Leave Us Alone

When thinking back to the night before, one rarely remembered the moment when sleep arrived, or even several moments prior. It all slips out of the thoughts of yesterday, unable to make it out of short-term memory before the brain crumbles it up and pitches it to make room for dreams. This is especially true for anyone whose life didn't feature enough variety to make each day feel distinct. Wake up, go to work, go to bed, etc. The sort of life where seeing a wild turkey in a parking lot would be something you'd tell your friends about.

Lena's life was sort of like that. Same things most days. She didn't remember turning her game console off before falling asleep. From her sleeping position cradled in the belly of an oversized bean bag chair, she could reach the purple power switch with her toe. But she had no memory of doing this. The little CRT television showed its noise pattern that indicated that it wasn't getting a video signal. Thankfully, it wasn't accompanied with loud audio static like other CRT models.

She sat up, the tiny beads within her bean bag chair shifting around as she moved. Sleeping on a bean bag chair probably wasn't recommended, but that's how Lena did it, nestled deep in the polystyrene filler. Maybe others would find it hard to sleep this way if they hadn't worn themselves out playing games until who-knows-when-a-clock in the morning.

One would definitely find it hard to sleep on this vinyl bean bag without the old-fashioned granny square blanket she'd covered it with. The vinyl could feel cool to the touch, but after sleeping through a warm night, her sweat would collect on it and the vinyl would cling to her. The blanket helped pull it away like thirsty hand-crafted gauze.

And yet... Lena still felt a patina of mostly dried sweat all over her body. Living out in the desert, she was used to the hot weather. It was one of the reasons why staying up late was so inviting; it would finally cool enough to sit in her second-story bedroom and play games comfortably without air conditioning.

But waking up and already being sweaty... she would almost go back to shoveling snow. Not that Lena had been asked to do that very often in her youth. At five-foot-two, slight, and in possession of three older brothers, she was only called out of the reserves to tackle the most insurmountable snow drifts. But such a sight was a long way away from here.

It was tough sleeping through this sort of heat. Even if she stayed up well past a normal bedtime, eventually the rising temperature would force her awake. It was enough to make someone shed all their clothes and sleep in the nude.

Which, of course, Lena had done.

In truth, Lena was wearing socks, as she was seldom without them in the house. She could slide around on the house's extensive hardwood flooring and linoleum like a figure skater. Sometimes, she would borrow a pair of socks from her roommates and was astonished at how much bigger their feet were than hers. It was never hard picking her socks out if they got mixed in with the communal laundry.

Lena found her glasses folded next to the bean bag chair, another thing she had no memory of doing. She put them back on and rolled off the chair, nothing nearby to push off it with her arms. She pressed the TV's front-facing power button with an extended toe, the storm of white dots vanishing into nothing.

If only it had been that easy to vanquish show at home... maybe she wouldn't have left.

Lena crossed the hall of her bedroom and entered the upstairs bathroom. Smacking her lips and squinting at her reflection, she realized she was probably dehydrated, a common problem out in the desert. She took a nearby cup and filled it from the tap. It probably wasn't meant for drinking, but that didn't stop her. By the time she has brushed her teeth, Lena felt the urge to urinate.

Which she did, standing in front of the toilet.

Lena was small and slender, but she belonged to the very rare variety of women born with both sets of genitals: the futanari. Between her legs was a penis that some might call humongous, but Lena always thought it was mostly just because the rest of her was so small.

Once the whoosing sound of the toilet flush had faded away, Lena realized... it was quiet. The house was normally filled with activity from her roommates. Idle chatter, footsteps, televisions or music, even the sounds of lovemaking, or at least aggressive kissing. None of that was currently present. The house was eerily quiet... in fact, it was silent but for wind blowing through open windows in nearby rooms.

Lena descended the stairs and entered the main living room, connected to a kitchen without an intervening wall. There were tracks on the ceiling that indicated there may have been one of those old-fashioned plastic partition walls separating these rooms a long while ago. She didn't know how old this house was, but it was old enough that some of the outlets didn't have a ground slot. This was why her TV and game console were up in that room on the second floor. The only other modern outlet was in the living room, where the HDTV was plugged in, along with a power strip with many phone chargers dangling from it like the legs of an octopus.

