NAOMI'S POV:
The disappointment of not finding even a slightest answer to the many questions I have combined with the overwhelming amount of guilt I had in my chest kept me awake for most of the night. I couldn't stop thinking about why Mr. Davis does so much for me. He is raising me as if he's my dad, takes my wants and passions more seriously than my parents ever have, and he actually dedicates time to spend it with me. From what I hear at the Academy, most student's parents barely even treat them as nicely as what Mr. Davis treats me. Why didn't he just leave me to become a product of the Academy?
Is he hiding something else from me? He felt pretty bad about missing the details during my registration...
Oh and that image of Mr. Davis' wife's body and her unfortunate accident was still fresh in my head, searing a permanent place into my memory. I now know a secret part of Mr. Davis existed, only time will tell whether that stems to me.
"Naomi?" Sarah asked, setting her coffee cup down on the counter, parallel to where I was sitting.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Harry is upstairs getting dressed, he should be down in a few minutes but I can make you breakfast if you'd like." She finished adjusting her coffee to a light brown with creamer.
"Harry?"
"Oh," She smiled and shrugged. "that's just what I call him. Breakfast?"
"I'll have cereal if that's what you're having, please."
She nodded, pulling down a box of cereal and grabbing the milk from the fridge. My stomach was completely upside down and my head was in disarray, but I knew Mr. Davis would become suspicious and start asking questions if I wasn't eating.
"Sure, here you go." She handed me the box and a bowl.
"Thank you."
I noticed my hands were subtly shaking, so I tried to pour everything as quickly as I could before Mr. Davis came down.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Lay it on me." She smiled.
"H-how old is Mr. Davis?"
"He turned thirty-one at the beginning of the year. I'm almost four years older than he."
"Thirty-one? I guess I can see that, but he looks older than that." I said, meaning it in the nicest way I could.
She nodded, resting her hands flat on the counter and leaning forward, she bit her bottom lip and gave me a look that made me feel very naive. "Stress and grief will do that to a person."
Fantastic, that's just what I needed to hear on the morning after committing a betrayal the night before. My guilt remained in my head all night, but now it was boiling in my stomach. I looked back to her, but she looked as remorseful as I did.
"Good morning ladies." Mr. Davis came in with a smile.
"Good morning." I said quietly before shoveling my cereal into my mouth.
"Morning Harry." She took a large swallow of her coffee. "If you give me those envelopes I can mail them on my way to work this morning."
"Perfect, let me grab them." He finished pouring coffee for himself before exiting the room.
"How long until you have to go to work?" I glanced at the clock, noticing that it was almost 8:30 a.m.
"I have to leave within 15 minutes, I stayed late last night so I'm going in a little late this morning." She winked at me.
"Covering anything interesting?"
"Always." She smiled, looking down at the newspaper and making notes of a few things. "There's a international crisis with the Myanmar genocide. I've been covering that."
"Where's that?"
"It's a Southeast Asian nation. Do you know what a genocide is?"
"Yeah, I learned about it in advanced English last year when we read the Diary of Anne Frank."
She nodded.
"But what's going on there?"
"Well," She folded the newspaper in half and tucked it neatly into her purse. "to make a long story short: the Burmese government, with the help of extremist Buddhist monks, sought to cleanse the country of the Rohingya ethnicity and their muslim faith."
"Someone helped them do this? I don't think racism should be a group activity."
"Nor do I sweetie, it should be a private thought and not action."
"Or it should not exist at all."
She smiled, once again making me feel very naive. "We're still working on that, but one small step at a time."
"Here they are." Mr. Davis entered, his suddenness causing a slight flinch from me.
Sliding them across the counter in her directly, she picked them up swiftly and stuffed them too into her purse.
"Great. So what's on your agenda for today?" She looked to me and then back to him.
"We're going to have a full day." Mr. Davis answered vaguely. "I'll call you tomorrow morning."
"Oh." She looked taken back. "Alright then, have a nice day. Bye Naomi."
"Bye Sarah."
She put her cup and bowl into the sink before turning and giving Mr. Davis a small kiss on the cheek and then briskly left. He assumed her place across the counter; staring at me, he patiently waited until he heard the front door close before looking in my direction as if I had something to say.
"So what are we going to do today?" I tried to make a steadfast recovery from the guilty look I can feel on my face.
Somehow, he kept a straight face, almost as if he were playing an intense game of poker.
"Mr. Davis?" I said nervously.
