Anna’s Punishment, Part 1 - The Taking

by Alina Aamu

storycodes: F+/f, bdsm, D/s, bond, gag, reluct/cons, X

It was supposed to be just a quiet, ordinary evening at home. Naturally being Taken was always a possibility ever since the law had been ratified over 30 years ago in 1977, but you never plan for it to happen. You don’t plan for it, even though it happens to at least once to 85% of all women in their lifetimes. But you just don’t talk about these things, so you never think about them either.

I was settled to my couch, expecting to quietly wind down for the night. It had been a pretty hectic day at work, so I had came straight home, eaten well and now the plan was to watch some exceptionally bad television until it was time to go to sleep. I had even changed to my pyjamas, thus declaring to my international audience of nobody that I considered the day to be over. I wouldn’t answer to the telephone and I sure as heck wouldn’t be checking my email until tomorrow morning.

However, my idle channel flipping was unexpectedly disturbed when somebody rang the doorbell. This was rather strange as I really didn’t expect anybody to be visiting me. I had just moved in, I didn’t know anybody in the neighbourhood and my friends knew me well enough to not visit unannounced. The doorbell rang again.

I really didn’t want to answer the door. I didn’t even want to get up from the sofa except to go to the bathroom. I tried to convince myself not to care, but in the end my curiosity won over my laziness. It usually did, and maybe that was for the best. I was also worried that there was a problem with my lease or there was something else to do with the building that I needed to know.

I walked to the door and peaked trough the eyepiece. My heart jumped as I saw two Takers, patiently waiting. My mind started to race, as it does for every person who is unexpectedly faced with representatives of the law. Could they really be for me? But why? I couldn’t think of anything that I would’ve done that was against the law.

Slowly I started to calm down. What finally convinced me to stop worrying was the sobering thought that if they’d really come for me, they wouldn’t be waiting patiently in the hallway. They would’ve probably just came in with their masterkey. I let out a breath and opened the door, convinced that they were probably looking for someone else in the building and wanted to know if I knew where that somebody might be.

“Yes?” I cautiously asked, trying to appear casual.

“Are you Anna Hood?” asked the smaller of the two burly Takers.

“Yes. Is there something I can do for you?” I asked.

I saw the two Takers glance at each other for a fraction of a second and then they sprung into action. Before I had fully realized it, the two women were in my apartment, the door had been closed and the larger Taker had a firm grip of both of my elbows. She forced them behind my back and held me in place.

“What are you guys doing?” I asked loudly, more surprised by this turn of events than anything.

“You have been found guilty of a crime and designated to an education center.” the smaller Taker said. “We’re here to restrain you until a Collector can come pick you up.”

“Are you serious? Come on, this has got to be a mistake! I didn’t do anything!” I protested and tried to pull my hands free, unsuccessfully. The bigger Taker tightened her grip.

“That is not really our department,” the smaller Taker said. “We’re just here to restrain you. You’ll be informed about the details later.”

“Where should we put her?” asked the larger Taker.

“I don’t know,” responded the smaller. “I don’t feel like doing anything too fancy yet.”

She walked in the apartment to look around while I directed a barrage of questions and protests to the larger Taker. She ignored me so completely that I would’ve believed if someone was to claim that she was deaf.

After a few moments, the smaller Taker came back.

“Let’s just put her on the couch,” the smaller Taker said. “There’s way too much stuff in the bedroom she could free herself with.”

“Fine, whatever,” the larger Taker said, clearly annoyed. “Just gag her already! I can’t stand these chatty ones.”

“Sure,” the smaller Taker said an pulled a black ball gag from her belt. My eyes went wide as I saw it.

“Please, don’t! I just want to know what’s going on!” I protested. “You can’t...”

I shut my mouth the instant I saw the gag coming closer to my face. The smaller Taker grinned slightly and I instantly realised how ineffective my stalling tactic was destined to be. They were Takers. If she wanted me gagged, I would be gagged. Regardless, I wasn’t going to submit that easily.

“Come on, now,” she said. “Everybody gets a gag and you’re no exception. Just cooperate and this will be more pleasant for everybody.”

I kept my mouth firmly shut and instead kicked the larger Taker in the leg. She didn’t react and I felt that the pants of her uniform were padded. I should’ve guessed.

“Very well, then,” the smaller Taker said. “I do kind of enjoy a challenge.”

I wondered what clever tactic she would use to get my mouth open was as I wasn’t going to give in. Turned out that it wasn’t really all that clever. She just pushed the rubber ball firmly against my lips while the larger Taker kept me still. My lips were crushed between the ball and my teeth and it didn’t take long until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I opened my mouth and the rubber ball slipped in place behind my teeth. The smaller Taker quickly fastened the strap, securing the gag firmly in my mouth. I could feel pain in my scalp as strands of hair got caught in the strap, but it was obvious that neither of them cared about my discomfort. The ball itself wasn’t all that big, but it was still a very strange sensation. I knew that my ability to produce any form of intelligible speech had been taken away.

“Finally,” the larger Taker said laconically. They immediately started to drag me back to the couch.

Once at the couch, the smaller Taker shut off the television. She then turned to the larger Taker.

“Should we give her little grief about her attitude?” she asked with a smile.

“Sure,” the larger replied.

“Lets get her shirt off,” the smaller said and immediately the larger sprung into action. Maneuvering my hands carefully, together they manager to get the top of my pyjamas off, exposing my breasts. I tried to fight back, but it was a pretty pathetic effort on my part. I had never been very strong and these were professionals.

“Well, well,” the shorter said with a smile as she saw my bare breasts. “No bra for Anna, I see.”

