Christmas present
Synopsis
Being alone and with no family Eric decides he is not going to bother with Christmas – that is until he saves a woman from committing suicide and takes her as his Christmas gift.

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The text in this story contains erotic material and is expressly written for adults only. 
MF NC
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This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to persons living, dead or otherwise is purely coincidental, etc.
Copyright 2001 Revised 2004
Christmas Present
by obohobo
Chapter 1 Suicide attempt
“Christmas doesn’t exist this year,” Eric told himself for the tenth time that morning, “It’s just another work day for me.” Walking to his workshop at the back of the house and picking up a carving gouge he set to work fashioning the feathers of a wooden owl.
His heart wasn’t in it though. For the first time for many years he was alone at Christmas. His girlfriend partner of five and a half years left him six months ago because she thought he had become ‘too domineering.’ Since then he had got on well with his life and was able to look after and feed himself more than adequately but had not met anyone to take her place. He didn’t really find being alone a problem, that is not until today. Three times he switched the wireless on and each time the tinkling jingles, the carols and the laughter reminded him he was on his own so angrily he switched it off. There was no one to share gifts with; no one to share mince pies and a glass of sherry, no one to cuddle and hug.
The weather didn’t help either. At 10 Celsius it was relatively mild but the weather was murky calm and drizzling. Grey weather that matched his sombre and rather depressed mood. Inwardly he hoped someone would just turn up on his doorstep and spend a few minutes chatting but he knew this was a forlorn hope. The one friend who might have come round was staying with his son and granddaughter in London over the holiday period. His brother and sister now lived in the States and had families there. They were all the family he had. Today he was alone. Alone and downcast.
He returned to the lounge and glancing out of the window he saw two women, overcoats on, umbrellas up walking their dogs. Dog walking was something that didn’t stop on Christmas day. Although they only lived around the corner and always spoke when passing he didn’t know their name, yet they were friendly enough. He could hear the laughter in their voices as they walked along the deserted lane. It was a quiet village anyway and everyone would be indoors on this special day, especially considering the weather.
Roughton has about thirty houses mainly along one road with a small, newish estate to one side. Side by side at one end of the lane stood the Post Office shop and the pub. Even the pub wouldn’t be open for a couple of hours and then the places for Christmas lunch were fully booked months ago.
“Perhaps I’ll put my coat on and walk along the lane. At least I might get to say a few words to the women on their way back,” he said to himself, “Maybe they’ll even invite me in for a drink as they know I am alone.” He didn’t believe or expect it but his imagination gave it a chance. Pulling on Wellington boots and a dirty green waterproof coat he ventured out into the wet morning.
Gently closing the door and start to walk down the drive he was surprised to see an apparently elderly woman riding a bicycle. A most unusual sight at anytime of the year but especially so on Christmas day. Cycling was his only means of getting from the village to the town shops and he thought he knew all those who also cycled that route, yet she was a stranger to him. Eric was even more surprised when, instead of continuing along the lane, she turned down the grassy farm track by the side of his house. That only led to the river and, by a very round about route, back to the lane again a mile further on. “Was that imagination or did I hear her weeping?” he thought as she passed by his garage. Intrigued Eric decided to follow her. "I've nothing better to do," he told himself.
Seemingly unheeding of anything, the woman cycled along the track until she came to the bund that separated the flood plain from farmland. Eric followed, discretely keeping into the hedge as much as he could. However, not once did she turn around and look back. Over the years walkers had made a track over the steep sides of the bund but the wet weather of the past weeks and the rain today, made it very slippery. The woman had to abandon her cycle. It didn’t seem to matter, she tossed it against the bank and climbed a grassy section to one side of the muddy path. Halfway up she slid back but recovered and carried on. Soon she disappeared down the other side and Eric hurried to catch up. Cautiously peering over the bund he couldn’t see her. “She must have gone through the tunnel under the motorway bridge. I would see her if she went upstream,” the detective streak in him deduced. 
