The Deep Freeze - A Nat and Alyssa Story Part Four

[naughtylilgirl09]

The Deep Freeze – A Nat and Alyssa Story
Part Four

Alyssa felt him lean down, and knew what was going to happen, before he quietly, told her to ‘grab hold’. The way he had leaned down, the way his body moved, it was the type of movement that always preceded a certain action. It made it so that a person could sense what the next motions, or at least she could. Nat was going to pick her up, so she, instinctively, put her arms around his neck. One second later, when he lifted her up in the air, Alyssa automatically circled her legs around his waist. She was still crying, and kept her head buried in, well, at the current moment, his shoulder.

He had one arm protectively holding her, to him; with the stinging pain on her bottom, that arm, somehow, made her feel, a bit better. Even without looking up, she could sense that he had picked something up, with his other arm. She didn’t care enough, to look what it was, at the moment. Right then, being in the safe and caring bubble, that she had, whenever she was in Nat’s arms, was all that mattered. Since, she knew, it would only last a few moments, she wasn’t about to look up, and ruin the precious time she had. She felt him move, walking somewhere, though it wasn’t a long distance.

Alyssa heard another noise, and had a feeling, she knew what it was, that he had picked up, and now set down. It was the chair that, just a few minutes ago, she was bending over. The wooden chair, from the kitchen table, that she had moved to the center of the room, for her punishment. A very hard, unforgiving wood chair that she was going to be made to sit on. At least, it wasn’t the one with wooden slats, she thought to herself. But still, hard wooden seat, all the same.

Refusing to look at it, until she absolutely had to, until she was forced to sit down on it, Alyssa kept her face pressed into Nat’s shoulder. She was attempting to soak in as much of that safe and caring feeling, as possible, while also, trying to psych herself up, for sitting down on that blasted chair. Her thought process was interrupted, when he said quietly, “time for you to get some actual nutrition, little girl.”

Little girl? When did he start calling her little girl? Alyssa thought, to herself. She had half a second to contemplate that one, before Nat lifted her from his arms, and set her down on the chair. While, he didn’t drop her from a two feet height, letting her land with excruciating pain, he also didn’t take the time to gently lower her down, either. Her bottom was an inch, or two, away from the unforgiving surface, when he let her plop down onto it.

Alyssa wasn’t sure what her face looked like, but she was fairly sure, it communicated the amount of pain she felt. She worked overtime to control her reflex reaction, which was to jump up, immediately. Nat had already taken a seat, and was watching her every move.

Instead, Alyssa closed her eyes, attempting to force, any tears that were threatening to fall, to go away. She counted to ten, took a deep breath, and reminded herself, that she didn’t believe in the ‘count-to-ten-deep-breathing-crap’ that therapists came up with. Annoyed with herself, at that moment, she pursed her lips, determined she was not going to give herself a headache. Her eyes flew open, her psyche ready to do battle, and she stared right into…Nat’s regular, unreadable face.

Oh yeah, she was annoyed with herself. Amazing, how that was difficult to remember, sometimes. Herself, she was annoyed with herself. She felt the tenseness, that had developed in her jaw, go slack, and the determined frown on her face, soften, as she blinked a few times. How on earth did he manage to keep that same, look on his face, at all times? It really was an amazing talent, Alyssa thought to herself. She could maintain a poker face, along with the best of them. More than that, she enjoyed a challenge, was more competitive than the average person, and would work at anything until she beat it. But, she was more than certain, that she wouldn’t ever want to join a table, where Nat was playing.

Picking up the fork that he had set out for her, she sliced off a piece of the omelet, speared it, and slowly brought it to her lips. But didn’t eat it. She paused, moved the small triangle of food back a few inches, and glared at it for a moment. He wasn’t trying to kill her, she was past those theories, so there was no need, to worry, about poison. But, she’d never actually eaten anything besides soup, sandwiches, and pasta in this house. While this omelet looked really good, and smelled amazing, Alyssa was highly suspicious of it. ‘Actual nutrition’, that was what he had said.

With the fork still in the air, she glanced over at Nat. He was just there. Sitting in the chair, observing everything she did, the same look on his face. ‘What the hell?’ Alyssa thought to herself, with a mental shrug of the shoulders. As long as it didn’t kill her, it couldn’t be that bad. Plus, she knew Nat wasn’t going to kill her, and chop her body up, into tiny pieces, and put them down the garbage disposal….Note to self, she thought, stop watching true crime shows, when you can’t sleep.

Popping the piece of breakfast food in her mouth, she was pleasantly surprised, that it was even more delicious, than she had anticipated. Alyssa hadn’t realized how hungry she was, until she began eating. Within five minutes she polished off the entire omelet. Nutrition wasn’t that gross for once, she thought to herself.

“I see you were hungry,” Nat interrupted her thoughts, as he typically did. Her brain was always moving.

Alyssa folded her hands in her lap, mentally crossing her fingers that he wasn’t going to make her start the first half hour over again. “Yes, sir,” she said, looking down at the plate.