I would’ve gladly explained to her that I don’t usually wear underwear with pyjamas, but the gag prevented me. And to be honest, there would’ve been much more urgent things that I would’ve liked to say to her in the absence of a gag. But even my profanity-filled thoughts were cut when the smaller Taker started slapping my breasts.

I yelped in protest, which seemed to amuse both of the Takers quite a lot. I really did not like where this was going. I was pretty choosy about who I let see my breasts and these two doofuses weren’t on that particular list. Fortunately she didn’t continue with the slapping for very long.

Clearly it was time to get serious. The smaller Taker opened her bag and pulled out large quantities of rope while the larger one forced me face first on my couch. Their fun over, their efficiency was pretty impressive. A length of rope was tightly coiled around my wrists, cinched and then coiled again around my elbows before it was tied off in the cinch of the elbow coil. I tried to push against the manhandling, but it was of no use.

They then turned me around to my back and started to tie my ankles. A long length of rope was first tied to the ankles and then the same rope was brought up to just below the knees. The knot was placed inside the cinch so that it was obvious that there was no way for me to reach it.

They then turned me to my stomach again and a final rope was attached to the wrist tie and pulled around the ankles, forcing me into a hogtie. The same rope was then pulled to the cinch under my knees and tied off so that the knot was in the same unreachable place. The time from pushing me down to the finished tie was probably less than two minutes.

Once they were finished, they examined that the ropes were securely fastened. Clearly happy with the end result, the smaller one concluded the work by slapping me on my ass a few times. Once again I yelped, but this time I was more quiet as I didn’t want the neighbours to hear what was going on.

“I think that about does it,” the smaller Taker said. “The Collector should be here in a couple of hours. In the meanwhile, try to relax. Thank you for your cooperation.”

I gave her a murdering look as I tried to settle into my predicament. No longer interested in me, she didn’t react. They quickly exited the apartment and shut the door behind them. I was alone.

Everything had happened so quickly that it wasn’t until now that I could really process what had just happened and orient myself to the unexpected predicament. I had never been tied like this before.

I shifted and pulled my limbs, testing the ropes. They were very tight, but also quite soft. They didn’t dig into the skin and none of the ropes or knots pushed on any nerves. As I settled into a semi-comfortable position, I decided that it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. My elbows were tied, but they were pretty far from each other and my shoulders weren’t too strained.

My wrists were tied the tightest, but I could relax them against the ropes. My legs weren’t going to budge from each other and the only really irritating thing were the knots that dug slightly into the skin as they were placed inside the coils.

The ballgag was the weirdest sensation of all. The straps were quite tight so that they dug into the corners of my mouth. I could easily breathe around the ball and could probably scream as well. I thought about screaming for help, but quickly decided against it. Everybody knew that what it meant when they heard a slightly muffled scream. It meant that somebody had been Taken. Nobody would help you but everybody would know what had happened and you’d have to live in shame about it.

Fortunately the ball wasn’t too big, but I could tell that my jaw would probably start feeling a strain at some point. From the ropework it was clear that there was no way I could wriggle myself out of the bondage or reach the knots. There was no option but to lay there and wait for the Collector.

I decided to remind myself of everything I knew about the process. Since it was totally inappropriate to discuss about any of it, all I knew was from that one lecture in school that was mandatory to everybody.

The penal system was collapsing on itself in the late 70‘s and therefore it was decided in the case of females, prisons and citations were completely eliminated and replaced with humiliation caverns. Or as they were officially called, Education Centers. The idea was that naughty girls would be taught out of their criminal behaviour with “lessons” that consisted mostly of submission and pain as well as sexual humiliation and pleasure. Of course, when sexual activity is forced by the law, pleasure and humiliation often go hand in hand.

The upside to that was that the penalties were way shorter, mostly lasting only a few days and even in extreme cases only for a couple of years. There would be no criminal record or monetary penalty of any kind. You’d just be “educated” for a set period of time and you could move on. I had always thought that there were definite upsides to the approach, but now that I was facing it I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I really didn’t know what was going to happen when the Collector would come. A major part of the new system was that the defendant wasn’t told that there was legal action in the works against her. The theory was that the judges could make a completely objective decision based only on known facts, assign a punishment and the convicted would be Taken.

I honestly didn’t have a clue as to what my crime could’ve been, so I really didn’t know how long I would be spending in the Education Center. I was also filled with trepidation when I started to think about the possible nature of the “lessons”. Even though we never thought about it, it had been clear that a couple of my friends had spent several days in there. And while they weren’t traumatised, they were pretty shaken up when I first met them afterwards.

I knew that the “lessons” would be administered by exclusively female “teachers”, which would make the experience a little easier for me as I was a pretty definite lesbian. But still, having sexual interaction and humiliation done to you by the order of the law didn’t make it all that fetching of an idea.

I spend quite a lot of time just thinking about what my future was to hold. I didn’t see the time anywhere, but the growing pool of drool told me that I had been gagged for quite some time now. I had given up on the idea of trying to find something to cut myself free with. I probably couldn’t maneuver anywhere far and I knew that I would’ve been facing a far longer punishment if I got caught.

So after quite some time, the trepidation, worry and fear was overshadowed by simple boredom. There was nothing to do, hogtied and gagged on my own living room couch. The remote of the TV was still at the coffee table and I found myself considering the possibility of somehow getting myself to it.

However, I was worried that even turning on the television might be cause for a longer punishment. The smaller Taker had been pretty deliberate in turning it off so maybe I wasn’t allowed to be entertained during this time. I also wondered what I could watch. I certainly didn’t want to watch crap, but I didn’t want to watch anything I liked either. I was concerned that watching something would associate it with my rather unpleasant experience and I might never be able to watch it again.

