Chapter 29

It was another glorious Sunday morning as Teresa and Jenny walked along the beach at Rosevale-on-Sea. The sun was shining, the waves were gentle, and the locals were out enjoying the day. But for Teresa and Jenny, the beauty of the place only deepened their sense of loss. They didn’t know what they might find, but they wandered along the roads and beaches, searching for any clue that could explain why Sophie had been here and what might have happened to her.

They gave one brief interview to a local reporter, but the rest of the time they spent alone, just the two of them, sharing the silence that had settled between them since Sophie’s disappearance. As they walked past the happy families laughing in the surf and couples strolling through the picturesque village, they felt the weight of their own grief pressing down on them.

“Oh, Jenny,” Teresa said, her voice cracking. “I’m so sorry. This is such a beautiful place. At least Sophie got to see it.”

“Don’t give up, Mum,” Jenny replied, her words filled with both determination and sorrow. “There’s got to be a reason she was here. I just wish I could’ve been there for her. Maybe things would be different.”

Mother and daughter held hands as they slowly made their way back to the station after another day of fruitless searching. The police divers continued their efforts, but after ten days, there was still no sign of Sophie. The hope that she might be found alive had faded, and even the grim possibility of recovering her body seemed unlikely now. The sea, vast and uncaring, had likely claimed her forever.

Teresa and Jenny knew that the search was nearing its end. They had come to Rosevale-on-Sea hoping for answers, but all they had found was more heartache. As they stood on the platform, waiting for the train that would take them back to a home that no longer felt whole, they clung to each other, the only source of comfort they had left.

A few hours away from Rosevale-on-Sea, Edward Pembroke wheeled his mother out of church, engaging in light-hearted conversation with the other churchgoers. As they exited, Mabel—the vibrant young woman he had chatted with last week—greeted him with a bright smile. She wore a denim skirt and a T-shirt, which highlighted her long, athletic legs and trim figure.

As he smiled back at Mabel, his thoughts drifted to Sophie. Sophie had once been as joyful and full of life as Mabel, but that vitality was now gone. The past ten days had stripped her of the verve and shine she once exuded. The violence and uncertainty had left her face marred and her spirit vacant.

As he bathed in Mabel’s youthful happiness, he regretted that he would never experience it with Sophie, he could have her body but he could never resurrect the carefree spirit and joy that he found so attractive in young girls. ‘You can’t have everything’ he smiled sadly as he watched Mabel walk away, his eyes lingering dangerously long on her ass.

The rest of Sunday was spent in the basement. Sophie was called to try out the saw horse. She felt so exposed, even while still in her cheerleader outfit, as she was bent over the horse, her rump in the air, as she was strapped in. She wriggled her wrists and ankles but could barely move.

“Impressive craftsmanship,” Pembroke noted with a clinical edge, his fingers tracing the cold steel and varnished wood of the contraption. Then, without missing a beat, his touch slid over her skin with the same detached interest. To him, it seemed, there was no difference between a lifeless structure and the living, breathing person bound to it.

He played idly with the folds of her skirt, which in her bent over position, barely covered her cheeks. “I think next time, there will be less covering here” he chuckled.

He moved on to bring down an Ikea bed, and assembled it in front of Sophie while she went through exercises and poses. Sophie was sweating not just from exertion, why was a bed being built? It felt like the countdown to the inevitable.

The bed took a lot quicker and Pembroke tested how easily it could be folded before bringing down a mattress. Sophie was by now in the naru position, watching.

“Good, it’s starting to be more homely in here, isn’t it!”

Pembroke was sweating and Sophie was repulsed by his smell as he wordlessly brought her into the cell. “Now, I enjoyed her kisses yesterday. It felt amazing! But I do want you to be a bit fresher, so I have this for you.”

He pulled out a simple plastic toothbrush and toothpaste. He had arranged it with avoiding self-harm in mind. “Now, let me show you how to use it.”

“Sir, I know how to...”

“Don’t answer back, Sophie. Do as I say, ALWAYS!”