Standing straight, he sighed disappointingly and reached into his jeans pocket to pull out his set of office keys. Laying them gently on the counter in front of me without a word, he looked down into my eyes and gave me his divulging Administrator look.
I never knew how he could do it, but Mr. Davis has a way of prying every single detail of information out of you. No matter how hard you try to tuck it away.
"What?" I asked shakily.
"Oh, you know fine well what. Did you break into my office last night?"
It took me a minute longer to process what he said, I wanted to make sure those words actually came out arranged in the way he said them. Just to make sure it wasn't me hallucinating.
"Answer me." He said sternly.
"Your office? No, no of course not."
"Okay." He nodded. "Here's how this works Naomi: You can tell me that you broke into my office last night or you can continue lying until I get it out of you."
I buried my chin into my chest.
"I will get it out of you Naomi, I can promise you that but the longer it takes, the worse it will be for you."
He folded his arms across his chest and waited for a response, but who could respond to that?
"W-why would you think I broke into your office?"
"Well, first the key set was placed on the fourth hook, it has always belonged on the third because Audrey and I divided those keys amongst ourselves."
Oh God. I remember it so clearly not, as if it were replaying in my head like a movie, I panicked in the moment and placed it not far enough to the right.
"Second, two to three of the drawers in my desk, which haven't been touched in months, are scattered and stuffed messily. One was not closed entirely, which means someone was rummaging through them. Probably in a rush before they were caught." He emphasized.
In my mind I was being as stealthy as possible, but I guess I should have double-checked myself. Regardless, I did not appreciate his snide comment.
"Everything in that desk is filed according to student intake, which mean you were more than likely looking for your file."
Damn, he was good. He should have been in the FBI, really missed his calling.
He swooped the keys off the counter, motioning me to follow.
I followed him back to his office, where he waited before I was nearly touching him before turning the key to unlock the door. Swinging it open forcibly, he beckoned me forward as he stood right in the center of the office.
He aggressively shoved his finger onto the hardwood surface of the desk. "These are confidential documents pertaining strictly to the affairs of the Academy and its students. There is absolutely nothing in this desk for you to see."
"Why? You afraid I'll see something I shouldn't?" I said spitefully under my breath.
His eyes flared, and for a second I thought he was going to explode. Slowly straightening his posture, he took a step forward, resulting in I taking a step back in conjunction, "Excuse me? What did you just say to me?" he asked.
"It sounds like you're trying to keep something from me, and you shouldn't because...!" I took another step back as he came more toward me.
He slammed his hand down on the desk, resulting in a sudden flinch from me. "You will not speak to me this way!"
I turned my head, too frustrated and disappointed to say anything further.
"You're hiding my file from me!" I accused.
"What?" He asked, shocked and confused at the ridiculousness of my accusation. "I am not hiding your file from you."
"It's not in your desk at the Academy...I didn't see it when I took my phone and it's not here so where is it?"
A vein started roaring from the side of his head, "Not that I am under any obligation to explain it to you, but I submitted to the private detective, so he has a basis for when he's searching for your parents. He has not yet returned it."
Oh. I don't know why I did not think of that. Now I've lost any justification I might have had.
"Now this," he motioned to the corner parallel to his desk. "is what angers me the most." He stormed past me, walking closer to the corner table while giving me a long, hard look.
Turning back to see my desperate and fearful reaction, he hesitated but then suddenly grabbed the corner of the sheet and pulled it completely off. A few of the pins shot across the floor.
"I know, I'm so sorry. I know that this was wrong..."
"Well I hope you also know that going through other people's things, specifically things that they intend to keep private," He motioned to the closed drawers and ripped off sheet. "is a violation of their privacy and shows a total lack of respect. It is completely unacceptable behavior." His voice raised. "There was no reason for you to do such a thing. Naomi there are extenuating circumstances for everything, but even those come with consequences. You could have asked for your file or ask questions that you wanted the answer to; you did not have to vandalize my office and betray my trust."
I nodded, he had a valid point. He did open up and admit his mistake, I should have given him more of the benefit-of-the-doubt.
"I'm a very detailed man, minutiae is a special skill of mine so I had everything scattered and placed according to my thoughts but this is certainly not how I left it. I'll have to go through this again, so thank you for that." He said bitterly.
"I'm sorry."
Mr. Davis' face was bright red, he looked as if his blood was boiling underneath an array of sweat that suddenly appeared. The blueness of his eyes was instantly overshadowed by the bloodshot forming.
"Go to your room." He pointed to the door.
"But Mr. Davis..." I began foolishly, which drew a growl from him.
