parpignollord
Registered User
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2006
- Messages
- 47
- Points
- 8
I said the next thing I was going to write was a sequel and I promise that is true. This is a commission I did a while that I was told I could share.
Part 1 - David and Grace’s Wedding
“Come on, Sweetheart! Dance with me!” shouted Jill over the loud music. She tugged his wrist, playfully trying to pull him from his chair.
“That’s a BIG no, haha,” Howie answered. He sat firmly planted in the white banquet seat.
“Haha, whatever!” shouted Jill. She dropped his arm and made her way to the wedding dance floor for “The Cupid Shuffle.”
The lavish downtown hotel ballroom was packed for David and Grace’s wedding. Jill had known the couple since college and was having a blast reconnecting with old friends. Meanwhile, Howie avoided eye-contact, knowing that Jill’s college friends couldn’t remember HIS name if they tried. He wished nothing but the best for the newlyweds but as a relatively new partner to Jill he felt his presence at the wedding was ultimately awkward for everyone. Everyone but Jill, apparently.
Although Howie and Jill had been living together for several months, they had only been together 6. And yet, Jill had so many college friends he still “had to meet,” so many more inside jokes he didn’t understand, so many memories to revisit with the other guests that he felt like a stranger.
Even if he COULD dance he would be in no mood too anyway.
Howie and Jill had been seated at a table almost exclusively made up of her old college friends. Throughout the evening the ladies had reminisced about their wild dormitory days and shared gossip about their mutual friends. Howie mostly just smiled and nodded as the conversation went on through the night.
The catching up continued up until the second the DJ opened the dance floor. The entire table rushed in front of the speakers to get their groove on (more than likely how they did in college.) Only two people remained seated, in fact. Howie, planted firmly in his chair, and Jill’s friend Lucy.
Lucy was very petite and cute and had been that way since college. She was a dainty woman with distinct delicate features. Her shoulder length auburn hair had been pulled up into a trendy bun for the occasion. Although she preferred studying to the wild sorority parties and could still party as hard as any of them. She would have been out dancing with the others but had informed everyone previously she couldn’t put much pressure on her ankle due to a training injury.
“What’s wrong? You don’t dance?” asked Lucy over the loud music.
“Haha, yeah. I’m not a dancer,” said Howie
“That’s a shame. Jill LOVES dancing. She always has since we met in college.”
“That’s right, you two were roommates?”
“Yep, two years until she transferred out of the medical science building.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“Eventually, maybe. Right now I’m known as a ‘sleep tech.’ I’m mostly doing insomnia studies and sleepwalk therapy now. I work at that Sleepworks Health Clinic right now” referencing the trendy sleep study/mattress store.
Howie continued with deeper interest.
“Oh wait, I’ve heard of that. That’s the place that has those BriliantSleep mattresses.” he replied excitedly.
“Haha, that’s the one.” Lucy replied with a smile.
A year ago a viral video came out showing the hi-tech features of BrilliantSleep. Since then, anytime she mentioned Sleepworks she was greeted with some kind of reference to it.
“I was just watching that video the other day. It’s supposed to be the most comfortable mattress in the world.”
Lucy paused. She knew Howie had felt awkward not being close to anyone at the wedding.
“...do you want to try it?” Lucy asked tentatively.
“Yeah, of course. But those things cost like 20 grand. I could never afford one.”
“You could take it for a test sleep.”
“Really?” replied Howie mildly shocked. BrilliantSleep was like the Rolls Royce of mattress brands. He wouldn’t imagine they would just let anyone off the street sleep on them in the store.
Lucy explained, “Yeah, we have a floor model you can try for a night. Just bring some sheets and I can let you try it out some night while I’m working.”
Technically they weren’t supposed to do it, but Lucy figured it would be okay. She worked nights and would be the only person on the schedule. It would be nothing to let him sleep there while she worked on her stuff.
“That would be SO awesome. Are you sure it’s no trouble?”
“Absolutely, no trouble at all. Are you free tomorrow night?”
Howie thought for a moment. His face lit up.
“Actually yes.”
“Great, just bring some sheets and a pillow by the location on Northernchase around 7pm.”
As Lucy and Howie figured out the remaining details they noticed Jill had returned to the table for more champagne.
“What’s up guys?!” she panted.
“Hey Jill, Lucy said I could try out one of those BrilliantSleep mattresses at her work tomorrow. Remember?” Howie said eagerly.
“Oh yeah, you loved that video.” replied Jill. Her smile disappeared when she remembered she was out of champagne.
“Dang it, Howie, could you find me some more champagne?” coaxed Jill.
“Uh, sure.”
Howie took her champagne flute.
Lucy, you need anything?” Howie said, finally easing up from his banquet chair.
“I’m fine, thanks Howie.”
“No, thank YOU,” said Howie as he set off into the ballroom in search of more booze.
Jill sat down next to her pal Lucy.
“Thanks for letting Howie try out that mattress. He really did seem to be amazed.”
“Don’t mention it. How are things going, anyway? With Howie, I mean.”
Jill paused for a moment.
“Things are...fine.”
Lucy instantly picked up on the hesitancy in her voice.
“Just fine?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah, things are okay. We’ve been living together for a couple of months now and of course there are little things that bug me. But overall, things have been pretty good.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Lucy replied, sensing there was more to hear.
“You know, we love each other, but we’re different people, you know? He’s into sports, I like movies. I love dancing, he’s not into it...” she trailed off.
Lucy hated to see her friend’s mood turn so bad so quick. She didn’t think it was too much to ask to dance with your girlfriend at a wedding.
Then it hit her; The sleepwalking behavioral study room. Sleepwalkers would lie on the bed above the metallic floor and when they began to stand up a slight electric pulse would gently awaken them.
Lucy had the master code. Maybe the safeguards could be removed? Perhaps the intensity could be...increased. A mischievous smile crept over her face.
“Jill, I was thinking...we haven’t had a chance to hang out for a while. How about you come to the store tomorrow. Separate from Howie...don’t tell him.”
“Yeah...I guess I could do that.”
Lucy’s plan was in motion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2 - The Floor
“Okay, we just have to do some safety stuff before I let you in. I’m going to need you change into your sleepwear...and no shoes or socks,” Lucy said in a matter-of-fact tone. Howie complied, assuming that there would likely be some special steps involved.
From the back door she led him into a scientific looking room with clipboards and screens resting on medical desks which lined the walls. There were 6 twin sized beds with curtains separating, he assumed they were used in the sleep studies. In the far corner of the room was a small single toilet bathroom he had used moments ago. And on the other side was a door simply labeled “THERAPY.”
“Where...uh, where’s the mattress?” Howie asked. He had yet to see the signature orange foam top as was featured in the video.
Lucy pointed to the door.
“It’s just in this room over here. Once you’re ready just come in. I’ve got just one last thing for you,” she said, pulling something heavy out of her bag.
“What’s this?”
She handed him a stack of bound papers.
“It’s just a standard release form.”
“Okaaaay, hehe,” laughed Howie. He didn’t realize it would be THIS involved.
“It just basically says you won’t take photos of anything, that you understand how it works, it’s all just standard,” she said quickly, placing a pen in Howie’s hand.
“Right, uh, okay,” Howie replied.
‘This is fine’ he thought. ‘Probably just standard procedure.’
He scribbled his name on the final page.
“Great, see you in a second,” she said cheerfully upon seeing the document had been signed.