Footsteps echoed in the tunnel and again Eric thought he heard her weeping until once again the echoes ceased and he knew she was on the grass path that followed the river. With all the rain the water level was high and the river running hard. “Where is she going?” he wondered, “This path only leads back to the lane again in about another mile. It just circuits the farmland in the bow of the river. Why didn't she go straight down the lane on her bike?” Stealthily he followed. In places the tree cover allowed him to get close but in the more open areas he held back. Less than a quarter of a mile after leaving the tunnel the woman stopped. Stopped at the weir. At this point the tree cover was good allowing Eric to get close and to see clearly everything she did. 
Long ago, to protect the weir, protective spiked railings had been installed. Almost equally long ago, children or more probably young adults, had bent a section of the spikes to allow them to climb across the weir and in summer, children bathing would jump off it into the deep water pool at its foot. In summer though the water flow was much reduced and only added to the enjoyment of children frolicking in the stream. Today the river was nearly at the top of the bank and the water cascaded over the weir with considerable force.
“NO!” Eric yelled as he realised what the woman was about to do. It was too late, she had already leapt into the waters. Rushing to a little beyond the weir where he knew the water was much shallower and where the body would end up, he slithered down the bank in time to see the clothed figure being swept round the bend toward him. With no thought for his own safety he waded into the cold water over the tops of his wellington boots and was able to grab a coat sleeve. Quickly dragging her to the bank, he helped her stand. Shakily she stood on her own two feet. Eric guessed her tightly done up clothing had acted for a short time as a life jacket by trapping air inside. There were a couple of marks on her face but otherwise she seemed intact. Now though she was cold and her clothes sodden. She needed warmth and quickly.
“Move yourself woman!” Eric ordered enforcing his command with a push to her back. Something unintelligible came from the woman. He pushed again and she started up the bank. Near the top she stopped, again muttering. Eric gently kicked her arse. “Move it!” he repeated. 
Once on the path he grabbed her hand and pulled her along as fast as he was able. It was not fast enough. Wet heavy clothes, cold and exhaustion slowed her nearly to stopping but he knew she had to force her to continue or she would just lie down and die, which is what she wanted to do in the first place but he wasn’t about to let that happen. By the time they reached the tunnel he was more or less dragging her and soaked from the waist down himself, the cold was getting to him as well. Half carrying her over the bund he remembered the bike. With some difficulty he sat her in the saddle and pushed her back along the path to his home. The lane was deserted.
Pausing only to unlock the door and help the woman from the saddle, he pushed the soaked, shivering and exhausted woman into the kitchen and commanded “Strip off. Get out of all those wet clothes.”

Chapter 2. Christmas dinner
Maureen Hardy lost her husband to cancer the previous Christmas after thirty years of marriage. It had been a difficult year and she had a hard time coming to terms with her loss. By the end of the summer she was beginning to get her life together again but with the anniversary at Christmas and with her daughter, son in law and two grandchildren away on a skiing holiday in Switzerland, like Eric she felt very alone and depressed. All Christmas Eve and for much of the night she brooded over her situation and in the end she decided she couldn't take any more. Life was no longer worth living. Suicide was the only way out. She wouldn’t be missed until her daughter came home or she didn’t turn up for work in the New Year. "Now that fool has wrecked my plans. Now there will be more shame on me as people found out what I have done or attempted to do. In any case who ias he to order me to take off my clothes? How can I anyway when my fingers don’t work? Why is he lighting the gas oven? And leaving the door open?” In a detached way, Maureen's mind went over the events as she watched him take his boots off and emptied their contents down the sink. She couldn't resist when he bent down and unbuttoned her jacket. 
“Take it off.” Eric disappeared for a few moments. “I’ve put the heat on and will run the water for a bath. He knew she was having difficulty but wanted her to make an effort. Returning to the kitchen without more ado he started stripping Maureen of all her wet things. He gave instructions as if immediately expecting her to carry them out but doing them himself. No coherent speech came from Maureen yet although the warmth from the oven did appear to be having some effect. As soon as she was naked, he dropped his own trousers and socks and left them along with her clothes on the tiled floor. The mess would easily mop up.
Still shaking he led her upstairs into the steamy bathroom and sat her on the loo while he adjusted the water temperature so it was warm but not over hot. He heard her pee although she didn’t appear conscious of what she was doing. When she finished he helped her into the bath and let lie in the warmth of the water hoping it would revive her. She seemed okay for the moment so going back to the kitchen he made tea and brought two mugs of the steaming liquid back. 
