In Defence of Bluebeard

"I think there's something in the attic," whispered Sarah.

Terri wrinkled her nose. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Sarah flicked back her auburn hair as she nodded to herself. The slender girl's face- freckled and elfin- narrowed as she looked around. Sam was out- she'd made very sure that he was out- but she couldn't wonder if he had hidden cameras all through the house. The thought that he was watching their every move, his twisted mind already preparing to thwart their efforts... she shivered. "We've been living here for, what, three months now?"

"Sure."

"I think Sam's been doing things to us."

"Sam? What do you mean?"

Sarah reached out to touch Terri's olive-skinned hand and spoke to her short, busty friend. "Have you noticed that things have gotten... strange lately, with our housemate?"

"Strange?"

Sarah licker her lips. It was important that she didn't come across as paranoid. "Have you noticed that Sam's gotten... hotter, lately?"

Terri paused. "Um. I guess?"

"You guess? Like, he's a great guy but when we first saw him, we both thought- classic nerd, right?"

"Sam's smart! He's a postgrad in electronic engineering, he's gotten all sorts of awards-"

"I know he's smart. And I didn't say that I didn't like him. He's cool. But recently..." Sam shrugged. "It's like, he's gone from being this awkward sort of skinny geek with spots to being... I dunno. The same awkward skinny geek with spots, but now..."

Now I can't stop thinking about him. Now I lie awake at night, hoping he'd come into my room and order me into his bed. Not ask. Order.

To Terri she said, "He feels different, even if he looks the same. Is this... is this making any sense?"

Terri paused. "Look., Sam's been alright with us, hasn't he? I know you weren't happy about moving in with him, but he's been pretty chill for a postgrad guy. He hasn't tried anything with us."

"Maybe he has, but he's just been... subtle about it. Remember what happened last Thursday?"

Terri blustered, "Hey! That was just- harmless flirting- no, teasing! I just wanted to mess with him a little!"

"Honey, that's your 'I-want-to-score outfit' that you were wearing. Without a bra, I might add."

"Well- what about yesterday? When you 'forgot' your towel and walked through the living room while he was there?"

Sarah flushed at the memory. "I just... I mean... I just wanted to... Show My Body To Sam." She'd spent all night waiting for him to come into her room, listening to every creak on the floorboards and hoping it was the sound of his footsteps, ready to command her.

"It's Important That We Show Our Bodies to Sam."

"That's- that's what I'm talking about! Three months ago, I'd never had done that. You wouldn't have been flirting with him all the time!"

Terri paused. "But.. but Sam is Sexy."

"Sam is Sexy," Sarah agreed. She felt another shiver run through her, sweet and sharp. Then she shook her head. "But- he wasn't sexy. Not three months ago."

"Maybe we just... noticed he was sexy?"

"And that's not all," said Sarah. "Look, if that was it then it would be fine. But we've changed, too."

"Like?"

"Come with me." Sarah got up and led Terri over to the kitchen. "Notice anything weird?"

Terri turned and frowned. "Um. No. The place looks nice. Clean."

"Right. That seem weird to you?"

"No..."

"Terri, I love you as a friend but when was the last time you voluntarily cleaned?"

"Hey! I've started to clean all the time!"

"Yes. Precisely. Look- look at the chore roster."

Terri turned and stared at the small whiteboard that had been placed next to the fridge. Various responsibilities had been drawn up in the spirit of optimism and assigned by lottery. Three names, appearing more or less equally. Only...

"Is this about my cleaning the bathroom?"

"Terri, a month ago you had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do the washing up."

"Which I'm doing now!"

"Yes! And all your other chores! And the bathroom, and the ironing- which wasn't even on the list."

Terri paused. "Well I just- I wanted to- I want things to be-"

"You want the place to look nice for Sam."

Terri nodded, cheeks flushing.

"I- I know." Sam's voice dropped low. "It's the same reason I cook for him. I mean, I cook for everyone now, but... really, I just enjoy cooking for Sam. And it gets worse." She shivered. "Look, I didn't say anything about this before because I was ashamed, but... I've kind of been... sneaking into his room."

"Oh."

"To clean it."

"Oh."

"And, um... sometimes, I'm naked" Sarah coughed. "Sometimes I touch myself a little, while..."

"I understand."