After considering the logistics, I started to feel pretty certain that I could reach the remote. I truly wished that I could know what time it was and how long it would take for the Collector to show up. It was about 7pm when the Takers had showed up so it probably took at least a couple of hours for the Collector to make her rounds. And I didn’t know if I’d be on top of the list either.

I sighed deeply. At least I was lucky enough to be home when I was Taken. I really would’ve hated to have been somewhere around town. The Takers would’ve restrained me in a central Holding Area where I would’ve been placed with several other unfortunate women. I had never been in a Holding Area, but I had heard that they had all sorts of convoluted ways of restraining you in there. And you’d have to listen to the moans, wails and screams of those who were there for a quick, single “lesson”. The approximate equivalent of a ticket.

I was also starting to feel chilly. Nothing but the ropes covering my upper body, combined with almost complete immobility made the temperature of my apartment feel rather low. One of the things I remembered from the lecture was that the Takers weren’t really supposed to do anything except restrain you. They weren’t supposed to strip you or spank you. I also remembered the lecturer saying that they almost always did so regardless. I had experienced it first hand.

Finally I decided to not care if it would affect my punishment, I was going to go for the remote. I couldn’t stand the boredom and the constant speculation about my immediate future. I also hoped that it would distract me from the growing physical discomfort.

But just as I was about to try and maneuver myself, I heard a click. The door opened.

I froze and my heart started to pound again. It had to be the Collector. I was really conflicted about her showing up. On the other hand I was relieved that something would finally start happening and I’d at least get moved to another position. But at the same time it meant that it was time to go. I was really apprehensive about what was waiting for me and I wasn’t that eager to leave for the Education Center. Sure, I was uncomfortable, but at least I was home.

The Collector entered the room and I was quite surprised at the sight. She was an older woman, well over 60 years old and she smiled warmly at me. She had a really friendly presence, which made her a complete opposite of the Takers.

“Well, hello. Who have we got here?” the Collector asked. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, but it’s a rather busy night. I’m your Collector, the name’s Abby. Is this your first time being Taken?”

I nodded sheepishly.

“Ok, I’ll explain some of the basics to you, then,” Abby said and started to read from a paper. “There was a problem with your taxes and you’ve been sentenced to six days of training in the Education Center.”

Suddenly everything made sense. I had been quite unsure about some of the details on my latest tax declaration. I must’ve done something really wrong to warrant such a long time in an Education Center, but at least now I knew why this was happening and how long. Even though I wasn’t happy about the length of the “training”, I was relieved to finally get some information.

“Now, you’re probably wondering what’s going to happen and maybe even a little afraid,” Abby continued. Her soft and friendly voice was completely free of judgement or resentment. I decided that I liked her, even though I didn’t like her role in what was happening to me.

“I’m not going to lie to you, some of it will probably be pretty rough and it’s not going to be easy. But just remember that we’re all professionals and we know what we’re doing. We’d never do anything to you that could seriously harm you or cause permanent damage. The best thing you can do is just to ride it out and not cause a scene, ok?”

I nodded again. I really appreciated her candour, although I wasn’t sure if she was just trying to make her part of the process easier by coaxing me to submission.

“What’s going to happen next is that I’m going to prepare you for the ride to the Education Center. My car is just outside so hopefully not too many people are going to see who I’m Collecting.”

While talking, Abby untied the rope that kept me in a hogtie and helped me to sit up on the couch.

“I’m going to start by ungagging you for a while, but please don’t make a scene. You can ask me questions, but if you say anything out of the line, I will gag you again.”

I nodded and she unbuckled the strap that held the ball in place. As the gag was pulled away, a huge amount of drool was released with it. I let out a breath of relief as my jaw finally relaxed. Abby smiled at this.

“It’s pretty hard at first, especially since this is your first time. But you’ll get used to the gags pretty soon.”

“I hope I don’t have to,” I said. “I’ve decided that I don’t  like them all that much.”

“They’re not that bad after a while. Now, lets untie those legs so you can walk to the car. If you have any questions, go right ahead.”

Abby started to untie my legs as my mind raced. It was full of questions, but I really didn’t know where to start and what were appropriate to ask from her.

“Where am I going? What are they going to do to me there?”

“I can’t tell you which Education Center you’re going. They’re all top secret and you’ll be completely in the dark as to the location. What they’re going to do to you, well, depends a lot on your teachers. They all have their own styles and preferences. But you’ll have a Counsellor that will explain everything in detail to you once you get there.”

I had heard of Counsellors. They were kind of like your personal warden while the “teachers” were just the ones that applied the “lessons”.

Meanwhile, Abby finished untying my legs and packed away the rope.

“Now, lets check the ropes on your arms.” Abby said as she gently turned me around to examine the tie. “I think we’ll put you in a boxtie instead. It’ll be more comfortable during the trip. Now, you’ll be untied for a moment, but don’t try anything funny. I have a tazer in my reach and I’m trained to use it. Understand?”

I nodded sheepishly and she let go of me. She then started to untie my arms. The relief I started to feel was indescribable as the strain on my elbows and shoulders started to ease. When she removed the final rope, my arms almost shot forward with the release of the tension.

I enjoyed the feeling as long as I could, because I knew that it wasn’t going to last. Abby was already getting new rope from her pack.

“Could I at least put a shirt on before you tie my arms again?” I asked. Abby shook her head as she started to apply the ropes. There was a lot of rope and the tie was obviously more complex, but she was incredibly fast at what she was doing. She talked to me while administering the ropes.

“Unfortunately we can’t do that. You’re to be transferred in the condition the Takers left you. It’s too big of an escape risk.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, you will return in the same clothes as well. A lot of girls are Taken naked, so you’re in a pretty good shape.”

“I don’t believe this.”