Shedding the remainder of his clothes he climbed in the bath behind her and cuddled her close to his chest. Her shivering had eased and she could slowly say a few words but at this stage he didn’t question her. He gave his name and in return learned hers was Maureen. When the water began to cool Eric picked up a flannel and started to wash Maureen paying special attention to her breasts and pubic area but Maureen hardly noticed. She just felt overwhelmingly tired. 
Whilst drying her and himself, he knew she had noticed his cock was half hard but her tiredness and shivering, which had began again now her body was out of the water, overruled it from her senses. He tried to get her to drink the tea when she was dry but she only managed a few sips before spluttering. “Bed for you young lady,” Eric announced, “And I’ll be there to keep you warm.”
The bed was unmade but it didn’t matter. Eric rolled Maureen under the blankets, then got the spare duvet and put that on top before climbing in himself and pressing his naked body to hers. “It’s only to create body heat he told himself,” but his inner mind knew he really wanted to feel her flesh against his.
Maureen quickly fell into a deep sleep brought on by the fatigues of her day. An hour later her shivering had quietened and Eric left the bed to make dinner. Roast beef had already been planned but now he added more trimmings than he would for himself. Every half hour or so, he looked in on Maureen. She slept peacefully.
At 1.30 he woke her. “Christmas dinner in half an hour. Here’s a dressing gown. Wear it. It's not a formal occasion.” He too wore a dressing gown largely because he’d washed the other clothes he would normally have worn before going out in the morning and they were still wet.
“I don’t want any.”
“If you’re not downstairs in half an hour, then I will warm your backside in a less kindly way than earlier.”
“But... Why?.... No... What...?” Words came out but not a sentence. 
“You do as you are told now Maureen. You threw your life away. I picked it up. It’s now mine. Mine to do with as I want. You didn’t want it, I do.” Eric paused. “Twenty minutes now. Be down then or you’ll come down with a sore backside.”
“You should have let me....”
“No, I shouldn’t. This is turning out to be a better Christmas than I thought when I went out this morning. You are the best Christmas present I’ve had for a while. Now move yourself.” Maureen, now aware of her nudity, pulled the blankets up to cover herself. Eric laughed, "I’ve seen and felt everything you have and will see and feel more later so don’t worry about showing yourself.” Leaving her, he went downstairs to finish preparing the dinner. Smells drifted up and began to make Maureen feel hungry but she still felt extremely tired and it was cosy under the duvet, she didn’t want to move.
“Dinner’s nearly ready,” Eric called as he climbed the stairs. Maureen lay still tucked in bed. Quietly Eric spoke. “Maureen, you have yet to learn that I mean what I say. You are now mine. I told you to get up and get downstairs. You had plenty of time. I also said I would warm your arse if you didn’t.” Taking hold of the blankets, Eric pulled them down and in one swift movement rolled Maureen on her stomach. 
“Whack, whack, whack!!! Ten times his hand smacked on her left arse cheek, then ten times more on her right. At first Maureen hardly realised what was happening but soon she was squirming and crying. 
“Now get up, put this dressing gown on and come downstairs. Dinner’s ready.”
“I’m leaving. I am certainly not staying here with you. You’re a madman!”
“You don’t have much choice. I could call the police and tell them about your attempted suicide. Apart from the shame of your friends knowing you will have to go on a psychiatric rehab programme. Do you want everyone to know? Do you want it on the six o’clock news?” Maureen shook her head. “Well all you have to do is be my present for this year. Get the gown on and come down.” 
“I need to pee.”
“Go ahead but don’t keep me waiting long.” Eric patted her bottom none too gently.
The lounge-dining room was as festive as Eric could make it in the short time he’d had. Having decided not to acknowledge Christmas this year there was no tree or decorations but he had a log fire going that crackled and spit cheerily and candles on the table. It looked cosy and inviting even if it was ad hoc.
Maureen found a brush in the bathroom and brushed her hair while she sat on the loo and contemplated what had happened. She still felt very tired but wondered what he would do if she didn’t hurry down to him. Give her another spanking? That was the first for years. Harry, he late husband, had done it once or twice in their early days but his had been more sexual pats, Eric’s she could still feel although they weren’t that bad. Did she dare go back to bed? In the end it was the smells emanating from below that enticed her down.
