After half an hour of work Judy was bathed in sweat. She had to blink her eyes furiously to clear them of the stinging perspiration pouring down from her forehead. Her hair was an explosion of sweaty strings around her face, sticking irritatingly to her cheeks and shoulders. She had managed-by alternately pulling furiously with her arms to stretch the rope, then pushing her arms back to gain ground on the slack-to work one loop partly down her thumb. She hoped that by making her hand as skinny as possible she would be able to slip the loop of rope over her hand and free it.
From time to time she stopped and tried to blot some of the sweat off her face with her shoulder, without much success. Her back felt raw from the constant rubbing against the rough bark of the tree, and her bottom was so sore she was afraid that it would be hard to sit down when she did get free. Her legs ached painfully from the awkward position they were tied in, while her shoulders were one solid, driving ache. Her wrists felt burned and raw.
Finally, exhaustion forced her to stop for breath. Her chest heaving with every breath, Judy slumped against the tree, her eyes closed. Since the teachers had left, the clearing bad been peaceful, with only the tranquil sound of birds and the wind in the leaves. She wondered what bad happened to Jimmy and Billy. If they had left her here and forgotten her, she would have them boiled in oil.
That was an expression she'd learned in history class.
Opening her eyes, Judy tested the ropes. Another half an hour or so of work would probably free her left hand. She couldn't tell for sure, but she hoped that freeing one hand would release the tension and make it a simple matter to get herself completely free. She gave passing thought to the fact that it was good that neither Billy nor Jimmy were Boy Scouts.
"Where are you, you brats!" Judy muttered. She thought about calling out to them again, but hesitated, fearful of whom she might attract. They had been gone for quite some time now. If they were going to come back, they would do so without her shouting. If she shouted, she might only attract unwanted attention. She was acutely aware of the total vulnerability of her position.
A distant crashing in the woods made Judy jerk her head around and freeze, holding her breath. Her mind conjured up a multitude of possible causes for the racket. Perhaps the shepherd, or another dog, was coming. Or it might be the two hippies. Judy hoped it would be Jimmy and Billy, but somehow knew it wouldn't be. She debated with herself, not sure whether she should call out or not, not sure what she should hope for. It might be rescue, or it might be something worse than what had already happened to her. Hopefully, whatever it was would pass her by, leaving her in peace to free herself from her predicament. Then she could get dressed and leave this hateful hollow without anyone else becoming aware of her humiliating position.
To her dismay, the crashing drew steadily closer. It sounded like a herd of something plowing through the brush, but Judy knew that the dry leaves always gave that impression. A chipmunk sounded like an elephant in the leaves.
Desperately, Judy strained against the ropes, fighting to gain the fraction of an inch of slack that she needed to free her hand. If she could do that much, she had a chance. The thrashing sounds drew steadily and ominously nearer, and Judy's struggles became more and more frantic. She gave a sob when, by some quirk, she lost some of the ground she had so painfully gained against the brutal ropes.
There was a whistling now, along with the crashing, and it sounded vaguely familiar. As Judy fought the ropes, she tried to place the tune the unseen person was whistling. Judy managed to regain the lost ground just as she placed the tune. It was one that had been making the rounds at school, a nonsense ditty that nobody could ever remember the words to. It was one of those maddening tunes that once you caught it, you couldn't get rid of it-it would keep running through your head until you were thoroughly sick of it. Since whoever was plowing through the underbrush knew the tune, they probably went to the same school, and probably knew Judy. The information did nothing to cheer her up. If it were a boy, she would absolutely die. The thought that it might be Johnny made Judy battle the ropes with panicky strength. He was the coolest, and he was sort of Judy's steady. But if he found her like this, she'd never be able to live it down.
The fight with the ropes did Judy no good, only leaving her more exhausted and no nearer escape. The whistling and the crashing were very near the top of the little hollow now, and Judy slumped against her bonds, exhausted. If it really was someone from school, they probably knew of the hollow, and were coming to it. Lots of kids did, for a lot of different reasons. They came alone, and they came in groups. It was a nice, quiet, peaceful place that they thought grownups didn't know about. Judy wanted to disappear into the tree as the steps neared the rim of the hollow.
Judy was trying to fold herself up in shame when the steps started down into the hollow and the whistling stopped suddenly.
"What in the world?" the person exclaimed, and Judy died.
"Well, well, well, well, look what we have here," the person marveled, and Judy wished she could disappear. "If it isn't little Judy Poody. How'd you get yourself in that fix? And all naked, too?"
"Let me loose, Karen, please," Judy begged the girl that came around the tree to stare at her.
"Let me loose, Karen, please," the girl mocked. "Why should I?"