She left him to change and headed towards the research area. As she walked to the control room she received a text. It was Jill.
“Hey gurl, I’m here. Why wasn’t I supposed to tell Howie?”
Lucy snickered.
After greeting hello Lucy and Jill sat in office chairs before a large flatscreen monitor. The entire wall above the monitor was essentially an enormous window, however the room it opened to was too dark to see.
“You’re acting crazy, Lucy,” laughed Jill. “Seriously, what is this? I thought we were going to go out.”
“Believe me. THIS is going to be WAY more fun,” Lucy said, adjusting the computer in preparation.
Lucy thought about earlier when she disabled the safeguards on the floor apparatus. For clinical use the floor had a digital safeguard to ensure the shock didn’t cause pain or discomfort. Lucy had deleted those safeguards. She was kinda curious about what it would do. Her thoughts were interrupted when the room lit up.
Howie entered the room wearing a face of utter confusion.
‘This does NOT look comfortable’ he thought.
The walls had smooth vinyl coverings in clinical white. Certainly not very soothing. The lights were a bright fluorescent, and for the relative size of the small room, made it too bright. (Hardly soothing for a room designed for sleep.)
By far the most jarring part of this room was the floor. Instead of tile or carpeting, the floor was a metallic grate material, much like the kind you’d see on a public sidewalk. Howie immediately felt the chill of the cold steel under his bare feet.
“How could ANYONE sleep in this room?’ Howie thought. It was then he noticed the most important detail of the room...there was no bed.
*CLICK*
The metal door closed and locked behind him. He saw the door knob had been removed. Howie was beginning to feel nervous.
On the other side of the wall Jill shouted.
“What the heck is Howie doing in there?! I thought he was testing a mattress?”
Lucy chuckled.
“I know, I know, but this is going to be WAY better.”
“What does that mean?!”
“Wait, wait, you’ll see” said Lucy.
Howie had fearfully begun to shout Lucy’s name for help.
“Hey Lucy!? I don’t know what’s going on. Can you help?!”
She pulled the microphone which fed to the room PA system to her lips.
“Hello there, Howie,” her voice boomed from the ceiling.
Howie was startled by the loud voice coming from speakers which had to be above the ceiling.
“LUCY?! Oh thank GOD. I’m trapped I think. This is the wrong room.”
“Hmm, I think you’re in the right place.”
“...what do you mean?”
“This is the sleepwalking corrective therapy room.”
“But uh...I don’t have a sleepwalking problem.”
“No...you have a different problem. See, this room is special because the floor is...well...wired.”
Howie flexed his sensitive toes feeling the cold hard metal underneath. More anxiety began to build.
“Folks who suffer from severe sleepwalking disorders will sleep in this room. Whenever they place their feet on the floor to stand up they receive a slight electrical pulse to wake them up. With enough therapy they begin to subconsciously associate the upright position with being awake and stop sleepwalking for good.”
Trying his best to follow what she was saying, Howie spoke up.
“Hey, Lucy. This is kind of scary. Would you let me out now please?”
Still confused at the proceedings Jill confronted Lucy.
“Lucy! Let him out of there right now!” she growled.
“Just one more second…” said Lucy with a mischievous smile.
“Hey Howie,” Lucy spoke into the microphone once more. “I’m going to show you what it feels like.”
“No!” shouted Jill.
“Wait, no…” said Howie.
Lucy pressed the discharge button on the control monitor which suddenly sent a mild electric shock into the soles of Howie’s feet.
“HA...wait...ha ha….hey stop this. It...hehe...it tickles...” Howie said. The sensation was immediate. Howie could feel a constant mild shock coming up through the floor into his sensitive bare feet. It was very uncomfortable but if he alternated which foot was contacting the floor he could deal with it while keeping his mind straight.
Jill’s face of outrage suddenly began to melt when she saw Howie do his slow high knee march. He looked so silly. She couldn’t help it, she started to grin.
“This is a therapy?” she chuckled.
“Yes, it’s a therapy chamber, but I modified it to be more of a...punishment chamber. So we could teach him a lesson.”
“...what lesson?”
“Well, it was pretty lame that he made you dance out there by yourself at Grace’s wedding. I thought we might be able to give him a little dance lesson” Lucy said with a hopeful shrug.
For a moment Jill was transported back to that moment at the wedding.
‘It’s true, it was really rude and embarrassing of him. How hard would it have been to just accompany your girlfriend for a dance.’
She could feel the anger returning. When she looked up she once again saw Howie laughing lightly and goofily lifting his bare feet high into the air one by one. She grinned.
“So...this is safe, right? It’s not going to hurt him.”
Lucy thought back to earlier to when she was removing the safeguards from the machine. There were a LOT of system warnings about bodily harm, mental degradation, permanent damage, etc.
‘Those are just to be careful. I’m sure.’ she said, reassuring herself.
“Yep. Completely safe. It’s just sending little tickles into the bottom of his feet.”
“Oh my god. Howie is SO ticklish. He can’t stand it.” Jill laughed.
Howie had been doing his silly march for several minutes at that point. He began to feel tired. Then suddenly, the shocking stopped.
“What the hell is this!? What are you doing?” shouted Howie, realizing that his situation was no accident.
“Haha, little tingly, huh? Well, this machine can get a lot more tingly than that.” Lucy taunted pleasantly. She increased the shock saturation from a 15 to a 35, more than double.
The increased shocks shot ticklish blasts into Howie’s sensitive soles. He practically jumped to the ceiling. Instead of the goofy kick walk from before Howie had to prance and skip erratically to try to suppress the shocks. It didn’t help all that much. Reflexive laughter burst from Howie’s mouth making it close to impossible to process the situation.
“STOAHAHAHAHA, STOAHAHAHAPPA, NOAHAHAHAHAHA.” he said
Jill laughed at the sight of Howie’s new torment. He looked like a wacky prospector finding gold.
Lucy reduced the shocks back to the base level.
“Here’s the deal. I’ve got Jill here and she’s pretty upset.”
“Jill is out there?! What the heck is going on?!” yelled Howie trying to peer through the one way mirror. His already red face got redder with anger and confusion.
Jill pulled a second microphone to her mouth.
“I’m not upset, Howie...it’s just. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just come dance with me at the wedding.”
Struck with a wave of confusion, Howie had to take a moment to gather his thoughts.
“Jill, I told you, I HATE dancing! I’m bad at it, I don’t know how.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth Howie knew he would regret it.
Lucy looked over to Jill as if looking for permission. Jill thought for another moment about the wedding and how she was forced to sit out her favorite slow dance. She looked to Lucy and nodded.
“I’m so glad to hear you say that Howie. Because tonight this sleepwalking treatment room is going to become the ElectroDanceTeacher 5000. Those speakers in the corner are usually used for white noise or soothing music, but I think this calls for something a little groovier. What do you say?”
Lucy pressed play on her Spotify app. A loud beat and baseline began thumping through the speakers above Howie as a funky dancefloor favorite began to play.
Howie was in a cold sweat. He was further startled by a low vibration underneath the floor. Lucy had turned on the electric generator used for the maximum settings. He rushed to the glass (assuming that’s where his assailants were hiding.)
“Let me out of here now! This is torture! This is kidnapping! I didn’t agree to this!” yelled Howie.
“Huh, that’s not what this release form says.” confidently chirped Lucy.
Howie’s stomach dropped and his face turned white.
