The Black Door

Chapter 10

Throughout the rest of the day, Danielle could not get the thought of those red marks across Natalie’s bottom out of her head. She even found her eyes filling with tears at one point during an afternoon class at the mere thought of someone hurting the poor girl.

The more she thought about it, the more she rationalised that someone at the academy had obviously been the perpetrator.

The question was, who?

She had often heard tales of bullying slipping under the wall of respectability on which the academy prided itself. But she hoped that the girls trusted her enough by now to come forward if they were a victim of such appalling treatment.

Later that afternoon, as she sat alone in her office drinking a cup of strong coffee, another thought entered her mind.

Natalie was sixteen and, being cooped up in a place like Seddon for months on end, with no one for company but other girls, it was not beyond the realms of possibility that she might be experimenting with one or more of them.

Many girls at her age were already sexually active, or, at the very least curious to learn about their options. At least in an all-girl school, there was no chance of anyone falling pregnant, and they had all watched the cringe-worthy documentaries on sexually transmitted diseases during their relationships and s****l health classes, so they should all know the importance of safe s*x.

So if Natalie were in a relationship with one of the other girls, or several of them, as the case might be, then perhaps those marks on her bottom were as a result of a little overzealous foreplay.

The lower and upper sixth dormitories were located in a different part of the school from where the teachers had their rooms, so who knew what went on up there once the lights were out?

The more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed to Danielle that a girl like Natalie would be a willing participant in some sort of domination game.

Danielle did not consider herself to be a prude. She, too, had experimented with most things during university, including sub-dom and lesbianism, but they were all within a consensual relationship and no one had ever forced her into trying anything she did not agree with.

So, if that were the case with Natalie, fine. But Danielle had to make sure that the girl was not being coerced into anything she did not want to do.

The problem, of course, was how on earth Danielle could find out for sure, without asking the girl outright.

She could see no other feasible alternative.

In her position, many other young teachers would take their suspicions to the headmistress and leave her to deal with the situation as she felt appropriate.

But, regardless what the truth of the matter turned out to be, Danielle knew that Natalie would never forgive her if she told the head about her concerns.

No, this one was going to be down to Danielle alone and she was not relishing the prospect.

Danielle opened her computer and checked the timetable to see where Natalie’s class would be now.

She glanced at the time on the bottom of her screen. It was a little after 5pm. Class would just have been released. Between five and seven each afternoon, the girls were given the freedom to go wherever they wanted within school grounds.

Although the girls were encouraged to think of that part of the afternoon as study time, the library was usually the quietest part of the school during those hours.

Danielle knew the group that Natalie tended to hang out with, so she scraped back her chair and made her way over to the tennis courts. Sure enough, she spotted Natalie with her usual group standing in line for their turn.

The last thing Danielle wanted to do was draw attention to the fact that she needed to see the girl, so she stayed where she was and waited until Natalie happened to glance in her direction. She waved her over, casually, smiling as she did so, to lessen any concern Natalie might have at being summoned, and asked her to come and have a chat with her in her office.

Once back in her office with the door shut, Danielle watched as Natalie shifted awkwardly on the hard wooden chair opposite her desk. The poor girl was obviously still in pain, which was no surprise considering how red those marks were.

Danielle took her seat.

She could see from Natalie’s expression that she automatically thought that she was in trouble.

Danielle smiled at her. “Sorry I had to drag you away from tennis,” she apologised.

Natalie shrugged. “That’s okay, Miss, I only went along because the others wanted to play. I fancied staying in and reading this evening. Am I in trouble for something?”

Danielle assured her that she was not and saw Natalie physically relax as she said it. Danielle thought for a moment before continuing. She desperately wanted to ask the right questions without embarrassing the girl or making her feel too awkward.

Finally, she asked. “Natalie, do you often find yourself agreeing to do things you don’t want to do?”

The girl thought for a moment, considering her response. “How do you mean, Miss? Like today when you asked us to do circuit training? I didn’t want to do that, that’s for sure, but I’m glad now that I did.”

Danielle laughed. “So am I – you were brilliant this morning,” she assured her. “But what I’m talking about more specifically is, does anyone ever ask you to take part in activities which are not part of the school curriculum that make you feel uneasy, or perhaps even scared?”

“Scared, Miss?” The girl appeared shocked.

“Yes, that’s right. Scared that if you do not take part, they might make life hard for you in some way?”

Natalie shifted once more in her seat.

This time, Danielle felt that it was not all down to her sore bottom.

She leaned over her desk and looked directly in Natalie’s eyes. “You can tell me. I promise, if you want, that it will not leave this office.”

Natalie could not hold her teacher’s gaze for long.

The girl bowed her head.

Danielle could just see her bottom lip starting to protrude.

She waited to give the girl a chance to speak up.

There was obviously something bothering her.

After a minute’s silence, Danielle took a deep breath and continued.