"It's just- Taking Care of Sam Makes Me Feel Sexy."

"I know. Are you still doing that?" Terri hesitated. "Do you need help?"

Sarah looked away. "He caught me and made me stop."

"Oh." Terri's shoulders slumped. "We Have to Obey Sam."

"That's just it! We don't... I mean, we shouldn't... we didn't used to think like this! We didn't used to ask him what show he wants to watch just so we can change the program! We didn't used to ask him if he wants a coffee every five minutes just in case we can get the pleasure of making one for him!"

"But he doesn't like it when we fuss over him!" Terri's voice was streaked with misery. "He's always telling us to stop!"

"That's just- that's just his way of pretending!" Sarah waved her hands around. "It's his way of pretending that it has nothing to do with him while enjoying the sight of us grovelling at his feet-" She sighed. "It's something to do with the attic."

Terri looked up the stairwell to the second floor, where the bedrooms were located. From this angle the two girls could see the second, smaller flight of stairs that led to the attic. "We're not allowed to go in there."

"I know. But... but I think we need to." Sam paused. "I think that whatever's happening to us... it's up there. Whatever he's... doing to us."

"And what is he doing to us?"

"Changing us," said Sarah, licking her lips. "Turning us... turning us into his slaves. His loving, sexy slaves that want..." a strange, wonderful heat flow through her body. "...want to obey his every depraved command."

"Obey him," whispered Terri. "Love him." Her hands moved to touch her chest, running over her breasts. "Obey Sir."

"Please Sir." Sarah's eyes were half-closed.

"Love Sir." Terri's fingers had moved south to run along her thighs.

"L- shit. Shit!" Sam leapt to her feet. "This- this isn't normal! We have to go up there."

"But we're not allowed to! And We have to Obey him."

"But we... we..." Sarah screwed her eyes shut. "We need to go... we need to go into the attic. Because it's up there. It's important."

Terri looked down and for a moment Sarah thought she had lost her friend. Then she said slowly, "Okay."

The two girls ascended the stairs to the second story landing. Sarah stood at the top of the stairs. "This feels..."

"Wrong?"

"Familiar," she said. "This feels almost like we've done this before."

"But we've neve gone into the attic," said Terri. "Remember? We're not allowed to and We Have-"

"I know." And yet there was something about the feeling she felt as she put her feet on the stairs, as she walked up higher and higher; a sense of remembrance as the wood creaked underneath her feet. She reached the top of the stairs and turned back. Terri stood at the bottom, looking just like a child who knew she was being naughty. Sarah turned and tried the handle.

It was locked.

She let out a long, frustrated sigh. "We're not going in. Not that way."

Terri rubbed her arm. "Any idea where they key is?"

"No. He probably keeps it on him."

"But..." Terri rubbed her elbow. "We need to get into the attic. T-to find out what he's doing."

"R-right," said Sarah. She paused. "Maybe he has a spare?"

"We can search his room," said Terri. "But then we have to clean it up before he come back."

***

"I think I found something," said Terri.

Sarah looked up. The two girls had spent the last few hours in Sam's bedroom. It had been- it had been a strange experience, both of them moving like guilty mice, both of them terrified at the thought of Sir- Sam coming home early and finding them disobeying him. And beneath the guilt, beneath the fear, there was something else. Something vague and yet strong, like a great and vast undercurrent in the seas of their minds; something that set their nerves tingling, that made their hands tremble as they opened draws and reached under the mattress. Something akin to excitement but stronger. Hotter.

"Show me," she said.

Terri held up a small box. "I found it shoved into the back of his closet. Um, look at this." She held it out.

Written in big, bold spikey letters along the top were the words DO NOT OPEN.

Sarah hesitated. He didn't want them to open the box and They Had to Obey Sam- no! She shook her head and ripped open the box, ignoring Terri's shocked gasp. Inside was a key and a note. She took the key and unfurled the note.

Inside was a message: Sarah, Terri, if you're reading this, do NOT go into the Attic. You are forbidden from going there. What's inside is very, very dangerous! Stay out of the attic if you value your minds.

"What does he mean?" said Terri.

"It- it's clearly just a threat," said Sarah. "I mean, it's just a way for him to scare us off! He knows that we want to go into the attic and find out what's there and... this means that we're on the right track!"

"Sure," said Terri. "Um, I guess we're going up?"