“And how is your thought process going?” he asked. His voice always sounded so loud, yet Alyssa was well aware, that he was speaking at his normal volume. “Would you say that the time has been productive?”

That is such a loaded question, Alyssa thought to herself. She decided to look up at him, this time. “I,” she paused, to mentally gather courage. Not that she was scared stiff, when it came to Nat, though, there had been moments. More that, she knew in these types of situations, he wanted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. She didn’t have one. “I,” she began, again, “think that the answer to your question, depends on how I interpret, what you are asking.”

She paused for a moment, waiting for him to cut her off, yell at her, for something. But he didn’t. He was so Nat, he even knew why she had paused. When she looked at him, he made a rolling gesture with two fingers, signaling to keep going.

Nat was waiting to see if she would keep talking on her own, or if she needed the reassurance. He’d been surprised, happily surprised, when she began to answer his question, with more than a single word. After the first sentence, typical of Alyssa, she’d stopped, and waited. Waited for any of the horrible things, that had been previously done to her, to happen. Perhaps, waiting for him to interrupt her, and lecture. That was something, he had done previously, something he was going to work on, Nat realized. Alyssa wouldn’t be able to shake this fear, or be able to get through more than one sentence, without pausing in fear of retaliation, if he was also one of the people that interrupted her.

When he sensed that she wasn’t going to be able to continue, without some positive message, he gave a small smile, and motioned with his hand to continue.

Upon seeing that small gesture, her eyes lit up, making Nat’s heart ache. He wished he could find the people that had made her so afraid, and, well, he wished he could make it better for her, in a much easier way, than this.

“You asked, if I thought the time had been productive,” Alyssa continued, her voice was very small. Just that one attribute alone, told him that he was seeing the vulnerable side of her. Alyssa was confident, strong willed, strong voiced, determined, stubborn. This small girl in front of him, no one would believe they were the same person.

“If you mean productive overall, then the answer would be ‘yes’.” She continued. “Because, I have been able to think through a lot of things, and that has been helpful. But, if you mean productive, like, in deciding how I should be punished, the answer is ‘no’. Because, I hadn’t gotten to that yet. Sir.”

The absolute second she finished speaking, Nat noticed, she went back to looking down at her plate. He knew that she had added the ‘sir’ for good measure. He also knew that a lot was riding on how he responded, to this one situation. “Thank you for giving me an honest answer, Lyssa,” he said to her. At the use of ‘Lyssa’, her head popped up again. He gave her a smile, in an attempt, to let her know, that, what she had done, was all right. While he couldn’t be certain, he thought that he saw a shadow of a smile on her face.

Reaching over, he took hold of her hand, and gave it a friendly squeeze. Continuing to hold her small hand, he continued, “Now, I believe I told you, that if that pencil dropped, you were going to start from the beginning, and repeat the entire thing tomorrow.” He saw Alyssa nod.

While part of him wanted to say ‘forget it, you’ve been punished enough, just for everything you took yesterday’, he couldn’t do it. The one thing he learned about Alyssa, in the first five minutes he met her, was that if you wavered on something, even once, even if it was just a small, tiny bit, she’d walk all over you.

“I’m going to give you a choice,” Nat said to her, watching her eyes. They were still lit up, and happy, from when he had reassured her enough to continue speaking. But, he could see the small glint of mischief, beginning to appear. She thought he was going to waver, ‘poor kid,’ he thought, to himself.

“There was ten minutes left, I believe, before your first time out, was over. The second one, originally planned for after you devoured the omelet, was going to be thirty minutes, as well.”

Nat watched the small smile, which didn’t give him pause. But when he glanced at her eyes, that’s when he knew, if he didn’t hold firm, there would be trouble.

“So, you have two choices. The first choice, you will go into time out for forty minutes. That would be the remaining ten minutes from the first half hour along with the second half hour period.” Just at that, Nat saw the glint in her eyes shine brighter.

“Right before bed,” he continued, now very focused, on what her eyes were telling him, “you’ll be in time out, for the remaining twenty minutes. Since, I told you, that you would start from the beginning, do thirty minutes from the beginning, I’m giving you the option, to break up the time. The other option, is to spend a full hour, in time out. And, of course, there will be a repeat tomorrow, as you were warned.”

Any sign of mischief was gone, he had seen a flash of anger, or perhaps annoyance. But it had been just that, a flash. Then it was gone, along with the happiness, as it was obvious, Alyssa, did not like either of the options. He gave her a moment to think.

“I’ll do the entire thing now,” she said, once again, looking at the plate.

“All right,” Nat stood up, “let’s get you situated.”

She followed close behind him, he noted. He could tell, she was trying her best, to behave. He moved her into the corner, had her feet against the adjacent walls, and arms behind her back. He was just about to bend her forward, when she turned her head to look up at him, and said, “Hey, um, Nat, uh, sir?”

“Yes?” He was surprised, that she even spoke, at this point. She had been very subdued.