Jill had to laugh at her boyfriend’s dumbfounded expression. It was just like him to sign something without reading it. Knowing he was now truly at their mercy she turned to Lucy.
“May I do the honors?” she asked with a smile.
“Haha, be my guest…” replied Lucy. She pointed out the discharge button on the screen.
Jill pressed as the verse began in the song.
Howie’s shock about the release form was once again interrupted by the unbearable tickling sensations. Again he jumped and was forced to bounce around from foot to foot, attempting to gain some kind of relief.
“NOHAHAHAHA, I CAHAHAHAHAHAN’T, HAHAHAHAHAHA”
The girls laughed and clapped along to the music while watching the show.
Meanwhile, Howie tried his best to protect his feet from the ticklish sensations blasting through the floor. Every moment his bare sole spent making contact with the shocking metal was ticklish agony. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, but that just pressed them harder into the floor intensifying it.
The playlist transitioned into the next track, a vintage R&B dance hit.
Howie, hoping for a rest, continued his ticklish hop and the women laughed on at the ridiculous sight.
Howie made a bizarre face as he danced around the room. His gaze was one of fear and pain. His eyes opened wide, nearly bulging out of head. Yet his mouth was seemingly held in a permanent laughing smile, laughter pouring from him like a fountain. His feet flew up into the air one by one, his toes splayed.
After two or three more songs Howie hobbled up and leaned on the glass.
“Please...water...I need water.” he mumbled
“That’s very true. We have to hydrate. Good thinking.” said Jill with a giggle.
“I’ve got some water here, and I want to give it to you. But it’s not fair that you get something for nothing,” mused Lucy.
“Something for...what?” he replied.
I was thinking a trade. We’ll give you a bottle of water for every...piece of clothing...you give us…”
Lucy looked to Jill. She hadn’t asked beforehand about if it was cool to see her boyfriend naked, but she figured she’d roll the dice.
Jill returned her glance with a look of surprise. She was having fun, but naturally she was hesitant to have another woman look at her boyfriend’s naked body.
‘Why not?’ she thought. ‘He has a good body. It’s only natural that people should see it. She’s one of my best friends too. We describe our partner’s bodies to each other anyway, this is just the next step.’
She convinced herself.
Jill once again nodded approvingly to Lucy.
Lucy, not wasting a second, began playing 80’s hit “I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt” over the room speakers.
Howie furrowed his brow. It was more humiliation than he had ever experienced.
Lucy went to the minifridge in the control room and retrieved a bottle of water. She then walked to one end of the glass wall where a deposit drawer like those you’d find at a bank was installed below the window. The handle was in the control room so Howie could only access it when Lucy pushed it. She pushed sharply and the slot opened from the wall.
Howie ran to the slot and reached in for the water. He found nothing.
“Shirt first, loverboy” laughed Jill.
Howie began unceremoniously removing his shirt. Jill wasn’t happy.
She pressed the discharge button shocking and surprising Howie.
“Slower! Like you mean it!” she commanded.
Howie began a lackluster striptease reaching down to the edge of his shirt and slowly revealing his abdominal muscles. She ladies gave loud whoops and hollers that he could not hear. Once the shirt was off he threw it into the slot which closed quickly once again.
Lucy picked up the shirt and whipped it playfully in the air. The women laughed. She placed the water bottle into the slot and opened it once more.
Howie wasted no time. He snatched the bottle, tore off the cap, and began to chug.
In the control room Jill gave a mischievous look to Lucy, her finger hovering over the discharge button.
“Should I be bad?” Jill said stifling a laugh.
“Go for it,” replied Lucy.
Howie was halfway done with his water when he felt another ticklish blast come up through his bare soles. The shock made him trip and cough out the precious water from his mouth. He glared at the ladies through the glass.
Jill controlled her laughter long enough to speak into the mic.
“hahaha, sorry, hahaha, I couldn’t resist.”
Howie carefully continued drinking the bottle of water paying special attention not to spill a single drop in fear of another cruel shock.
Once he was done Lucy opened the drawer once more for him to dispose of the bottle. She returned to the control desk.
“How long have we been going?” asked Jill.
“Um, about an hour and a half.” Lucy replied.
“How about we get him going again and then make a playlist so we don’t have to stop.”
“That’s a great idea.”
Lucy began playing the next song she had cued up and cranked up the shocks. She set it to 40 or 50, she wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the potential harm warning.
Howie felt more intense shocks than anything before. Instead of a light or momentary tickle, the new sensations affected the nerve endings in his feet like nothing before. His dancing became more violent and his laughter turned maniacal.
As Howie flailed around in ticklish agony the women began planning their playlist.
Lucy kicked off her flats and got down on the floor with her phone absent-mindedly wiggling her toes behind her. Jill followed suit and pulled off her tennis shoes. Jill caught a glint of Lucy’s french tip toenails.
“Oh wow, let me see your toes.” asked Jill.
Realizing she noticed her pedicure, Lucy complied.
“You like it?” she asked.
“I love it. I almost got the same thing done, but went for that new gel blend polish.”
“Oh, that’s right. Let me see.”
Jill stripped off her socks and gave her foot to Lucy to inspect.
The girls sat on the floor comparing toes.
Meanwhile, the tickling had began affecting Howie’s mind. He was having trouble forming thoughts. The only thing he could think about was the torturous electric tickling racing through his hypersensitive feet. Howie was already extremely ticklish, but the floor created a NEW level of tickling unlike anything he could ever imagine.
After about 20 minutes the girls had finished their playlist, picking their favorite hits from college as well as current club bangers. They stood back up and headed to the chairs, leaving their socks and shoes behind. Lucy looked at the dial. It read 60.
“Oh my gosh, Jill. You left it on 60!” she asked with shock and surprise.
“I guess. Is that bad?!” Jill asked with concern.
At work she had never seen the shocks more than a 12, and that was for extremely heavy sleepers. She had trouble fathoming 60.
They both looked at Howie who then was looking more and more like a mental patient. His hair was completely messed up from all the jumping and twisting. Tears streamed down his face and his mouth was locked in a smiling position.
The girls doubled over with laughter at the sight. Lucy turned down the machine to the base level.
Mentally frazzled, and physically beaten, Howie dropped to the floor.
He had resisted for a long time, but his thirst had taken control.
“Water...please…”
Lucy’s eyes lit up knowing she was going to get a show.
“You know the deal, loverboy. Let’s lose those shorts.”
She selected Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” and pressed play.
Howie heard the song playing and prayed that the tickling wouldn’t resume. He hoped that he could bear this humiliation for just a brief rest from the tickling. Howie began slowly pulling down his shorts. It was clear that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
Jill had gotten over her initial reservations on the idea and was now clapping along with the music, enjoying her boyfriend’s striptease with her college bestie.
Howie knew that if he drew out the stripping any more they would likely catch on and punish him. Also, he was very thirsty. He placed his shorts in the drawer and stood naked before the two women.
“Nice dick!” shouted Lucy into the microphone before placing the new water bottle in the drawer.
“Oh my god. You’re so bad!” Jill said.
Howie chugged the new bottle even faster than before. He drank as fast as he could in fear they would prank him again with a surprise shock, but they were too busy laughing at their own bad jokes. They disposed of the bottle like the first.
“We have some good news.” Lucy said over the microphone.
Howie smiled lightly.
‘This is it.’ It thought, his brain finally regaining normality. ‘They’re going to let me out now.’
