Holiday at Harrowcroft

Chapter One Beware of Friends Bearing Promises What am I doing here? I must be nuts! I wished I could see the faces of the other women in the soft overhead light of the windowless private jet. I guessed their faces had the same expression as mine; curiosity, excitement, and more than a little anxiety. The almost invisible hairs on my arms prickled into erection each time I smelled the cologne of a male flight attendant striding past my seat. We had been blindfolded when they took us to the private airfield in the disguised cargo truck fitted with seats, and they warned us to keep them on when we arrived at the airport, while some men escorted us into the jet plane. Later, when we got off at our destination, we would see there were no windows, and it was painted to represent a cargo plane. No one in the mundane world would know where we had been taken, and what would be done to us. I heard the plane’s door shut and the hiss of the pressurizing seal. I heard a man’s voice, then felt his hands gripping my arms. He strapped my elbows and wrists down against the armrests. From the other girls’ surprised and anxious voices, I guessed he was doing the same to them. Then we heard a stewardess’ sweet, lush voice. “You have to keep your blindfolds on. For the sake of your reputations, none of you must recognize each other. When you speak to the other passengers, remember to use your pseudo names we assigned to you during your successful interview. No one here is to reveal their true identity or address. If you try to discover anyone’s name or address, we will return you on the next flight, and you forfeit all future opportunities to participate in Harrowcroft sessions.” I whispered in my favorite friend’s ear. “Why does everyone refer to our vacation as ‘sessions’?” She responded in a sly whisper, “Don’t you just love surprises that shock you and take your breath away?” The seats were comfortable, the ride was smooth and felt safe, even with my arms strapped down to the armrests. The droning whisper of the powerful engines was reassuring and I soon fell asleep. Up forward, on the other side of the locked cockpit door the pilot and copilot were whisking us up over the ocean at more than 600 miles per hour. Flying on this magic carpet away from our dull, apathetic reality into a land of incredible fantasy. Laura, my best friend, dozed next to me. She was the one who talked me into signing up for this adventure. It wasn’t easy to persuade me. It sounded so crazy and scary; signing away all our freedoms and legal rights to spend three months behind the sixteen feet-high concrete walls capped with razor wire on the twenty-four thousand acre island not shown on any map. A twenty-miles-square realm of unbelievable wonders, unknown to the world and hidden from all but those lucky enough to be allowed inside. For weeks Laura had chattered on, ecstatic about how all her most wild and impossible dreams became her real life there. When I pressed her for details, she became vague and evasive, telling me only that if I were really interested, I had to find out for myself. After three months of her repeated pleading for me to come with her, I finally consented. It wasn’t just because she had convinced me, though. Tom, my fiancé, had left a note on the pillow. When I woke that morning, he was gone. “Dear Vallerie, I have found a younger girl I love more than you…” that’s as far as I could read. The tears and anger blotted out the rest. I tore the paper into a hundred bits while I wept. Then the doorbell buzzed. It was Laura. She comforted me, and when we were drinking our coffee, she renewed her campaign to convince me. “The place is full of handsome men. Really, Val, we are always the center of their attention, and they spend all their waking hours seeking our companionship. No other women are available to them...we are the only female partners available to them, and they absolutely love having us in their...um-m-m...chambers. Every time I vacation there they chase me day and night to seize me and make me feel so beautiful and desirable. I’ve never felt so physically and sexually hunted as I do while I am confined there.” I twisted my tear-soaked handkerchief in my fingers. “But it seems so...unreal.” Laura leaned forward, placing both her hands on top of mine and squeezed. “That’s what makes it such a wonderful place. You’ll never experience such stunning and unanticipated kinds of scandalous encounters anywhere else in the whole world. But it is real, and what’s done to us there is real,” she said with a husky earnestness in her throat. “and the men are so masculine, controlling and magnificent.” A dreamy haze drifted in her eyes, “It’s so real and...well...very peculiar and ominous domain, that it makes this world seem like...” she swept her hand toward the city skyline outside my tiny apartment’s window, “...only a coward’s mirage.” “Peculiar and ominous? That frightens me. How could anyone...” She slid off her chair, kneeling in front of me, hugging me while I burst out in renewed tears. “Come with me, Val. A few of my friends and I are scheduled to leave Friday night. Become one of us, and you will escape from broken hearts for a lifetime. I’ll arrange for the tickets and your interview.” “Interview?” “Yes. Harrowcroft is not one of those boring, stuffy resorts where you are forced to rub elbows with fat, surly tourists in ridiculous clothes. It’s so...exciting and unusual! It’s so much more than a mere vacation. It’s a whole new life for you. Oh, do come with me! I’ll call them right now, and arrange for your interview.” She sprang to her feet and snatched up my phone. “Interview? Why must they interview me?” “It’s very exclusive,” she answered with a strange grin. “They are extremely picky about who gets inside their high stone walls. They want to be sure you’re the kind of woman that will enjoy being in restrain...Oh, hello,” she said into the phone. “I’m Laura Chantel. I’m registered for next session at Harrowcroft beginning this Friday evening. I’d like to recommend a friend of mine as a novice captive.” She winked at my astonished reaction to her words. “It’s only an expression,” she whispered to me. “Just a silly way of designating women visitors.” She turned back to the phone. “Yes... Of course. I’ve known her for seven years...Yes, she’s