The Grave Misfortune of Sybil

[FieryJack]

Hi, this is an intro to a story I am working on as a parody of Gothic literature. Hopefully you will enjoy it.
Contains some non-consensual themes, but nothing explicit in this part.
I own the copyright to this. Thieves will be dealt with severely.
-Jack

The Grave Misfortune of Sybil

1.

Sybil felt a cold lump grow at the pit of her stomach as the car turned into the driveway of Blackwood Manor. With the Victorian turrets of her uncle-in-law’s mansion looming ominously overhead, she reflected on the events that had conspired to predict her fate.

A series of grave misfortunes had befallen the poor girl. Just shy of her eighteenth birthday, both her parents had died tragically in an accident. Their will left her a small inheritance originally intended for her college fund. Unfortunately, due to a disastrous investment, her father had died significantly in debt. Rather than saddle her with the tremendous burden of her father’s failing business, the court had consigned the inheritance to cover the debt. With no financial means of her own, Sybil was to be placed in the custody of her sole living relative who would see to her education at his own expense.

Her uncle-in-law James Blackwood was an independently wealthy man who had never been close to her family. In truth, the few times she had met him, he had frightened her with piercing eyes that seemed to stop her in her tracks. He would look her up and down gravely, as if expressing disapproval of her very existence.

She knew she should be grateful for his offer to pay for her education; but instead she resented it. She was practically an adult, and she had no desire to live under the roof of a man she barely knew. Let alone a man who would be essentially controlling her life for the next four years. Part of her thought she would be better off had she been forced to work off the debt at some low-level job in the city. At least then, she would be responsible for herself. Instead, she would be indebted to this strange man, and as a guest in his home, subject to his rules. The thought almost brought her to tears.

Little did she know what sorrows truly awaited her.

2.

Blackwood was not a typical man. He had developed very specific ideas about the place of women in his life and in his home. His financial gains had afforded him the opportunity to indulge in his beliefs, where others may have had to bend their attitudes to fit the social mores of the time.

His offer to provide for his niece-in-law was partially altruistic. He did feel a sense of responsibility to his extended family, and would never have allowed the girl to suffer the weight of her father’s poor business decisions.

Yet he had other motives as well. He had studied the girl, mostly from afar, as she blossomed into womanhood over the past few years. He noticed how despite her intelligence, her increasing self-absorption had made her clueless toward practical matters. Even worse, she had developed an insolent attitude that was almost in direct proportion to her emerging beauty.

Blackwood knew that this girl needed more than an education or a safe home to live in. She needed something her unfortunate parents had never been able to provide: discipline. This was Blackwood’s specialty.

Over the years, he had employed several private secretaries. He procured them from orphanages, brothels, or similar unfortunate circumstances, and saw to it that they received proper education and vocational training. Each had left with high recommendations and gone on to decent careers. Yet he had trained them in other ways as well.

Blackwood believed that physical discipline was a key factor to motivate young women. He also enjoyed it. His secretaries were prone to making mistakes and breaking simple rules; as a result, they grew accustomed to finding themselves over his lap with their skirts bunched up about their waists.

He spanked them often. Sometimes it was by hand, sometimes with a strap or belt. He never spanked them hard enough to leave serious bruises or welts – just hard enough that they would remember.

The punishments did not stop at spanking. He also felt that embarrassment was a key element to keeping attitudes in check. He would often force them to strip naked and remain posed, as if on display, as the rest of the house went about its business. Sometimes he would compound their embarrassment by having them remove only their skirts and panties, to accentuate their partial nudity.

Occasionally a more invasive punishment would be required. A girl found guilty of a particularly serious infraction often found herself bent over and secured against a table, bench, or even across his bed. In this position, her most intimate places were accessible to whatever unnatural intrusions he deemed appropriate.

It was in such moments that he would often imagine it was his insolent niece-in-law bent over before him. He would imagine her beautiful lips pouting in an unsuccessful attempt at defiance, chestnut hair flowing wantonly over tear-stained cheeks, eyes glowing spitefully as he bared her perfect bottom. Often he would forget his purpose, dropping whatever instrument he wielded, and savagely possess the hapless girl before him; slaking the lustful urges that dwelled in the darkest recess of his soul.

It was this thought that struck him now as he watched the driver help Sybil out of the car. She picked up her handbag and gazed up at the window. For a moment, their eyes met. She looked away from him, but his gaze remained fixed upon her as she approached the house where she would be living for the next four years.

She would not yield easily like the course, streetwise girls he typically housed. Even now, he could see how the defiant spirit radiated from her. She would fight him; there was no doubt about it - but it would be a useless battle. Soon she would come to realize that she was his. Her inquisitive mind would be his to mold, and her lithe body would be his to punish and possess.

3.

Sybil shuddered as she approached the house. He was there, watching her; she could feel it. What did this cruel man have in store for her? What would life be like now that she was alone, her parents gone forever?

Her feeling of helplessness was confusing, for down inside, she felt something else. Beneath her fear and anger, a part of her welcomed the chance to surrender and be cared for by this man. It was as if losing part of her free will was somehow…exciting.

As Sybil crossed the threshold into Blackwood Manor, she felt as if she was leaving part of herself behind. There was no turning back.

And there was no escape.