sageoftruth
TMF Novice
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2005
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Summary: After a successful revenge, Alyssa's friends are more than eager to get her back, and more importantly, get rid of the video she recorded of their tickle torture. As they use restraints and tickling fingers to coerce Alyssa into cooperating with them, they do not realize that Alyssa has far more than her video at stake.
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(Part 5)
*Chee* *chee*… *Chee* *chee*
Alyssa winced as she opened her eyes. “Annoying birds,” she mumbled to herself. In her time away, the birds were one of the few things she hadn’t missed about home.
*CHEE CHEE*!
She couldn’t ignore it any longer. “Argh! Enough already! I should make eggs for breakfast today. That’ll show them.”
“Sounds delicious! Add some bacon too!”
Alyssa nearly jumped out of bed. “What!? Sandra?” She jerked awake, only to feel a pull on her wrists when she tried to rub her eyes.
Sandra flashed her a toothy grin. “Enjoy my bird call?”
Hannah and Brianna stood on either side of her, all three of them gathered behind the foot of Alyssa’s bed. Their hair jutted out from their scalps in clumped strands, bags hung below their eyes, and splotches of tangerine and tan could be seen on Sandra’s and Hannah’s faces, around their eyes and lips thanks to their running makeup.
They’d come up here in a hurry for sure, but Alyssa still couldn’t believe what she saw. She looked over at her alarm clock. 4:47. “How is this possible? I tickled you three to exhaustion?”
Sandra planted her hands on her hips and stared down at Alyssa. “And do you think this was easy? It’s a good thing I’m a morning person.” She gestured with her head towards Hannah and Brianna. “Getting those two sleep sacks outta bed was the hard part.”
“But I locked the door.”
“Please,” Hannah said dismissing the argument with wave, “we have been to your house how many times? We know about the key your mother keeps beneath the kitchen sink.”
Alyssa cursed under her breath. She tried her restraints again, but handcuffs kept her wrists from straying far from the bedposts on either side of her bed. She tugged against the restraints on her ankles, but her efforts were quickly undone by the elastic pull of the bungee cords from last night on her ankles. Half-dressed and stuck in a spread-eagle position on her own bed, she began to feel her breath quicken. “Um… guys? I know I… I put you through a lot last night, but… well… we’re even now right? Isn’t a clean conscience better than revenge?” She searched each of their faces for any sign of agreement or remorse.
“There’s no need to worry,” Hannah said. “We understand, and we are not here for something as crass as petty revenge.” Her words were reassuring as usual, but the trio of sinister faces before her said something completely different. All three of them grinned and giggled to each other with glimmers of mischief in their eyes.
“Um… good to know. So why did you tie me up then?”
Sandra came forward. “Simple. We want the video you took of us. Show us where it is and once it’s gonzo, you can go free.”
“Oh! I-is that all?” She sighed. Losing such a treasure would be disappointing, but was it really worth protecting? In her vulnerable position she doubted it. “Ok, I guess. If you really want it you can find it on my…” Her words cut off as a sudden revelation hit her. The location of the video was in her “Private” folder. She recalled all the naughty drawings she had stored away in there, most of them featuring three ladies standing before her. The thought that she was one word away from triggering a thorough search of that folder made her entire body seize up.
“What is it?” Hannah asked. Alyssa remained silent, and Hannah sighed. “Alyssa, we cannot relax until we know that the video is gone and can never be used against us. Help us get rid of the video and we shall untie you.”
“I…I see…” Alyssa stared down at the black and orange stripes of her tee shirt as she pondered what to say back. She could still feel everyone’s gaze upon her. Every passing second made her look more suspicious. “Look, guys. I can’t tell you why, but that video is important to me. I can’t tell you where it is? Just trust me this time. I won’t use it to embarrass or blackmail you. Why would I even do something like that? We’ve been friends for too long.”
Brianna’s eyes narrowed as she approached the bed. “I think we’ve dawdled long enough. The iciness in her voice halted Alyssa before she could begin to protest. She watched with trepidation as the tips of Brianna’s demure fingers lowered towards her striped toes and then disappeared behind the walls of her bare feet. The next two seconds seemed to last minutes before several light finger strokes scratched just under the balls of her feet, and released her from the torture of anticipation. She surrendered instantly to the tickling, whooping and bouncing against her bed until the fingers stopped. The feeling left her stunned. It had only been a few seconds, but her heart was thumping hard against her chest as if she’d just done an hour of sparring.
“What did you do to me?” Alyssa asked.
Brianna grinned. “While you were out, we gave you a light oil massage with your own lotion. You can tell us what we want to know, or we can find out if your feet are as ticklish as mine.”
“…or if your sides are as ticklish as mine,” Sandra added.
“Or your belly,” Hannah added as well. “Well, we have given you all of the details. Do you have anything to say before we begin? I hate to do this to you, but you know, desperate measures, so you’d best make your next words count.”
Alyssa’s predicament had her mind racing, but her mind may as well have been on vacation for all the good it was doing her. What could she possibly say? Certainly not the truth. No amount of tickling could possibly be worse than that kind of humiliation. She could imagine the words of outrage, see the looks of disgust, and could feel the self-loathing when her 15-year friendships came to an abrupt end.
“Time’s up,” Sandra said, brushing past the other two, and smacking her palm with her fist. Her long, pointy red fingernails flashed across Alyssa’s vision and made her scrunch her toes as she recalled their sharp, sleek touch from yesterday afternoon. “Ready?” Sandra asked.
“C-come on, Sandra. Isn’t this bullying? You promised me you wouldn’t ever bully me again, right?”
Sandra paused, but only for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s not bullying, it’s just fun between friends, NOW GIMME THE VIDEO RECORDINGS STRIPE HEAD!” She grabbed Alyssa’s small, wide-toed foot, and pressed the bottom of her palm against the pads of all five toes, forcing them to un-scrunch.