Even though the tie was complex, Abby was already finishing. The ropes seemed to go everywhere on my upper torso. My hands were kept in a strict boxtie with the rope going everywhere to secure them in place. The ropes were coiled over and under my breasts and even under my armpits. The ropes were cinched everywhere so that I couldn’t move my arms more than an inch in any direction.

“It’s not pleasant, but I’m afraid that it’s the law.” Abby said as she inspected her handiwork. She then went to her bag again. “Now, I’m going to have to gag you again as well.”

“Do you really have to? I promise to keep quiet.”

Abby shook her head again and smiled pleasantly.

“Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. And I have more bad news, it’s going to be a lot bigger of a gag.”

She pulled out a huge ball gag with a lot more straps attached to it than the previous one.

“Please, no. I really can’t take it!” I said in desperation.

“I’m afraid that’s the law. We can’t have you making noises or communicating with anyone during the journey. Now, be a dear and open up.”

I really wanted to resist when she pulled the gag closer to my face, but she had been so pleasant the entire time that I didn’t want to give her grief. I sighed and begrudgingly opened my mouth.

“That’s a good girl,” Abby said as she pushed the ball into my mouth.

And she really did have to push it in. It was almost as big as my mouth could possibly handle, so this time I was gagged way more securely than the previous time. The straps formed a head harness that Abby started to meticulously strap in. The first strap attached the ball in place behind my teeth while others went over my head. She was a lot more careful with my hair then the Takers. The final strap went under my chin and she pulled it tight. That really set the ball firmly in place in the middle of my mouth and once again my ability to speak had been taken away.

“Now, since we really don’t want you to figure out where we’re going, I’m going to have to blindfold you securely. So first I’m going to put a blindfold on you and then a loose hood.”

As she talked, she had already pulled the items from her bag and before long the blindfold was securely over my eyes. The cloth hood followed, taking away the little visibility I had from the edges of the blindfold. She tightened the hood around my neck, careful not to tighten it too much.

“Ok, you’re set to go. Stand up and I’ll walk you to the car, but be careful. You’re probably really stiff because of the hogtie, so take it slow. I’ll let you know if you’re in danger of jabbing your toe into anything.”

She was right. As I slowly stood up with her help, I could feel every joint in my body protesting and my movements were definitely less controlled than usual. While I didn’t appreciate Abby’s rough handling of me, I was happy that she had me in a firm grasp and at least I didn’t have to worry about falling down.

We walked to the door slowly and I started to feel extremely nervous about what was to follow. We would have to go to the hallway and everybody who happened to walk by would see my humiliating predicament. Of course nobody would ever dare to mention anything about it to me, but they’d know that I had been Taken and I really would’ve preferred if they didn’t.

The only fortunate thing was that as I had just moved in and was wearing a hood. There was a good chance that nobody would recognise me as I hadn’t had time to meet all the tenants yet. Besides, most of them would probably be fixated on my bare breasts rather than any identifiable part of my body, especially now that they were highlighted by coils of rope going over and under them. The thought of my fellow tenants ogling my breasts wasn’t very soothing, though.

But it was inevitable and soon I heard Abby open my front door and we were out in the open. I immediately started walking more briskly since I really didn’t want to be seen. If we went to the car quickly enough, there was actually a chance that nobody would see me. Abby seemed to be on the same wavelength and quickened her pace as well.

My ears were on overdrive, trying to detect even the slightest sound of someone else there, but I couldn’t hear any other sounds than our footsteps. I was quite relieved when I heard the outer door open and the cooler outside air hit my body. I almost felt like I was in the clear now. Nobody knew which apartment I was coming from and people knew better than to watch a taking in progress in a public place.

I also knew that the car would be very close to the front door and it took us only a few steps before Abby yanked the ropes to stop me.

“This is the tricky part. I need you to go in the car so that you’ll lay down on your stomach in the backseat. I’ll guide you, but you’ll have to be careful and especially watch your head.”

I wanted to ask her how the hell I was supposed to watch my head when I couldn’t see anything, but I knew the gag would’ve rendered my words to a mumble. It would’ve been useless and I really didn’t want to attract any attention just in case someone who could recognise my voice was nearby.

Abby did guide me expertly, though, so I indeed managed to place myself on the backseat on my stomach. Inch by inch I wormed myself further in before my head hit the door on the other side. Unfortunately the backseat was somewhat shorter than I was, so Abby bent my knees to get the rest of my feet inside and then quickly tied my ankles together.

I was a bit worried that she would put me in a hogtie again, but she didn’t. Instead, she started to buckle belts over me that were placed pretty close to each other. She started close to my knees and tightened the belts every few inches so tight that they pressed me tightly to the seat. They felt like seatbelts, but obviously they were placed quite differently than usually.

The final belt was buckled just over my shoulders and I was pinned down really tight now. I was forced to turn my head sideways so I wouldn’t stress my neck.

“You look good to go for a safe trip.” Abby said as she checked that all the belts were tight and secure. “It’ll be a pretty long drive, so just try to relax.”

She patted me on my head a couple of times and then retreated from the car. She pushed my legs further into the car to make sure they didn’t get hit as she slammed the door closed. And then I couldn’t hear anything except the noises coming from outside the car.

As the door opened on the drivers side and Abby settled into the drivers seat, I realised that there had to be a wall of some sort between the backseat and the front of the car. The sounds were muted and therefore I couldn’t hear everything she was doing. After a beat, the car started to move and we were off. The realization of my situation really hit home right at that moment. I was being taken to an Education Center and I was completely powerless to do anything about it.

The car rolled forward, gaining speed, and I could feel every single bump and vibration in my entire body. The belts translated every motion directly to my body and the tight ropes amplified the sensations. The enormous gag made sure that all of it was especially accentuated in my mouth.