I froze immediately once he turned around, his dark eyes meeting my soft ones. "Did you hear what I said?"
"Yes sir." I responded reflexively but I still felt frozen.
"Am I going to have to say it again?"
"No sir."
He pointed again and this time I obeyed.
_____________________________________
MR. DAVIS' POV:
The day I received a phone call from the corner's office was the day that a part of me disappeared. She was so young and full of life, only two years younger than I. We were married when I was twenty-five and she was twenty-three, we wanted to wait until we graduated from college and our careers were launched, and we spent six great years with that title.
Her energy couldn't be matched by anyone; constantly exploring, seeking ways to better herself, making sure everyone had everything they needed, she always stepped out of her comfort zone and encouraged me to do the same...she kicked my ass almost every day. I couldn't keep up with her. But she was everything that I wasn't, everything that I secretly wished I was. We made each other whole and now I don't know how to be incomplete again.
My therapist recommended that I investigate the matter myself to help me through the shock and denial phase I was experiencing from the grief. It was supposed to be a coping mechanism and I assumed that I finished it and moved on. Everything was in order, everything laid on the table or was posted accordingly and I thought that was it. I truly believed that I would never have to touch these items again because I had moved past that phase...but now I have to go through the pain sake of trying to piece our life together again.
"Fuck!" I yelled and wiped everything off the table, allowing my back to slide down the wall to the right so I could sit in the scattered mess of papers.
They told me it was an accident, that it was just a rainy day and the roads were slippery. But I can't help but feel as though this was intentional after we found out about the false positive.
"What's the matter honey?" I asked as I came inside, setting my briefcase on the table before entering the living room where she was sitting.
"I got my period and went to see the doctor."
"Why didn't you call me?" I rushed to her side.
"Because it was a false positive." She shrugged, wiping her tears on the inside of her palms.
"Oh," I nodded, trying not to be as upset because she needs someone strong right now. "yeah, sometimes that happens."
"I know I panicked a little when I first found out, and I wasn't entirely sure how to feel," She stopped to let out a big exhale. "But now I feel sad."
"I'm sorry babe." I took a seat on the couch and pulled her into my chest, her wet face crying on the collar of my shirt as I kissed her forehead.
We had been trying for a few years but then her career took off, and I invested with her brother at the Academy, so we decided to put a little hold on the idea of having a child. She took that day really hard.
______________________________________________
NAOMI'S POV:
I've been sitting on the ground in the corner near the windowsill ever since Mr. Davis banished me to my room. For nearly six hours, I've been suffocating myself with my own thoughts. Wondering if he'll ever forgive me, if he'll even speak to me soon...
I've never seen him so angry, not once during my time at the Academy has he ever raged the way he did today and, trust me, there have been plenty of times where even I would have hit the roof if I were him. Even during the night I barged in on his anniversary dinner, he made sure to ask me about me. He wasn't mad that I interrupted something so precious, even if it was unintentional, he was concerned about what I was feeling that night.
I didn't know what I would find when I entered that room, but I was not expecting it to cause such a ripple between my relationship with him. I know it seems ironic; that I was so steadily looking for the answers to the disappearance of my family and yet I couldn't imagine going on with my life without Mr. Davis. It's only been a few months but I think leaving him would be as hard as the day I found out my parents were gone. He stood by my side during the most difficult thing I've ever had to experience...but he's doing more than that, he's helping me through it and assuring me that I can still have a happy future. I'll never forget this. I just don't understand why someone would do something so nice and considerate unless they were compensating for something.
"Naomi." I heard him say from the hallway before he came inside without knocking.
He looked calmer, his face wasn't as red nor was he breathing as heavily as he was downstairs.
"I've had some time to cool down and I'm calm enough to discuss this with you."
"Mr. Davis I'm so sorry..."
"Don't. I'm not ready to forgive you," He stopped me. "nor am I entirely over this. But I am ready enough to begin our reunification process." He held out his hand, patiently waiting for me to take it.
"I want to talk about it, I really do but if you're not ready...then I can wait as long as you need." I tried to say respectfully.
"No, I'll admit that my feelings are still wounded but I have settled down and, even though I am angry with you, you can still talk to me."
I took his hand and he helped me up before guiding me over to the opposite side of the room where two chairs and an ends table sat.
"Maybe it'll help me recover." He said quietly.
I sat down willingly and dried my cheeks, which were immediately drenched with emerging tears.
"Help me understand." He said sincerely.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Davis! I didn't mean to see that..."