Alyssa felt the stretch and the frightening jump in sensitivity along the taut sole of her foot. She felt the light air from the ceiling fan, the short gusts of warm breath from Sandra’s mouth, and she even felt positive she could feel her friend’s fingers wiggling inches from the sole of her foot. There was a reason Sandra had loved doing this to her. Both of them knew that as soon as Sandra’s nails began stroking her foot, she would go completely mad with laughter. The only question was, how much worse would it be, now that her bare feet were all oiled up?
Keep it together, Alyssa, you’ve been through this countless times before. You can handle it, she told herself, as she tried to keep her breathing normal. However, as the first finger stroke swept across her bare foot, in the span of one second, she felt a rush of energy and then a cascade of fear. I can’t do it! I can’t do it! she said on the inside, as she shrieked, and released a torrent of laughter on the outside.
Sandra’s long pointy nails easily slid from heel to arch to the ball of her foot. “Wow, this oil is amazing. It feels like you’re wearing nylons on these feet of yours.”
Alyssa sorely wished that she was, as she filled her own bedroom with manic laughter, thumped her head against her pillow, and flexed the toes on her other foot as far as she could possibly spread them. Perhaps nylons would have made this at least a smidgen more tolerable. This was unbearable, and she completely lost herself, as she danced to the tune of Sandra’s nails.
Sandra leaned forward. “Wanna tell us where the video is?” Alyssa tried to respond, but all she could do was shake her head as she went red in the face. “What? Is that a ‘no’?”
“I CAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHEHEHEAHAHAHAHA!” Alyssa said.
Hannah reached forward and grabbed Sandra’s wrist, giving Alyssa a very welcome respite. “For goodness sake, Sandra! We cannot learn anything if Alyssa passes out! Show some restraint, but keep her occupied regardless.”
Sandra nodded and returned one finger to Alyssa’s foot. Alyssa saw it approaching and panicked. “No! Wait! I – I…!” The long fingernail scratched up and down the ball of Alyssa’s trembling foot, a light restrained scratch, but it was still far beyond what Alyssa’s oiled up foot could handle. Alyssa scrunched her face and resisted for a second or two before a steady stream of laughter ushered forth from her mouth, and she started banging her fist against the corner of her bed.
“Will you tell us where the video is now?”
The offer made her fingers and toes curl in frustration. Her mind went back and forth on her position. Her tingling foot, and aching sides implored her to give in, but every time she considered it, fear of the ensuing embarrassment and rejection drove her back. “Sohohohohorry! I cahahahan’t!... NOOOhohoho!” She jumped and chortled in surprise as Sandra slipped in her middle finger to join in the teasing of Alyssa’s peachy arch.
Sandra snickered. “Aww… Can’t handle a little tickle on your footsie? Are you starting to regret forcing me to play rigged tickle games with you?” Her two fingers picked up speed.
Alyssa scrunched her face and hammered on her bed, matching the speed of Sandra’s strokes. “AhahahahahaI’m sohohohohorry!” she cried. “Plehehehehease! I’m sorry! Hahahahaha!” Through trembling lips, she repeated her apologies over and over, all too eager to calm her tickle-happy friend.
However, her pleas only seemed to anger Sandra. Using all five of her fingers, she spidered up and down Alyssa’s foot, scrambling up her arch and digging into the toes before tickling back down towards the heel and sending Alyssa back into fits of mad hysterics. Sandra glowered at her. “Are you sorry for tickling my sides? How about for making me embarrass myself in front of everyone? How about for being such a damn wimp? First you tie me down and go all Maleficent on me, but once it’s your turn, nothing but begging and apologies. Maybe if I tickle you hard enough, you’ll learn your lesson!”
The more she apologized, the angrier Sandra appeared to get, which only frightened her into apologizing even more. Completely swept up in a wave of hysteria and panic, Alyssa could do nothing except howl with laughter and blubber apologies over and over in some vain hope that maybe this time it would work. Tears seeped from her eyes as a ticklish despair began to overtake her.
“Enough! I hereby relieve you of interrogation duty!” Hanna snapped. Alyssa watched through the gap between her feet as Hannah grabbed Sandra from behind and tried to pull her away. Sandra resisted, staring straight into Alyssa’s eyes like a beast.
“I’M NOT DONE YET!” Shoving Hanna aside, she leapt onto the bed and straddled Alyssa, staring down at her with cruel look that she hadn’t seen since third grade. “Ready to see which of us REALLY has the most ticklish sides?”
Alyssa couldn’t have shaken her head harder, but once again, her protests only egged on her aggressor. Wiggling her fingers as a warning, Sandra slipped her hands beneath Alyssa’s tee shirt. She could feel the pointy fake nails resting against her naked sides and her body froze. Sandra stared down at her, seeming to relish her nervous anticipation.
Alyssa’s sides had never felt so sensitive before. A light tingle teased across them as her belly rose and fell with each breath. She tried to lighten her breathing, despite the intense pounding of her heartbeat. She bit her lower lip to silence any stray giggles that might provoke Sandra’s cruel instruments of tickle torture into action like a pair of startled spiders.
She then did her best to forget she’d ever made that comparison, which was a very good thing because all she got from Sandra was the subtlest of grins before those “spiders” started tickling up and down her sides, making her thrash and wriggle like a spider herself. “HAHAHAHASAHAHAHANDRAAAA!” she cried.
“Yeah, tickles doesn’t it? How do you think I liked it? Let’s give you the full experie-hey!” Two pairs of arms grabbed Sandra from behind and began to pull at her. “Let me go dammit! I’m not done teaching her a lesson yet!” The sudden distraction gave Alyssa a brief break from Sandra’s nails, but Sandra refused to give ground and clung to Alyssa’s sides, giving them plenty of squeezes.