“That’s right, Lucy, some excellent news. We just put together the most ROCKING playlist for you to dance to…”
‘PLAYLIST!?’ Howie thought. ‘I’m about to pass out!’
Howie banged on the glass.
“Noooooo!”
“You don’t want to hear our playlist? That’s pretty rude.” said Lucy wryly.
“Please, no more. I’ll do anything, I’ll take you dahahaHAHAHA, I’ll taahahAHAHAHA” Howie tried to plead, but the tickling had already begun. He began lifting his bare feet up and down, up and down...
The ladies tortured him to the best dance hits across the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, and today.
“Pleahahahaha, Please noahahahaha, I can’t stand ihahaHAHAHAHA” Howie tried to beg.
He continued to dance and laugh like a madman, a naked madman at that. All the while the women would taunt him through the glass.
“All right, step side to side. Very good.”
“Get those knees up!”
He tried to follow their instructions, but could barely focus. The women were merciless. They only lowered the power for brief moments to humiliate him.
“Shake that butt! Shake it, or get ready for a shock.”
“Don’t you dare stop.”
During MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” they thought they’d play a fun trick. In the middle they shouted:
“STOOOOOOP! Hammertime!”
The current regulator’s hum increased pitch sharply as Jill cranked it up past 60.
“Come on, dance like MC Hammer!”
Howie didn’t quite look like MC Hammer, more like a rat in a sewer drain fighting for his life.
----------------------------------------------
Lucy and Jill had lost track of the time. They had been at it for a little over 3 hours.
Howie had been drained of nearly all of his energy. Exhausted, he could barely lift his feet up off the electric floor. He was forced to bear the full ticklish sensation. His naked body now covered in sweat.
“Oh wow, it’s late. I need to get going.” said Jill with concern.
“Haha, yeah, let’s turn it off.” said Lucy. With a smile she bent down to the microphone once more.
“Congratulations Howie! We’re finished.”
Though Howie heard her he had no energy to address her. It took everything for him to continue lifting his feet and giving a stream of defeated chuckles.
Lucy finally switched the current in the floor to 0.
*CLANG*
The metal rang out as Howie collapsed on the floor. He was a heaving, twitching ball of exhaustion.
“Good news, you’ve just passed your very first intro to dance class. How do you feel?”
“Uuuuhhhhhhh,” Howie gave a humiliated groan.
“Guess I better let him try that mattress now, huh?” laughed Lucy.
“Haha, yeah. Looks like he’s earned it.”
“Truthfully, that was a lot of fun.”
“Good, I’m glad! I had fun too.”
“I think Howie definitely learned his lesson.”
“We’ll see, are you going to Steve and Karen’s wedding this weekend?”
The women caught up for an additional 40 minutes. During that time, Howie remained in a deep sleep crumpled on the floor.
“Great. Just remember, I have his release on file now. If he ever starts to slip up or bothers you in some other way you can bring him in for another treatment.”
“Haha, that’s good to know. But probably not necessary. Okay, well, I’m gonna head home.”
“Okay, it was so great hanging out. It was like old times.”
“Bye girl!”
--------------------------------
Part 3 - Encore
Lucy returned to the control room. She grabbed another water bottle and placed it in the drawer. Seeing as though he was completely naked she figured she’d need to make this one on the house.
Howie had been out cold for a little under an hour. His naked body was sitting down leaning on the wall opposite the glass. His naked legs and ass pressed against the metal floor. Lucy laughed. She turned the current back on to the base level.
Howie felt the ticklish sensations in his ass, legs, and balls. He immediately woke up and groaned in agony.
“Feeling frisky? Who said you could nap?” Lucy said into the microphone.
Howie crawled across the ticklish metal floor on his side to get to the open drawer. He gave light, exhausted laughter along the way. At one point he fell on his front which sent ticklish shocks through his neck, chest, nipples, stomach, legs, and dick. He squealed and flipped back to his side. Lucy had a good chuckle about that.
After Howie had finished the water bottle he addressed Lucy.
“Jill...Jill said you...you’d let me out...she said…”
“Hmm...yeah, that’s not happening.” Lucy said, cutting of Howie’s sentence. ”Jill’s gone. You’re all mine until further notice…”
Howie’s stress levels begun to rise once more.
“and I say it’s time to keep this party going ALL NIGHT LONG…”
Howie was about to cry.
“...what? But...she said” he mumbled quietly.
Howie was all but unconscious from the ordeal. His toes still twitched from the residual sensations. He simply could not take any more.
Lucy pressed play on a new playlist. A classic party jam began blasting through the speakers louder than any song had in the past three hours.
The tickling once again caused his eyes to widen and bug out of his head. He resumed his ticklish dance with new energy.
“...noooo...nooohohohahahaHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA”
Lucy smiled. She leaned her office chair back and placed her bare feet on the table. She wiggled her toes carelessly and chuckled to herself with the knowledge that the store was closed tomorrow.
-----------------------------------------
Part 4 - Steve and Karen’s Wedding
Steve and Karen’s wedding had been quite the to-do. Twice as elaborate as David and Grace’s (but then again Karen always did try to outdo Grace.) Four hours in and dinner had been served, the cake had been cut, and the dance floor was alive.
Howie was dancing right next to Jill. In fact he hadn’t left her side since the music started. Fast songs, slow songs, old songs, new songs. He had danced to every single one. Jill was impressed. Only a few people remained on the dance floor at that point and the dj had turned to playing some of the more embarrassing jams. An old boy band song began to play and suddenly Jill stopped dancing.
“Ok, I’m all danced out I think. I’m going to go sit down.” Jill said.
“Haha, cool” Howie said. He stopped dancing and prepared to follow her.
Jill paused.
“No...I want you to keep dancing.” she said unblinking, in a rather serious tone.
Howie began to sweat.
“Um...okay...I guess.” he said after swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat.
“It’s just...you’re having so much fun.” she said, a smile creeping onto her face once more.
“Sure...okay then...I’ll keep...keep dancing.” Howard said, resuming his dance moves. At that point there were only a couple of kids, some balloons, an older woman who probably wasn’t invited, and Howard still out there.
Jill padded away from her dancing boyfriend holding her heels. She walked past the staff cleaning up, the empty champagne flutes and bottles, and the displaced chairs to her table. Sitting there with her bare feet propped up on a chair was none other than her good friend Lucy.
Howie watched Jill carefully as she spoke with Lucy. His sinking feeling of dread began to return.
Jill sat down and propped her bare feet on a chair next to Lucy’s. The women caught up once more about work, hobbies, their favorite shows, and of course...relationships.
“So how is Howie?” Lucy asked eagerly.
“Howie is great actually…” Jill said.
Howie glanced at the women from the dancefloor, relaxing side by side, their bare feet in full view. They noticed his glance and waved hello. Howie’s anxiety heightened.
“He’s been kind of...afraid...but in a good way.” Jill continued.
“Oh...that’s great...I guess…” Lucy replied with a tinge of disappointment.
Jill sensed the disappointment in her friend.
“...well...it’s not been perfect.” Jill said.
Lucy’s eyes brightened.
“Tell me more.” Lucy said
“Well, he left the toilet seat up once...and he has this habit of putting silverware in the wrong drawer....”
“Oh no...no no no...that won’t do…”
Howie tried to ignore the ladies looking in his direction. He didn’t dare stop dancing. Suddenly he heard both women give a loud cackle and fling their heads back in laughter. He prayed they weren’t talking about him.
