The Housekeeper - Chapter 37 Part 1 of 2

The Housekeeper

By Karen Singer

Chapter 37 Part 1 of 2

The cabin had been rented from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, just as she had ordered.  She had checked that detail very closely the moment she saw the email from Halifax.  She checked all the emails from him just as closely.  And since he had been ordered to forward all information on the cabin to her, she got to see the directions to the cabin, as well as the codes for the lockbox where the front door key would be, shortly after Halifax himself had seen them.

An so, by the middle of Friday afternoon, Janice was already in the cabin and setting things up – long before Halifax would even be leaving from work.  She expected him to be very late coming in.  This cabin was even further away from Augusta than the last one.  But that part didn’t bother her at all.  The house was beautiful, the scenery was fantastic, and she had plenty of work to do.  She even took a short while to enjoy herself in the hot tub out on the upper back deck.  But not until she had everything well prepared.

She fixed dinner for herself – alone… only bothering to heat up a simple can of soup.  And since she figured she still had a lot of extra time, she took out her new toy to experiment with.  Earlier in the week, she had spent more money than she would have liked on a decent video camera and a tripod to hold the thing.  She had only done it because of the way Susan was holding back some of the information she would need.  If Susan wanted to play games like that, then she was going to provide the woman with video proof of everything she discovered.  There would be no questioning what Halifax told her.

After she was satisfied with the way she had the camera set up and her ability to work the thing, she put it away.  She found an interesting book on one of the shelves in the cabin and sat at the dining room table – as close to the front entrance as she could get.  She spent quite a while sitting there reading, making not a single sound, as she waited for Joseph Halifax to finally show up.

The mountain roads were irritatingly dark and difficult to navigate as Halifax drove toward the cabin he had rented earlier in the week.  Well, his secretary had actually done the renting, but she had used his credit card for it.  He had been looking forward to coming all week long… while at the same time, not that far underneath, he was aware that he was frightened as hell about it.  Two distinct impressions, but the one that she had told him would be more prominent was the one that actually ruled his more visible emotions. 

His memories were interlaced with images of himself sitting in the hot tub with some beautiful woman… and at the same time there were images of himself being tortured until his brain had simply given up.  Not once… not twice… but three times that weekend.  And still, his most prominent memories were of the fun he had enjoyed in that hot tub… and the bed.  Rumpled sheets – and a beautiful woman.

His irritation at the pitch dark road was further aggravated now because he figured he should be getting close.  He actually figured he should have found the place by now.  According to the directions, he should have passed the driveway already!  He was more worried because he hadn’t seen a single house, or mailbox, or any sign of civilization for quite a while now.  Even the road he was driving on was nothing more than a dirt trail.  Not something he liked driving his car over.

A mailbox in the distance glowed under the bright beams of his headlights.  He slowed to check the number.  Finally!  He turned into the driveway just in front of the box and followed the dirt driveway further up the hill… and around the bend… and up another hill… and around another bend.  Until he finally found himself in front of a cabin.  Well, he had told his secretary to find something secluded.  He couldn’t imagine anything more secluded than this.

Grabbing the small overnight bag he had packed, he got out of the car and headed for the door.  The lights inside told him someone was already there.  And as much as he was looking forward to it, each step towards the front door brought more and more terror to his heart.

He opened the front door.  Warm light greeted him… as did…

“Sleep and obey, Mr. Halifax, sleep and obey.  Sleep and obey, Mr. Halifax, sleep and obey.”

Joseph Halifax barely had time for his brain to register the woman standing in front of him, than his brain sank immediately down into a deep trance.  A trance that only grew deeper and deeper with every word the woman spoke.  He wasn’t even aware when she took the bag out of his hand.  He also wasn’t aware of her closing the cabin door behind him.  He was only aware of the voice… and sinking deeper and deeper… and totally surrendering to her will.

Janice breathed a sigh of relief as she watched him quickly sink into a deep trance.  She finally set the Taser she had been holding behind her down on the table.  Fortunately, she wouldn’t need it.  He was already hers to play with.

When he was deep enough, she brought him further into the living room where she had him get undressed on the plastic tarp covered floor.  And when he was completely naked, she had him put on the only thing he would wear until he left to go home – the dog collar – with fresh batteries in it.  She made sure that was buckled tightly around his neck.  But this time she didn’t bother to put a lock on it.  Her will… controlling his brain… should be all the lock the thing needed.

When she was sure things were the way she wanted them, she had him sit in the solitary kitchen chair she had placed in the middle of the large plastic tarp.  Only then did she awaken him… and she awakened him completely. 

Joseph Halifax didn’t move, although he knew he was awake – completely awake.  Not even in any small bit of a trance.  And his heart was pounding in terror as he stared at the woman in front of him… and the remote control in her hand.