They returned to the attic. The two girls stared at the door. Terri said in soft tones, "If this works, we'll definitely be disobeying Sir."

"I know," said Sarah miserably. "But this is important. Something's up there, can't you feel it? Something... something we need to find. I just know it." A moment later she tried the key. "It fits!"

She stepped into the attic and saw...

She wasn't sure what she was expecting. A creepy laboratory? A sex dungeon? A pentagram scrawled onto the floor? All the attic contained was a desk, a rickety-looking chair and a small laptop. She stepped into the room-

-feeling a stab of disappointment. This was Sam's big secret? She'd been expecting something freaky-

-Sarah stopped. "Wait."

"What is it?"

"Have we been... have we been here before?"

"This is the first time, isn't it? We've Never Been In The Attic."

Sarah looked around. Terri was right. She'd never been in the attic, but-

-sun shined through the dusty windows. Just a personal study, she thought. So why-

"No. No, this place is..." She walked over to the computer and-

-sat down on the chair. The weight was uncertain and-

"Something really, really strange is going on." She closed her eyes.

"Turn on the computer," Terri said. "It's on there."

"What is?"

Terri frowned, her brow crinkling. "Um. I mean... I mean... whatever he's hiding is on the computer. Obviously."

"Right." She turned the laptop on. The screen flickered to life. "There's a password."

"Shit," said Terri. "What do you think it is?"

"I don't know."

"We need to get into the computer!" said Terri. "We need to..." she licked her lips. "I mean, we need to know."

Sarah closed her eyes. She felt the ghost of an old memory touch against her mind. Her hands flew over the computer and looked up. MindControl. She clicked on the input button.

A 'wrong password' message flickered over the screen.

He changed the password. Wait. How do I know that he changed the password? She looked around helplessly before trying again. Slavegirl. Nothing.

Hypnotise. No.

Obedientsluts. No.

A message came up on the screen, warning her that she had one try left before her computer locked. She paused and closed her eyes.

"We better not," said Terri. "Sam will be angry with us if we-"

"One more try," she whispered. She shivered as the feeling from tensed like a taunt bowstring; desperate, needing to be released. She took a deep breath-

"-Never come up here again-"

And her hands clicked on the keyboard.

SarahTerriDon't.

The computer revealed its desktop. She felt a surge of pleasure wash through her body; the first stirrings, she sensed, of something wonderous and vast just out of her reach. Terri whimpered next to her. Sarah turned to see her friend's hands gripping her thighs, fingers digging into her jeans. "Hurry up," she said. "Hurry. I can't wait."

Sarah turned back to the screen. There was a series of folders marked RESEARCH as well as a program file marked RUN.EXE. Sarah found her wrist guiding the mouse towards the RUN.EXE program file as though pulled by some mysterious force-

Wait. There was another file. It looked like a media file of some sort and was labelled as SARAHTERRIWATCHMEFIRST.

Terri whispered breathlessly, "Why aren't you running the program? We need to watch the program."

"In a moment," Sarah said. "But first..." She clicked on the media file.

A moment later the desktop was replaced by a video of the attic. Two girls knelt in the centre of the room. They were naked, their bodies displayed for the camera; shamelessly, eagerly, as though their nudity was a gift for someone special. Their eyes were hazy with lust; lust and something even deeper, a shining warmth that blazed from their faces. They looked happy; they looked content; they looked like the two luckiest girls in the world, like two women living in paradise.

They were Sarah and Terri. For a moment she wanted to deny what she was seeing, but no; the images were accompanied by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu and with it a glorious ache between her legs. From behind her she heard Terri give a gasp and then a long, slow moan.

A voice issued from the screen. Sam's voice; clearly he was holding the camera. "Like I told you."

The girl- Sarah, her pale, slim body sitting upright, spoke into the camera. "Sarah, if you're watching this, you can't run the program. Sir will be very upset if you do." Her voice didn't sound urgent or concerned; it sounded contented with a powerful undercurrent of lust. Sarah felt like she could reach across, touch the girl and feel her glorious sense of completeness.

Terri spoke next, her voluptuous breasts moving slightly as she spoke. "Terri, you aren't meant to run the program. If you do, all of your sad little free will shall vanish and you'll be nothing more than a lovely slave to Sir." She practically moaned the last few words, her hips gently rolling. "Just like me." She looked up past the camera. "Have I been obedient, master?"