Part 1 - David and Grace’s Wedding
“Come on, Sweetheart! Dance with me!” shouted Jill over the loud music. She tugged his wrist, playfully trying to pull him from his chair.
“That’s a BIG no, haha,” Howie answered. He sat firmly planted in the white banquet seat.
“Haha, whatever!” shouted Jill. She dropped his arm and made her way to the wedding dance floor for “The Cupid Shuffle.”
The lavish downtown hotel ballroom was packed for David and Grace’s wedding. Jill had known the couple since college and was having a blast reconnecting with old friends. Meanwhile, Howie avoided eye-contact, knowing that Jill’s college friends couldn’t remember HIS name if they tried. He wished nothing but the best for the newlyweds but as a relatively new partner to Jill he felt his presence at the wedding was ultimately awkward for everyone. Everyone but Jill, apparently.
Although Howie and Jill had been living together for several months, they had only been together 6. And yet, Jill had so many college friends he still “had to meet,” so many more inside jokes he didn’t understand, so many memories to revisit with the other guests that he felt like a stranger.
Even if he COULD dance he would be in no mood too anyway.
Howie and Jill had been seated at a table almost exclusively made up of her old college friends. Throughout the evening the ladies had reminisced about their wild dormitory days and shared gossip about their mutual friends. Howie mostly just smiled and nodded as the conversation went on through the night.
The catching up continued up until the second the DJ opened the dance floor. The entire table rushed in front of the speakers to get their groove on (more than likely how they did in college.) Only two people remained seated, in fact. Howie, planted firmly in his chair, and Jill’s friend Lucy.
Lucy was very petite and cute and had been that way since college. She was a dainty woman with distinct delicate features. Her shoulder length auburn hair had been pulled up into a trendy bun for the occasion. Although she preferred studying to the wild sorority parties and could still party as hard as any of them. She would have been out dancing with the others but had informed everyone previously she couldn’t put much pressure on her ankle due to a training injury.
“What’s wrong? You don’t dance?” asked Lucy over the loud music.
“Haha, yeah. I’m not a dancer,” said Howie
“That’s a shame. Jill LOVES dancing. She always has since we met in college.”
“That’s right, you two were roommates?”
“Yep, two years until she transferred out of the medical science building.”
“You’re a doctor?”
“Eventually, maybe. Right now I’m known as a ‘sleep tech.’ I’m mostly doing insomnia studies and sleepwalk therapy now. I work at that Sleepworks Health Clinic right now” referencing the trendy sleep study/mattress store.
Howie continued with deeper interest.
“Oh wait, I’ve heard of that. That’s the place that has those BriliantSleep mattresses.” he replied excitedly.
“Haha, that’s the one.” Lucy replied with a smile.
A year ago a viral video came out showing the hi-tech features of BrilliantSleep. Since then, anytime she mentioned Sleepworks she was greeted with some kind of reference to it.
“I was just watching that video the other day. It’s supposed to be the most comfortable mattress in the world.”
Lucy paused. She knew Howie had felt awkward not being close to anyone at the wedding.
“...do you want to try it?” Lucy asked tentatively.
“Yeah, of course. But those things cost like 20 grand. I could never afford one.”
“You could take it for a test sleep.”
“Really?” replied Howie mildly shocked. BrilliantSleep was like the Rolls Royce of mattress brands. He wouldn’t imagine they would just let anyone off the street sleep on them in the store.
Lucy explained, “Yeah, we have a floor model you can try for a night. Just bring some sheets and I can let you try it out some night while I’m working.”
Technically they weren’t supposed to do it, but Lucy figured it would be okay. She worked nights and would be the only person on the schedule. It would be nothing to let him sleep there while she worked on her stuff.
“That would be SO awesome. Are you sure it’s no trouble?”
“Absolutely, no trouble at all. Are you free tomorrow night?”
Howie thought for a moment. His face lit up.
“Actually yes.”
“Great, just bring some sheets and a pillow by the location on Northernchase around 7pm.”
As Lucy and Howie figured out the remaining details they noticed Jill had returned to the table for more champagne.
“What’s up guys?!” she panted.
“Hey Jill, Lucy said I could try out one of those BrilliantSleep mattresses at her work tomorrow. Remember?” Howie said eagerly.
“Oh yeah, you loved that video.” replied Jill. Her smile disappeared when she remembered she was out of champagne.
“Dang it, Howie, could you find me some more champagne?” coaxed Jill.
“Uh, sure.”
Howie took her champagne flute.
Lucy, you need anything?” Howie said, finally easing up from his banquet chair.
“I’m fine, thanks Howie.”
“No, thank YOU,” said Howie as he set off into the ballroom in search of more booze.
Jill sat down next to her pal Lucy.
“Thanks for letting Howie try out that mattress. He really did seem to be amazed.”
“Don’t mention it. How are things going, anyway? With Howie, I mean.”
Jill paused for a moment.
“Things are...fine.”
Lucy instantly picked up on the hesitancy in her voice.
“Just fine?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah, things are okay. We’ve been living together for a couple of months now and of course there are little things that bug me. But overall, things have been pretty good.”
“Yeah, I get that,” Lucy replied, sensing there was more to hear.
“You know, we love each other, but we’re different people, you know? He’s into sports, I like movies. I love dancing, he’s not into it...” she trailed off.
Lucy hated to see her friend’s mood turn so bad so quick. She didn’t think it was too much to ask to dance with your girlfriend at a wedding.
Then it hit her; The sleepwalking behavioral study room. Sleepwalkers would lie on the bed above the metallic floor and when they began to stand up a slight electric pulse would gently awaken them.
Lucy had the master code. Maybe the safeguards could be removed? Perhaps the intensity could be...increased. A mischievous smile crept over her face.
“Jill, I was thinking...we haven’t had a chance to hang out for a while. How about you come to the store tomorrow. Separate from Howie...don’t tell him.”
“Yeah...I guess I could do that.”
Lucy’s plan was in motion.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2 - The Floor
“Okay, we just have to do some safety stuff before I let you in. I’m going to need you change into your sleepwear...and no shoes or socks,” Lucy said in a matter-of-fact tone. Howie complied, assuming that there would likely be some special steps involved.
From the back door she led him into a scientific looking room with clipboards and screens resting on medical desks which lined the walls. There were 6 twin sized beds with curtains separating, he assumed they were used in the sleep studies. In the far corner of the room was a small single toilet bathroom he had used moments ago. And on the other side was a door simply labeled “THERAPY.”
“Where...uh, where’s the mattress?” Howie asked. He had yet to see the signature orange foam top as was featured in the video.
Lucy pointed to the door.
“It’s just in this room over here. Once you’re ready just come in. I’ve got just one last thing for you,” she said, pulling something heavy out of her bag.
“What’s this?”
She handed him a stack of bound papers.
“It’s just a standard release form.”
“Okaaaay, hehe,” laughed Howie. He didn’t realize it would be THIS involved.
“It just basically says you won’t take photos of anything, that you understand how it works, it’s all just standard,” she said quickly, placing a pen in Howie’s hand.
“Right, uh, okay,” Howie replied.
‘This is fine’ he thought. ‘Probably just standard procedure.’
He scribbled his name on the final page.
“Great, see you in a second,” she said cheerfully upon seeing the document had been signed.
She left him to change and headed towards the research area. As she walked to the control room she received a text. It was Jill.