“NOHOHOHOHO! GEHEHEHET ‘ER OFF ME! HAHAHAHAHA!” Alyssa begged. Working together, Hannah and Brianna managed to drag Sandra backward. Alyssa squealed as Sandra’s groping fingers slid down her sides, and began whooping and howling with laughter as Sandra’s fingers began pinching her hips.
Alyssa’s three friends tumbled off the bed together, to Alyssa’s immense relief, despite the traces of disappointment her body was feeling. Under less tickly conditions, she would have welcomed being straddled by a half-naked muscular beauty like Sandra. However, despite the perkiness she felt in her chest, she wanted the rabid beast in front of her as far away as possible. “Let go of me! I’ll teach her to embarrass me like that!” Sandra shouted.
“SANDRA!” Hannah snapped, startling Sandra to silence. “I understand your feelings. Believe me, I too would love to get even after last night.” Hannah grasped Sandra’s shoulders and stared straight into her eyes. “…but we are not here to teach her a lesson. We are here to find the video. That is what matters the most.”
Sandra nodded. “Ok. I get it.”
Hannah smiled. “Good. You look tired. Sit down and take a break. We will call you if we need you.” Sandra dropped into Alyssa’s computer chair to calm down, and Hannah approached the bed.
“Y-you know, I’m really tired too. Can I have a break as well?” Alyssa asked.
Instead of responding, Hannah reached for Alyssa’s feet. Alyssa shifted in her bed and tried to flinch her feet away, but Hannah’s grip on them was gentle, like a mother playing with a newborn infant. “That depends. Will you tell us about the video?”
Alyssa blinked. “Oh! The video?” After surviving Sandra frenzied tickling, she had completely forgotten what the point of this whole scenario was really about.
“That’s right, the video,” Hannah said in a gentle half-whisper that felt a bit unsettling coming from someone with black punk rocker hair and running white makeup. “Do you remember?”
Alyssa nodded, but her head felt foggy. Hannah’s touch on her feet was soft and inoffensive, but she could not relax with those hands so close. She hadn’t forgotten how fast those midnight black fingernails could move across her feet. Hannah’s sympathetic gaze was reassuring. Hannah pressed the flats of her fingers against the roofs of Alyssa’s feet and rubbed up and down right where her toes began. Once this started, she couldn’t help but relax. “Do you remember?” Hannah asked again in a soft hypnotic voice.
This was too much. After going through tickle-Hell with Sandra, she was getting what her body craved. She made a conscious effort not to murmur, “Higher,” as she lay there. “Y-yeah. I… I remember,” she said.
“Where is the video?”
Alyssa tried to think, and as soon as she remembered, the sudden panic snapped her out of her reverie. “I-ah! I mean I don’t know. I can’t say!”
The blissful rubbing of her feet stopped. “Well, that’s a shame.” Hannah walked her fingers downward, across the soles of Alyssa’s feet. The steps were slow, and infrequent, tickling just enough to make her curl her feet and scrunch her face, but the threat of something far worse felt very real. “Are you certain nothing comes to mind?”
Hannah cursed under her breath. Brianna then came forward. “Well, we’ve tried negative reinforcement, and positive reinforcement.” As she spoke to Hannah, her eyes never left Alyssa. “Why not try both? That usually works best.”
“Splendid! I assume you wish to handle the negative reinforcement?”
Brianna nodded. “Sandra, I’ll need your help for this.”
More than happy to help out, Sandra got up from the desk chair. “Nice! What do you need me for?”
“Grab her by the toes. Keep both of her feet completely immobile. I’ll handle the rest.”
Alyssa’s whole body shook as the three of them approached her. “C-come on guys! Isn’t this a bit excessive?” None of them responded. This is it, she thought. Her sides ached with every breath she took, and her mind was already beginning to resign itself to defeat. Remember the pictures. The horrible, embarrassing pictures, she told herself, but she struggled to hold onto the fears that kept her from surrendering.
Just looking at the three women standing before her made her re-experience all the tickle torture she’d suffered at their hands since she was little. The time in third grade recess when Sandra had shoved her face into the sand in the elementary school sandbox, and then tickled her sides and the backs of her knees until her mouth was full of sand… The time in middle school theater practice when Hannah and the rest of the cast had locked her feet into prop stocks and took turns tickling them until she was red in the face… The time during an intense gaming session, when Brianna had tickled her armpits to get her to drop the controller, and then kept going because of her cute laugh… and of course all the times, when they’d had sleepovers and all three of them decided to gang up on her. It all felt far more tactile than whatever fate awaited her if she surrendered.
It became a lot realer as Sandra’s strong hands clamped down on her toes and pulled them back. Brianna leaned in and blew on one of her stretched arches, which made her yelp and sent a massive shiver down her spine. Hannah leaned in beside her ear. “This looks like it could be rather intense. Are you certain you want to endure this?”
Of course she did not want to endure this. She wanted to be untied and freed from this mess. Still, she knew she would never forgive herself if she surrendered her darkest secrets before the tickling had even started. Clenching her teeth, she nodded her head.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Brianna said in an icy tone. “After all, we’ve got plenty to discuss.” Alyssa shivered as Brianna’s index fingers settled just under her big toes. Alyssa tried to flinch away, but Sandra ensured that her feet did not budge.
“Brianna, please don’t do this! You know I hate that spot,” Alyssa begged. Brianna grinned but said nothing. “Look! I’m sorry for what I did to you yesterday. I know, I got carried away. Seriously carried away. You were just so fun to tickle. You must know what that’s like, right? I am so sorry!”
Brianna stared upwards, as she considered Alyssa’s words. “Well, ok. That’s reasonable. I forgive you.”
Alyssa could hardly believe it. That was far too easy. “R-really?”
Brianna nodded. “Sure. I forgive you. I no longer bear you any ill will. You were right. I guess I can feel emotions sometimes. I’m glad to have that out of my system.” Her index fingers then started moving, teasing back and forth across the small spaces just under her big toes.
