(18+) The Punishment (Complete)

Ch. 3: The sauna

"Mike! Get up! We've been calling you for ages."

Patrick was standing in the doorway, smirking.

"Give me a minute," I groaned. It still took a few minutes longer before I stumbled to the bathroom and did my morning routine. But eventually, I managed to rub enough sleep out of my eyes to join the others in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Michael," Mary-Lou greeted with a warm smile. "We just started eating. Jack couldn't wait any longer."

"Yeah. No problem. I'm sorry for sleeping in."

I wasn't really sorry, though. But some breakfast would do good.

"We were planning on going up to the lake today. Wanna join us?" Paul asked. But did I really have a choice? I didn't want to be at the house alone for hours.

"Sure. Where is it?"

I only mustered up a half-enthusiastic smile and hoped it wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

"About an hour from here."

While we ate, they told me about the many times they'd been there and what they used to do, and about that one time when Mary-Lou got so scared of a fox cub that she tried to climb a tree. That itself wasn't the funny part, but the vivid descriptions and wild gesticulations from Paul when he demonstrated what happened when she fell down made us all crack up in fits of laughter. And they laughed even louder a while later when we put our winter clothes on.

"What?" I asked, confused and annoyed. I thought I would catch a break from being teased now that I was away from my brothers.

"You're gonna freeze to death if you wear that," Leah giggled and gave me a once over. A leather jacket and a knitted top hat was obviously not enough. Nevertheless, it was all I brought here.

Luckily, Patrick was generous enough to lend me a proper ski dress. It was a bit too large and so fluffy I looked like a penguin, but I guess I was thankful. Jack gave me a scarf and Leah a pair of mittens, but I still didn't really understand why I needed that many clothes. I could just stay in the car if I got too cold, right? Yeah... No. Because we weren't going by car. We were going cross-country skiing.

"Oh, they're gonna have the time of their lives today," I grumbled to myself. I already envisioned the look on their faces when they saw me doing something I'd never done before. Maybe I should just stay at their house after all? But before I got time for any second thoughts, my feet were strapped to a pair of planks and my hands had a death grip around two sticks to keep me standing. Then we went off into the snowy landscape. Or at least they went. I kept on falling and barely got up on my feet before I fell again. I didn't know whether to be angry or embarrassed because I was both, and very much so too. But I slowly got the hang of it.

Jack was cheering me on and took the role as personal trainer extremely seriously, and demonstrated different techniques like he'd done it a lifetime, which I was pretty sure he had. His lifetime, at least. It took a while before I was steady enough to enjoy the scenery, though. But when I finally did, it was almost overwhelming to see everything close up, and not just far away and through the window of a car or a train. The sun rays made the snow crystals look like diamonds were sprinkled everywhere around us, and the enormous, black mountains in the background were a big contrast to all the white. It was magical.

I admit that I both admired and appreciated how patient they were with me. None of them were mocking me like my brothers would do if they saw me acting like a clumsy fool. Not even Patrick. Every now and then I felt Leah's gaze upon me, and she even gave me a couple of shy smiles. She sure was beautiful. Even with all those clothes and a huge fur-like cap, she looked like a million bucks. Her long, blonde hair played freely around her shoulders and down her back. And when she looked that fine with all those clothes, I wondered how she looked without them. Probably drop dead gorgeous. But Patrick had already made it quite clear to stay away from her, which I attempted to do.