“Hey gurl, I’m here. Why wasn’t I supposed to tell Howie?”
Lucy snickered.
After greeting hello Lucy and Jill sat in office chairs before a large flatscreen monitor. The entire wall above the monitor was essentially an enormous window, however the room it opened to was too dark to see.
“You’re acting crazy, Lucy,” laughed Jill. “Seriously, what is this? I thought we were going to go out.”
“Believe me. THIS is going to be WAY more fun,” Lucy said, adjusting the computer in preparation.
Lucy thought about earlier when she disabled the safeguards on the floor apparatus. For clinical use the floor had a digital safeguard to ensure the shock didn’t cause pain or discomfort. Lucy had deleted those safeguards. She was kinda curious about what it would do. Her thoughts were interrupted when the room lit up.
Howie entered the room wearing a face of utter confusion.
‘This does NOT look comfortable’ he thought.
The walls had smooth vinyl coverings in clinical white. Certainly not very soothing. The lights were a bright fluorescent, and for the relative size of the small room, made it too bright. (Hardly soothing for a room designed for sleep.)
By far the most jarring part of this room was the floor. Instead of tile or carpeting, the floor was a metallic grate material, much like the kind you’d see on a public sidewalk. Howie immediately felt the chill of the cold steel under his bare feet.
“How could ANYONE sleep in this room?’ Howie thought. It was then he noticed the most important detail of the room...there was no bed.
*CLICK*
The metal door closed and locked behind him. He saw the door knob had been removed. Howie was beginning to feel nervous.
On the other side of the wall Jill shouted.
“What the heck is Howie doing in there?! I thought he was testing a mattress?”
Lucy chuckled.
“I know, I know, but this is going to be WAY better.”
“What does that mean?!”
“Wait, wait, you’ll see” said Lucy.
Howie had fearfully begun to shout Lucy’s name for help.
“Hey Lucy!? I don’t know what’s going on. Can you help?!”
She pulled the microphone which fed to the room PA system to her lips.
“Hello there, Howie,” her voice boomed from the ceiling.
Howie was startled by the loud voice coming from speakers which had to be above the ceiling.
“LUCY?! Oh thank GOD. I’m trapped I think. This is the wrong room.”
“Hmm, I think you’re in the right place.”
“...what do you mean?”
“This is the sleepwalking corrective therapy room.”
“But uh...I don’t have a sleepwalking problem.”
“No...you have a different problem. See, this room is special because the floor is...well...wired.”
Howie flexed his sensitive toes feeling the cold hard metal underneath. More anxiety began to build.
“Folks who suffer from severe sleepwalking disorders will sleep in this room. Whenever they place their feet on the floor to stand up they receive a slight electrical pulse to wake them up. With enough therapy they begin to subconsciously associate the upright position with being awake and stop sleepwalking for good.”
Trying his best to follow what she was saying, Howie spoke up.
“Hey, Lucy. This is kind of scary. Would you let me out now please?”
Still confused at the proceedings Jill confronted Lucy.
“Lucy! Let him out of there right now!” she growled.
“Just one more second…” said Lucy with a mischievous smile.
“Hey Howie,” Lucy spoke into the microphone once more. “I’m going to show you what it feels like.”
“No!” shouted Jill.
“Wait, no…” said Howie.
Lucy pressed the discharge button on the control monitor which suddenly sent a mild electric shock into the soles of Howie’s feet.
“HA...wait...ha ha….hey stop this. It...hehe...it tickles...” Howie said. The sensation was immediate. Howie could feel a constant mild shock coming up through the floor into his sensitive bare feet. It was very uncomfortable but if he alternated which foot was contacting the floor he could deal with it while keeping his mind straight.
Jill’s face of outrage suddenly began to melt when she saw Howie do his slow high knee march. He looked so silly. She couldn’t help it, she started to grin.
“This is a therapy?” she chuckled.
“Yes, it’s a therapy chamber, but I modified it to be more of a...punishment chamber. So we could teach him a lesson.”
“...what lesson?”
“Well, it was pretty lame that he made you dance out there by yourself at Grace’s wedding. I thought we might be able to give him a little dance lesson” Lucy said with a hopeful shrug.
For a moment Jill was transported back to that moment at the wedding.
‘It’s true, it was really rude and embarrassing of him. How hard would it have been to just accompany your girlfriend for a dance.’
She could feel the anger returning. When she looked up she once again saw Howie laughing lightly and goofily lifting his bare feet high into the air one by one. She grinned.
“So...this is safe, right? It’s not going to hurt him.”
Lucy thought back to earlier to when she was removing the safeguards from the machine. There were a LOT of system warnings about bodily harm, mental degradation, permanent damage, etc.
‘Those are just to be careful. I’m sure.’ she said, reassuring herself.
“Yep. Completely safe. It’s just sending little tickles into the bottom of his feet.”
“Oh my god. Howie is SO ticklish. He can’t stand it.” Jill laughed.
Howie had been doing his silly march for several minutes at that point. He began to feel tired. Then suddenly, the shocking stopped.
“What the hell is this!? What are you doing?” shouted Howie, realizing that his situation was no accident.
“Haha, little tingly, huh? Well, this machine can get a lot more tingly than that.” Lucy taunted pleasantly. She increased the shock saturation from a 15 to a 35, more than double.
The increased shocks shot ticklish blasts into Howie’s sensitive soles. He practically jumped to the ceiling. Instead of the goofy kick walk from before Howie had to prance and skip erratically to try to suppress the shocks. It didn’t help all that much. Reflexive laughter burst from Howie’s mouth making it close to impossible to process the situation.
“STOAHAHAHAHA, STOAHAHAHAPPA, NOAHAHAHAHAHA.” he said
Jill laughed at the sight of Howie’s new torment. He looked like a wacky prospector finding gold.
Lucy reduced the shocks back to the base level.
“Here’s the deal. I’ve got Jill here and she’s pretty upset.”
“Jill is out there?! What the heck is going on?!” yelled Howie trying to peer through the one way mirror. His already red face got redder with anger and confusion.
Jill pulled a second microphone to her mouth.
“I’m not upset, Howie...it’s just. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t just come dance with me at the wedding.”
Struck with a wave of confusion, Howie had to take a moment to gather his thoughts.
“Jill, I told you, I HATE dancing! I’m bad at it, I don’t know how.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth Howie knew he would regret it.
Lucy looked over to Jill as if looking for permission. Jill thought for another moment about the wedding and how she was forced to sit out her favorite slow dance. She looked to Lucy and nodded.
“I’m so glad to hear you say that Howie. Because tonight this sleepwalking treatment room is going to become the ElectroDanceTeacher 5000. Those speakers in the corner are usually used for white noise or soothing music, but I think this calls for something a little groovier. What do you say?”
Lucy pressed play on her Spotify app. A loud beat and baseline began thumping through the speakers above Howie as a funky dancefloor favorite began to play.
Howie was in a cold sweat. He was further startled by a low vibration underneath the floor. Lucy had turned on the electric generator used for the maximum settings. He rushed to the glass (assuming that’s where his assailants were hiding.)
“Let me out of here now! This is torture! This is kidnapping! I didn’t agree to this!” yelled Howie.
“Huh, that’s not what this release form says.” confidently chirped Lucy.
Howie’s stomach dropped and his face turned white.
Jill had to laugh at her boyfriend’s dumbfounded expression. It was just like him to sign something without reading it. Knowing he was now truly at their mercy she turned to Lucy.
