Haven Pt. 02 - The Seven Levels

Yvette looked at Allegra's feet and felt completely impotent. They were bare. They were locked in place. They were large and smooth, with elegant long toes. But now the concept of tickling them to the point of obtaining information felt utterly abstract. She didn't know where to start. If Yvette's suspicions about Allegra's past were correct, even if she hadn't been captured and interrogated before, she was probably still more familiar with the concept than herself.

She took a moment to consider.

History had taught her that were two ways to go about facing a challenge -- relying on ones own experience or blagging and hoping for the best. Whilst hope and luck paid off now and then, experience was always preferable. She had occasionally tickled friends and family members, but not for any length of time. The times when it had gone on for longer were the times she tickled her lovers. She remembered one time when she had tickled a gym-fit boyfriend's tummy and was inspired to keep doing so because he had such a cute reaction to it. She recalled the particular feeling of his muscles under her fingertips and suspected this would work well on Allegra -- she looked like a fit woman who would have well-developed abs.

But the most valuable experience she'd had was her recent torturous time with Kisi. And, while she was aware that everyone is different, she was also now aware of more ticklish spots on her own body than ever before. She almost wriggled at the physical memory of where and how Kisi tickled her and suddenly felt a light shine upon the answer; now that she was able to put herself in that frame of mind, she could visualise projecting a map of vulnerable areas from her own body onto Allegra's and viewed her feet with a completely new outlook.

Without saying a word, she gripped Allegra's left big toe with one hand and pulled it back; stretching her sole immobile.

'Get off me,' said Allegra, as if a coal dust-covered street urchin was tugging at her hem and begging for loose change.

Yvette didn't answer but instead scurried two fingers onto the place on her own feet that were most ticklish -- just under the ball of her foot and in line with the big toe. Allegra gave an exaggerated sigh.

Yvette recalled that Kisi's technique didn't stop in one place -- she sought out spots that caused her to react. So, her scurrying fingers travelled steadily up and into the crease of Allegra's big toe. Still there was no reaction and out of the corner of her eye she could sense Allegra's bright blue eyes fixed on her with what seemed to be her trademark expression of undiluted arrogance.

Kisi watched from the corner of the room, allowing Yvette to explore and experiment as she would allow any other apprentice, but ready to take the lead in an instant. Allegra was unwavering in her look of disdain at the situation, but Kisi appreciated, despite this, the meticulous manner in which Yvette tested every square millimetre of the skin under Allegra's toes--from big to little--while locking her foot in place. She was impressed with how patient she was. Most beginners dove in with arbitrary techniques more likely to invoke pain rather than cause laughter. She mused over whether there was a benefit in ensuring all trainees experience being tickled before they practiced being a tickler--

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed Yvette pause. There was a change in her posture and the one-way path that her fingernails were traversing along Allegra's sole took a pace backward.

'Everyfing okay?' Yvette asked Allegra.

'I'm not troubled, if that's what you mean,' said Allegra, her demeanour unchanged.

'Are you sure about zat? I only ask because, when I touched zis little bit here...' she said, tickling the centre of Allegra's high arch, '...your skin became a little more slippery. You started to sweat.'

'It's hot in here.'

'No, Allegra. It isn't.'

Kisi's eyes narrowed. She could see a thin sheen of sweat beginning to form on Allegra's upper lip.

'This is ridiculous,' said Allegra, and glanced at Kisi, who responded with a knowing smirk.

Allegra licked her lips and tried to return to her previous haughty state.

'Ooh, your large feet are quite sweaty now, aren't zey? Why is zat?'

'Typical French impertinence,' said Allegra, now with the hint of a wobble in her voice.

Yvette shrugged off the insult and began to circle the spot on Allegra's sole.

As Kisi watched intently, she saw it: the jump in Allegra's chest that was akin to suppressing a hiccup. But it wasn't a hiccup: she just gave her first tiny laugh.

Allegra tried to relax. Every fibre of her being was on edge and she felt an ocean of pent-up laughter mounting against her resistance. She had successfully remained unshaken this whole time and her hope was that if she could maintain it for longer, these women would get bored and at least attempt more endurable methods until calls were made and she was released. "My facade is impenetrable," she thought. "Isn't it? Then why did that bloody African woman in the corner just smirk at me like she knew what I was thinking? She can't see me sweating from here."

'I quite like ze sweat, I 'ave to say. It's 'elping my fingernails to glide a lot more easily,' said Yvette.

Allegra felt her lips begin to quiver. She tried to relieve her compulsion to laugh by disguising it as an audible sneer and instantly regretted doing so -- if her resistance was a dam, she had just allowed it to spring a leak.

A long hiss from Allegra was accompanied by a confused determination as she shut her eyes and struggled to contain the inevitable.

'You'll 'ave to remind me,' said Yvette, 'didn't you say you weren't ticklish?'

