The End of Evil Ch. 06

Junie had barely come to live with her new owners when ugly reality intruded on their idyllic world. Her search for a Master had caught the attention of a serial killer and she had barely escaped being his next victim. He was caught and facing trial; but now Junie had to testify. The whole idea of leaving her new home was more than she could bear to think about.

But she had to do it. Not only was there a subpoena, there was Monica. Her new friend, Monica, the only other woman to escape with her life, was a tiny fragile thing. Her body was barely healed from the horrific trauma of her assault and if Monica could be brave enough to face court and the man who had mutilated her, Junie knew she had to do it too, for Monica's sake.

Junie knew she was not going to have to do it alone. Her owners, Bob and Donna, were going to be there with her every step of the way. She knew she couldn't do it without them.

Chapter Six: Soul Searching

Junie woke in the middle of the night, her knees drawing up. It took a minute for her to realize that it was not morning, her bladder felt full, and a dull ache was in her belly. She slipped silently from the bed, careful to not wake her Master. As she used the bathroom, she decided this missing your period for three months in a row did not mean you were avoiding any of the bother or discomfort. This time the mood swings and the flow were much worse than usual and now she was having cramps. She took a couple aspirin and drank a tall glass of water.

As she crept on cat's feet back to bed, she noticed that Donna was once more sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed. Junie paused and looked down at the tiny mound under the blanket that was her Mistress and on impulse slipped under the same blanket and cuddled up close, wrapping her arm around the slender form, pressing her cheek against her warm shoulder blade. Donna sighed and mumbled something in her sleep and then was still again.

Junie woke to the touch of her Master's hand on her shoulder. She blinked and looked up at him. He held a cautionary finger to his lips, urging her to be silent and then beckoned her to follow. Once they were in the bathroom, he spoke softly, "Let's let her sleep for a while longer. I pushed her very hard yesterday and then we were awake quite late last night." He looked at her with a quizzical look on his face, "I was a little surprised to find myself all alone in bed this morning."

Junie bit her lip, "I don't know. I had to get up in the night and somehow when I saw her there all alone, I just had that same old feeling, not liking having her so far from me."

Bob shook his head, "Little one, did it never occur to you that my having her sleep alone may have a purpose?"

Junie's lip quivered, "No, Sir, I must confess that I probably was not thinking about that at all." She gave a little hiccup of a sob, "Master, I am trying so hard to try and stay honest, but I feel so out of control. I just have been having these feelings and they are so strong. I did not think. I saw Donna sleeping there and all I knew was I needed to be there too, not just with her, but with her there."

Bob stroked her face, "There is no fighting this is there? I cannot separate you two. You know Donna's disquiet upon her return from Portland is in many ways very similar to what you are experiencing now. There was something she needed so badly that she could not continue without it. I see now that you must join her on her journey." He smiled and then pulled Junie up to stand. "That being said, let's you and I get started on our day. Don't worry about dressing." He paused and glanced toward the form of Donna. His expression softened, "Unless you want to curl up with you Mistress once more?"

Junie giggled softly, "No, Master, I am wide awake now and I would kill for a cup of coffee."

"Well let's get started on our day."

Junie felt ridiculously happy to be making coffee, knowing she would soon join her Master and help groom their dogs when they returned from their morning walk. She knew that routine and organization was important to her and even the one day disruption to her daily routine had only emphasized her emotional turmoil of yesterday. His words of intending to include her in Donna's journey helped to soothe the nebulous sense of dissatisfaction and resentment that had haunted her throughout the day before.

Both Junie and Donna knelt at Bob's feet, their eyes met and both of them fought to suppress their gleeful grins looking at their plates on the floor. Bob had cut their pancakes up into bite sized pieces and Junie had sliced the fresh peaches up already. Bob had ordered them to clasp their hands behind their backs and to lean over and eat without their hands. Neither one was permitted to speak to the other so they were both speaking volumes with their expressions and their eyes.

As Junie leaned over and began to delicately nibble at the food on her plate she was painfully aware that her hair was hanging down into the syrup on her plate. She glanced up and felt a mild pang of envy for Donna's long hair so neatly braided up and out of the way. Junie made a mental shrug, there was little to be done about it now. She would just have to trust that eventually she would have a chance to wash her hair.