“May I do the honors?” she asked with a smile.
“Haha, be my guest…” replied Lucy. She pointed out the discharge button on the screen.
Jill pressed as the verse began in the song.
Howie’s shock about the release form was once again interrupted by the unbearable tickling sensations. Again he jumped and was forced to bounce around from foot to foot, attempting to gain some kind of relief.
“NOHAHAHAHA, I CAHAHAHAHAHAN’T, HAHAHAHAHAHA”
The girls laughed and clapped along to the music while watching the show.
Meanwhile, Howie tried his best to protect his feet from the ticklish sensations blasting through the floor. Every moment his bare sole spent making contact with the shocking metal was ticklish agony. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, but that just pressed them harder into the floor intensifying it.
The playlist transitioned into the next track, a vintage R&B dance hit.
Howie, hoping for a rest, continued his ticklish hop and the women laughed on at the ridiculous sight.
Howie made a bizarre face as he danced around the room. His gaze was one of fear and pain. His eyes opened wide, nearly bulging out of head. Yet his mouth was seemingly held in a permanent laughing smile, laughter pouring from him like a fountain. His feet flew up into the air one by one, his toes splayed.
After two or three more songs Howie hobbled up and leaned on the glass.
“Please...water...I need water.” he mumbled
“That’s very true. We have to hydrate. Good thinking.” said Jill with a giggle.
“I’ve got some water here, and I want to give it to you. But it’s not fair that you get something for nothing,” mused Lucy.
“Something for...what?” he replied.
I was thinking a trade. We’ll give you a bottle of water for every...piece of clothing...you give us…”
Lucy looked to Jill. She hadn’t asked beforehand about if it was cool to see her boyfriend naked, but she figured she’d roll the dice.
Jill returned her glance with a look of surprise. She was having fun, but naturally she was hesitant to have another woman look at her boyfriend’s naked body.
‘Why not?’ she thought. ‘He has a good body. It’s only natural that people should see it. She’s one of my best friends too. We describe our partner’s bodies to each other anyway, this is just the next step.’
She convinced herself.
Jill once again nodded approvingly to Lucy.
Lucy, not wasting a second, began playing 80’s hit “I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt” over the room speakers.
Howie furrowed his brow. It was more humiliation than he had ever experienced.
Lucy went to the minifridge in the control room and retrieved a bottle of water. She then walked to one end of the glass wall where a deposit drawer like those you’d find at a bank was installed below the window. The handle was in the control room so Howie could only access it when Lucy pushed it. She pushed sharply and the slot opened from the wall.
Howie ran to the slot and reached in for the water. He found nothing.
“Shirt first, loverboy” laughed Jill.
Howie began unceremoniously removing his shirt. Jill wasn’t happy.
She pressed the discharge button shocking and surprising Howie.
“Slower! Like you mean it!” she commanded.
Howie began a lackluster striptease reaching down to the edge of his shirt and slowly revealing his abdominal muscles. She ladies gave loud whoops and hollers that he could not hear. Once the shirt was off he threw it into the slot which closed quickly once again.
Lucy picked up the shirt and whipped it playfully in the air. The women laughed. She placed the water bottle into the slot and opened it once more.
Howie wasted no time. He snatched the bottle, tore off the cap, and began to chug.
In the control room Jill gave a mischievous look to Lucy, her finger hovering over the discharge button.
“Should I be bad?” Jill said stifling a laugh.
“Go for it,” replied Lucy.
Howie was halfway done with his water when he felt another ticklish blast come up through his bare soles. The shock made him trip and cough out the precious water from his mouth. He glared at the ladies through the glass.
Jill controlled her laughter long enough to speak into the mic.
“hahaha, sorry, hahaha, I couldn’t resist.”
Howie carefully continued drinking the bottle of water paying special attention not to spill a single drop in fear of another cruel shock.
Once he was done Lucy opened the drawer once more for him to dispose of the bottle. She returned to the control desk.
“How long have we been going?” asked Jill.
“Um, about an hour and a half.” Lucy replied.
“How about we get him going again and then make a playlist so we don’t have to stop.”
“That’s a great idea.”
Lucy began playing the next song she had cued up and cranked up the shocks. She set it to 40 or 50, she wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the potential harm warning.
Howie felt more intense shocks than anything before. Instead of a light or momentary tickle, the new sensations affected the nerve endings in his feet like nothing before. His dancing became more violent and his laughter turned maniacal.
As Howie flailed around in ticklish agony the women began planning their playlist.
Lucy kicked off her flats and got down on the floor with her phone absent-mindedly wiggling her toes behind her. Jill followed suit and pulled off her tennis shoes. Jill caught a glint of Lucy’s french tip toenails.
“Oh wow, let me see your toes.” asked Jill.
Realizing she noticed her pedicure, Lucy complied.
“You like it?” she asked.
“I love it. I almost got the same thing done, but went for that new gel blend polish.”
“Oh, that’s right. Let me see.”
Jill stripped off her socks and gave her foot to Lucy to inspect.
The girls sat on the floor comparing toes.
Meanwhile, the tickling had began affecting Howie’s mind. He was having trouble forming thoughts. The only thing he could think about was the torturous electric tickling racing through his hypersensitive feet. Howie was already extremely ticklish, but the floor created a NEW level of tickling unlike anything he could ever imagine.
After about 20 minutes the girls had finished their playlist, picking their favorite hits from college as well as current club bangers. They stood back up and headed to the chairs, leaving their socks and shoes behind. Lucy looked at the dial. It read 60.
“Oh my gosh, Jill. You left it on 60!” she asked with shock and surprise.
“I guess. Is that bad?!” Jill asked with concern.
At work she had never seen the shocks more than a 12, and that was for extremely heavy sleepers. She had trouble fathoming 60.
They both looked at Howie who then was looking more and more like a mental patient. His hair was completely messed up from all the jumping and twisting. Tears streamed down his face and his mouth was locked in a smiling position.
The girls doubled over with laughter at the sight. Lucy turned down the machine to the base level.
Mentally frazzled, and physically beaten, Howie dropped to the floor.
He had resisted for a long time, but his thirst had taken control.
“Water...please…”
Lucy’s eyes lit up knowing she was going to get a show.
“You know the deal, loverboy. Let’s lose those shorts.”
She selected Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” and pressed play.
Howie heard the song playing and prayed that the tickling wouldn’t resume. He hoped that he could bear this humiliation for just a brief rest from the tickling. Howie began slowly pulling down his shorts. It was clear that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath.
Jill had gotten over her initial reservations on the idea and was now clapping along with the music, enjoying her boyfriend’s striptease with her college bestie.
Howie knew that if he drew out the stripping any more they would likely catch on and punish him. Also, he was very thirsty. He placed his shorts in the drawer and stood naked before the two women.
“Nice dick!” shouted Lucy into the microphone before placing the new water bottle in the drawer.
“Oh my god. You’re so bad!” Jill said.
Howie chugged the new bottle even faster than before. He drank as fast as he could in fear they would prank him again with a surprise shock, but they were too busy laughing at their own bad jokes. They disposed of the bottle like the first.
“We have some good news.” Lucy said over the microphone.
Howie smiled lightly.
‘This is it.’ It thought, his brain finally regaining normality. ‘They’re going to let me out now.’