Entering the lounge she was taken aback by the sight of the food on the table. Eric indicated a chair and pushed it in behind her as she sat. “Merry Christmas,” he whispered in her ear and when she tentatively replied he added, “You’re the nicest present I’ve had and I am going to make full use of you.” 
Maureen wasn’t sure what to make of those words but kept quiet until he opened the top of her gown and fully exposed her breasts. “I want to see my present,” he murmured and they added in sharp contrast, “Leave them out!” as she strove to close the gown again. “Remember, I own your life now.”
Not wishing to cause more trouble, Maureen acquiesced. She wasn’t too pleased with her titties as her husband always called them. They were full, like her figure, but had begun to sag and she thought they needed the support of a good bra. Each time she served herself with food they moved and her arms rubbed against them every time she took a fork to her mouth. It wasn’t long before the nipples became erect, much to Eric’s obvious enjoyment. Several times he leaned across and kissed of felt them.
Apart from the unique dress code, dinner went much the same as for thousands of others at the time. Crackers were pulled and paper hats worn, a little wine was drunk but conversation was limited to finding out about each other’s past life. Maureen avoided any reference to why she tried to drown herself. 
Soon they adjourned to the couch in front of the fire to drink coffee. Both felt nicely full and the two glasses of wine had given their spirits a lift but when combined with the warmth from the fire and the comfort of the couch, Maureen again felt extremely tired. Eric’s hand probing her cunt quickly brought her awake as she instinctively pushed his hand away. “No, Eric, please,” she cried.
Eric slapped her hand. “I am going to unwrap my prezzie now and fully explore it and then make good use of its facilities. To put it in crude terms, I’m going to play with your body and then fuck it.”
“No, please don’t. I’m too tired. I don’t know you. I don’t want to. I don't..."
“Be quiet. What you want or don’t want doesn’t matter. What I want does. I haven’t had a proper fuck for six months. You haven’t been fucked for well over a year. Now lie back and open your legs.” Maureen now realised the reason he gave for his girlfriend leaving might be true. He was domineering. However, he was right about not have had a man for over a year. More, because in the last stages of her husband’s cancer, he had not been able to do it at all. Now the warm hand between her legs felt nice and her body began to respond in ways it hadn’t for some time. Moisture flowed into her vagina. She wanted him but wouldn’t admit it. She wanted him to take her but would not offer herself. He would take her of that she was certain but she knew it would be on his terms. But would his sixty-year-old cock be up to it? It certainly looked like it as it stood proud and erect at her side. It was also somewhat bigger than her late husband’s.
Eric stood and moved between her legs. “Given our ages, I doubt if we need worry about pregnancy,” he said as he entered her and started slowly pumping away. For the first time for months, Maureen found her urges climbing to a sexual high. Small groans escaped her lips as he body responded. The groans became a cry as she reached her first climax. Eric continued. Age made his release take longer but when it did come he flooded her with a copious amount of sperm.
For a little while they lay together their sweat intermingling. At length he pulled out. “I don’t know how sexually adventurous you were before,” Eric said, “But I like the taste of a fresh well fucked cunt and I like to feel a pair of lips around my cock after a fuck.” Reversing his position on her, he placed his lips to her cunt and began licking and sucking. Maureen turned her head aside from the sticky cock that dangled at her face. “Suck it!” demanded Eric.
“No, please don’t,” Maureen pleaded. Eric responded by taking one of her labia between his teeth and giving it a nip.
“Ooowww!” screamed Maureen “Don’t.”
“Suck. Or would you rather I nipped here.” Eric’s teeth closed over her clit.
“You bugger.” It was the first time Maureen had sworn at him. Eric teeth tightened on her clit.
“Okay, okay. Don’t bite.” Maureen opened her lips and started to suck the tip of his cock. 
“All of it Maureen.” This time she obeyed without hesitation.

Chapter 3. Boxing day
“Happy Boxing Day” 
Maureen stirred as Eric came back from the loo. Blearily she looked at the digital clock. 6:02. “Urgh! Do you always get up this early?” she asked.