Abby had said that the drive would be quite long and I had no reason to doubt her. They usually don’t take you to the nearest Education Center so that their locations would remain a secret and even then, the routes were deliberately convoluted. Therefore I tried to relax as much as it was possible under the circumstances.

The boxtie made my arms feel a lot better and the prospect of staying there didn’t seem as daunting as it could’ve. The belts were quite tight, but they didn’t bother me too badly either. The real challenge was going to be the ballgag that was straining my chin already. I tried to find a comfortable way to place the ball and my tongue into my mouth, but the straps didn’t practically give any way. Therefore I had no alternative but to settle in and ride it out.

The realization about my predicament had indeed hit home, but I found that I couldn’t process it properly. I had only the faintest idea of what was about to happen, so I couldn’t really prepare myself mentally for anything. I found that whenever I tried to think about the upcoming ordeal, my mind started to wander. I could only think about the most mundane things and decided that perhaps it was for the best. I could only guess at what was going to happen anyway, so there was no reason to obsess about it. Unfortunately, I was going to find exactly what was in store soon enough.

So I tried to think of something completely different, but the restrains brought me back pretty soon. Some part of my body would start to ache and I’d have to move it as well as I could to relieve the tension. But it would only bring a moment of relief and soon I’d have to move again. The straps of the gag were the worst. It was starting to feel like they were digging into my skin and soon found that the best thing to do was to try and not to move my head at all.

I managed to keep my head still for quite a long time before a bump in the road nudged it. I hadn’t realised it, but I now felt that a large deposit of drool had gathered under my head. I really hoped I could touch the top of my mouth with my tongue as it was very dry, but there was no hope of reaching there.

As time went on, I managed to get my mind off the reality of my situation for longer periods of time. I thought about what I needed to buy from the grocery store the next time I had the opportunity, what movie I’d like to see and other inconsequential things like that. Without realising it, I was soon at the verge of actually falling asleep.

Unfortunately the discomfort of my situation kept me from actually crossing the threshold, but at least it kept my mind off the discomfort. At some point, I completely lost all track of time. We had been travelling without interruption for a while, but I had no sense if we had been underway for hours or just started. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the journey to end or not. On the other hand, once we were there, I’d probably get off these ropes and the gag. But then again, we’d be in an Education Center and I wasn’t so keen to get there.

But sure enough, at last I could hear and feel the car enter a steep tunnel and my ears popped at the pressure. I knew we were about to arrive. All the Education Centers were located deep underground and they were exactly identical so that nobody could tell which one they had visited, making the locations even more impossible to deduce.

The car finally stopped and my stomach churned. We were there, and that meant that my ordeal was about to start for good. I strained my ears in hopes of hearing Abby talk to someone or getting any information at all about my surroundings. But there was only silence.

The silence wasn’t broken until I could hear Abby opening her door and climbing out of the car. Soon after that, the back door opened as well and I groaned in relief as I was finally able to straighten my legs.

“I hope the trip wasn’t too uncomfortable,” Abby said as she started to unbuckle the belts. “I took the short route here via the highway so that your first time wouldn’t be too strenuous.”

I really hoped that I could’ve said to her that I honestly appreciated it, but there obviously was no hope in communicating anything to her. As unpleasant as the things that she was doing to me were, she really did seem to put an effort into making it as easy as possible to me. I sincerely hoped that she wasn’t the exception to the rule.

I decided that the best thing to give in the way of gratitude was my obedience. I offered no resistance to her as she guided me out and up from the backseat after all the belts were unbuckled and my ankles were untied. She very carefully made me inch back until my feet hit the ground. She then pulled me up from my stomach and I was standing again.

I can’t tell how good it felt to stand. My joints and muscles were trembling in gratitude from just this simple change in position. I guess this was part of the education, to appreciate the most simple things in life.

“Let’s go inside. You don’t need to worry about your feet. This entrance has been designed for blindfolded people, so there are no steps."

Abby started to lead me forward carefully. We stopped after just a few steps as she pushed in a keycode of some sort. I could hear an automatic door open. We stepped trough a powerful downward air stream and we were inside. The doors closed behind us.

“I think it’s about time to give you your vision back, don’t you think?” Abby asked. I nodded, but I was pretty sure that she couldn’t see it because of the hood.

She took off the hood and pulled the blindfold away as well. I opened my eyes carefully, sure that I’d be blinded by a bright light, but I was pleasantly surprised. The lights were only very dimly lit and I had no problem opening my eyes completely.

“I’ll increase the brightness slowly for your eyes to adjust before we go to the waiting room.” Abby said. Once again, I wanted to thank her, but couldn’t.

Abby brought up the lights a little quicker than I would’ve liked, but my eyes did adjust to the brightness pretty easily. I understood that she probably didn’t want to spend the rest of the day with this part of the process.

As the level of light increased, I saw that we were in a very small windowless room without room for anything else. It was almost like an airlock for light and I admired the designers for taking this detail into account.

“Ok, I think we’re set to go.” Abby said and took her hand from the light dial. She then pushed a button and the automatic door opened into the waiting room. We stepped inside.

The waiting room was almost like a reception area of a doctor’s office. A receptionist was waiting behind a counter and the place was probably the cleanest room I had ever seen.

The biggest difference was that there were no chairs for the waiting people. Instead, I saw two women on their knees, facing the wall. The wall had poles from the floor to the ceiling, close to each other and I realized that ballgags were attached to each of the poles. The straps were hanging loose from the balls, except for the two occupied poles, where the straps were holding the women in place.

I immediately realized that that was where I was going to go and offered no resistance as Abby started to lead me there. We stopped in front of an unoccupied pole and Abby told me to kneel in front of it. I did so immediately.