“Thanks for the omelet,” she said to him, maintain a serious frown the entire time, “it was really good. And, I mean, if you want me to eat actual food for breakfast, I’d eat one of those.” Once she had finished speaking, she closed her lips, and turned back to staring straight in front of her, looking like she was ready to salute whoever walked past. That small interruption, made Nat want to laugh. Not what she had said, just the way it had taken place.

Clearing his throat, attempting to get his mindset, where it should be, he replied, “thank you, Alyssa, we will discuss that later. Now,” he had placed the point of the pencil where it had previously been, “you know how this works.” He waited to let go, until he was sure, that she had a good hold, on the pencil.

Stepping back a foot, he said, attempting to keep his voice serious, “in 30 minutes, you’ll get a break, Alyssa. As I said before, you will concentrate and take this seriously. Similar to the first time, if that pencil drops your bottom can expect the same penalty of ten very hard, stinging swats with my belt. However, we will not be starting over. I’ll be adding on to the length of time in the corner for tonight, and depending on your behavior, tomorrow.” Without a word, he turned, and walked into the living room. Only to retrieve a few magazines. One thing Alyssa had come to expect, during her time spent in the corner, is that he’d be right there, making sure she behaved. He wasn’t about to change that tonight.

At the half hour mark, Nat was just about to put down the magazine, and go retrieve her from the corner, when the unthinkable happened. The pencil went crashing to the floor. Alyssa turned and looked at him, with a terrified look on her face. “Pick it up and bring in here,” Nat said, with a small sigh. Another thirty seconds, he thought to himself. Another thirty seconds, and he would have been tapping her shoulder, and letting her know that the thirty minutes were up, and she could take a small break.

He watched as Alyssa picked up the pencil, and held it as far out in front of her as possible, like it was a snake that might bite her. Walking over, she placed it on the table. Nat could see her ready to pick up the chair, and take it to the middle of the room. Standing up, he sighed again. He really had hoped they would get through this, without incident.

“Go stand in the center of the room,” he ordered, quietly. He saw her look at him, confusion evident, but she did as he told her too.

Taking a few steps towards her, Nat instructed, “panties down to your knees.” She did so, slowly, indicating her unhappiness. That was another thing they’d speak about. He didn’t care if she liked what he told her to do, or not, he still expected her to do it.

Taking off his belt, and doubling it up, Nat told her, “bend over, and touch your toes, Alyssa.”

Again she did so, slowly, displaying her displeasure, and unhappiness with his order.

Reaching over, Nat flipped the tail end of her shirt up onto her back. “Take hold of your ankles, and do not let go,” he told her.

She grabbed them tightly.

“Alyssa, remind me, how many did I say I’d give you?” Nat asked.

He could practically hear her grit her teeth, with impatience. “Ten, sir,” she replied.

“Ah, yes, that’s right,” Nat replied. “Ten it is. Before we start, though, I thought you’d like to know, what a terrific job you have done, of communicating to me your unhappiness with the situation.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Alyssa started to say.

“Oh, I believe you do,” Nat replied, “and we’ll be discussing it further, tomorrow, or the next day. We’ve enough to talk about tonight. For now, I’ll just say, that when I tell you to do something, you do it. If you don’t like it, or unhappy about it, we can talk about it, at an appropriate time. But you do not, show attitude, by purposely moving, as slow, as you, possibly, can.”

He saw her right leg shake, just a tad, and paused, “something you want to add?”

“No, sir,” he heard her say, quietly, “just, I’m sorry.”

“We’ll discuss the issue at another time, Alyssa,” he replied. “Ten strokes are due, along with an additional 15 minutes of corner time. Ten, Alyssa, count them.”

Raising his arm up, Nat swung the belt down, hitting the center part of her bottom. She cried out, but did not stand up. After a moment, she said, “one, sir.”

While Nat had told her that he was done discussing the issue, of purposely moving as slow as possible, to show one’s unhappiness, it didn’t mean he was through, imparting the lesson. He could see Alyssa trying to brace herself, for the next stroke, attempting to figure out when the next bite from the leather belt, would come.

Nat had pulled out his phone, sent a text, checked another set of messages, and played a one minute game of BubbleBreaker. Placing the phone back in his pocket, he, again, raised his arm, and brought the belt flying down. It elicited another cry of pain, and a few seconds later, Alyssa gave the count of two. The entire process, took close to twenty, or twenty five minutes. The important part, though, was that Alyssa got a clear understanding, of the significance and importance, of the issue, giving her a very good idea, of how serious the actual discussion would be.

Once all ten strokes had fallen on her bottom, Nat allowed her to stand. Despite his unhappiness with her stalling behavior, he pulled her in for a hug, giving her a kiss on top of her head, before sending her back to stand in the awkward position in the corner. Once he was sure that she had a hold on the pencil, he quietly said, “fifteen minutes,” before walking away. Instead of going back to the table to continue reading, he walked a few steps further, over to the stove to make himself a cup of tea. Chamomile. He needed something to help relax, and alcohol just did not seem appropriate at the moment.