Alyssa immediately burst into giggles, which grew louder and heavier until she was nearly laughing. “Briannahahahahahaha! Whahahhahahahahy!?”
Brianna smiled back. “I told you. My reasons are purely logical. I want to find the video and erase it from existence. Also, I have a few things to say about that discussion we had last night.”
The tickling in her big toes grew more and more insufferable by the second. Each stroke hit like an electric shock and made her feet try to curl, but Sandra ensured that they did not. Brianna’s fingers repeated the same motion over and over, scratching the same spot so lightly it left no marks, and yet it felt like her fingers were slowly boring into the nerve endings of Alyssa’s toes as each stroke tickled a bit worse than the last. She could not tell if her sensitivity was increasing or if her tolerance for it was wearing away. “Plehehehehease! I sahahahahaid I’m sorry! Hahahaha!”
“And I said that I forgive you,” Brianna replied in her usual dry tone. “Still, you know me. I cannot leave imperfections alone when they cross my path, and your argument from last night was full of them. Let’s go over them.”
“Nohohoho! Ahahahahanything but thahahat!” Alyssa cried, wishing she could smack herself for getting so carried away with Brianna the night before.
“Yes, that. Shall we begin?”
I apologize for not bringing these up earlier, but I was in no position to make further arguments last night, thanks to a certain wandering pair of hands. Anyway, let’s begin with your argument about the credibility of my arguments. That invoked a fallacy known as…
Brianna droned on, as she often tended to, barely appearing to register that her fingers were still wiggling along the undersides of Alyssa’s toes and making her thrash about in frustration, beat her head against the pillow, and laugh towards the ceiling. Her striped tee shirt began to ride up her stomach, while her hair whipped across her face. Brianna’s patient, methodical manner of speaking appeared to slow down time to a crawl. Listening to it was trying enough without the tickling, but waiting for it to end in the vain hope that her torture would end with it reduced Ashley to tears.
She felt a hand wipe a tear from her eye. She turned her head and saw Hannah by her side. Hannah placed a perfectly maintained hand on Alyssa’s forehead and stroked her hair. “Alyssa, please. It pains me to see you like this,” Hannah whispered. “Provide us with the video so we can leave you in peace. I feel miserable having to inflict this upon you.” Her words were moving and her cracking voice displayed genuine remorse, an emotion Hannah was great at faking. Alyssa struggled to be skeptical in her current situation, as Hannah continued to egg her on. “Alyssa, you cannot keep this up forever. Please stop being so stubborn, for all our sakes.”
Alyssa really wanted to believe her. None of this suffering was necessary. All she had to do was tell them the truth. She did not refuse, but she could not bring herself to comply either. There was no turning back once she gave in, and she knew it. Hannah sighed. “Very well. If you cannot decide, then I will hurry this along. Remember, I do this for your sake.”
Alyssa felt the side of the bed sink as Hannah climbed up and knelt beside her atop the bed. Hannah’s hands slipped through the sleeves of her tee shirt and Alyssa let out an ear-piercing shriek as the black nails of Hannah’s dexterous hands tickled her as if they were performing a guitar solo on her armpits.
Alyssa arched her back against her beg as she screamed towards the ceiling. “EEEEEEEEEEAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHO STAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DOHOHOHOHOHON’T! PLEHEHEHEASE!” Alyssa’s voice was raw and her tone, desperate, but the tickling did not stop.
“Tell us, please,” Hannah repeated. Alyssa considered it. “TELL US!” Hannah snapped.
That was the final straw. She could not hold out like this, and holding out was only postponing the inevitable. “HAHAHAHOKAY! OKAY! I’LL TALK! STAHAHAHAHAHAP!”
“You heard her, everyone!” Hannah said. “Give her some space.” Hannah pulled her hands free of the shirt, Sandra released her feet, and Brianna ceased her tickling.
Alyssa lay still, heaving for breath. Once air was flowing normally through her lungs, she lay still. “Where is the video?” Brianna asked. Alyssa did not reply. She had made up her mind, and had no intention of enduring any more tickling, but speaking up still scared her.
“Will you tell us where it is?” Hannah pressed.
“…yes…” she said in a weak voice.
“Well, where is it then?” Sandra asked. “Is it still on your phone?”
Alyssa started to shake her head but stopped. Was it on her phone? She had transferred a copy to her computer, but did she ever delete the original? Her mind was too foggy to remember, but the possibility filled her with hope. “G-give me my phone…” she whispered. Hannah picked up Alyssa’s iPhone from her nightstand and held it up to Alyssa’s hand.
Alyssa shook as she pushed the power button. The password screen came up. It took a few tries, but she eventually entered the right password. “G-go to ‘Photos’. It sh-should be there.”
Hannah nodded and began navigating the phone. Brianna and Sandra huddled beside her as the three of them peered at the phone, while Alyssa watched them from her bed. “Is this it?” Hannah pressed on the screen and the three of them wrinkled their noses as the video started playing.
A voice sounded from the phone. “This isn’t what I think it is, is it?” Brianna’s recorded voice asked. “Are we about to end up on the internet? Please tell me that I’m mistaken.”
Brianna groaned. “Ugh! Please, hurry up and delete it. I’ve seen enough of that video.” Hannah pressed on the screen and the three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.
An oppressive silence filled the room. They exchanged looks, but no one had anything to say. “Hand me the key,” Hannah said at last. Sandra grabbed the key she’d left on the desk and passed it over. Hannah undid one handcuff and then leaned across to remove the other. Alyssa rubbed her wrists as Sandra and Brianna untied the bungee cords around her ankles.
“Well, I guess we should all take showers right now,” Hannah said. “We all look terrible.”
The others nodded and turned to leave. “Do you guys need towels?” Alyssa asked.