Allegra looked at her, paralysed with a fixed grimace. She wanted to insult her again but the integrity of her defences were on the verge of collapse and any energy expended would send her over the edge. She sensed the glee that would be displayed in the eyes of these women if they defeated her and despised the thought. It had never happened before.

'Perhaps if I were to tickle both of your feet at once...?' said Yvette and, without giving Allegra a beat to prepare herself, she reached across and attacked both feet simultaneously.

A flicker of piteous disbelief evaporated as the dam of resistance exploded with the loudest scream of helpless laughter that Kisi had ever witnessed.

Yvette was almost startled to a stop, but she saw the expression on Allegra's face that she could never have imagined and a rush of vindication unleashed from her an involuntary and victorious growl that she only previously recalled doing the moment she closed her first million-dollar deal. She quite forgot all about any techniques of precision and when she realised that all ten fingers were on autopilot she noticed the parts of Allegra's soles that had previously appeared immune to tickling were now provoking just as much of a reaction as the "sweet spots".

'Who is "pathetic" now, you bitch?!' shouted Yvette. 'You're gonna wreck my marriage? Fuck you! Putain!'

Allegra was so overwhelmed that she showed no recognition of the words hurled at her. With her mouth stretched wide, she shook her head fiercely in an illogical attempt to cope with the relentless attack on her soles and toes.

Yvette turned to Kisi, 'I fink we've passed Level One!'

Kisi smiled. 'Yes! And I forgot to mention: sometimes you can leapfrog levels -- straight from One to Four, like now!'

Yvette was pleased to see how gratified Kisi was with her technique. She came to join her and rested a calming hand on her forearm. Yvette tempered the intensity of her onslaught and Allegra's laughter diminished a little.

'Who do you represent?' asked Kisi.

Allegra gasped for air. 'I... I can't tell you!' she cried.

'Yes you can!' said Yvette and she tickled faster.

Allegra's back arched and her toes scrunched in vain as she once again burst out laughing. 'PLEEEEASE NO!'

'We don't endlessly repeat the same question here,' said Kisi. 'If you do not answer you will be tortured for hours. I will have my staff work shifts; you will not sleep, and I will ask you again in the morning. If you do not tell me then, I will have my staff tickle you until the following day.'

Yvette was once again lost in her desire for revenge and had subconsciously dialled up the intensity of her torture.

Kisi edged her aside. 'Here, let me...'

Reluctantly, Yvette gave way, but quickly appreciated the opportunity to observe the master at work. Kisi's fingernails deftly played every single part of Allegra's feet; inducing greater and greater surges of hysterics. For almost an hour Allegra was speaking in tongues and sweat beaded and dripped steadily from the tips of her wet hair.

Just when Yvette thought Kisi must have no more use for her, she turned to her and said, 'It's time to ride the line between Levels Five and Six.'

'What do you want me to do?' asked Yvette.

Kisi stopped tickling with one hand and gestured for Yvette to stand in front of her and between Allegra's spread legs. 'Her upper body,' she said.

Allegra was evidently still lucid enough to hear what had just been said as the tone of her laughter wailed as much of a protest as she was able to give. Her mascara-stained eyes could do no more than watch as Yvette arrived between her legs and Kisi resumed tickling both feet.

She saw the predicted look of sadistic glee on Yvette's face and bawled with resentment and impotence as she felt nimble fingers creep under her blouse.

'Soaking!' Yvette taunted. She found Allegra's sweat-covered abs and began to tease with excruciating gentleness at the sides of her tummy. The frustration and sensitivity combined to hurl Allegra into delirium. With her eyes and mouth stretched so wide that it appeared unnatural, Kisi varied the intensity on Allegra's feet whilst everything that Yvette did kept her at the required level of hysteria.

As sweat ran over her hands, Yvette suddenly realised that she was incredibly turned on and must have been for quite some time. It caused a momentary rush of vertigo when she recognised her next thought was that she would have liked nothing more than for Kisi to grab her waist from behind and tickle her to the ground. She then felt a pang of regret that doing such things had probably ended her marriage.

Anger grew inside her and compelled her to lift her hands to find out exactly how ticklish Allegra's armpits were. She was delighted to discover that tickling the slick hollows of Allegra's underarms threw her into previously undiscovered depths of insanity. Her bulging eyes ran bloodshot and veins throbbed from her neck as a barrage of laughter erupted from her throat. She seemed about to pass out.

CHAPTER 6

Outside Attitude Adjustment Therapy Room 2, facility guards Martinez and Knowles stood guard. From inside the suite they could hear almost everything.

'Who do you represent?!' screamed Yvette.

'I CAN'T SAYYY-HAY-HAY-HAYYY!' howled Allegra.

Kisi's voice was calmer: 'That was your last chance to answer today.'

Martinez turned to Knowles. 'This is going to be a long night.'

THE END