This is one of an anthology of short stories that take place in my world of Judicial Punishments. I aim to explore a variety of stories and characters whose lives are directly impacted by the new justice system and even those who only brush up against new codes. Each chapter is unrelated to the last so don't worry if you jump in in the middle and if one is not to your taste then the next one might be. Please feel free to comment and to private message me. I love speaking with readers and I value all of your input. I hope you enjoy.
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"All you have to do is not speed for a year and no one is ever gonna see them," Chris reminded his girlfriend as the elevator doors closed and they returned to their room after lunch.
"I know, I know," Alexa answered, "I'm going to make you drive me everywhere until I'm past the date."
"Whatever you want, Lex," Chris answered, "I get to keep the pictures, right?"
Alexa looked at him, annoyed, in the mirrored surface of the door and opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "I'll delete them if you tell me to," he assured her.
She frowned and shifted her weight back and forth as the hotel elevator rose, "I'll think about it."
Chris looked down at her and put his arm around her waist, "Cheer up. You're going to look so hot and it's only me."
"It's not really only you," Alexa answered, leaning her head against her boyfriend's side, "I mean there has to be some guy who looks to make sure I did everything, right? And that's, you know, if I don't get in trouble again."
Chris pulled her tighter, knowing that he could only do so much for her. He could usually make her feel better by lightening the mood or a well-timed hug or back rub, but he was worried that that wasn't going to be enough this afternoon. He was going to try his best to make her relax but he couldn't lie and say this was going to be easy. "You're not going to get in trouble again and," he paused and shrugged to make it seem like he wasn't worried, "You're right. Somebody else will probably see them but you're not going to know them."
"Yeah, I guess," Alexa said, as the bell dinged, and the door opened to their hallway. Like most nice hotels in the city, the carpet had long ago become tasteful and modern, rather than the garish prints from thirty years ago. The two of them went silent as they walked past all the doors and Chris knew she would be upset if he continued the conversation, fearing eavesdroppers in any of the rooms.
As they walked, Chris thought about what was about to happen. About a month ago, Alexa got caught by a traffic camera going forty-nine in a forty-five mile per hour zone. That ended up being lucky, really. Since she was less the five miles over the limit, they offered her the choice of being enrolled in a pilot program for very minor misdemeanors. With the new punishment codes passed a couple years back, she thought she'd be paraded naked around a public park, but the new program offered an alternative.
Instead, she was basically on parole, or, as she put it, held hostage. She had to provide a series of naked pictures to the punishment center and if she committed any crimes, even the smallest parking ticket or littering citation, they would be released online for everybody in the world to see. They both thought that it was better than the alternative, but it wasn't going to make the next little while any easier as Chris took the photos in their hotel room.
At the end of the hallway, Chris tapped his card to open the door to their suite. Chris had gotten the nicest room available (he could afford it on his consultant's salary), and the corner suite didn't disappoint. The large window overlooked the busy street ten stories below and across the road there was another high rise with countless glass windows. There was a giant, L shaped couch with a coffee table and a small circular table with a big screen tv hanging on the wall. Through another door, there was a king-sized bed, currently unmade, and a desk under the window with a rolling chair. The master bathroom, with his and her sinks and both a shower and a large tub/jacuzzi was connected to the bedroom.
All in all, Chris thought it was a nice suite but most importantly, it made Alexa feel better. Ever since it became clear that this punishment was unavoidable, she was very nervous about having pictures of her stuff in the background. Chris didn't quite understand. He didn't really think that would matter but he had the money and if it helped her then he would happily get them this hotel room. If anything, he thought it would be good to not have the bad memories of this day be attached to her apartment. Plus, it also helped to have the spa, which Chris had already booked for Alexa in the morning, and the pool, where they had spent the morning before lunch, to distract her.
Alexa put down her purse on the coffee table and turned to Chris, "I'm going to get ready to do this thing."
"Ok," Chris answered, "Can I get you anything?"
"No, I'm just going to, y'know, prepare," she answered, with a shrug, "I might take advantage of the tub."
"Should I join you?" Chris asked, with a smirk.
"No, I want to be alone for a bit," Alexa answered.
Chris nodded. "I guess you should wash the chlorine out of your hair. Have to look good for dinner," he said, trying to act like it was just a normal day.
"Exactly," she said with half of a smile, "I have to look good on our night in the city." Her efforts to appear happy and normal faded quickly and her shoulders slumped. She looked around the obviously used hotel room, "Can you just make the place ready and read the directions again so we're sure we are doing it all right?"
"Yeah, of course," Chris said, stepping up to her and giving her a hug, "Have a nice bath. This will be done soon." They held their embrace and he tried to transmit strength to her through his body and he kissed her on top of her brunette head.
When she went into the bedroom, Chris sat down on the couch and waited for his girlfriend to collect her clothes and disappear into the large bathroom. He heard the water begin to splash against the deep bathtub, another nice perk of the suite, and he began to tidy the room. Shoes and this morning's pajamas went in the floor of the closet, coffee cups went from the table to the trash, and then he took the time to make the bed, which, sadly, was going to be an important part of the set. Then he walked around to close the heavy curtains which made the room quite dark. Then the man straightened chairs and put away most of their personal effects so Alexa wouldn't worry about them in the background.
Satisfied, he sat down at the desk and pulled his phone charger from his laptop bag. The wonder of smartphones made this punishment possible. His camera was high quality, which the punishment center demanded, and he had already set up the pictures to go to a password protected cloud server that only Alexa could access. When it was all done, she was going to upload the folder to the punishment center server.