“That’s right, Lucy, some excellent news. We just put together the most ROCKING playlist for you to dance to…”
‘PLAYLIST!?’ Howie thought. ‘I’m about to pass out!’
Howie banged on the glass.
“Noooooo!”
“You don’t want to hear our playlist? That’s pretty rude.” said Lucy wryly.
“Please, no more. I’ll do anything, I’ll take you dahahaHAHAHA, I’ll taahahAHAHAHA” Howie tried to plead, but the tickling had already begun. He began lifting his bare feet up and down, up and down...
The ladies tortured him to the best dance hits across the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, and today.
“Pleahahahaha, Please noahahahaha, I can’t stand ihahaHAHAHAHA” Howie tried to beg.
He continued to dance and laugh like a madman, a naked madman at that. All the while the women would taunt him through the glass.
“All right, step side to side. Very good.”
“Get those knees up!”
He tried to follow their instructions, but could barely focus. The women were merciless. They only lowered the power for brief moments to humiliate him.
“Shake that butt! Shake it, or get ready for a shock.”
“Don’t you dare stop.”
During MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This” they thought they’d play a fun trick. In the middle they shouted:
“STOOOOOOP! Hammertime!”
The current regulator’s hum increased pitch sharply as Jill cranked it up past 60.
“Come on, dance like MC Hammer!”
Howie didn’t quite look like MC Hammer, more like a rat in a sewer drain fighting for his life.
----------------------------------------------
Lucy and Jill had lost track of the time. They had been at it for a little over 3 hours.
Howie had been drained of nearly all of his energy. Exhausted, he could barely lift his feet up off the electric floor. He was forced to bear the full ticklish sensation. His naked body now covered in sweat.
“Oh wow, it’s late. I need to get going.” said Jill with concern.
“Haha, yeah, let’s turn it off.” said Lucy. With a smile she bent down to the microphone once more.
“Congratulations Howie! We’re finished.”
Though Howie heard her he had no energy to address her. It took everything for him to continue lifting his feet and giving a stream of defeated chuckles.
Lucy finally switched the current in the floor to 0.
*CLANG*
The metal rang out as Howie collapsed on the floor. He was a heaving, twitching ball of exhaustion.
“Good news, you’ve just passed your very first intro to dance class. How do you feel?”
“Uuuuhhhhhhh,” Howie gave a humiliated groan.
“Guess I better let him try that mattress now, huh?” laughed Lucy.
“Haha, yeah. Looks like he’s earned it.”
“Truthfully, that was a lot of fun.”
“Good, I’m glad! I had fun too.”
“I think Howie definitely learned his lesson.”
“We’ll see, are you going to Steve and Karen’s wedding this weekend?”
The women caught up for an additional 40 minutes. During that time, Howie remained in a deep sleep crumpled on the floor.
“Great. Just remember, I have his release on file now. If he ever starts to slip up or bothers you in some other way you can bring him in for another treatment.”
“Haha, that’s good to know. But probably not necessary. Okay, well, I’m gonna head home.”
“Okay, it was so great hanging out. It was like old times.”
“Bye girl!”
--------------------------------
Part 3 - Encore
Lucy returned to the control room. She grabbed another water bottle and placed it in the drawer. Seeing as though he was completely naked she figured she’d need to make this one on the house.
Howie had been out cold for a little under an hour. His naked body was sitting down leaning on the wall opposite the glass. His naked legs and ass pressed against the metal floor. Lucy laughed. She turned the current back on to the base level.
Howie felt the ticklish sensations in his ass, legs, and balls. He immediately woke up and groaned in agony.
“Feeling frisky? Who said you could nap?” Lucy said into the microphone.
Howie crawled across the ticklish metal floor on his side to get to the open drawer. He gave light, exhausted laughter along the way. At one point he fell on his front which sent ticklish shocks through his neck, chest, nipples, stomach, legs, and dick. He squealed and flipped back to his side. Lucy had a good chuckle about that.
After Howie had finished the water bottle he addressed Lucy.
“Jill...Jill said you...you’d let me out...she said…”
“Hmm...yeah, that’s not happening.” Lucy said, cutting of Howie’s sentence. ”Jill’s gone. You’re all mine until further notice…”
Howie’s stress levels begun to rise once more.
“and I say it’s time to keep this party going ALL NIGHT LONG…”
Howie was about to cry.
“...what? But...she said” he mumbled quietly.
Howie was all but unconscious from the ordeal. His toes still twitched from the residual sensations. He simply could not take any more.
Lucy pressed play on a new playlist. A classic party jam began blasting through the speakers louder than any song had in the past three hours.
The tickling once again caused his eyes to widen and bug out of his head. He resumed his ticklish dance with new energy.
“...noooo...nooohohohahahaHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA”
Lucy smiled. She leaned her office chair back and placed her bare feet on the table. She wiggled her toes carelessly and chuckled to herself with the knowledge that the store was closed tomorrow.
-----------------------------------------
Part 4 - Steve and Karen’s Wedding
Steve and Karen’s wedding had been quite the to-do. Twice as elaborate as David and Grace’s (but then again Karen always did try to outdo Grace.) Four hours in and dinner had been served, the cake had been cut, and the dance floor was alive.
Howie was dancing right next to Jill. In fact he hadn’t left her side since the music started. Fast songs, slow songs, old songs, new songs. He had danced to every single one. Jill was impressed. Only a few people remained on the dance floor at that point and the dj had turned to playing some of the more embarrassing jams. An old boy band song began to play and suddenly Jill stopped dancing.
“Ok, I’m all danced out I think. I’m going to go sit down.” Jill said.
“Haha, cool” Howie said. He stopped dancing and prepared to follow her.
Jill paused.
“No...I want you to keep dancing.” she said unblinking, in a rather serious tone.
Howie began to sweat.
“Um...okay...I guess.” he said after swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat.
“It’s just...you’re having so much fun.” she said, a smile creeping onto her face once more.
“Sure...okay then...I’ll keep...keep dancing.” Howard said, resuming his dance moves. At that point there were only a couple of kids, some balloons, an older woman who probably wasn’t invited, and Howard still out there.
Jill padded away from her dancing boyfriend holding her heels. She walked past the staff cleaning up, the empty champagne flutes and bottles, and the displaced chairs to her table. Sitting there with her bare feet propped up on a chair was none other than her good friend Lucy.
Howie watched Jill carefully as she spoke with Lucy. His sinking feeling of dread began to return.
Jill sat down and propped her bare feet on a chair next to Lucy’s. The women caught up once more about work, hobbies, their favorite shows, and of course...relationships.
“So how is Howie?” Lucy asked eagerly.
“Howie is great actually…” Jill said.
Howie glanced at the women from the dancefloor, relaxing side by side, their bare feet in full view. They noticed his glance and waved hello. Howie’s anxiety heightened.
“He’s been kind of...afraid...but in a good way.” Jill continued.
“Oh...that’s great...I guess…” Lucy replied with a tinge of disappointment.
Jill sensed the disappointment in her friend.
“...well...it’s not been perfect.” Jill said.
Lucy’s eyes brightened.
“Tell me more.” Lucy said
“Well, he left the toilet seat up once...and he has this habit of putting silverware in the wrong drawer....”
“Oh no...no no no...that won’t do…”
Howie tried to ignore the ladies looking in his direction. He didn’t dare stop dancing. Suddenly he heard both women give a loud cackle and fling their heads back in laughter. He prayed they weren’t talking about him.
