Just a Quic Wal

Just a Quick Walk

"Are you done crying now?"

Laura took a deep breath and nodded. She dropped the damp Kleenex into the cup holder, tucked her hair behind her ears and said "let's just get this over with."

"No point in wasting time, right?" Katie asked, smiling, as she opened the car door and stepped outside.

Laura opened her own door and stepped into the sun. The warm spring air took off the residual chill from the car's air conditioner immediately. Just hot enough to be a little uncomfortable but not bad enough to start sweating.

They'd parked in an empty lot bordering the southern edge of the city park. The park appeared empty as well, common for a weekday when most people were at work. A small playground had been set up and well maintained by city workers, a trail from the parking lot forking eastwards towards the recreational area, or to the west and deeper into the park itself.

"So," Katie said, "I'm guessing you want to head into the woods, right?"

Laura kept silent, staring at the ground, her hands fidgeting in front of her.

"It's a simple question. Unless you want to go through with it right here, next to the street, you'd better tell me."

"Th- the woods."

"That's better. Let's go."

The two women headed down the leftmost path. Laura looked around for any signs of life, paying close attention to everything she heard. Only cars passing on the main road behind her. The city landscapers weren't running their lawn mowers, no sounds of children playing or joggers on the trails.

Maybe she planned things ahead of time, Laura thought. Did her best to make sure no one was around. I guess that's something to be happy about.

God, what am I saying? How can I be happy about any of this?

Her stomach dropped over the thoughts she was having. Trying to rationalize humiliation and debasement, especially being controlled by someone so much younger than herself...

"You're worried, aren't you?" Katie asked.

"Of course I am!"

"Hey, don't fucking snap at me! I can make this a hell of a lot worse."

Oh god. "I know. I know you can, I'm sorry."

"You can apologize later. I want to see this, so keep going."

I probably just earned a spanking, Laura thought, picking up her pace.

They left the field of the park, moving into the woods. Several trails criss-crossed through the forest, intersecting at random areas, each one leading to one of four clearings and streets.

The deeper they walked, the closer the trees grew together. Visibility would be less than five yards off the path, seemingly creating a closed-in cave of wood. The thought was comforting.

"A little further, I think," Katie said.

Once again Laura strained her ears to pick up any sounds she could. A few leaves rustling in the wind, that was all.

They turned a corner on the path and Katie slowed her pace.

"This is good, don't you think?"

"I suppose."

Laura's hands began shaking. Her stomach felt hollow, and she had to control her breathing carefully to fight back the tears.

"I'm thinking you walk to that bend in the path up there," Katie pointed, "and walk right back. Not too far, but a good walk."

"Okay... Okay..."

Katie stood back and watched Laura. The older woman's hands fluttered to her shirt, but dropped back down.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell?" Katie barked.

God, her mood swings, Laura thought.

"You said that you were going to stop fighting me, and I told you that you had to prove it. You know what I want, now get to it. No covering with your hands, no complaining."

A tear rolled down Laura's cheek.

"Take your fucking clothes off!"

Laura snapped out of her dazed state. She raised her hands to her blouse and began unbuttoning it. With her hands still shaking the buttons were a challenge, but she managed to undo them. She slipped the cotton off her shoulders and held it out to Katie.

"On the ground."

She let the blouse slip from her hands onto the concrete. Her hands met at the button of her jeans. She unhooked it, pulled the zipper down and pushed the denim fall to her knees. Stepping out of her pants was no easy task, not as jittery as she was, but she managed to do it without falling over. She slid the jeans next to her blouse with her foot, then looked at Katie.

"Keep going."

Taking another deep breath, Laura reached behind her back to unhook her bra. Her shaking hands made it difficult to work the clasps.

Why didn't I wear a bra that hooks in the front? She thought.

Her trembling fingers finally got one of the hooks undone, then the other. She held the bra tightly to her chest for a second.

"Hesitate any longer," Katie complained, "and you can walk back to the car like this too."

The bra hit the ground next to her discarded blouse and jeans. She knew that even at 41, her breasts would still draw heads. The did all the time at work. A B cup, almost a C cup, she knew that they were a good feature of hers.

Now her thumbs hooked into the waistband of her panties. Her instinct told her to stall again, but she knew that she was at the limit of Katie's patience. She dropped them to the ground as quickly as she could force herself to.

"Sandals too?"

Katie nodded. "Yes, barefoot. Off you go. Walk, don't run. Keep your hands to your sides, or you're walking it again."

Laura took two slow steps before Katie swatted her on her round bottom. She picked up her pace a hair, fighting the urge to run, or even walk at a stride that might be deemed to fast. She wanted to go through this once, and only once, then just go home.

Of course she knew that wouldn't necessarily be the case. Even if she did things perfectly, didn't cover herself, didn't walk to fast, there was always the chance that Katie would make her do it again, just for her amusement.

She felt tears dripping down her cheeks before she realized that she was crying again. She knew that she would be crying over this day for some time to come- she'd been incredibly modest her entire life. She remembered having trouble undressing in front of her husband, now her ex-husband, on their wedding night. And now, having to be completely nude in a public park... Merely the thought of being outside naked was enough to make her cringe, but having to go through with it...

Just get it done, she told herself. I'm almost at the turn-around point, just keep walking, keep breathing. It'll be over soon.

Laura reached the bend in the path and turned around. Katie's broad smirk was easy to see, even at this distance. Laura kept her eyes on the ground ahead of her. She couldn't stand making eye contact with her the whole way back.

Taking her first two steps, Laura's arms instinctively wrapped around her body when the bushes rustled five feet away.

Oh God, she thought, someone is here!

She backed away, covering herself as best she could, before a squirrel darted out of the bush and started climbing a tree.

Over the sound of her own heavy sigh of relief, Laura could still hear Katie's appalling laughter.

"Oh, that was great! That was fucking hilarious! I was hoping it really was a person!"

Laura wanted to throttle the bitch for everything. She wanted to grab the biggest branch that she could and start beating the tyrant senseless for making her go through with this, and wishing that she would get caught on top of all of that. Her fear and humiliation were giving in to anger, but Laura knew it was useless to get angry and fight back. She'd tried it before. Several times. Katie had already proven that she was physically stronger, proven that she could and would make Laura submit by force.

Almost there, she thought. I just want this day to be over.

She looked up from the ground once she heard Katie slowly clapping her hands.

"Now that was a SIGHT!" she exclaimed. "I have wanted to do this for so long, you really have no idea!"

Laura didn't want any praise for what she'd just gone through. She hadn't done anything but what she'd been forced to do, and having someone applaud her efforts turned her stomach sour.

"But you are crying again, aren't you?"

Laura nodded, wiping her cheeks dry. "Can I get dressed?"

"I don't know," Katie replied, teasingly, "you did cover yourself for a moment there..."

Laura broke into full force sobbing, "Why? Why do I have to do this? God dammit I just want-"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! It was just a joke, mom. Come on, get dressed and we'll go home. Okay?"