“Earlier as a rule but I waited on a bit this morning until I couldn’t wait any longer to piss. Now I’m ready to make use of my present again. How is she this morning?”
“Recovered from the swim, I think but sore you know where from the pounding you gave it after dinner and again before we went to sleep. It’s not used to that much attention.”
“Well it’s going to get some more use now, that is unless you want to relieve me in your mouth or inside your bum hole."
”You wouldn’t make me do that would you?”
“I can assure you Maureen, I would take great delight in forcing you to suck me all the way off and to bugger your arse. Julia tried to refuse me that service soon after we got together but after I took the belt to her, she took it quickly enough and eventually seemed to enjoy it. And she was not much younger than you so don’t bring that up as an excuse.”
“You took a belt to her?” Maureen sounded incredulous, “You really are a monster. Do you think I am going to stay with you so you can do it to me? I’m off home this morning.”
“Is that before or after you go to the river?”
“You bugger!”
Get this straight dear, firstly you are staying here and secondly you have to decide which hole you would like my cock in. Make your mind up. I won’t always give you the choice.” Maureen chose a standard vagina fuck but was unprepared when he turned her over and took her doggy style. She’d had it that way before but not often and it made a change for her to feel a man’s balls thumping the clit area of her cunt. Eric wasted no time on niceties but plunged in and began his vigorous in and out motions. Maureen flinched as he scraped the tender flesh but gradually she too became aroused until she climaxed a little before he did. 
After pulling out, Eric transferred to the sixty-nine position and lapped the juices over flowing her cunt and this time it only took the suggestion of teeth around her clit before she took his cock and sucked it clean.
Later, after they had eaten breakfast and she had part cleaned the kitchen while he started a fresh loaf in the bread machine, he took her in the lounge. “Maureen, we need to discus your future here. I know I have called you my Christmas present but I also realise you have other commitments. You have to be back at work on January 2nd. You have family coming back from holiday about then too. So it seems that it is not unreasonable for me to expect to have you for my sole use until then. Surely saving your life is worth that much?”
“I didn’t want my life saved. Or at least I didn’t at the time. Now I am not so sure. You’re such a strange man. Demanding. Definitely sexually demanding. Domineering. Yet somehow strangely compassionate. I just cannot make you out. I don’t know if I want to stay or not even for a week.”
“The week stay isn’t negotiable. I look at it as payment for your life.”
“Will you really expect me to perform for you at will and in those other places?”
“Certainly and it will be the belt if you don’t. I think I am giving away more than I should by reducing your lifetime payment to one week so you must expect to give in return. Or did you expect me to open the door this morning and say good bye?”
“I didn’t know what to expect. One thing I do know is that I wouldn’t head for the river. I think it was the particular loneliness of Christmas day that made me contemplate taking my life. You were very lonely then too so you can get some idea of how I felt. Now you want me to be a sexual slave to you for a week and I don’t know if I can take that.”
“As I said the week isn’t negotiable and no I don’t want a sexual slave, but I do want a woman willing to fulfill my needs and her own and also to be a companion. We need to help each other over the loneliness crisis. After the week then we can talk about other terms.”
“What if I run away?”
“Well I won’t beseech you to come back but if you decide to come of your own accord, then you must expect a sore arse and an extension of the week time scale.” That is how it was left. Maureen not really acknowledging her subservience for the week, Eric believing she accepted it. She couldn’t leave yet, her clothes were not really dry. In any case he liked having her accessible in his dressing gown and hadn’t allowed her to dress.
In the afternoon they sat together on the couch and watched a film on TV. The dinner was gently stewing on the stove sending aromatic smells into the lounge. Throughout the film Eric fondled her breasts and when it ended and Eric put her hand on his cock, she knew she was in for yet another fuck. “No Eric, no. Not again. I’m too sore. I’m not used to it.”
“Then we’ll try your arse then.”
“No! I will not let you. It’s perverted.”
Eric left the room. Nothing appeared different to Maureen when he returned but she had her suspicions something was up. They were confirmed when Eric suddenly grabbed her wrists and slipped a prepared noose that he’d concealed in his pocket over them. Securing the noose, he bent Maureen over the back of the couch and tied the free end to one of the front legs. Two more lengths of the cord fastened her ankles to the rear legs. Maureen started to scream but Eric was prepared and a length of packaging tape over her mouth stopped that.