perfectly healthy and free of disease...” “Free of disease! Of course I am! What does that have to do with taking a vacation?” “Sh-h-h-h! We will be leaving the country, and there are regulations!” She turned back to the phone, “...Yes, I can vouch for her assent to the rules, and her guarantee of sworn secrecy about Harrowcroft...No, I haven’t said anything about all that. I know how much fun it is when a new woman doesn’t know about...” “About what?” I interrupted. She turned to me and whispered. “You’ll see,” she said with a girlish giggle. “What is...” She was back to the phone now, waving the palm of her hand at me not to interrupt again. “I know she will...She’s in a perfect mood for her first time...Her fiancée just dumped her for a teenager. She will be thrilled with the attentions of handsome young men no matter what they...Yes, I’m sure she will eventually adjust without any trauma...Good, I’ll have her there.” Laura hung up the phone and turned to me with the biggest, sweetest smile I ever saw. “It’s all arranged!” She grabbed me, yanking me out of my chair and dancing me around the room. “They will interview you tomorrow. I’ll drive you there myself.” “But will they want me?” “Want you,” she said with a sudden, strange laugh, “my dear, you won’t be able to get away from them!” She collapsed into her chair, weak with laughter. I had never seen her act this zany. “And,” she said with a wicked wink, “the place is just crawling with gorgeous men; athletic hunks just dying to spend time amusing themselves playing such thrilling games with women like us.” “Games? What sort of...” She grabbed my hands again and squeezed so hard it brought more tears to my eyes. “Oh, Laura, we are going to share such a wild, fantastic and tempestuous adventure together! I promise you, dear, when we finish our three month adventure being served up to those wonderful men, you will never be the same again!” She wasn’t lying. Laura drove me to a luxury high-rise secluded behind a guarded, security gate. We rode the elevator to the top floor and were ushered into a huge office. A kindly, gray-haired man in a dark blue suit shook our hands and we sat down. “Glad to see you again, Ms. Chantel. I see we have you scheduled for a flight to Harrowcroft, seven o’clock, Friday morning, April seventh, and returning Saturday evening, July eighth: the usual minimum of three months. You should arrive there in time to dress for the traditional welcoming dinner Friday evening.” “Yes, Mr. Anteros. And it will be so much more fun having my friend there with me.” “Well, then, Miss Vallerie Stockard, is it?” “Yes. But Laura hasn’t told me what to expect, other than a fantastic experience. I was hoping you would...” He smiled and shook his head. “I’m sorry Miss. Our organization wants to avoid any tabloid sensationalism and the gossip of the gutter press. We can only guarantee your health and safety, and return you home at the end of your...stay.” “What about accidents? What do you...” “Miss Stockard, everything that will happen to you in Harrowcroft is no accident. Your...entertainment—is well planned and flawlessly consummated.” He stood up and gestured to a door on our left. “If you will just step into the next room, you will find all the forms on a table. Your friend, Miss Chantel, may go with you and help you with some of the more...unusual...questions. My secretary will interview you when you have finished, and review your answers.” The interview was strange, but not as frightening as I had imagined. The woman in the black dress behind the desk stared at my body as I answered the questions on the form. She kept stroking her long, black pen against her breasts as I wrote. It was mostly filling out a ten-page psychological profile. Such strange questions! Laura stood next to my chair, helping me with the harder questions. “How can I tell them about my...my intimate experiences?” I said. “It’s so embarrassing to admit what I like a man to do.” “Oh, go ahead, Val, write it down. No one outside of Harrowcroft will ever see your answers. They just want to be sure you’re the right kind of girl for their kind of fun.” I stared up at her face, puzzled by her expression. “Right kind of girl? What kind of fun?” After the interview the secretary asked Laura to go wait in the lobby. She requested I lie down on the soft leather couch and relax. “Our doctor is going to hypnotize you briefly, Miss Stockard. Everything you may reveal will be kept in the strictest confidence. You need not fear any embarrassing revelations. Our services are strictly confidential, and can only function with mutual trust.” “But why,” I asked. “What’s so important about this vacation that you have to hypnotize me?” “Some ladies lie to us, Miss Stockard. The most serious problem we have encountered is underage girls lying about their age. Others lie about their personal life; what they are willing to...perform in fulfilling their...uh...fantasies. That becomes a serious problem for us when their sessions begin in Harrowcroft.” There was that peculiar word, again, ‘sessions’. What can that possibly imply about my vacation? I vaguely remember her voice droning in a monotonous, soothing, far-away singsong. Then I dreamed of when I was an adolescent awakening to puberty. I was standing naked in front of my bedroom mirror, staring at my body’s reflection. I was fondling my n*****s and stroking my peach-fuzzed lips. Then mother came in the room and started screaming at me. She struck me. Then all I could remember was lying in my bed in the dark, crying into my pillow, not allowed to eat any supper. Then the boy’s face swam into my mind. Parked on a lonely spot watching the waves roll in under the moonlight. He was touching me there, whispering wonderful words in my ear, caressing my earlobe with his warm tongue. Then the police were looking at us, shining their flashlights on my naked thighs. They took me home and told my mother. She was furious with me. Father only laughed and said, “It’s just Mother Nature helping them find happiness.” Mother sent me away to a girl’s school and when I was eighteen, I ran away to the big city. I got a job and met Laura, who became my best friend. I began telling her about my new boyfriend, Tom, who moved in with me. Well, you know what happens when a girl crawls into bed with a naked boy...