“Natalie, I could not help but notice those cane marks on your bottom at gym class today. Do you want to tell me how you came by them?”

The young girl looked up, then immediately back down again. In that split second, Danielle had seen the embarrassment etched on her face that her secret had been discovered.

Danielle felt a slight sense of relief that her instincts had been correct. She would naturally have preferred for there to be no reason for this discussion, but now she was convinced that there was, she was determined to find out what was going on.

“Natalie,” she offered, soothingly. “If you don’t feel comfortable discussing it with me, I totally understand.”

The girl looked back up, her face flushed with embarrassment.

“Would you rather I went and asked the headmistress to come in, or one of the other teachers?”

It was a cruel trick, but it had the desired effect.

“No, please, don’t do that.” Natalie almost exploded from her seat. Now she was physically shaking. “I’ll tell you everything. Just please don’t let anyone else know, please!”

“All right, all right,” Danielle assured her. “I promised you that, if you want, we can keep this between us, and I meant it, so don’t worry.”

Natalie calmed down but she now looked to be on the verge of tears.

“I promise you,” Danielle assured her, passing her a tissue across her desk, “that once you tell me, you’ll feel a lot better.”

Natalie nodded. “I’m a duckling,” she announced, “last night, we had another initiation ceremony.”

Danielle was horrified. She knew all about the proud history of the Swan Society at Seddon. A former student had even written a book about it, a copy of which now sat, prominently displayed, in the school library.

When she first arrived, Danielle had flicked through the book, but did not read it in any great detail. It mentioned initiation, and the importance of weeding out those unfit to carry on the tradition. But when it came to the ceremonies, the book did not mention anything like this.

“Wait a second,” she said, “are you telling me that part of last night’s initiation included you receiving those marks on your behind?”

Natalie nodded.

“And was it just you on the receiving end?”

“Oh no,” replied the girl, matter-of-factly. “We all had to take it.”

Danielle could feel her stomach churn. She had heard stories from some of her lecturers at university of some of the antics that had taken place at private schools. But they had been stories from the past, when beating children was virtually part of the curriculum.

Society had progressed since then. Or so she had thought.

How could an upstanding academic institution such as Seddon still allow these antiquated rituals to take place?

Danielle tried to calm down. She did not want to stress Natalie out any more by showing how disgusted she was by the girl’s account.

“And would I be right in presuming that it was one of the swans who inflicted this punishment on you all?”

Natalie nodded again. “Yes, they all took it in turns, but it could have been worse.”

“Worse!” Danielle could not believe her ears. “How could it possibly have been worse? Your bottom is red raw.”

Natalie looked behind her as if to ensure that the door was still closed, and no one was within earshot. “They only used a wooden ruler, Miss. We have heard that they also have a riding crop, and a cat o’ nine tails, so at least we didn’t get those.”

Danielle shook her head. She could not believe her ears. It was almost as if Natalie was making excuses for her abusers.

The members of the Swan Society were no secret at Seddon. Danielle knew that head girl Cynthia Rollings ran the show, and she could just imagine the cocky privileged little madam taking great pleasure in deciding what torture could be inflicted on her underlings.

The situation was delicate.

Under normal circumstances, notwithstanding the promise she had made to Natalie, Danielle would have had no qualms in reporting this outlandish behaviour to the head.

But she knew from past experience that Seddon marched to the beat of an altogether different drum from those considered appropriate by modern education standards.

Danielle had witnessed a pupil being berated in front of the rest of her class for receiving a poor mark in a test. The teacher had actually reduced the poor child to tears, but still did not let up.

Later, Danielle had spoken to the teacher in private to inform her that she did not approve of her methods.

To her astonishment, the next thing she knew, Danielle was summoned before the headmistress and she was berated in her turn for interfering in matters that did not concern her.

When she ventured that the welfare of the pupils at Seddon was her concern, she was reminded that she had been accepted into the academy on only a temporary contract. And if she wished to have it renewed at the end of the year, she needed to learn to adjust to the Seddon method of instilling discipline and character into their students.

Danielle leaned forward on her desk. “Natalie, if I ask you a question, will you be honest with me?”

Natalie looked up, shocked. “Of course, Miss.”

“Do you even want to be part of this ‘Swan’ ritual, or whatever it is? Wouldn’t you rather just be able to concentrate on your studies and leave all that to someone else?”

The girl looked horrified. “Oh, Miss, you can’t be serious. Once you’ve been nominated as a duckling, you have no choice but to comply. It’s considered a great honour to be chosen, and if you fail to make the grade, you’re an ugly duckling for the whole of the upper sixth.”

ugly“Would that really be so terrible?”

Danielle knew the answer from the expression on the girl’s face.

“All right, fine,” she accepted finally. “I can tell you’re adamant about becoming a Swan. But I hope you know that you can come and see me any time, in confidence, if you change your mind.”

She placed special emphasis on the word confidence just to make sure the point made its way across.