There was nobody there. Nobody watching television, nobody eating breakfast or whatever meal would be appropriate at this time of day, nobody having a bonk on the couch. Lena had never once seen this room completely empty.

"Hello?" She called out, slightly froggy. She coughed and cleared her throat, walking towards the kitchen and the boot tray near the rear entrance where most of her roommates would leave their shoes when they felt like sliding around the way she often did.

The boot tray only had one pair of shoes: her own well-worn gray running shoes.

"Where the hell is everyone?" She said to nobody.

Lena went into the basement, welcoming the cooler, if musty, air. She thought maybe the heat had grown so extreme that they had all climbed down here to escape it like catfish climbing out of the water and into the shade under a dock. Nobody was down there, either. Both the washer and drier were inactive. There was no activity but for the click and hum of the water heater.

Walking back upstairs, Lena got her shoes on and went outside. Maybe she had woken up during a Walk sendoff or something. She shielded her eyes from the bright sun, leaving the rest of her unguarded and unclothed, as she went out the back storm door. The back had a concrete deck with some a folding beach chair, always useful for tanning. None of it was occupied. She walked around the side of the house, out to the front porch, in all its slightly collapsed and sun-parched glory.

Nothing. Nobody.

She was running now, towards the garage. Maybe someone took the car for an errand or groceries or something. Maybe there was an emergency and someone was being driven to the nearest hospital... where would that even be? Probably in Raton or something...

Lena cupped her hands against the garage window to look inside. The car was still there.

Being naked in a familiar place... that nightmare normally involved being surrounded by people, didn't it? For someone as used to casual nudity as her, perhaps this was the appropriate variation. All undressed up and nobody to gawk.

But was she really alone?

Lena went back upstairs and checked the numerous bedrooms one by one. Most of them didn't have 'beds,' but mattresses resting on the floor. Her own little corner of the room was poised next to a mattress that saw lots of use... even when she was sitting there playing. Many times the partners would beg her to join them. Once in a while, she did, but mostly... she just kept playing, occasionally glancing up at key moments in the reverie.

In the last bedroom, there were light-blocking curtains... and a full twin-sized bed with sheets, a metal frame and header. It looked like it might have been as old as this house.

On the bed... there was a woman tied up.

She was blindfolded. Her hands were tied together behind a pole in the frame. Her feet appeared to be tied together with zip ties, but not connected to the bed. The woman was a futa like Lena, her own member resting unrestricted on her thigh. With her legs connected, her body had the gentle curves and narrow middle of a violin.

"Oh my God!" Lena scurried over to this woman's rescue. She pulled the blindfold off her eyes and past her short blonde, almost 'pixie-cut' length hair. 'Blindfold' might have been too hysterical of a description, as it was a commercial slumber mask.

The restrained woman groaned, pinching her eyes closed. She rolled her body a bit like a worm, taking in a deep breath and opening her blue eyes. She looked up to the woman leaning over her, a pretty and petite Asian futa with her hair in a slightly disorganized ponytail.

The blonde woman smiled. "What time is it?" She croaked.

"Uh... maybe ten o'clock or something?" Lena answered, her eyes darting about fruitlessly for a wall-mounted clock or alarm clock. "I don't know for sure. I just got up."

The blonde writhed in place again, evidently trying to stretch with her limbs restricted. When she settled again, she looked back up to her savior. "You going to fuck me?"

"No! My God..." Lena leaned back. "I would never... who did this to you?"

"I asked for this." She answered. "It doesn't matter who did it. They did it because I wanted it."

Lena stared at the woman. As they spoke, she had grown hard, her cock now resting sternly against her abs, her grin growing as she eyed the attractive woman standing beside her.

"If you're not going to fuck me..." The woman looked off. "Can you bring me something to eat? I'm hungry."

Lena backed away and left the room, the door staying open. The light from the other rooms spilled in through the door, still feeling quite bright as the blonde woman's eyes adjusted.

Whatever Lena brought up here to put in her mouth... she would dutifully eat it all up. Just thinking about it made her unbearably hard. She dreamed of all the stuff this pretty thing would do to her while she was restrained...