“Sorry Maureen, you forgot your place. For this week you do not refuse me. However, I thought this nice 600 mm plastic rule would work better than a belt. They are advertised as being shatterproof so we can test out the claim. To Maureen the pale yellow batten looked very vicious. It wasn't a standard school rule but a craftsman’s 4 mm thick straight-edge.
Maureen visibly flinched as he whipped through the air. She could tell it would pack a punch much more severe that his hand. “He’s only trying to frighten me,” she thought but that impression was soon dispelled as the rule struck across both cheeks of her bottom. Her back arched up in a violent motion. Never in her fifty years had she ever had more than a few smacks until this sadist came into her life. A life she had tried to get rid of.
“Whaaack!” Another violent reaction. Another bright red stripe. Another line of fire. “Whaaack!” “Whaaack!” “Whaaack!” “Whaaack!” The stripes came in quick succession. Maureen writhed and twisted but was not able to avoid them. Tears now rolled down her face and sobs could be heard from behind the tape.
“Well it seems the claims are true enough,” Eric remarked casually, “It didn’t shatter or even crack. Now let’s look at that nice little brown hole of yours.” Wincing and still struggling, Maureen tried to avoid his fingers as they pushed the painful cheeks apart and probed her opening. “It will need lubrication,” Eric stated as though it was an everyday occurrence. He applied a little Vaseline to the hole and the tip of his prick, already rock hard in anticipation.
Wet from her tears, the tape covering Maureen’s mouth had loosened a little and a few mumbled words came out. Eric could tell she was pleading with him but ignored them. “Relax and it will be easier for you,” he said but it was a while before Maureen could even think of relaxing her sore muscles. Pushing his prick at her entrance, he slowly forced a passage until once past the sphincter ring, he was able to get it in all the way and start to fuck. Working slowly at first but then, as lubrication from his pre-cum increased, so did his speed. Reaching around her body with his right hand, he played with her clit and was surprised to find it erect. He massaged the nub and strove to give her pleasure too. Maureen found it less painful now he was fully in and his clit manipulation was bringing her to an unexpected climax, a climax she tried unsuccessfully to resist. Finally Eric pumped his load into her, waited a few minutes for his cock to soften and then withdrew. 
“No screaming when I remove the tape,” ordered Eric, “I can easily replace it and add a few more stripes for the inconvenience.” More sobs came from Maureen but no screams. “Don’t tell me the actual arse fuck caused you a great deal of pain, Maureen, because I won’t believe it. It was your refusal that caused the pain so next time I want your bottom hole, be a little more willing.” Maureen started to disagree but thought better of it when his hand lightly smacked her striped flesh. “I guess you know what comes next.” She guessed all right but prayed it wouldn’t happen. 
“For the moment I am only going to release your ankles, then I will lay on the floor and you will sixty-nine on top. That way you won’t have my weight on your arse. I am being considerate to you now so I hope you appreciate it.” Maureen didn’t but held her tongue. Soon her face was close to his soft cock. It didn’t smell much different to when he’d had vaginal sex but just the knowledge of where it had been put her off. Eric’s tongue probed her hole and she still hadn’t sucked him.
“Do it unless you want more of the rule.” The threat was enough this time. Gingerly she took it between her lips. There was a slight taste but it wasn't too bad although she couldn't bring herself to suck with any enthusiasm.
When it was all over and they were again sitting on the settee in front of the fire, Eric cuddled and kissed her for a long while. At length be said, “Maureen I know this must all seem very strange to you especially if you only had very conservative sex with your husband, but at least now your life is not empty and unfulfilled.”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
“Because I enjoy having a woman to fuck. One who cannot resist. In a way I think you enjoy it too because even when I arse fucked you, you were well and truly horny.”
“No, that's not true.” She knew though, that the denial was false. 
“I will untie your wrists now if you promise not to do anything stupid.” Maureen nodded. “Then we’ll see what is in the bathroom to soothe those welts a bit.”