"Enough." He said sternly, resulting in my silence. "I'm not ready to address that quite yet. Forget about me, let's focus on you." He said steadily, even though I could see clearly that I struck a nerve. "Help me understand."
I took a deep breath, looking at him with a pleading face hoping for forgiveness but he kept his expression intact.
"Are you hiding something from me?" I began abruptly. "I wanted my file to see if there was anything you didn't tell me because..." I had to take another breath. "because, despite what my parents did, even though they really hurt me, I refuse to believe that my mom and dad would do that intentionally."
He ran his hands through his hair "I've told you everything you need to know. Now I have theories, ideas but that's all speculation. I do not have anything concrete for you."
I leaned back in my chair, obviously disappointed with his answer and conflicted about whether or not he is telling me an objective truth.
"Why do you think I'm hiding something from you?" He seemed more concerned with that.
Wiping my eyes, "Because you're too nice. There's no reason why you should be as nice to me as what you are unless you were hiding something or felt guilty."
Narrowing his eyes, he looked disturbed at my explanation. "Why do you think that?"
"I've heard a lot of the conversations between my parents...dad always said that there's no such thing as a 'free lunch.' That people will often either defend their actions or do everything to make up for it, but no ones nice unless there's a reason for it." I took a deep breath. "I wasn't planned for you, you had no idea I was coming...it's just all very suspicious."
"I told you I made a mistake by neglecting that crucial document in your file..."
"I said I wasn't mad at you for that! You were grieving, it was an honest mistake. There has to be something else." I was speaking more clearly now, as if I suddenly turned off my grief and turned on my determination.
"There isn't Naomi."
"No there is, you just don't want to tell me! I have to know everything about my parents because it's all I can think about everyday!" I began shouting.
"I can understand that..."
"No, don't you do that! You can't understand anything because you have no idea what this is like!"
"I know more than you think."
"How? How could you possibly know....?!"
"Because the same thing happened to me." He spoke loudly, his jaw noticeably clenching as he turned his head to the side. "Well, at least to an extent." he clarified.
"What do you mean?"
Pursing his lips for a moment to steady his breath, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I was sent to the Academy when I was sixteen, and eight months later, when I was in the middle of chore duty, my parents died." He exhaled.
"I didn't know that that's horrible," I leaned forward and immediately rested my hand on top of his. "I'm so sorry. C-can I ask how?"
He looked down to the floor with a straight, but unchartered, disturbed face. "No, no I'd rather not say. You're...you're a little too young."
"Okay, okay I understand. Mr. Davis, I'm really sorry about your parents, but I don't know if it's the exactly the same."
"Which is why I said 'to an extent.' But I know how it feels to be all alone, to be left at the Academy with an uncertain future."
A wave of silence had consumed the room, it was as if everything around me was turning dark and cold. I was sitting parallel to a man who had faced more trauma than anyone I've ever known, or anyone that I've ever read about in one of my books, and I can't think of a thing to say.
"Why didn't Sarah take you in? She would have been a non-minor."
He took a moment to contemplate, truing to think of the quickest way to answer. "She offered but we both agreed that she wasn't ready for something like that, she was in the middle of college and I...well I was a but of a loose-cannon at the time."
"So you thought the Academy would help?"
"It did help." He exhaled. "I was frustrated and..." I shook my head. "pissed off. I thought the world owed me something. But the arrangement worked because Mr. Patry's father kindly took me in, I was raised in the Academy specifically by him. At the time there was another Administrator, his half-brother, named Mr. Smith."
I nodded, not really sure how to respond to something so delicate. He rubbed his right hand over the back of his neck.
"Mr. Patry did a lot for me, but he was a busy man. He had things to do. Many of the things I know were done by reading, engaging with people, because I couldn't expect him to do his job, raise his own kids while attend to me. I learned many of the things I know I learned myself," he looked up at me. "and it was hard, and challenging and most of the time it felt impossible."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He leaned back. "He was a tough man, and I got my fair share of punishments, but it helped me become who I am today. But I'll be forever grateful to him for taking me in and mentoring me, but the best thing he ever did for me was give me his blessing to marry his daughter."
I smiled as the upturn corners of his mouth emerged, a crinkle in his eye showed the first pleasant thought he's probably had all day.
"Naomi, I've told you everything you need to know. I can see how painful this is for you and if my knowledge of this would help ease that then I would tell you without hesitation. But I don't know."
Even though I wasn't entirely satisfied with my findings, things were becoming a lot more clear. Now it all depends on whether or not my subconscious will let me believe him.