Lena had returned to the bedroom with a sturdy pair of scissors. She went to work, cutting the zip ties that held her hands together.

"Ohh, you're no fun." The blonde pouted as her hands were freed from her bonds. She sat up, hissing as she brought them down to her side, moving parts of her that had been restricted for hours. She could feel a mark on her wrists as she rubbed them in her lap, a slight indentation where the ties rested against her soft skin.

"Are you crazy, sleeping like this?" Lena scolded. "Didn't that hurt?"

"Not until I started moving around again." She groaned, rolling her shoulders.

Lena scooted onto the bed behind her and used both hands to massage her shoulders, advancing to each upper arm in turn, squeezing and pinching the muscles. The blonde winced at the contact.

"Is this helping?" Lena asked. "I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't even exercise."

She rolled one shoulder with greater mobility than she had before. "I think so." The blonde didn't know if it was working... but she wouldn't tell her to stop. She'd been starved of contact for quite some time. And besides... Lena's cock was rubbing limply on her back.

"What's your name?" Lena asked.

"Blake." She said.

"I'm Lena." She introduced herself, kneel-walking on the bed to face her. "Can you walk?"

"I don't know... I'm so weak..." Blake dramatically slumped to the bed, limp like an overcooked stalk of asparagus. "Can you help me down the stairs? I'd be so grateful... I'd do anything you want."

"I can't help you. I'm too short." Lena shook her head. "And I'm certainly not carrying you down the stairs."

"Could you at least get my feet free?"

Lena carefully snipped the tie that held her feet together, unconvinced that Blake couldn't have done this herself, now that her arms were no longer bound.

Now fully liberated from her self-imposed binds, Blake stretched her arms over her head with a loud groan and yawn, one that would be the envy of any of the big cats of the Savannah. Blake sat up and leaned in towards Lena, lips first.

Lena leaned back. "I brushed MY teeth, so maybe you can do that, too?"

Blake stood from the bed and moved towards the door. "Ehh, that can wait until after breakfast."

Lena watched Blake leave the bedroom, her bare feet slapping noisily down the wood stairs. Lena considered the cut up zip ties she held, amazed that this woman would do this to herself, that someone who lived here could have such a fetish and she could have no idea, even after living here for so long.

A moment later, Blake cried from the first floor, "Where the hell is everybody?!"

Lena sighed and dropped the ties in the bedside trash... beside dozens of other cut zip ties in a variety of colors.

Seemed like such a waste.

---

This house did have a kitchen table in the appropriate room. It had three chairs of distinct form factor and design surrounding it. Some might complain that this table took up valuable space for more fucking, but most of the other seats in the house were perpetually used for this purpose.

Except, of course, for now.

Maybe that was why Lena had slept so late, even with the sun so high in the sky. Normally, someone was brewing coffee in the morning around eight o'clock. She didn't drink coffee, but the house's natural air flow would waft the pleasant and arousing smell upstairs. It was a better way to wake up than when some careless fool burned their toast. That smell would linger in the upper floor for the whole damn day. If she ever caught whoever was doing it...

Blake tucked into a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats, using the last of the milk in the fridge. In a house normally holding at least a dozen women, milk never lasted long. She could never count on it being there, so the rule of thumb was to buy cereal that could be eaten dry. Cheerios were always present, but eating them dry out of a cup made her feel like a bored child in the back of a station wagon.

Lena ate two unfrosted blueberry Pop-Tarts. Technically, they were some kind of store brand toaster pastry that was probably cheaper, but also only had six to a box. That's apparently where the bargain was forged: literally less product. Maybe whoever did the shopping could splurge on something with frosting next time. Instead, Lena put peanut butter between them and ate them like a sandwich.

"God forbid I wasn't here." Lena said to her de facto breakfast date. "You could have starved to death, tied to that bed."

Blake's view of the future wasn't so fatalistic. Surely, someone would come back to the house eventually. She'd hear them stomping around the lower floor, and she'd scream for help and be saved. It felt no more of a risk than the Walk, the ceremonial five-mile naked stroll between the houses where they were often 'rescued' from the elements by generous passersby.