"Please let me go," Judy begged again. Karen was Judy's archenemy in school.
"Now let me see, should I let you go," Karen mused, fingering her chin in a theatrical fashion. She giggled, making her short, black hair bob with the motion. "This is just too rich."
"I'd let you go if you were like this."
"I just bet you would," Karen said, obviously tickled to death at Judy's helpless position.
"I would to," Judy answered. She didn't want go break into tears in front of Karen, but exhaustion, fear and humiliation all combined to make it a heroic battle to avoid bawling.
"Well, I won't," Karen snapped. "I ain't no goody-goody like you."
Judy had to admit that was true. "I'll give you the answers on the next geography test or something," Judy promised, hating herself.
"Fat chance," Karen answered. "Besides, school's out for the summer."
"Well, next fall then," Judy answered, fighting for a bargaining point.
"Just like you gave me the answer on that spelling test, huh?" Karen snapped.
"You deliberately gave me the wrong spelling on that word I asked you."
"Well, I told you it wasn't right to cheat. What was I supposed to do?"
"It isn't right to cheat," Karen mocked again. "That's just what you'd say.
Everybody cheats. Oh, everybody except Miss Goody Two Shoes here. And what about John. What do you have to say about taking Johnny away from me?"
"He wasn't yours in the first place. He never took you out."
"No, but he hit me the hardest he hit any girl," Karen snapped. "That meant he was my boy friend."
"He never hit me at all," Judy gloated, and immediately knew she bad said the wrong thing. "And I didn't take him away from you."
"Did so," Karen snapped.
Judy fell silent, unable to think of any way to get Karen to let her go. Karen had always hated Judy, for as long as Judy could remember. It wasn't Judy's fault that Karen was frequently caught cheating, or that Johnny went out with Judy instead of Karen, or that Judy got higher marks than Karen.
"This is just too rich to believe. Who did it to you?" Karen asked, again gloating.
"None of your business," Judy snapped.
"Your clothes must be around here some place," Karen mused, looking around the clearing. "Oh, here they are." The black-haired girl gathered up Judy's scattered garments and piled them in a heap. "My, my, she even has to wear a bra now!" Karen snickered. "I'm glad I don't have to wear one yet. What a pain."
Judy knew from Karen's tone that Karen really felt just the opposite. It was just one more thing for Karen to be bitter about-that Judy was developing while Karen was still as flat as a board.
"What are you going to do?" Judy asked, a little fearfully, secretly testing her ropes behind her back.
"Well, now, that's a good question," Karen observed, fingering her chin again.
"Obviously I can't let this chance go by without taking advantage of it. I could just leave you here and take your clothes, but I don't think that's enough. Remember the time you beat me up behind the game shed?"
Judy remembered it well. Karen had challenged her, and there had been no teachers around at the time. "That was a perfectly fair fight."
"It was not," Karen retorted. "You cheated. You kicked me."
"Only after you kicked me," Judy said, still trying to work her hand free.
"I'm going to get you for that," Karen decided, ignoring what Judy had said.
"You wouldn't dare hit me," Judy snapped. "You might hurt your precious hands."
"Hadn't thought of that," Karen observed, looking down at her hands. She had just started playing the piano. Despite a complete lack of talent, she was convinced she was going to be a great pianist. "But that's all right," Karen went on. "I don't need to use my hands." She strolled over to a stand of tall, stringy bushes and began to uproot them.
"You hit me with those and I'll tell on you," Judy threatened.
"So go ahead and tell on me, it'll be worth it," Karen gloated, stripping the leaves from one of the thin, whippy branches.
Judy wrenched and pulled at the ropes, and gained a fraction of an inch at the expense of same skin on the back of her hand. The loop of rope was almost up to her knuckles, grinding the bones of her hand tightly together, adding to Judy's general agony.
Smiling nastily, Karen approached, whipping the thin branch around, making it whistle through the air. She gazed at Judy's naked body with open relish. "Boy, am I gonna make you pay," Karen snickered. "Am I ever gonna make you pay!"
Judy stiffened her resolve and decided not to plead further with Karen, knowing it would only add to the girl's pleasure. Instead of cringing, Judy lifted her chin and glared defiantly at her tormentor. Karen wasn't going to enjoy this any more than possible, Judy vowed silently. She stiffened her muscles and tried to prepare herself for the first stinging slash of Karen's makeshift whip. Judy bit her lip, resolving not to cry no matter how much it hurt.
"Now, where should I start?" Karen pondered, fingering her chin again. She must have just seen a movie where someone did that. She was always trying things like that out in an attempt to be impressive.