"I am just trying to be the same person he was for me, but more. the more I needed when I was in your situation."
"Thank you Mr. Davis." I said as sincerely as I could. "I trust you."
He stood up, brushing his hands across his chest, he knelt down in front of me, "Are you okay? I think you should take some time to process this."
Shaking my head, and wiping my tears for the one-hundredth time, I managed to say: "No, no I'm fine. I understand now why you're doing what you're doing."
Hesitating, he gave me a long, calculated look for deciding to believe in what I was saying. "Alright then."
Standing straight, immediately snapping out of that bitter-sweet moment we shared and returning to his Administrator demeanor, he continued on.
"We're going to talk about trust, specifically my trust for you...or 'lack of' I should say."
"Okay."
"You are going to have to earn back my trust Naomi, and do not make the mistake of thinking this will be an easy task." He put his hands on the side of his jeans. "And, because you have lost my trust, I will be keeping a closer eye on you and keeping you busy so you cannot get into anymore mischief....which also means you cannot see Jasper without my supervision."
"What? Mr. Davis that's not..."
"I can no longer trust your judgement Naomi. You've made it very clear today that you are willing to do something wrong just to get what you want."
"It's not that bad!" I rolled my eyes, which resulted in a growl from him.
"This isn't the first time you've went into my desk without my permission, is it?" His eyes turned dark and my heart sank, thinking of that God awful punishment.
"No, but..."
"No what?" He interrupted.
"No sir." I gulped.
"And yet, here you are doing the same thing but this time it was much worse because you lied to me...at least last time you admitted it when I confronted you."
"I didn't want you to know that I felt like you were hiding something from me. I just wanted to find some answers!"
"It does not matter whether or not you believed me, that does not give you the right to break into my office and rummage through things you have no business seeing. I'll take your intentions into consideration when I administer your punishment but it is not always about them, it is about what you did or did not do."
Feeling the pressure mount on my chest, my voice began disappearing from my lungs and tears wallowed in my eyes.
"You cannot just act recklessly because you want something. That is how mistakes are made, that is how you could get into a lot of trouble in the future. If you want something, you exhaust all acceptable options."
Acceptable. That word was beginning to haunt my mind. Infiltrating it like a virus that resulted in an icy cold shiver of lost hope.
"It's just not what it looks like." I whispered.
"Let me give you some advice Naomi:" He took a step closer. "sometimes, what it looks like is all anyone can see. By violating my privacy and crossing this line, you've resurfaced a pain that I thought was long behind me. That is how it seems to me, but as your guardian I know I need to be more thorough than this."
Seeing that I was still not convinced, he knelt down to my height. "Naomi, I love your determination. Undoubtedly you will be successful in whatever you do..." His voice changed suddenly to stern. "but you will do it the right way."
"I..." I stopped to consider this, he was right. "okay, okay I understand. I do."
"Good." Standing upright, he motioned to the door that led to the hallway. "Go downstairs, out the backdoor in the kitchen and bring me a switch."
I was trying to think of a reason not to, something to say that would make him change his mind.
"What?" Was all I managed to say.
"Go outside and bring back a switch." He repeated plainly.
"Why...why a switch?"
"I thought we cleared this up last time but evidently the message did not sink in," the anger in his voice was rising with every passing second. "so I think I some emphasis is necessary."
"But I, I don't know how to do...that." I could feel my heart racing more than usual.
"The branch needs to be at least a foot-long, thick enough to where it won't break in the middle of your punishment but thin enough for execution, and the one with the least amount of leaves would be best." He described the practice fluently.
My head was spinning at the thought of finding the best item to assault my bottom.
"What if I can't find...or if I don't know..." I stiffened.
Exhaling sharply, he took a step forward: "It's okay. Seeing as though you've never done this before, I'll be patient. If what you bring back is not adequate, I'll tell you to pick another. It won't affect the severity of your punishment."
Well that's good news I guess.
"I'll give you five minutes."
Without hesitation, I stormed out of the room and ran quickly down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had left me alone for most of the day and I longed for some interaction to clear the air, but now I was finding it incredibly hard to be in his presence.
I tried not to do anything incriminating, especially stalling, as I'm sure he's watching me from my bedroom window. His description was buzzing around in my head, replaying as if my mind were so focused on the item without fully realizing its intent. I hadn't even noticed if there were any of our neighbors outside watching, knowing exactly what I'd be doing as soon as I'd pick up a branch to bring inside. How embarrassing.