After they had finished their breakfast and dutifully licked their plates clean, Bob looked at their sticky faces and chuckled, "My, my, you two are such a mess. Go ahead and lick off each other's faces." It was hard not to giggle as they leaned close to one another and gently, lovingly cleaned off the butter, syrup and peach juice. Bob slipped a blindfold over each of their faces and then spoke again, "Okay, now I want you two to clean up this kitchen. No speaking and no peeking. I should be back before you are done."

The cleaning with the blindfold on was no challenge at all for Junie. She kept the kitchen so meticulously organized that she could put her hand on anything she wanted without looking. Without words she pressed a clean cloth into Donna's hand and pushed her to stand at the sink. It was kind of fun to help her Mistress learn the tasks without words and without vision, communicating only by touch. Junie had a fleeting memory of watching a movie about Helen Keller, and she smiled softly to herself well aware that her Master was forcing them to use different modes of thought and communication, giving them shared tasks deliberately. He was enhancing and exploiting the bond between her and Donna.

She gently picked up Donna's hand and slowly traced the letters I, L, O, V, E, Y, O, and U into her palm and then pressed it to her lips.

Junie could sense that the lack of vision and speech was weighing more heavily on Donna, but she was not surprised. Her Mistress seemed a more verbal person, less spatial, and certainly less patient. Without her eyes, Junie could hear the frequent small intakes of breath as Donna, over and over again, began to say some little thing and then caught herself with sigh of frustration. They were almost finished in the kitchen when they heard the door and their Master's steps.

"How are my blind mice doing? Are you about finished?"

Junie spoke up quickly, "Yes, Sir. Good enough for now." She could not help adding impishly, "As far as I can see." She squealed as she felt his hand smack sharply into her bottom.

"You are having way too much fun. We will have to see what we can do about that. Blindfolds off, I have some yard work that needs doing."

Junie heard Donna's sharp gasp of protest. It was no secret that Donna hated yard work. Bob had them apply a generous coat of sunscreen and then put them to work. He had them take turns with the push mower and raking, and then moved them to weeding in the garden. It was a hot August day and both of them were sweaty, grass stained, and dirty by noon. Bob gave them frequent breaks to drink plenty of fluids and made sure that Junie had plenty of opportunities to change her tampon. He pulled her to one side and asked her very seriously, "Can you go swimming?"

Junie laughed, "Of course, I just will need to change my tampon afterwards. Sir, it's not that big of a deal."

Bob laughed, "Well like I said before, it's been a long time since I have had to deal with this. And Donna had her hysterectomy before I became her Master. She was always so secretive about the whole thing."

Junie smiled and whispered conspiratorially, "Us women are taught to keep it all a very big secret. You know, women's magic."

Bob looked a little serious. "Women's magic is very powerful." And then he smiled, "You have us all under your spell."

Swimming in the cool lake was wonderful, rinsing the sweat and dirt from their skins. After lunch Bob sent them down to the basement to work on the teeter board. "I want you to practice your balancing some more." He set up a clock where it was easy to see. "I want you to practice until you can do it for five minutes again. When the five minutes are up, I want you to both close your eyes and see how long you can do it with your eyes closed. Once you have succeeded at five more minutes with your eyes closed you can take a break. Take the rest of the afternoon to do whatever you want. But if you don't succeed, I guess I will find you here still working at it when I come back. Remember, no talking. I am running into town for a while. Junie, I am taking your car."

Practicing on the board, holding each other's hands, looking into each other's eyes and balancing perfectly, continued to be difficult. It took a while for Junie's muscles to remember, to relax and stop trying to force it to happen, to surrender to the balance. Doing it with her eyes closed was easier than she had imagined. All the communication she needed came from Donna's hands holding hers. When they had succeeded in their task they embraced and then gave each other a high five.

Junie took a nice shower and washed her hair and answered her emails. Donna curled up with a book on the couch but was soon asleep, the book resting on her chest. Junie had dinner all ready to put in the oven and was downstairs, a movie going on her TV, working at her sewing machine when Bob returned.