Maureen pondered over what had happened but still could not make head nor tail of this man. He hurt her then supplied comfort. Did she want either? For the rest of the afternoon and evening, she spoke only when spoken to directly and at bedtime just opened her legs and passively lay still while he fucked. Eric fondled her for a longer but without response. Next morning, as soon as she heard him get up and leave the bathroom, she got herself up too and went down to breakfast. Then she wouldn’t be lying in bed and vulnerable for more sex.

Chapter 4. Escape
“I have to go to the shops this morning Maureen. Normally I wouldn’t go to town for another couple of days but I didn’t allow for two of us eating, and as you know I don’t have a freezer. I should only be gone an hour. Anything you would specially like me to get for you?”
“Just get whatever, you like,” replied Maureen. “I eat most things.” That was the longest sentence he’d had from her since the previous afternoon. Perhaps she is coming round again. Putting his arms around her shoulders and giving her a hug and a kiss he left with a cheery, “Shan’t be long.” 
“Nor will I,” Maureen said to herself as she watched him peddle down the driveway and along the lane. Immediately she dressed. He hadn’t hidden her clothes or her bicycle so she wasn’t a prisoner. Ten minutes later she too cycled along the lane but her destination was her home in Stratford, the next village.
That night she lay alone in her own bed. She’d fixed herself only a makeshift meal. It seemed hardly worth doing anything for one person. All day and all evening she wondered if he would turn up on the doorstep. He’s said he wouldn’t. He also said she could go back but would get a hiding if she did. But what did that really mean? All he’d said was she’d have a very sore arse and an extension to her week.
Crying in fits and starts, Maureen lay awake for what seemed most of the night time and time again reviewing what had happened. She wondered what her daughter and grandchildren would have said if they arrived home to find their mother had committed suicide through loneliness. They would probably have been overcome with guilt. Had she really wanted to do it? In the microseconds after taking what should have been the fatal leap she wanted to jump back but it was too late. She was enveloped in water. The nightmare of the enveloping water. Many times she relived the few minutes she'd been in the water. The noise, the helplessness she felt as it whirled her savagely around and then the cold, the numbing biting cold. She would never forget that.
Her mind dwelt on the care he lavished on her then cut to the savage beating and the rapes. "Or were they rapes?" she asked herself. Her thoughts were in complete turmoil. She heard the clock downstairs strike every half-hour and still she couldn’t sleep. At 3.45 she got up and made tea and sat in the armchair for an hour. Still her mind raged war with itself. Eventually she dozed and woke at 6:02. What a coincidence she thought.
Not needing to go out for food because she still had the Christmas stock, she pottered about the house doing little chores but every so often she had to stop and have a cry. No one came round to see her and she felt she couldn’t go out and face the world after what she had done or at least tried to do. That evening she had a bath and looked at her arse in the full-length mirror. It still felt tender and she could see the pale stripes the rule had made but they weren’t as vivid as they were and she could sit in relative comfort. Only if she sat down hard on a wooden seat did she notice any pain. 
That night too she lay sleepless. The debate in her mind tore her from one side of the argument to the other. Should she stay here on her own or go and face the punishment with Eric? In the end she tried to determine which was worse, the mental hell she was going through now and the physical punishment she would receive if she went back to him. But how much punishment would he give her? More than the six on Boxing Day of that she was certain. And what other perverted things would she be forced to perform? She’d already done anal sex even if it was tied down and he’d promised she would have to suck him off. Would that be too disgusting? She knew what he tasted like from the cleaning rituals. 
“Boing! Boing! Boing!” Three a.m. Maureen dressed and put on her outdoor clothes. It was blowing quite hard and beginning to rain. She started walking. Her cycle had no lights and she would have longer to make up her mind. As she saw it there were three choices. To turn back and go home; to go to Eric’s and to go again to the weir. After her last experience, the weir was rejected. 
Half an hour later she stood cold and damp under the streetlight at the end of his drive. It was a now or never decision time. Heavy rain with snow in it started falling. The decision was made. It was too wet and cold to walk all the way back. Bravely she rang the bell twice. A light appeared upstairs. Footsteps. Hall light on. Outside light on and then a stooping figure shape peering through the peephole. Door opens. “Come in Maureen, you look cold and wet again.” Eric gave her a big hug and a kiss, “Welcome home. Take your wet things off in the kitchen” Where had she heard that before? With no heat on at that time of night, Eric huddled Maureen upstairs and soon both were under the duvet and closely locked in each other's arms. “This is just to warm you Maureen,” he laughed.