"Your tummy should be real tender," Karen decided. She drew the thin lash back, then whipped it across the sensitive skin of Judy's belly. Judy jerked and bit her lip at the searing sting of the lash tearing across her skin. Karen drew her arm back and lashed again with the whip, and again it ripped across Judy's tummy, making her suck in her breath as she fought down a cry of pain.
"Boy, I bet that hurts," Karen remarked, her eyes gleaming. "I bet it hurts worse than when you beat me up."
Judy stiffened her resolve still more at this comment. When Judy had finished beating Karen up, the girl had lain curled up in a ball on the playground, blubbering like a baby. Half the school had seen that, and everyone had agreed she'd deserved it. Judy was absolutely not going to give Karen any satisfaction whatsoever. The lash blazed across Judy's belly again, and again she had to bite her lip to control her cry of pain. The thin lash had a series of bumps along its length where Karen had stripped off the leaves. The little bumps cut into Judy's skin painfully as the lash seared across her skin.
"I'm gonna make you, cry," Karen vowed, striking at Judy again. There was a nasty glitter in her eyes. "I'm gonna make you bawl like a little bitty baby, just like the little baby you are." She struck at Judy again and again, harder and harder. Each stroke of the, lash burned like fire across Judy's belly, and still she fought down her tears. She looked down and saw that her, tummy was turning red from the slashing blows of the whip, but that the skin was unbroken.
"I bet those little titties of yours are real sensitive," Karen observed, pausing for breath. "I bet they're real sensitive."
Judy sucked in her breath, fighting tremors of anticipation. She knew just how tender those newly blossomed breasts were. The thought of Karen's cruel lash cutting across them was almost enough to make Judy cry. The first blow, when it came, was as bad as she had imagined it would be. It felt like fire on her nipples, turning them both into knots of unbelievable agony. Involuntary tears of pain sprang into Judy's eyes, and she blinked furiously to keep her vision clear and deny Karen the pleasure of seeing them. The lashing across her breasts triggered something else, something totally unexpected-there were the first faint flickering of fire in her groin with the blow. The next blow across her nipples was a little less painful than the first had been, her nipples numbed slightly from the impact of the first blow. Judy looked down at her proud little white mounds, now with two red streaks marring their ivory flawlessness. Her pink little nipples stood up hard and solid. The lash cut across them again, and they seemed to stiffen even more, bouncing back from the impact.
"Cry, damn you," Karen cursed, striking Judy again and again.
"Never," Judy said sharply, holding her head up proudly. The increasing pleasure in her loins made Judy look forward to each succeeding cut of the lash. Her breasts were on fire now, and each blow built the blaze a little higher, both in her breasts and in her crotch. Judy was surprised to find herself again approaching that plateau of pleasure she had never visited at all until today. It was beginning to seem like everything that happened led to that one, single, joyous result.
"Cry, damn it," Karen swore again. She was furious, striking at Judy insanely, the lash cutting Judy from her throat to her thighs. Karen struck at Judy in a frenzy, tears of rage and frustration glistening in her own eyes, then trickling down her cheeks as she struck at Judy again and again and again.
Judy leaned her head back against the tree, closed her eyes and let the tide of pleasure sweep over her, from her groin upward. She was Joan of Arc burning at the stake, she was Marie Antoinette at the guillotine. Judy was every heroine she had ever read about, every woman that had ever been sacrificed. Her climax broke over her like a tidal wave as Karen's blows lost both strength and coordination. Karen was weeping with fury, slashing at Judy deliriously, frustrated by Judy's silent acceptance of the whipping.
Finally, Karen's blows slowed and stopped. Judy opened her eyes and looked at the black-haired girl. Somehow Judy managed to hide a smile of pleasure at Karen's misery. The girl stood in front of Judy, the whip hanging forgotten in one hand.
"I'll get you anyway," Karen snarled, turning away, trying to conceal her tears. Bending down, she gathered up Judy's clothes and tucked them under her arm. Without another word, she climbed out of the hollow, stumbling on the rough ground because of the tears blurring her vision.
Holding her head high, Judy watched Karen leave. The sight of her clothes disappearing with Karen made Judy want to cry out, to beg for them, but her pride wouldn't let her give Karen that satisfaction. It was exactly what Karen wanted, and it was exactly what she would not get.
Slowly, silence returned to the clearing as Karen's uneven footsteps receded in the distance. There was no whistling this time, only the crashing through the dry leaves.
Her tormentor out of sight, Judy slumped down against the tree and burst into tears. Her orgasm was gone, leaving her feeling empty and forlorn again. All the orgasms Judy had had were lacking something, something that left Judy feeling worse than ever when they were over. Her crotch had a need for something more, and after watching Polly and Jake, Judy knew what it was.