Sophie remained silent as he led her to the sink, slipping one hand around her waist while the other picked up the toothbrush in front of her. “Open wide,” he said, and she complied, letting him brush her teeth like a child being tended by her father. “Stick your tongue out,” he instructed, and she obeyed, feeling the brush’s bristles against her tongue.The sense of submission felt humiliating but strangely comforting given how gentle he was.

“Now turn around.” Sophie turned around and faced his chest, not daring to look up.

“Let’s taste you now.” He gently tipped her head up and kissed her, long and passionately, his tongue passing around her mouth and tracing each tooth.

Sophie tried to breathe through her mouth to avoid the pungent scent of sweat from Pembroke, but now she was breathing right from his own throat. As his tongue found its way down almost to her windpipe, she dared to try and push back, but he only pulled her tighter.

Finally, he relented. “Gosh, Sophie I will never get bored of this!”

He locked her in the cell gathered up the tools and cleaned off the sawdust and other rubbish from his projects.

“OK Sophie, now I will get you to clean down here, here you go, and this time you can go behind the curtain and lean there too! Don’t be too nosy though I will be watching!”

Pembroke kept a lazy on her cleaning downstairs while checking in on his mother. He came back down and was pleased that it smelled nice. “Good, now Sophie may I ask, is your period over?”

Sophie’s face burned. Not only was this a humiliating question to answer, she knew there was a good chance her period was the only thing stopping him from raping her yet. “I ... I think it’s gone...”

“Excellent! Well, let’s change your clothes shall we, that cheerleader outfit is cute but must be smelling by now.”

Pembroke came over with a towel and two pieces of clothing. He pointed to Sophie to usher her into her cell. “Strip.” Sophie was little surprised by the direct command, and undressed, and handed her clothes through the little space for him. “Now, you will note the clothes here are a little ... more daring ... a little smaller.”

Pembroke had given her a red thong and bra. It was her skimpiest clothes yet. She was currently naked but wrapped in the towel. They were still playing a game where she would be naked in front of him and have to change, but there was still a pretense of modesty, and wearing a tiny thong in front of him, especially when doing the positions or being on top of the saw horse, would expose her so much more than in her previous knickers.

“Oh and there is something else. In addition to brushing your teeth, you will need this too.”

He passed her a small safety razor. Sophie swallowed, if he had insisted on brushing her teeth for her, what was he going to do now...

“Now, I am sure you know how to use this, and where to use it. I love your hair color Sophie, but it’s for your head, not between your legs. Do I have to do what I did with the toothbrush or can I trust you to remove that thatch yourself?”

She squirmed and nodded, then accepted the razor “Good, now I am so happy you are not a hairy girl, but from now on, you must keep it that way. I am going to make a brief inspection of you afterward. I expect you to be as smooth as a baby everywhere from the neck down, understand?”

He went to his laptop and opened up a video that played on the screen. Sophie averted her eyes, it was extremely explicit, it was of a young woman shaving herself, showing her using the razor everywhere, on top of her pubis, along her lips, and reaching lying on her back, spreading her legs, and pulling her legs up so that she was as exposed as for a gynecologist exam, then shaving all around her anus and vagina.

Sophie had only ever watched such close-ups before when she had been paranoid about her own lady bits and wanted to compare them. The explicit genitalia made her blanche.

“Now Sophie, don’t be squeamish. I want you clean and smooth just like in the video. I will be down soon, so get to it!”

The warm water coursed around Sophie as she looked at her red pubic hair as it got wet. She had done this before, she used the razor, each stroke removing a line of ginger hair. She felt oddly vulnerable as she carefully slid the blade across the skin surrounding her intimate folds, exposing the smooth, bald surface beneath.

As she finished, she ran her hand over the freshly shaved area, checking for any missed spots. The smoothness was satisfying, but it also felt like a layer of protection had been stripped away. A slight blush crept across her cheeks, a mix of embarrassment and relief.