For the first time since she left this house, Maureen slept and didn’t awaken till the clock showed 8:08. Reaching out she found she was alone in bed. Padding to the bathroom, Maureen called out, “Eric?” No reply but the aroma of coffee wafted up the stair well. Finding the old gown she used before she went to the kitchen. A note on the counter next to the coffee machine said, “Had to go to town. Back about 10. Let you sleep for once. You seemed exhausted.”
Sipping her coffee Maureen read the note over and over. ‘Let you sleep for once’ sounded as if he was still going to be in control. How would he punish her? When? How severe? He hadn’t mentioned it last night. How long would he keep her in suspense? Worrying about it?
*****
“Maureen.” Silence. Not up yet? Gone again? After dumping the shopping in the kitchen he went upstairs. Bed empty but made. Down again, mood not good. In the lounge. Maureen was there, bent naked over the back of the couch her well presented arse still showing feint signs of its previous punishment. Alongside lay the heavy plastic rule. No words were spoken. None were needed.
“Well dear, it just seems to be a question of how many.” A shiver passed along Maureen’s body. “Six was enough for a minor refusal but running away deserves much more. Shall we say a couple of dozen?” A wave a panic hit Maureen and she shook violently. Six tied down was bad. Holding herself down for twenty-four would be terrible and she wasn’t sure if she could do it. She had offered herself to get it over with but now was having second thoughts. Perhaps he would have forgotten. Perhaps he would have just fucked her. It was too late now he’d picked up the rule.
“This will be a real test of the rule.... and you,” he added. “If I have to bind you it will be an extra dozen. And another dozen if you scream so loud I have to gag you.”
“Oh God, no.” Maureen thought, “I’ve made a big mistake this time. I’ll never take a dozen without needing to be tied and gagged. I can’t get away now either.” She heard Eric swish the rule through the air a couple of times.
“Ready?” Eric didn’t wait for an answer. “WHACK!!” the rule descended with considerable force across both buttocks. It took all Maureen’s control to keep gripping the front of the couch and only emit a controlled “Aargh!” “He’ll cut me to pieces,” she thought.
Eric felt the livid raised stripe. “Tender?” he asked. Maureen only groaned. He raised the rule again but at the last moment pulled back so it stung but hardly marked the flesh. Before she could recover from the shock of not having the severe pain, the third, fourth and fifth strokes followed in quick succession. Maureen wriggled. “Stay still,” he commanded. 
By the twelfth she had become used to the sting. “WHACK!!” the rule again descended hard for the ‘unlucky’ thirteenth. The unexpected force and pain caused her to jerk up and cry out loudly. Her hands flew to her tortured bum flesh almost before she realised.
“Do I tie you and give you the extras?” Eric enquired.
Despite the pain Maureen draped herself once more over the couch. The light stinging cuts continued until the nineteenth when once again she received a full force stroke. She half expected more hard ones after the thirteenth so was better able to control herself. Even so it took considerable effort on her part. Stinging cuts again until the last. Pausing for a moment to rub and feel the three raised welts and to admire the surrounding very pink flesh he said, “Last one.”
Knowing it would be a real stinger, Maureen braced herself. She was not wrong. It cut diagonally across the other three welts and shot fire and pain through her whole body. Once more she jerked up and cried out. Eric gave her a few moments to rub herself and then ordered her to bend over again.
“Please Eric, no more. You gave me the two dozen.”
“Bend over!” Despondently she did so. The zzzz of a zipper. Maureen knew what he wanted now. His cock entered. She was still a little dry and the pain was horrible each time he touched her arse. Eric played at her entrance until moisture flowed and then took his pleasure hard and fast. His hands squeezed her tits and twisted her nipples. He was on a sexual high. Maureen was not far behind.
*****
Later and calmer sitting on soft cushions and with salve on her arse they sat drinking tea. Eric mentioned, “We have yet to discus the extension to your term because of absence without leave.”
“Shall we just make it an indefinite term Eric dear?” Maureen replied as she hugged and kissed him.

Finis