Nevertheless, Blake grinned, folding her fingers together and resting her chin atop them, gazing across the table. "My hero. I am forever indebted to you."

The Cheshire grin was a little much to handle this early. Lena looked off, brushing a crumb from the corner of her mouth. "It's fine. I'm sure you would have done the same for anyone."

"How did this happen?" Blake set her spoon down in her bowl. "Normally, there's an equilibrium between the houses. Someone takes the Walk, brings the phone with them, and then someone in THAT house does the Walk and brings it back."

"Some of them must have been taking Walks without the emergency phone."

"They're crazy. What if they rolled an ankle out there?"

"They might have been going... two if by sea, if you know what I mean."

"That's not allowed, is it?"

Lena scratched her head. "The house rules don't really... disallow a lot of stuff. They're more affirmative than restrictive. If two of our sisters wanted to walk to the other house just to go there, and not make it an official Walk, I don't think anything can stop them. And it'd be safer if one of them got hurt. If nothing else, they could run to the closer house and get assistance, or help them limp back."

"That's a good point." Blake said. "If the rules said we couldn't leave the houses for this or that reason, that would be the first sign that the houses are moving in a 'cult-ish' direction. That's canary in the coal mine stuff right there."

Lena stood from her seat and moved away from the table, revealing her entire body to Blake with slightly opened hands. "Despite how we all live in here, there's no rule that says we all HAVE to be naked in the house. You DO have to be naked to do a Walk, barring shoes, hats and agreed-upon medical exemptions. If you're not doing an official Walk, I guess you can wear clothing if you REALLY wanted. It's just usually very hot and most of us have a lot of casual sex and like seeing dicks and butts bouncing around. And maybe nobody wants to be the one dressed person living here and look like a nerd."

Blake bit her lower lip, staring unabashedly at Lena's flaccid member. She sighed deeply, as if waking from a wonderful dream. "I'm not saying it should be a rule, but I'm so glad nobody wears any clothes here."

"In the winter, some people break out the pajamas to stay warm at night."

"I've seen that. It's quite jarring to see a clothed person in this house. And why wear PJs when you can just snuggle?"

"So it's established that the rules of the house don't tell us what to do or where to go..." Lena stood behind her chair and leaned on the back rest. "But there is an exception."

"Oh?"

"There was a discussion from months ago I remember hearing... that said we can't leave the house empty. There has to be someone here at all times. Maybe it's a squatter's rights thing or something. But someone also said that a lone naked futa might not be able to defend themselves if a malicious actor came by, so they said there should always be at least TWO of us in the house at this time."

"Just like with walking, two is definitely safer than one." Blake scooped out the last Mini-Wheats into her spoon and ate them before continuing. "But not as safe as... fourteen. Or however many people are normally hanging around here."

"Whether or not it's a strict rule, I don't want you to leave me here alone, and I'm not going to leave YOU alone." Blake said. "And we can't BOTH leave because that would mean the house would be unoccupied."

A quiet pause. Lena was uncomfortable with how quiet the house was. Even environmental noise like the wind seemed absent.

"So... we're both stuck here." Blake observed.

"Yeah." Lena said. "Until someone else comes around."

The pair stared at each other. And not to continue to gawk at their nudity.

"This seems like an oversight on the part of whoever came up with that rule." Blake leaned back in her chair.

"A bit." Lena said. "I'd blame whoever was the last of us to leave. She might not have even known either of us were up there."

"I HOPE that she knew we were there, or else she knowingly broke the rule about leaving the house occupied. That's a greater transgression, in my mind."

"Do you have a phone? We could call someone over there." Lena asked.

"I don't." Blake walked her empty bowl to the sink, where she rinsed it out and scrubbed it with the sponge. "There's normally at least six phones in this house. Didn't see the need to keep paying for it when the reception is so bad out here."

"I don't have one, either."

Blake's head craned around her surroundings. "Is there... a land line?"

"I'm sure there IS a land line. But even if they still worked, and even if we had a landline phone, what number would we call?" Lena's hand went to her chin, her eyes moving back and forth, as if she was reading something. "What are we going to do?"