“We know where they are,” Hannah said. The three of them walked out and closed the door behind them, leaving Alyssa alone in her room.
(To be continued)
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(Part 5)
*Chee* *chee*… *Chee* *chee*
Alyssa winced as she opened her eyes. “Annoying birds,” she mumbled to herself. In her time away, the birds were one of the few things she hadn’t missed about home.
*CHEE CHEE*!
She couldn’t ignore it any longer. “Argh! Enough already! I should make eggs for breakfast today. That’ll show them.”
“Sounds delicious! Add some bacon too!”
Alyssa nearly jumped out of bed. “What!? Sandra?” She jerked awake, only to feel a pull on her wrists when she tried to rub her eyes.
Sandra flashed her a toothy grin. “Enjoy my bird call?”
Hannah and Brianna stood on either side of her, all three of them gathered behind the foot of Alyssa’s bed. Their hair jutted out from their scalps in clumped strands, bags hung below their eyes, and splotches of tangerine and tan could be seen on Sandra’s and Hannah’s faces, around their eyes and lips thanks to their running makeup.
They’d come up here in a hurry for sure, but Alyssa still couldn’t believe what she saw. She looked over at her alarm clock. 4:47. “How is this possible? I tickled you three to exhaustion?”
Sandra planted her hands on her hips and stared down at Alyssa. “And do you think this was easy? It’s a good thing I’m a morning person.” She gestured with her head towards Hannah and Brianna. “Getting those two sleep sacks outta bed was the hard part.”
“But I locked the door.”
“Please,” Hannah said dismissing the argument with wave, “we have been to your house how many times? We know about the key your mother keeps beneath the kitchen sink.”
Alyssa cursed under her breath. She tried her restraints again, but handcuffs kept her wrists from straying far from the bedposts on either side of her bed. She tugged against the restraints on her ankles, but her efforts were quickly undone by the elastic pull of the bungee cords from last night on her ankles. Half-dressed and stuck in a spread-eagle position on her own bed, she began to feel her breath quicken. “Um… guys? I know I… I put you through a lot last night, but… well… we’re even now right? Isn’t a clean conscience better than revenge?” She searched each of their faces for any sign of agreement or remorse.
“There’s no need to worry,” Hannah said. “We understand, and we are not here for something as crass as petty revenge.” Her words were reassuring as usual, but the trio of sinister faces before her said something completely different. All three of them grinned and giggled to each other with glimmers of mischief in their eyes.
“Um… good to know. So why did you tie me up then?”
Sandra came forward. “Simple. We want the video you took of us. Show us where it is and once it’s gonzo, you can go free.”
“Oh! I-is that all?” She sighed. Losing such a treasure would be disappointing, but was it really worth protecting? In her vulnerable position she doubted it. “Ok, I guess. If you really want it you can find it on my…” Her words cut off as a sudden revelation hit her. The location of the video was in her “Private” folder. She recalled all the naughty drawings she had stored away in there, most of them featuring three ladies standing before her. The thought that she was one word away from triggering a thorough search of that folder made her entire body seize up.
“What is it?” Hannah asked. Alyssa remained silent, and Hannah sighed. “Alyssa, we cannot relax until we know that the video is gone and can never be used against us. Help us get rid of the video and we shall untie you.”
“I…I see…” Alyssa stared down at the black and orange stripes of her tee shirt as she pondered what to say back. She could still feel everyone’s gaze upon her. Every passing second made her look more suspicious. “Look, guys. I can’t tell you why, but that video is important to me. I can’t tell you where it is? Just trust me this time. I won’t use it to embarrass or blackmail you. Why would I even do something like that? We’ve been friends for too long.”
Brianna’s eyes narrowed as she approached the bed. “I think we’ve dawdled long enough. The iciness in her voice halted Alyssa before she could begin to protest. She watched with trepidation as the tips of Brianna’s demure fingers lowered towards her striped toes and then disappeared behind the walls of her bare feet. The next two seconds seemed to last minutes before several light finger strokes scratched just under the balls of her feet, and released her from the torture of anticipation. She surrendered instantly to the tickling, whooping and bouncing against her bed until the fingers stopped. The feeling left her stunned. It had only been a few seconds, but her heart was thumping hard against her chest as if she’d just done an hour of sparring.
“What did you do to me?” Alyssa asked.
Brianna grinned. “While you were out, we gave you a light oil massage with your own lotion. You can tell us what we want to know, or we can find out if your feet are as ticklish as mine.”
“…or if your sides are as ticklish as mine,” Sandra added.
“Or your belly,” Hannah added as well. “Well, we have given you all of the details. Do you have anything to say before we begin? I hate to do this to you, but you know, desperate measures, so you’d best make your next words count.”
Alyssa’s predicament had her mind racing, but her mind may as well have been on vacation for all the good it was doing her. What could she possibly say? Certainly not the truth. No amount of tickling could possibly be worse than that kind of humiliation. She could imagine the words of outrage, see the looks of disgust, and could feel the self-loathing when her 15-year friendships came to an abrupt end.
“Time’s up,” Sandra said, brushing past the other two, and smacking her palm with her fist. Her long, pointy red fingernails flashed across Alyssa’s vision and made her scrunch her toes as she recalled their sharp, sleek touch from yesterday afternoon. “Ready?” Sandra asked.
“C-come on, Sandra. Isn’t this bullying? You promised me you wouldn’t ever bully me again, right?”
Sandra paused, but only for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s not bullying, it’s just fun between friends, NOW GIMME THE VIDEO RECORDINGS STRIPE HEAD!” She grabbed Alyssa’s small, wide-toed foot, and pressed the bottom of her palm against the pads of all five toes, forcing them to un-scrunch.