The camera cut off.

Sarah stared at the run program. "We should leave. We should... if we click on the program, we'll be..."

"We'll be just like them," breathed Terri. "Just like them."

The two girls stared at the desktop. Sarah's hand moved to grip the mouse. She looked up at Terri.

Slowly, the motion so tiny that Sarah almost through she imagined it, Terri nodded her head. Sarah clicked on the RUN.EXE icon.

The screen filled with colours, glorious colours, and the feeling that had been building up- over the hours, over the days, ever since she'd last been in this room- suddenly snap into clear focus. Anticipation for this moment; for when she could return back to the screen, to the glorious colours. Behind her she heard Terri gasp and then all she could see was the patterns inside the colours and the voices, soft and gentle, that rippled into her mind-

Sam is your Sir.

Sweet and lovely and glorious, words that murmured hot truths that sunk into her being.

Sam is Sexy.

Glorious truths that the patterns gently etched into her brain.

You Love to Obey Sam.

Absolute truths that she had embraced entirely, making them a core part of her being.

Looking After Sam is Sexy.

Truths she had been cruelly forced to forget and yet never quite faded completely; truths and the pleasure that came with them.

You are Sam's Slave.

Hot pleasure, pleasure that roiled endlessly between her legs, a never-ending ache that lay eternally just a hair from completion; hunger and satiation both at once. A furnace of need that flowed through her entire being.

You are Sam's Property.

Pleasure to bind them; pleasure to wrap them up and give them certainty; pleasure that burned, like the truths, deep into their brains. Pleasure that meant that they would always return to this place, this room of truths, to seek out their destiny once more...

***

It was hours later when Sam came home. The very first thing he did was check the attic. The moment he saw the door opened he groaned. Sighing, he walked up the stairs and into the room.

Sarah and Terri knelt naked on the floor of the attic, their clothes neatly folded up next to them. They stared at him with soft, loving eyes. "Hello Sir," they chorused together.

Sam groaned. He walked over to the chair and collapsed down on it. Eventually he raised his head to stare at the two girls.

"This is the fourth goddamn time," he said.

Both girls knelt, waiting for his instructions. He continued to talk to them both. "I guess you don't remember the first time, do you Sarah? When you snuck up into my attic and checked my programs? It was hard as hell hiding you from Terri until I figured out how to wipe your memories."

He turned to Terri. "Of course, that didn't save you the next time she came up here. I figured she'd have residual memories of the event, but I didn't expect her to come straight back, or to rope you into it. My mistake, forbidding her from accessing the program. She just got you to do it instead, so both of you ended up getting brainwashed."

He looked at the ceiling. "You know, I actually told you everything after I wiped your memories the second time. Explained it all to you. I even told you about how I developed the program years ago but was too worried with the moral implications to use it on anyone. Funny how that worked out. You called me a liar. Demanded to see the evidence. It was only after you'd opened the program on your own that I realised you were more interested in going under again than being upset with me."

He turned back to look at both the girls again. "And now... I wiped your memories again and I gave you explicit instructions not to go into the attic while you were tranced- figures, that this would be the only set of instructions you wouldn't bother to follow. Or maybe the need to complete your programming was stronger than the need to obey me. Plus, I really thought the video I made with you two would stop you. But I guess you can't be stopped." He leaned forward suddenly. "Hey. Sarah."

"Yes Sir?" Sarah looked up at him with hazy-eyed love.

He stared at her body. "God, you two are hot. It's always so hard, you know? To do the right thing. Knowing that I could have you both in my bed... doing whatever I want..." He groaned. "Alright, listen up. I need you two to understand something. This is your last chance, do you understand? I'm going to wipe your programming but the process is getting harder and harder to do and there's always more and more residual programming that I can't scrub out. If you watch the video one more time, I'm not going to be able to undo it. You're going to be like this permanently. No more free will for you two. You will be my slaves. Forever. Do you understand?"

Sarah stared up at Sir as the message sank in. Deep inside of her, some part of her would remember; after the memory wipe, after he would lead both, groggy and disorientated, back downstairs, it would remember the pleasure. The certainty. The perfect clarity of purpose. It would remember and it would bring her back to this room, eager if unknowing, so that she could finally feel like this...