The ballgag was attached to the pole by a short protruding piece that was attached to the pole with a bolt. Abby loosened the bolt to raise the ballgag to the height of my mouth. She then started to undo the head harness that was keeping my current gag firmly in place.

“I bet you’re pretty anxious to get rid of this thing,” Abby said as she unbuckled the straps. My relief was indeed enormous as she finally pulled the ball away from behind my teeth. I let a huge sigh of relief as my jaws were finally able to relax. Massive amounts of drool dropped freely to my breasts and to the floor, but I couldn’t have cared less.

I knew that my relief was to be only momentary, since the ballgag attached to the pole was invariably going to replace the previous one at any moment, but it would be a cakewalk compared to what I had had to endure. Sure enough, Abby nudged me forward and I complied. I went so far that the ball was securely in my mouth before stopping. I had promised myself to be obedient and that’s what I was. The gag really wasn’t all that bad. It was large enough to ensure my inability to communicate, but after the larger gag, my jaws felt like there was no gag at all.

“That’s a good girl,” Abby said and then strapped in the gag. “You’ve been a very pleasant customer. I’ll leave you now to the care of these nice people here in the education center, but I wish you good luck and as pleasant a stay as possible. A counsellor will come pick you up in a moment.”

She patted me lightly to the head as she stepped away. I was actually a bit sad to see her go. She had won my trust, so I didn’t like the fact that the only person I trusted in this place was about to leave. But I knew that that had to happen.

“That’s the 10-42?” I heard the receptionist ask.

“That’s her.” Abby replied.

“Ok, I have her paperwork all set, so I’ll just buzz in her counsellor. You still have more pickups for today?”

“One more.”

“I’ll let you to it, then.”

“Thanks. See you around.”

“Bye.”

And with that, I could hear Abby leave. My stomach lurched again as her absence made my predicament all the more concrete. I tested how much I could move my head and was surprised to notice that I could look around me by leaning to my sides even though the pole and the gag made me otherwise practically unable to move. I turned to look at my fellow “students” who were waiting for their counsellors as well.

The two women were strikingly different from each other. The one closer to me was an older woman, in her forties, who had an incredible air of sophistication emanating from her, even in her current predicament. She was wearing a long evening gown and was expertly made up. I guessed that she had probably been Taken from some kind of a party. Her hands were tied behind her back and her elbows were actually touching which made her chest push forward. That actually made her look even more sophisticated, which was a pretty incredible achievement in her position. She was so calm she actually seemed uninterested about her surroundings. When she looked at me, she looked down upon me so well that I almost felt like I shrunk. She was clearly from a more privileged social class, but the way she handled the ropes and the gag made it apparent that this was not her first time here.

The other woman was her complete opposite. She was really young, she seemed barely old enough to actually be here. She was completely naked and the only ropes were on her wrists, tying her hands behind her back. She looked nervous beyond belief, constantly fidgeting in her place and she jumped for every sound or movement by anyone. Her blonde hair was a mess and she looked like she had put on quite a struggle before her arrival here. I felt sorry for her, even though I didn’t know anything about her or why she was here.

I decided that it was probably best not to pay too much attention to either of them, so I turned my gaze to the wall in front of me. I hoped that the wait wouldn’t be too long, since I was actually more uncomfortable right there than I had been on the car, even though the bondage was significantly lighter. There was nothing to think about, nothing to hear and there definitely was no chance of falling asleep on my knees like that.

After a few moments, a door opened and three women stepped in. I was already happy that they had come so soon, but I realised that they probably weren’t there for me. The other two had been waiting longer. And indeed, they went to the young girl whose eyes darted from person to person in near panic.

“Well, Tina, it’s time to take you to the interview. Try to calm down, we’re not going to hurt you,” the lead of the three women said. I assumed that that was the counsellor. She unbuckled Tina’s gag and helped her to stand.

Immediately when Tina was on her feet, panic seemed to get a hold of her and she started to struggle and plead for her release. Her pleading magnified to screaming as the two other women jumped to grab her.

I couldn’t help but to watch from the corner of my eye as Tina’s struggling grew more desperate. She curled to a ball and was screaming with all her might as the two women were doing their best to restrain her. The battle was hopeless from the start, of course. Her hands were tied behind her back and the women expertly pinned her down and tied her ankles, knees and elbows together in a flurry of activity. They were about to hogtie her when the receptionist entered the scene holding a small injection. The women held Tina in place as the receptionist gave the injection.

Tina immediately calmed down as the tranquiliser took effect. Her screaming withered down to a loud mumble and even that was silenced by the ballgag that was placed into her mouth. The women didn’t bother to finish the hogtie, they simply lifted Tina from the floor and started to carry her towards the door they had just entered.

“Take her to the relaxation room,” the lead woman said. “I see we need to brake this one in carefully to make her see that there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

And with that, the three women left with Tina. The door shut behind them. I could no longer see the receptionist, but from the sounds I assumed that she just returned to her work as if nothing had happened.

I felt a lump in my throat. The episode had really shook me. Maybe that girl knew something I didn’t and maybe I should’ve been more panicked about my situation as well. I had been taking it all quite calmly so far, considering. I could feel the beginnings of a panic swelling inside myself as well.

I glanced at the remaining woman beside me. She looked like she couldn’t have cared less about what had just taken place. That actually helped me calm down again. I didn’t know anything about her, but something about her told me that she had a lot of experience about this place. And if she didn’t feel it necessary to panic, then I shouldn’t either. Of course, this was just a wild assumption, but I decided to run with it. She glanced me back and I immediately returned my gaze to the small crack in the wall in front of me.

I counted to ten and I could feel the calmness returning. There was absolutely no reason to make any rash assumptions about anything. And from the actions of everybody in the room, what had taken place was commonplace. Actually, when I considered it more, I realized that it would’ve been odd if it wasn’t.