Alyssa felt the stretch and the frightening jump in sensitivity along the taut sole of her foot. She felt the light air from the ceiling fan, the short gusts of warm breath from Sandra’s mouth, and she even felt positive she could feel her friend’s fingers wiggling inches from the sole of her foot. There was a reason Sandra had loved doing this to her. Both of them knew that as soon as Sandra’s nails began stroking her foot, she would go completely mad with laughter. The only question was, how much worse would it be, now that her bare feet were all oiled up?
Keep it together, Alyssa, you’ve been through this countless times before. You can handle it, she told herself, as she tried to keep her breathing normal. However, as the first finger stroke swept across her bare foot, in the span of one second, she felt a rush of energy and then a cascade of fear. I can’t do it! I can’t do it! she said on the inside, as she shrieked, and released a torrent of laughter on the outside.
Sandra’s long pointy nails easily slid from heel to arch to the ball of her foot. “Wow, this oil is amazing. It feels like you’re wearing nylons on these feet of yours.”
Alyssa sorely wished that she was, as she filled her own bedroom with manic laughter, thumped her head against her pillow, and flexed the toes on her other foot as far as she could possibly spread them. Perhaps nylons would have made this at least a smidgen more tolerable. This was unbearable, and she completely lost herself, as she danced to the tune of Sandra’s nails.
Sandra leaned forward. “Wanna tell us where the video is?” Alyssa tried to respond, but all she could do was shake her head as she went red in the face. “What? Is that a ‘no’?”
“I CAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHEHEHEAHAHAHAHA!” Alyssa said.
Hannah reached forward and grabbed Sandra’s wrist, giving Alyssa a very welcome respite. “For goodness sake, Sandra! We cannot learn anything if Alyssa passes out! Show some restraint, but keep her occupied regardless.”
Sandra nodded and returned one finger to Alyssa’s foot. Alyssa saw it approaching and panicked. “No! Wait! I – I…!” The long fingernail scratched up and down the ball of Alyssa’s trembling foot, a light restrained scratch, but it was still far beyond what Alyssa’s oiled up foot could handle. Alyssa scrunched her face and resisted for a second or two before a steady stream of laughter ushered forth from her mouth, and she started banging her fist against the corner of her bed.
“Will you tell us where the video is now?”
The offer made her fingers and toes curl in frustration. Her mind went back and forth on her position. Her tingling foot, and aching sides implored her to give in, but every time she considered it, fear of the ensuing embarrassment and rejection drove her back. “Sohohohohorry! I cahahahan’t!... NOOOhohoho!” She jumped and chortled in surprise as Sandra slipped in her middle finger to join in the teasing of Alyssa’s peachy arch.
Sandra snickered. “Aww… Can’t handle a little tickle on your footsie? Are you starting to regret forcing me to play rigged tickle games with you?” Her two fingers picked up speed.
Alyssa scrunched her face and hammered on her bed, matching the speed of Sandra’s strokes. “AhahahahahaI’m sohohohohorry!” she cried. “Plehehehehease! I’m sorry! Hahahahaha!” Through trembling lips, she repeated her apologies over and over, all too eager to calm her tickle-happy friend.
However, her pleas only seemed to anger Sandra. Using all five of her fingers, she spidered up and down Alyssa’s foot, scrambling up her arch and digging into the toes before tickling back down towards the heel and sending Alyssa back into fits of mad hysterics. Sandra glowered at her. “Are you sorry for tickling my sides? How about for making me embarrass myself in front of everyone? How about for being such a damn wimp? First you tie me down and go all Maleficent on me, but once it’s your turn, nothing but begging and apologies. Maybe if I tickle you hard enough, you’ll learn your lesson!”
The more she apologized, the angrier Sandra appeared to get, which only frightened her into apologizing even more. Completely swept up in a wave of hysteria and panic, Alyssa could do nothing except howl with laughter and blubber apologies over and over in some vain hope that maybe this time it would work. Tears seeped from her eyes as a ticklish despair began to overtake her.
“Enough! I hereby relieve you of interrogation duty!” Hanna snapped. Alyssa watched through the gap between her feet as Hannah grabbed Sandra from behind and tried to pull her away. Sandra resisted, staring straight into Alyssa’s eyes like a beast.
“I’M NOT DONE YET!” Shoving Hanna aside, she leapt onto the bed and straddled Alyssa, staring down at her with cruel look that she hadn’t seen since third grade. “Ready to see which of us REALLY has the most ticklish sides?”
Alyssa couldn’t have shaken her head harder, but once again, her protests only egged on her aggressor. Wiggling her fingers as a warning, Sandra slipped her hands beneath Alyssa’s tee shirt. She could feel the pointy fake nails resting against her naked sides and her body froze. Sandra stared down at her, seeming to relish her nervous anticipation.
Alyssa’s sides had never felt so sensitive before. A light tingle teased across them as her belly rose and fell with each breath. She tried to lighten her breathing, despite the intense pounding of her heartbeat. She bit her lower lip to silence any stray giggles that might provoke Sandra’s cruel instruments of tickle torture into action like a pair of startled spiders.
She then did her best to forget she’d ever made that comparison, which was a very good thing because all she got from Sandra was the subtlest of grins before those “spiders” started tickling up and down her sides, making her thrash and wriggle like a spider herself. “HAHAHAHASAHAHAHANDRAAAA!” she cried.
“Yeah, tickles doesn’t it? How do you think I liked it? Let’s give you the full experie-hey!” Two pairs of arms grabbed Sandra from behind and began to pull at her. “Let me go dammit! I’m not done teaching her a lesson yet!” The sudden distraction gave Alyssa a brief break from Sandra’s nails, but Sandra refused to give ground and clung to Alyssa’s sides, giving them plenty of squeezes.
“NOHOHOHOHO! GEHEHEHET ‘ER OFF ME! HAHAHAHAHA!” Alyssa begged. Working together, Hannah and Brianna managed to drag Sandra backward. Alyssa squealed as Sandra’s groping fingers slid down her sides, and began whooping and howling with laughter as Sandra’s fingers began pinching her hips.