He called them down to the basement, "I see you accomplished that pretty quickly, show me." Bob stood back and watched them as they each took each other's hands and stepped up on the two by six platform that teetered on a board which made a fulcrum in the makeshift see saw that he had fashioned for them to learn to balance on. "Do you always start like that, with Donna stepping up first and then Junie?"

Donna nodded, "Yes, Sir."

"Try it the other way. Step down, Junie, you get on first this time."

Having to balance as Donna eased her weight onto her end of the board was a new challenge, again there was a lesson to learn, but it came quickly. Junie was recognizing that the balance was becoming increasingly automatic. Once they had established equilibrium Bob told them to close their eyes. There was a sense of accomplishment when he praised them, "You are doing really well. Keep your balance, but open your eyes and then very carefully and slowly let go of each other's hands."

As soon as Donna's fingers slipped from Junie's grasp the board began to teeter wildly. Junie found her arms instinctively wind milling as she lost her balance and stepped off. Only then did Junie realize how much communication flowed through that touch. Bob nodded, "I thought that would make it harder. There will come a time when you will be able to do this without touch or vision, but for now, practice without holding hands." Bob left them to their practice.

They had made only a little progress when he returned, "That's enough for now. Junie, go make dinner; Donna, help me carry the teeter board out to the workshop. I want to make some modifications on it."

After dinner he brought them back down and showed off the changes. The fulcrum was taller, almost eight inches tall, and there were two ridges attached to the board to keep the fulcrum from slipping to one side or the other. Before, balance meant hovering just two inches off the floor. Now, failure was accompanied with a sickening sense of falling. Now, the final achievement of perfect equilibrium was more laborious and the whole process was plagued with fatigue and a dim feeling of queasiness that sapped Junie's stamina.

They had to learn their old skill all over again. Junie understood Bob's reason for his slow approach. This was hard, almost beyond her and Donna's abilities, and lately successes were few and far between. She could see from the tightening around her Mistress's eyes and grimly clenched jaw that Donna was starting to really hate the whole thing. Every time Bob said the word 'balance' they were starting to cringe, and Junie had to admit that all the fun had gone out of the whole exercise. If Donna had not been there with her, Junie was very aware that she would have rebelled, surrendering to failure rather than to her Master's will.

Even now there were times when one or the other would find themselves pleading wordlessly with their eyes with the other for the strength and support to just try one more time. There was a torture at the heart of the task, the sense of no matter how much progress they made that there was more, so much more to overcome, that this was endless and insurmountable.

Their days stretched one into another, and developed a predictability that Junie found solace in. Mornings of physical work, sessions of practice on the hated balancing board, only an hour or two of free time in the afternoons, and then more practice or play in the evening. Junie loved routine, but she could tell Donna was starting to struggle with some of the restrictions, particularly the rules against talking and the dreaded balancing. More than once Junie caught Donna muttering under her breath about 'fucking circus acts'. There was little in the way of extreme tests, Bob seemed to have opted of the slow inexorable grinding away at Donna's sharp edges, rather than a focused assault to break her down.

Of late, Bob had them digging out a foundation for an addition to the garage for Junie to park her Miata in, having them dig the trench by hand rather than have a contractor with a tractor do the work in a just a few short hours. When Bob made some positive comment about having them mix the concrete themselves, Donna made a protesting wail, "Damn it, this is fucking insane. I am too old for this kind of fucking slave labor. I can't do this anymore!" She threw down her shovel and marched into the house.

Junie watched as her Mistress stalked away and wavered, Bob stood watching her with a satisfied look on his face, like this was something he was expecting. Junie had a very real sense that he was very pleased. He turned to Junie, "That took longer than I expected. Put away the tools and come on in to the house."

As Junie came into the house she was shocked and frightened to hear Donna in the basement raging, "Make up your fucking mind! What are we, the fucking Cirque du Soleil or a chain gang? You lecture me about intention! What is your fucking intention? What the fuck are you trying to accomplish?!"