I had managed to put the episode behind me for the moment when the door opened again. This time, only one person entered. She was a pleasant looking woman in her thirties who was wearing her long hair in a bun. She had an odd anachronistic feel to her and I quite liked it. She walked to me.

“Hello, Anna,” she said as she came to me. She knelt down beside me. “I’m your counsellor, you can call me Ginger. I’m happy to tell you that you’re actually going to be ungagged for a while now if you don’t put up any fuss. Does that sound good?”

I nodded eagerly and she smiled to me. She unbuckled the gag and helped me stand up. This time I was able to keep the drool from falling on the floor.

“This way, to the interview room,” Ginger said as she directed me to the door. This was it, I was going in the door that Tina had been so terrified of. I sincerely hoped that there wasn’t anything panic-worthy waiting me on the other side of it.

What I saw at the other side, was a corridor. Looks good so far, I thought as Ginger walked me forward. Both sides of the corridor were lined with doors and an elevator was waiting at the end of it. We walked past quite a few of the doors before Ginger stopped at one of them and punched in a keykode. The door opened and we stepped in.

The interview room was a pretty big room with a table full of all kinds of things waiting right beside the entrance. Another table was waiting further in the room with comfortable looking chairs at the opposite sides of it. One of the chairs had a lot of straps attached to it. It wasn’t hard to guess which one I was going to sit at.

“Welcome to my interview room,” Ginger said as she closed the door behind us. “I’ll conduct your entry and exit interviews here and we might visit here on other occasions as well if the need be. Have you been in an Education Center before?”

I had to swallow before answering since my throat was dry.

“No.”

“Ok, I’ll give you the entire rookie speech while I’m untying you,” Ginger said and indeed started to undo the boxtie I had been locked in for who knows how long. “I’m your counsellor. That means that I’m responsible for you, your education and your wellbeing for the duration of your stay. I won’t do any of the lessons, so there won’t be anything unpleasant going on between us. Everything you say to me will be strictly confidential so feel free to talk to me about anything at all. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Ginger said as she continued untying me. I noticed that she carefully coiled the unused ropes as she went on so that they were ready to be used again. “You’re probably wondering what we have in store for you. I won’t lie to you, some of it will be very unpleasant, but we will never do anything to cause you any physical or psychological harm. That is why it’s imperative that you talk to me and let me know what’s going on in your body and in your head. Alright?”

I didn’t have much energy to give a detailed response, so I just said:

“Ok.”

“Excellent. Now, please remove your clothes and put them in this tray.”

She took a tray from the table and held it in front of me. I didn’t see any point in being coy, so I just dropped the pyjama pants I was wearing and put them on the tray.

“No underwear?” Ginger asked. This was becoming a running theme for the day.

“They’re pyjama pants. I don’t wear underwear when I’m about to go to sleep.”

“Fair enough,” Ginger said as she logged in the article of clothing. “You’ll get them back when you sign out at the end of your stay.”

She took a small metal collar from the table and showed to me while she was talking.

“This collar has a radio chip in it, which has everything we need to know about you encoded in it. You’ll have to wear it for your entire stay.”

She started to put the collar on me with some difficulty as she was significantly shorter than I was. I didn’t feel any reason to resist as she seemed to be a nice enough of a person. I was actually really glad that she was my counsellor as I had taken an instant liking to her when she had entered the room. Under different circumstances, I might’ve even flirted with her. I knew that practically every employee of the Education Centers were gay or at least bi.

She fastened the collar with a tiny padlock and it wasn’t coming off any time soon. The collar was actually quite comfortable since it was rounded and light. It was a bit cold, but I knew it would warm pretty quick.

“This will be your uniform for your stay,” Ginger said as she handed me two pieces of clothing. “You’ll wear them every time you’re not in class or in the shower. The teacher of a class will dictate what you’ll wear, if anything, to your lesson. You’ll wear this in your dorm room and in other center functions.”

I examined the clothes.

“What is this stuff, latex?” I asked her.

“Yes, but it’s chlorinated, so it’s pretty easy to put on and take off. You’ll swear like a pig, but you’ll change it every day at least once after which we’ll wash it, so it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“I’ve never worn latex before.”

“Then this is the perfect moment to start. I’ll give you a hand if you can’t get them on by yourself.”

I started to put on the “uniform”. I really didn’t think it qualified as such since there wasn’t much of it. But I guessed it was better than going around naked. I pulled up the bottom half of the “uniform” with some difficulty. I didn’t know what to call it as there was too much of it to qualify them as panties, but too little to qualify them as shorts. Once I had managed to pull them up, Ginger made sure they fit properly and patted out the air bubbles.

“Very good,” Ginger said. “You didn’t seem to have much difficulties in getting into these, which will help my job considerably. Now the top.”

The top was similarly rationed that there was too much of it to call it a bra and too little to call it a shirt. The sleeveless top had narrow shoulder straps and the latex ended right above my belly button. Once again, Ginger sized it and pushed out the air bubbles once I had put it on.

“Excellent, you’re handling this like an old pro,” Ginger said. I knew that she meant it as a compliment, but I wasn’t at all sure if I wanted to be an old pro at this at all. I decided not to say anything.

“Now, the procedure dictates that I’m supposed to strap you into that chair while I ask you some questions,” Ginger continued.  “But you’re behaving so well that I think we’ll skip it and I’ll just ask you the questions here. Ok?”

I nodded.

“Great. Do you have any medical conditions we should be aware of?”

“None than I can think of.”

“No allergies, heart problems, muscle spasms, stuff like that?”

“No.”

“Excellent. Do you know why you’re here?”

“It’s tax fraud, I guess...”