“I trust you had a pleasant week?” Janice asked.

Halifax barely nodded.  It was all he could manage.

“Good,” Janice purred.  “No sense in your poor little brain being taxed with burdens it doesn’t need to worry about.”

“What do you want?” he chanced asking.

Janice smiled.  “What I want is very simple.  I want you to stand up.”

She had been speaking so kindly to him, that he had almost missed it.  But her finger didn’t miss the button on the remote control as he was a fraction of a second too late in getting to his feet. 

“Sit down!”

This time, he sat fast… the terror racing through is mind was at full tilt!

Stand up, sit down.  Left leg up.  Right arm up.  Left leg down.  Stand up.  Left arm up.  Right arm down.  Sit down.  Stand up.  Sit down.  Stand up.  Command after command.  Faster and faster.  Each tiny hesitation, each wrong movement, brought a quick jolt of pain from the collar buckled tightly around his neck.  Left arm up.  Right arm down.  You don’t have time to think.  You only have time to obey.  My will is your will.  Let my brain control you.  Sleep and obey.  Sleep and obey.  Stand up.  Sit down.  Stand up.  Sit down.

It took longer than the last time she had done it to him last week.  But not nearly as long as the first time she had done it last week.  Still, she was pleased with how soon he finally completely surrendered to her mind again.  The fact that he would, was already a foregone conclusion. 

When he was ready, she reinforced his programming as to the impenetrable wall – locking all his willpower to not do what she wanted away where he could never touch it.  The wall that grew a tiny bit stronger each time he stood up… and each time he sat down. 

She reinforced everything!  She started with him having to protect her at all costs… while at the same time he could never ever tell anyone at all about her… or what she had done to him.  And she finally ended with the reinforcing commands that he would immediately drop into a deep trance every time she told him to sleep and obey. 

And when she was done with him, she told him to go to sleep… for the rest of the night… until she woke him up in the morning. 

Only when he was sound asleep, naked, on the plastic tarp, did she put the remote control down.  Walking to the far side of the room, she grabbed the chain that had been fastened around one of the thick posts of the staircase railing.  Bringing it back to him, she fastened the cuff attached to that chain to his wrist.  She was sure that he wasn’t going anywhere anyway, but now she simply felt – safer. 

Only then did she take the time to turn off most of the lights and go to bed herself.  She was tired.  Totally exhausted.

She slept late Saturday morning.  There was no real reason for her not to.  She had no responsibilities, other than Halifax, to worry about.  And he wasn’t any concern until she was ready to deal with him.  Wearing just a light robe over top of her nightgown, she went out to the kitchen.  She could see him still sleeping soundly in the middle of the living room – just as she had told him to.  She took the time to set the coffee maker working before she went back to get a quick shower and get dressed. 

It wasn’t until she was fully dressed and ready to face the day that she went out to the living room.  “Wake up, Mr. Halifax.  It’s time to wake up!”  She watched as he came awake, then she left him to prepare breakfast.

Joseph Halifax woke immediately.  He remembered all the torment from the night before.  The same torment he had been through last week.  It took him only a moment to discover the chain attached to his wrist… and to see the heavy post the other end of it was chained around.  He was naked, and he wasn’t going anywhere.  He never once tried to touch the collar that was buckled all too tightly around his neck. 

Seeing the plastic bucket off to the side of the chair again, he took the liberty of relieving his very aching bladder.  Then he sat warily in the chair and silently watched the demented woman puttering around in the kitchen.  What did she want?  There was no doubt it had to be his money.  So why didn’t she ever mention it?  She had to know that by now he would have no recourse except to hand over every last bit of it to her the moment she just asked.  So why continue to torture him?

Confused and frightened, he sat in his lonely chair and watched her.  Ten minutes later, she set a plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and a mug full of fresh black coffee on the floor of the plastic tarp where he could just reach them.  “Enjoy,” she had said with a smile before walking off to eat her own breakfast.  There were no utensils of any sort, but the food tasted just as good eating it all with his fingers.  But even as he ate, his eyes rarely left her.  What did she want from him?  Why wasn’t she asking about his money?

After they were both finished eating, he sat and watched as she thoroughly cleaned all the dishes, humming softly to herself the entire time.  How could she seem so happy?  And when the dishes were done, she brought him another mug of coffee to enjoy at his leisure.  As he picked up the hot mug, he watched her picking up a book and heading for the deck outside… where she sat ignoring him for a very long time.  What did she want with him?  Why all the waiting?  Was she waiting for someone else to arrive?  That girl from last week perhaps?  But his unvoiced questions received no answers.  None at all.