From the corner of my eye, I saw one laying simply under the big, backyard tree. It fit his description, or at least I believe it does, almost exactly. Without giving it too much though, I tucked it tightly against my arm and ran back inside the house where I took a moment to calm myself in the kitchen.
Drying my cheeks, I took several deep breaths before continuing upstairs.
"Let me see." He held out his hand.
I surrendered it immediately, hoping that it was enough and I wouldn't have to go through the agonizing humiliation of picking another.
"Good, very good." He thrusted it through the air, almost as if he were asserting his authority. "Come over here."
While I was outside, he pulled a chair to the middle of the room but he did not assume it's seat. I looked down at his clenched fist, the switch was tauntingly awaiting.
"Closer." He motioned me forward.
Edging subtly closer, I waited for some indication of how he wanted me positioned. Placing his foot on the seat of the chair, he tucked the branch under his arm and grabbed me by mine to hoist me over his knee.
I hated this position almost more than anything, but I hated even more that I was smaller for my age which means I'll probably be small enough for over-the-knee punishments much longer than most Braxton students.
Immediately gripping my hands together, I thought about pulling some of the leg hair on his calves since his ankles were exposed...but that probably wouldn't be such a good idea.
He dug his fingers into the elastic of my pants and pulled them down aggressively, probably irritated that I did not remove them beforehand.
CRACK. He began immediately on my sit-spots. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. He remained exactly where he started, ensuring that the heat radiating right now would be constant every time I took a seat. CRACK. CRACK.
"Ow!" I yelled.
CRACK. Tears began streaming down my eyes and my entire body clenched with each piercing blow. I was aching for him to move to another section as the condensed pain made it hard to breath.
CRACK. CRACK.
"Ow please!"
CRACK. CRACK. He continued.
"M-Mr. Davis!" I cried out.
"What?" He asked bitterly.
"Please stop." I whined.
"Why should I?" CRACK. CRACK.
My toes were curling inside my socks, my face had pinched with every passing second, and my head was becoming twirled.
CRACK.
Just as I thought we were finished, he adjusted my position since I was resisting so much by gripping my waist tightly and pushing me forward, elevating my bottom. CRACK. CRACK. He moved to the middle of my cheeks and I had a brief moment of relief. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. But of course that was gone instantly after the heat began forming there.
"Please!" CRACK. "Ow, ow!"
My mouth had to remain open, otherwise I fear I may pass out from the lack of breath. He gave me no time to process the pain, which in a lot of ways I was grateful for, but the stinging was so overwhelming that adrenaline had taken control of my mind. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
"Naomi if I ever catch you going through anyone else's things without permission, or if you ever break into and evade another's space..." CRACK. CRACK. "I guarantee you will not be able to sit for a month, do you understand me?"
I was sobbing to much to actually answer, I was surprised I was even able to fully comprehend what he said. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
"I said do you understand me?" He paused, thankfully.
"Yes sir." I answered sloppily.
The sleeves of my shirt were drenched entirely as was a little section of the floor in front of me. CRACK. CRACK.
Swiftly returning me to the floor, he placed the switch on my desk and patiently waited for met to pull up my pants. I tried to do it as gently as possible, but after the first moment of contact was made I decided to pull them up quickly, like ripping off a bandaid.
"Follow me."
"W-where are we g-going?"
Without answering, he treaded forward and I followed.
He led me downstairs into the laundry room. At first I thought he was going to shove me inside the washing machine but instead he closed the dryer door and turned it on even though it was empty. I rubbed my rear end softly, trying to get some of the sting to turn numb but all that did was remind me of the soreness.
"What's going on?" My apprehension was festering inside of me, the fear of another punishment racing through my head.
"Come here." He pointed closer to the dryer. "Pull your pants down slightly."
I did was he said, expanding the elastic waist further so it wouldn't scrape again my bottom. He then lifted me by the underneath of my arms and sat me harshly on top of the dryer. (Thanks so much to @moonlight_princess_4 for the genius idea!)
"O-ow!" I exclaimed after my mind processed the warming heat radiating from the top of the dryer. "Mr. Davis..." I scooted to the edge, ready to jump off.
"No." He pushed me back so I was sitting directly in the middle. "Stay there until it stops, consider this part of your punishment."
"W-why..."
"Because I don't have a bench here in my home." Putting his hands on his sides, he watched me cry for a moment or two. "I'll be back to speak with you when you are finished. You are not to move from the top of the dryer until the buzzer goes off." He spoke lowly. "Is this clear?"
"Yes s-sir." I hugged my arms and pressed them firmly against my chest.