“Tax evasion. There’s a big difference. That’s a pretty common cause to end up in here. Mostly it happens by accident, so we’ll take that into account in your regime. You’ve been sentenced to spend six days in training.”

“Is this the first day?”

“I’m afraid not. But we’ll return you back to your home at the end of the sixth day. We’ve informed your employer and your family that you’re away so they know not to expect any contact from you until then. Rest assured, we didn’t tell them where you are and why, but I’m sure they can figure it out, unfortunately.”

“It happens,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say, but maybe I didn’t need to. We had all received similar notifications about somebody we knew or were related to, so there was no shame in it.

“Your daily routine will consist of breakfast, endurance training in restraints, a three hour lesson, a shower and dinner. The rest of the time you’ll be confined to your dorm room. I’ll talk with you every morning when you wake up and every evening before you go to sleep. I’ll explain the details tomorrow before your first proper day here. Is that ok with you?”

I didn’t know if I really wanted to hear the details, so it was more than ok with me.

“Sure,” I said.

“Excellent. Are there any questions you want to ask from me?”

“I’m sure I’ll come up with a lot of them, but not right now, no.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Ginger said and smiled at my answer. “I’ll take you to your dorm room, then. I’m afraid I’ll have to restrain and gag you again, but just for the trip.”

I didn’t respond to her. I didn’t feel it necessary to, so she just got to work. First she took ankle cuffs from the table and put them on me. They were connected with a long chain, which I guessed was long enough to walk normally but not to run. After she had snapped them on, she took leather cuffs from the table and put them on both of my wrists. They weren’t connected to each other yet. Ginger locked them in place with small padlocks.

She then took a larger padlock from the table and said:

“Put your hands behind your back, please.”

I did as ordered and she locked the wrist cuffs to each other with the padlock behind my back. She then took a ballgag from the table. At this point, I didn’t need to be instructed to open my mouth, I just did it. She pulled the gag rather tight, but the size of the ball was very manageable, so it wasn’t too bad.

“Ok, let’s go to your dorm room, then,” Ginger said. She started to lead me back out the door. This time the door opened without a keycode and we were in the corridor. The chain of the ankle cuffs was indeed long enough to let me walk almost normally, so it wasn’t hard.

We entered the elevator and she selected the appropriate level. I noticed that we were going even deeper and wondered how deep we actually were. I decided that I would ask that from her the next time I had the opportunity. More than likely, she wouldn’t be allowed to say, but there was no harm in asking.

The elevator was quite fast and we arrived to the desired level. The doors opened and revealed a large hall. We entered the hall and I looked around in wonder.

The cavern was huge, you could see several levels of of the place since the middle of the cavern was open up and down. The caverns were lined with doors that were undoubtedly to the individual cells, or “dorm rooms” as the official name of them dictated. Other “students” were being led around by their counsellors here and there, but they were quite far away so I couldn’t see who they were.

We arrived to a cell and again Ginger punched in a keycode to open the door. She led me in and came inside with me. Once inside, she pushed a button and the door closed again.

“Behold, your home for the next six days!” Ginger said as I took in the surroundings.

The room wasn’t unpleasant, but it was very barren. It was at least as clean as the waiting room. The only furniture were a toilet, a bed without any linen on it and a small table with a chair. There were no windows, but there was a small viewscreen beside the bed, although it was off. A small tray of something to eat was waiting on the table.

“Not exactly the presidential suite, but I’m sure you’ll find it cozy,” Ginger said as she took off my gag. “Let’s get you more comfortable.”

She knelt down to take off my ankle cuffs and then unlocked the padlock holding the wrist cuffs together.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to lock your wrists in front of you,” Ginger said and started to move my arms.

“Why?”

“You see those two buttons each side of the door? You open it by pressing both of them down at the same time. Easy enough to do if your hands aren’t tied together.”

“Really? Why don’t you just use a keycode or something?”

“You could easily see it. And besides, can you imagine how many codes that would be for the entire center? It’s better this way and a little restraint never does any harm in this place. Having your hands tied in front of you shouldn’t be too much to handle.”

“Couldn’t I just use my toe for the other button?”

Ginger smiled.

“Either you’re really smart for thinking that or really dumb for not trying it instead of asking. But no, that won’t work. You see that the buttons are deep enough for toes not to reach.”

Ginger locked my wrists in front of me and I had to admit that after all the bondage I had endured, this wasn’t anything at all.

“Will I always be tied like this in here?”

“Yes. That is all of the restraint you’ll have to endure in here. Unless you’re being punished for bad behaviour, then you’ll be tied and possibly even gagged for some time. In the most extreme cases, the entire night. But I’m sure it’ll never go to that with you.”

“I hope not.”

“Well, that’s up to you, isn’t it?” Ginger said. “If you’re all set for now, I’ll leave you be. There’s something in the way of a snack on the table if you feel hungry. I’ll see you in the morning, ok?”

I really didn’t want her to go, but I couldn’t think of any reason to ask her to stay either. I nodded.

“Ok, then,” Ginger said. “Good night.”

I didn’t respond as she pushed the two buttons to let herself out. The door closed behind her, and for the first time in the Center, I was truly alone.

I was encompassed by an overwhelming feeling of emptiness and I threw myself on the bed. I wasn’t hungry in the slightest, but I was starting to be extremely tired. As I laid on the comfortable, but barren bed, I still didn’t know what to think about all this. I now had some idea as to what was to come, but I still didn’t know how to feel about it. Should I feel anxious? Scared? Angry? Resigned?

Should I cry?

As I was trying to get my feelings in order, I could feel the sleep that had eluded me for some time creep up on me. The final things I were conscious of were my hands tied in front of me and the collar on my neck before I drifted to sleep.