As Junie cautiously crept into the basement she saw the odd sight of Donna verbally berating her Master yet completely physically passive in his hands as he tied her in a rigorous hog tie. He was completely ignoring her as he tightened the ropes and then looked up at Junie and shrugged, his eyes dancing.

Donna was literally screaming at him, "Go ahead, do your worst. What's next, juggling?"

Bob slipped a blindfold over Donna's eyes and then put earplugs and headphones over her ears. He looked up at Junie, "We'll let her rant for a while. I want you to sit here and keep an eye on her. Do not touch her or in any way let her know you are here. Only untie her if she says she is being injured by the ropes. Listen all you want. I actually find this very entertaining." He carefully checked the ropes and Donna's circulation and then threw a blanket over her, gave Junie a wink, "We will let her sing this song for a while. Eventually, I will expect her tune to change."

Junie marveled at how long it took Donna to quit yelling. Bob returned every little while to check the ropes and the color of Donna's feet and fingers. Each time he pulled the blanket off, and touched her, Donna would resume her rant. Daring him to beat her, telling him that nothing he could do would get her back on that 'fucking board' or to 'dig his own fucking holes', but her voice was becoming more desperate. Each time he put the blanket over her and walked away there was more uncertainty to her protests.

Bob looked at Junie, "Go take a break from this. I will sit with her for a while. Make dinner and then check in with me. She is just getting started."

Dinner was a simple casserole of vegetables, venison, and tortellini, in delicate parmesan and garlic sauce. Junie got out a loaf of crusty French bread from the freezer to put into the oven to crisp.

As she made her way downstairs, Donna's tones were softer, bitter, "I know what you are trying to do. It won't work. I don't care."

Bob looked up and shook his head, "Stage two, stubborn bitch. She has completely lost touch with anything except needing to win." He looked at Junie, "So, little one, how are you doing with this? It was hard when you felt her stepping away from her strength, now she is struggling to reclaim it." He lifted her chin and looked carefully into her eyes.

Junie blinked and frowned in thought, "When she first blew up at you, threw the shovel down and walked away, I was shocked. I think I was afraid you would be mad, but then you acted like she was almost supposed to do this. I don't know exactly what's going to happen, but I don't feel left out or unneeded. I feel like I am just sort of watching and waiting." She gave Bob a tremulous smile, "I guess I am feeling more trusting, safer. And maybe my hormones have died down some."

Bob stroked her cheek, "This stage of Donna's journey may take a while. You will need to be very self-aware. If you find yourself questioning or fearful you must come to me immediately."

Junie nodded, voicing a concern that had been bothering her, "How long is it safe for her to be tied in that one position?"

Bob laughed, "Good asking, I will be repositioning her soon. Don't worry I will not allow her to be injured. How long until dinner is ready?"

"About a half hour."

"We will be eating down here again. I really need to build a table down here. Go ahead and take some time for yourself. Bring our dinner down here when it is done cooking. Donna will be skipping the main course tonight, but she will be drinking lots of water." He chuckled, "Our Donna is going to learn about trust, I think."

Junie tried to focus on her email, but found herself drawn back down to the basement. Not only was she feeling curious, but she also felt a strong need to be closer to her Master right now. She eventually brought her laptop computer down to the basement and curled up at his feet.

Bob looked over her shoulder, "Who are you writing?"

Junie spoke softly, distractedly, "I usually write something to Tammi and Monica every day. Little things, what I am making for dinner, the weather. Funny things that I have thought about..." She looked up at him. "I really don't have anyone that I can talk to about what's going on here. Donna is the only person I had to talk to about all this and right now..." She stopped and shrugged, "Anyway, I know it is just for a little while longer."

Bob stroked her hair, "Yes, little one. You are right. Go on up and finish our dinner and bring it on down. Bring a pitcher of ice water, too."

When Junie returned to the basement she was relieved to see that Bob was untying the hog tie on Donna and massaging and manipulating her arms and legs. Donna was grunting in pain as her muscles protested. Bob retied her, binding her arms to her sides and her legs together from hips to ankles, wrapping the rope around her over and over until she was encased from shoulders to ankles. Junie thought she looked almost like a mummy or perhaps a caterpillar.