Judy's chest and stomach were an angry red from the beating she had received.
She felt as if she had a severe sunburn. For a long time, all she could do was fight down her tears and try to withstand the agony of the lashing. Every breath seemed to stretch her abused skin painfully.
Fighting to get control of herself, Judy wondered what more could possibly happen to her. Now, not only was she stark naked and tied to a tree, but her clothes had been taken. When she did get loose, she faced a trek of a mile or more back to her own home. Taking a deep breath, Judy resumed her struggle against the ropes. The sweat pouring down her arms eased the friction of the tight loop over her band. Because her hands were forcefully separated by the bulk of the tree, Judy could only pull fiercely against the rope, making it cut into her skin, instead of being able to push the loop over her hand with her fingers.
A painful fraction of an inch at a time the loop slipped down her hand. Every tiny bit of ground gained encouraged her to try harder and to pull more fiercely against the ropes. The loop of cord was now almost to her knuckles, grinding the bones of her hand together as she fought. The pain this created in her hand was only a minor addition to the agony already searing her shoulders, arms, back and legs. The muscles in her thighs were cramping up now from the strain, and her hip joints were one solid ache.
Sweating and straining, Judy tried to ignore the pain as she wrestled the loop of rope over, her knuckles. She thought she could hear the bones in, her band groaning as they were ground together by the tight loop. Then it was over her knuckles and, was pressing her fingers together. Judy heaved a sigh of relief that almost burst her ribs. The worst was past.
Wriggling her fingers, Judy worked the loop of rope slowly off. It wasn't the only loop around that hand and wrist, but as it slid down her fingers, there was more and more slack. This meant that, on this wrist at least, Judy did not have to wrestle with a knot.
Judy found it hard to keep from cheering herself when she at last managed to flick her fingers free of that particular loop of rope. A quick tug on her wrist made the loosened bindings burn across her flesh, but it gave her more slack to work with on the remaining loops. Judy had to fight to steady her breath and take her time. Her muscles were quivering with exhaustion and excitement as she eased the next loop down over her hand. This time it was simple. It was loose enough that it didn't press her bones together, or threaten to crush them. It slid down her fingers quickly and she flipped it off.
From here on, that hand was simple. The last two loops came off as one, sliding down over her hand and dropping away. The sudden release of the pull against Judy's left arm made her lose her balance and swing wildly. Her right arm and both feet were still secured, and Judy went straight down on her face into the leaves, her right arm pulled painfully back by the rope still around it. She barely managed to break her fall with her left hand. For a long time she lay panting in a heap at the base of the tree, her legs still straddling the trunk, her right arm pulled back and upward behind her. The relief at just being able to change her position was exquisite. Judy's aches now came from muscles released from torment.
As she lay on the ground, the squirrel that had earlier explored her body came hopping across the clearing, his feet crashing through the dry leaves. A few feet from Judy he stopped and sat up, eyeing her curiously. Judy sensed that she was being watched and opened one eye. From where she lay, one cheek pressed to the welcome, solid earth, the squirrel looked like a giant.
"Hi," Judy greeted him, her disposition greatly improved by her changed position.
At the sound of her voice, the squirrel jumped, turned and scampered away. Judy felt badly that she had scared him. Evidently he could sense her decreased helplessness and was not about to trust her.
Judy's right wrist was still secured by a length of rope that apparently ran down to her left ankle. Squirming awkwardly on the leaves, she curled her body around to reach her wrist. This time she had to pick at a tight granny knot.
After breaking two fingernails on it, she managed to get it loosened and untied. With a sigh of relief,' Judy dragged her right arm down and massaged her chafed wrist, rubbing circulation back into her hand. The fingers of both hands tingled painfully with the return of feeling.
Judy was lying on her face in the leaves now, the twigs scraping her thoroughly abused skin. But the joy of being unbent from the big tree made up for any discomfort she might have felt. The sunlight and air felt wonderful against her back after being pressed to the harsh bark of the tree for so long.
Twisting herself around, Judy managed to reach one of her ankles. Able to work on the knot with both hands, she quickly freed it, then turned to get to the other foot. It was only a second's work now to free herself from the last loops of rope. With a sigh of relief, Judy sat, knees pressed to her forehead and just relished the feeling of freedom she had. Trying to thoroughly appreciate just being released from the tree, she refused to contemplate the journey ahead of her. She knew that the woods would have a lot of traffic through them on a nice summer day. It made her think of a recurrent nightmare she had, of suddenly being naked, walking down a corridor at school, with everyone staring at her. Only this was no dream. She really was naked, and it was going to be a good trick to make it home without someone seeing her.