Now she moved to the more difficult part. She got on all fours, and ran her finger over her asshole and the surrounding area. She could not feel much, but knew there might be hair there. She shaved down the sides of the steep valley between her cheeks, along her contours, cleaning the razor after every few swipes, and eventually satisfied herself she was as smooth there as an eel. Afterward, she dried herself off with a towel, then ran her hands gently over her body, checking for any stray hairs that might have been missed. She relied on the touch of her fingertips, and despite her circumstances, she was still too embarrassed to bend herself into position to look at her own genitalia, especially knowing that ‘he’ would be watching.

After finishing the rest of her body, she looked at the underwear. She ran the threadbare lingerie through her fingers, the thin string of the thong sliding through like a fine wire. The small triangle of fabric seemed ridiculously small, and she fiddled with it, wondering just how much it would cover. She recalled wearing her sister’s thong, and of course, how could she forget, those photos of her flaunting herself in that slutty way had helped put her in here.

Pembroke smiled at how awkward she seemed playing with the thong, running her fingers underneath it and letting it snap back into her flesh. He came back down.

“Now Sophie, let’s have a look at you. I just want to check you can do this yourself. Raise your arms!”

Sophie did so and he examined her underarms. “Good, not lie on the ground, legs facing me, and kick your legs up over your head.”

She complied, again steeling herself for whatever he would do next. He came into the cell, admiring the sinews of the backs of her thighs as they faced up at him. He reached down, and ran his finger under the thong, over her smooth mons, along her lips, and over the wrinkled star of her anus.

Sophie felt like time stood still as he touched her in the most intimate way possible. But he left her and stood up as soon as he had satisfied himself that she was hairless down there.

“Excellent. Good girl. Now I will let you enjoy your book now, in your sexy lingerie, and I will be back later and we will have some more fun tonight...”

Sophie watched him leave. She looked down at her new clothes, her bare cheeks were now fully meshed against the cushioned material of the bench. The tightness against her crotch stimulated her, and as she tried to read, she could not escape the overarching feeling of being a sex object.

Pembroke took another walk, breathing in the evening air. He bought some wine and strolled home wondering how to pass the night. His mind was distracted and then made up by the sight of a group of women walking out of a pub, tottering in their heels after having an all-day Sunday brunch, no doubt.

He perved over their bare legs and cleavage, imagining what it would be like to take one of them home for sex. Memories of being rejected came back to him, and his mind then wandered to more indictive thoughts against women.

He had a full bottle of wine while eating with his mother and watching TV. Feeling tipsy, he made his way downstairs to Sophie with another bottle of wine.

“Hello Sophie, my, I thought you were naked for a moment! Less and less clothes, hehe” he sniggered in her direction.

He let her out of the cell, she did not know what to do so meekly walked out into the center of the basement and stood there.

“Now Sophie, I know all about you. I think you should know a little about me. Not the boring stuff, I mean the stuff I don’t tell anyone about. The stuff that would get me locked up if anyone found out about it haha.”

Sophie did not want to know but reasoned she should try and find any useful information to escape. The alcohol on his breath made her both weary and hopeful.

He opened his laptop and sat at the worktop behind the curtain, planting the bottle of wine beside him. He opened his laptop, and motioned for Sophie to sit on his lap.

Sophie nervously planted herself on his thigh, he was in his dressing gown again, and his thigh was bare. She felt his body heat and then his hand around her stomach.

“Quick rule for me now, I can touch you where there is bare skin, I won’t touch where you are protected by clothes, that’s fair right?” He giggled as he traced his fingers around the inside of her thighs along the edge of the fabric of her thong.

His hands felt like giant claws pawing at her roughly but he was as good as his word, so far. They strayed perilously close to her hidden regions but did not stray in. Even so, the touching did not stop, she tried to imagine anything other than this, could she mentally survive this with her imagination?

“Now Sophie, a rule for you too. You don’t touch my laptop, any button, unless I let you. If you try to, you’ll fail, and I will beat you, OK. I will beat you so hard, you will be begging to go into the sack.” He growled this into her ear. She believed him.

He reached over and took a swig from the new bottle of wine, he did not offer any to Sophie.

“Look at this website Sophie, this is the dark web. This is a place everyone is scared of, but I love it here, it’s my home!”