swirl in the crevasses under Olivia's toes, she was lost to a stream of snorts and all-out laughter.

The cacophony of undignified noises continued as Sora switched to paint the slippery lubricant all over Olivia's other foot and between her toes, and she could do nothing to stop it.

Sora screwed the lid back onto the jar and slipped the circular pads onto both hands.

'No...' Olivia panted, almost in tears, 'Whatever you're going to do, don't do it!'

'You still don't want to say the magic word, huh?' replied Sora.

'PLEASE!' Olivia fumed through gritted teeth.

Sora shook her head, 'Not that. Okay: two magic words!'

Olivia was flushed red with anger as she glowered at Sora. 'Fuck you!'

Kisi had heard enough. She stood and walked over to the chair. 'This is prison, not high school! You do not talk to us like that. If you do, there are consequences...' She took one of the pads from Sora and stood by Olivia's left side. With her right hand she began to tease at Olivia's armpit.

Olivia wriggled in the chair and her look of trepidation increased. There was something about the merest touch from this woman that indicated she was an expert at this; there was no searching for the most ticklish spot -- she just went straight to it.

Sora mirrored Kisi's action and Olivia melted into helpless titters.

'If you do not admit what Miss Aoki wants you to stay, we will be here for a long time,' said Kisi.

'Wh-what do y-you wwwant me to s-say!?' Olivia managed to ask.

'You told me you were not ticklish. That was a lie,' said Sora as she increased the speed of her fingernails on Olivia's sweat-covered underarm.

'PWAH-HA!' Olivia laughed. 'OKAY! I ADMIT IT! I ADMIT IT! I'M TICKLISH! HA HA HAAA!'

'Good,' said Kisi to Sora. 'That is the first step.'

Olivia looked to Kisi, dreading Step 2.

'Step two is to ensure you are suitably punished for your crimes...'

Olivia's eyes widened as Kisi and Sora continued to tickle her armpits and raised the rubber brushes up to the soles of her feet. The initial touch sent a shockwave through her entire body and now she understood the purpose of the lubricant. She tried to beg for mercy but fear stole her breath and anticipation of what was to come made her laugh before it even started.

...and then it did.

Kisi and Sora scrubbed the slippery soles of Olivia's bare feet with the pads. Although the action was harsh, the brushes were devised to be not too stiff and not to soft -- they adapted to the curves of her shapely feet and managed to tickle her twenty times more effectively than anything else so far, from her heels to the tips of her toes and everywhere in between

A long, near-silent wheeze was forced from Olivia's lungs. Her body was paralysed as she strained forward against her shackles, desperate to escape. She lost the ability to breath for an unnatural length of time, until biology took over and she gasped long and deep to prevent her from passing out. Kisi and Sora, relented a little to allow her to complete her in-breath before scrubbing hard and forcing an eruption of throat-wrenching laughter.

Olivia could do nothing except feel the tickling. She was humiliated to realise she'd been broken, and now regretted every step that had led her to this point. In this moment she wanted to do everything she could to make it stop--apologise, beg and plead for mercy and promise to do everything they wanted her to do to make amends--but she couldn't. Her body was betraying her and she had learned of her ultimate weakness.

'One minute left,' said Kisi with unbelievable tranquility.

As soon as she heard this, Olivia's stomach muscles began to tremble uncontrollably. At first she didn't know why but, amid the overwhelming tickling sensations, she remembered the discomfort in her bladder. She wanted to warn them; that she couldn't hold on any longer. Just one more tickle and she'd...

A torrent of water gushed from between Olivia Jenson's legs alongside a guttural groan of humiliation and regret. Kisi and Sora didn't stop tickling but slowed their actions as they momentarily attempted to avoid the splashes.

Without the subconscious effort to hold herself together, Olivia's body found some extra energy to laugh out loud as the acute tickling sensations in her soles became even more intense.

'Three... Two... And stop,' said Kisi. Both ticklers took a step back. 'Very good, Miss Aoki.'

Sora bowed in response.

They lowered the chair and released Olivia. The whole time Olivia was sobbing in between aftershocks of laughter. Her hair stuck to her face with sweat and her entire body was dripping.

'Next time, you clean this up, Jenson,' said Kisi. Then she beckoned in Williams and Martinez who made their way from the observation room.

The officers helped an exhausted Olivia from the chair. 'We'll get her showered,' said Williams. 'When do you want her back?'

'In an hour. It's Miss Bailey's turn this afternoon,' said Kisi.

Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing but had no time to protest as she was taken from the room.

EPILOGUE

Three officers stood guard as Ngaire Brown entered the visitors' room.

Olivia sat alone at a table in the corner. Ngaire walked over and took the seat opposite. She could tell that there was something different about her even before she spoke.

'How you doin', Olivia?'

Olivia nodded. 'I'm ready to come home now.' She had almost lost her voice.

'You know that's not possible.'

'Do you know what they do here? Do you know what A.A.T. is?!'

'I do.'

'Then why didn't you tell me before my trial?'

'Would it have made any difference?'

Olivia felt anger building inside. 'I will get out of here.'

'Olivia, you're here for two hundred days, minimum. The people here can choose to implement therapy for eight hours a day or less, depending on what they think you deserve. There's no breaking out, there's no parole. And, on the day of your assessment you will only get out if you say you're ready to abide by the laws and pass a polygraph test, which is 99% accurate. So, the only thing you *will* do is shape-up, or stay here.'

THE END