Alyssa’s three friends tumbled off the bed together, to Alyssa’s immense relief, despite the traces of disappointment her body was feeling. Under less tickly conditions, she would have welcomed being straddled by a half-naked muscular beauty like Sandra. However, despite the perkiness she felt in her chest, she wanted the rabid beast in front of her as far away as possible. “Let go of me! I’ll teach her to embarrass me like that!” Sandra shouted.
“SANDRA!” Hannah snapped, startling Sandra to silence. “I understand your feelings. Believe me, I too would love to get even after last night.” Hannah grasped Sandra’s shoulders and stared straight into her eyes. “…but we are not here to teach her a lesson. We are here to find the video. That is what matters the most.”
Sandra nodded. “Ok. I get it.”
Hannah smiled. “Good. You look tired. Sit down and take a break. We will call you if we need you.” Sandra dropped into Alyssa’s computer chair to calm down, and Hannah approached the bed.
“Y-you know, I’m really tired too. Can I have a break as well?” Alyssa asked.
Instead of responding, Hannah reached for Alyssa’s feet. Alyssa shifted in her bed and tried to flinch her feet away, but Hannah’s grip on them was gentle, like a mother playing with a newborn infant. “That depends. Will you tell us about the video?”
Alyssa blinked. “Oh! The video?” After surviving Sandra frenzied tickling, she had completely forgotten what the point of this whole scenario was really about.
“That’s right, the video,” Hannah said in a gentle half-whisper that felt a bit unsettling coming from someone with black punk rocker hair and running white makeup. “Do you remember?”
Alyssa nodded, but her head felt foggy. Hannah’s touch on her feet was soft and inoffensive, but she could not relax with those hands so close. She hadn’t forgotten how fast those midnight black fingernails could move across her feet. Hannah’s sympathetic gaze was reassuring. Hannah pressed the flats of her fingers against the roofs of Alyssa’s feet and rubbed up and down right where her toes began. Once this started, she couldn’t help but relax. “Do you remember?” Hannah asked again in a soft hypnotic voice.
This was too much. After going through tickle-Hell with Sandra, she was getting what her body craved. She made a conscious effort not to murmur, “Higher,” as she lay there. “Y-yeah. I… I remember,” she said.
“Where is the video?”
Alyssa tried to think, and as soon as she remembered, the sudden panic snapped her out of her reverie. “I-ah! I mean I don’t know. I can’t say!”
The blissful rubbing of her feet stopped. “Well, that’s a shame.” Hannah walked her fingers downward, across the soles of Alyssa’s feet. The steps were slow, and infrequent, tickling just enough to make her curl her feet and scrunch her face, but the threat of something far worse felt very real. “Are you certain nothing comes to mind?”
Hannah cursed under her breath. Brianna then came forward. “Well, we’ve tried negative reinforcement, and positive reinforcement.” As she spoke to Hannah, her eyes never left Alyssa. “Why not try both? That usually works best.”
“Splendid! I assume you wish to handle the negative reinforcement?”
Brianna nodded. “Sandra, I’ll need your help for this.”
More than happy to help out, Sandra got up from the desk chair. “Nice! What do you need me for?”
“Grab her by the toes. Keep both of her feet completely immobile. I’ll handle the rest.”
Alyssa’s whole body shook as the three of them approached her. “C-come on guys! Isn’t this a bit excessive?” None of them responded. This is it, she thought. Her sides ached with every breath she took, and her mind was already beginning to resign itself to defeat. Remember the pictures. The horrible, embarrassing pictures, she told herself, but she struggled to hold onto the fears that kept her from surrendering.
Just looking at the three women standing before her made her re-experience all the tickle torture she’d suffered at their hands since she was little. The time in third grade recess when Sandra had shoved her face into the sand in the elementary school sandbox, and then tickled her sides and the backs of her knees until her mouth was full of sand… The time in middle school theater practice when Hannah and the rest of the cast had locked her feet into prop stocks and took turns tickling them until she was red in the face… The time during an intense gaming session, when Brianna had tickled her armpits to get her to drop the controller, and then kept going because of her cute laugh… and of course all the times, when they’d had sleepovers and all three of them decided to gang up on her. It all felt far more tactile than whatever fate awaited her if she surrendered.
It became a lot realer as Sandra’s strong hands clamped down on her toes and pulled them back. Brianna leaned in and blew on one of her stretched arches, which made her yelp and sent a massive shiver down her spine. Hannah leaned in beside her ear. “This looks like it could be rather intense. Are you certain you want to endure this?”
Of course she did not want to endure this. She wanted to be untied and freed from this mess. Still, she knew she would never forgive herself if she surrendered her darkest secrets before the tickling had even started. Clenching her teeth, she nodded her head.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Brianna said in an icy tone. “After all, we’ve got plenty to discuss.” Alyssa shivered as Brianna’s index fingers settled just under her big toes. Alyssa tried to flinch away, but Sandra ensured that her feet did not budge.
“Brianna, please don’t do this! You know I hate that spot,” Alyssa begged. Brianna grinned but said nothing. “Look! I’m sorry for what I did to you yesterday. I know, I got carried away. Seriously carried away. You were just so fun to tickle. You must know what that’s like, right? I am so sorry!”
Brianna stared upwards, as she considered Alyssa’s words. “Well, ok. That’s reasonable. I forgive you.”
Alyssa could hardly believe it. That was far too easy. “R-really?”
Brianna nodded. “Sure. I forgive you. I no longer bear you any ill will. You were right. I guess I can feel emotions sometimes. I’m glad to have that out of my system.” Her index fingers then started moving, teasing back and forth across the small spaces just under her big toes.
Alyssa immediately burst into giggles, which grew louder and heavier until she was nearly laughing. “Briannahahahahahaha! Whahahhahahahahy!?”
Brianna smiled back. “I told you. My reasons are purely logical. I want to find the video and erase it from existence. Also, I have a few things to say about that discussion we had last night.”
The tickling in her big toes grew more and more insufferable by the second. Each stroke hit like an electric shock and made her feet try to curl, but Sandra ensured that they did not. Brianna’s fingers repeated the same motion over and over, scratching the same spot so lightly it left no marks, and yet it felt like her fingers were slowly boring into the nerve endings of Alyssa’s toes as each stroke tickled a bit worse than the last. She could not tell if her sensitivity was increasing or if her tolerance for it was wearing away. “Plehehehehease! I sahahahahaid I’m sorry! Hahahaha!”
“And I said that I forgive you,” Brianna replied in her usual dry tone. “Still, you know me. I cannot leave imperfections alone when they cross my path, and your argument from last night was full of them. Let’s go over them.”
“Nohohoho! Ahahahahanything but thahahat!” Alyssa cried, wishing she could smack herself for getting so carried away with Brianna the night before.
“Yes, that. Shall we begin?”
I apologize for not bringing these up earlier, but I was in no position to make further arguments last night, thanks to a certain wandering pair of hands. Anyway, let’s begin with your argument about the credibility of my arguments. That invoked a fallacy known as…
Brianna droned on, as she often tended to, barely appearing to register that her fingers were still wiggling along the undersides of Alyssa’s toes and making her thrash about in frustration, beat her head against the pillow, and laugh towards the ceiling. Her striped tee shirt began to ride up her stomach, while her hair whipped across her face. Brianna’s patient, methodical manner of speaking appeared to slow down time to a crawl. Listening to it was trying enough without the tickling, but waiting for it to end in the vain hope that her torture would end with it reduced Ashley to tears.
She felt a hand wipe a tear from her eye. She turned her head and saw Hannah by her side. Hannah placed a perfectly maintained hand on Alyssa’s forehead and stroked her hair. “Alyssa, please. It pains me to see you like this,” Hannah whispered. “Provide us with the video so we can leave you in peace. I feel miserable having to inflict this upon you.” Her words were moving and her cracking voice displayed genuine remorse, an emotion Hannah was great at faking. Alyssa struggled to be skeptical in her current situation, as Hannah continued to egg her on. “Alyssa, you cannot keep this up forever. Please stop being so stubborn, for all our sakes.”
Alyssa really wanted to believe her. None of this suffering was necessary. All she had to do was tell them the truth. She did not refuse, but she could not bring herself to comply either. There was no turning back once she gave in, and she knew it. Hannah sighed. “Very well. If you cannot decide, then I will hurry this along. Remember, I do this for your sake.”
Alyssa felt the side of the bed sink as Hannah climbed up and knelt beside her atop the bed. Hannah’s hands slipped through the sleeves of her tee shirt and Alyssa let out an ear-piercing shriek as the black nails of Hannah’s dexterous hands tickled her as if they were performing a guitar solo on her armpits.
Alyssa arched her back against her beg as she screamed towards the ceiling. “EEEEEEEEEEAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHO STAHAHAHAHAHAHA! DOHOHOHOHOHON’T! PLEHEHEHEASE!” Alyssa’s voice was raw and her tone, desperate, but the tickling did not stop.
“Tell us, please,” Hannah repeated. Alyssa considered it. “TELL US!” Hannah snapped.
That was the final straw. She could not hold out like this, and holding out was only postponing the inevitable. “HAHAHAHOKAY! OKAY! I’LL TALK! STAHAHAHAHAHAP!”
“You heard her, everyone!” Hannah said. “Give her some space.” Hannah pulled her hands free of the shirt, Sandra released her feet, and Brianna ceased her tickling.
Alyssa lay still, heaving for breath. Once air was flowing normally through her lungs, she lay still. “Where is the video?” Brianna asked. Alyssa did not reply. She had made up her mind, and had no intention of enduring any more tickling, but speaking up still scared her.
“Will you tell us where it is?” Hannah pressed.
“…yes…” she said in a weak voice.
“Well, where is it then?” Sandra asked. “Is it still on your phone?”
Alyssa started to shake her head but stopped. Was it on her phone? She had transferred a copy to her computer, but did she ever delete the original? Her mind was too foggy to remember, but the possibility filled her with hope. “G-give me my phone…” she whispered. Hannah picked up Alyssa’s iPhone from her nightstand and held it up to Alyssa’s hand.
Alyssa shook as she pushed the power button. The password screen came up. It took a few tries, but she eventually entered the right password. “G-go to ‘Photos’. It sh-should be there.”
Hannah nodded and began navigating the phone. Brianna and Sandra huddled beside her as the three of them peered at the phone, while Alyssa watched them from her bed. “Is this it?” Hannah pressed on the screen and the three of them wrinkled their noses as the video started playing.
A voice sounded from the phone. “This isn’t what I think it is, is it?” Brianna’s recorded voice asked. “Are we about to end up on the internet? Please tell me that I’m mistaken.”
Brianna groaned. “Ugh! Please, hurry up and delete it. I’ve seen enough of that video.” Hannah pressed on the screen and the three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.
An oppressive silence filled the room. They exchanged looks, but no one had anything to say. “Hand me the key,” Hannah said at last. Sandra grabbed the key she’d left on the desk and passed it over. Hannah undid one handcuff and then leaned across to remove the other. Alyssa rubbed her wrists as Sandra and Brianna untied the bungee cords around her ankles.
“Well, I guess we should all take showers right now,” Hannah said. “We all look terrible.”
The others nodded and turned to leave. “Do you guys need towels?” Alyssa asked.
“We know where they are,” Hannah said. The three of them walked out and closed the door behind them, leaving Alyssa alone in her room.
(To be continued)
