Chapter 16

Five Years Later

Tina pressed the intercom button on her phone. “Kathleen Sadler is here for her interview, sir.”

Kathleen took a deep breath as she heard the Dean’s voice say, “Thank you, Tina. Send her in, please.” All these years preparing, ran the thought through Kathleen’s mind. It all comes down to this. No!, another voice insisted. This is just a stepping stone. It’s all aimed at my hanging. She directed a smile at Tina, who smiled back and said, “You can go in.”

Kathleen pushed the door open and saw the Dean rise behind his desk, smiling, offering his hand. She vaguely felt she had met him before. She knew where and when it would have been, but couldn’t recall for certain. She sat in the chair in front of the desk, and said, as the Dean resumed his seat, “Did we meet before, Sir?”

The Dean smiled again. “Indeed we did, at your brother’s hanging.”

She had long since decided that honesty was her only option. “I really don’t remember much about that day, Sir, other than Grant’s hanging. I relive that every night before I go to sleep, but everything else from that day is kind of a blur.”

The Dean chuckled. “I’ve run into that phenomenon before. A lot of our students are here because a particular hanging served as their inspiration. Including Grant himself.”

Kathleen nodded. “Yes, Sir. That would be my Uncle Seymour. He died before I was born, except he lived on in Grant. My dad told me more about him after Grant’s hanging.”

The Dean nodded. “Now, I often start an interview by asking the prospective student why she wants to be at the Academy. I think we’ve covered that ground already...”

Thirty Minutes Later

The Dean sat once more. “Thank you, Kathleen. You can put your clothes back on now.”

“Yes, Sir.” She stood again and reached for her panties, still wet from the choking test the Dean had just given her. She was sure that the Dean had liked her body. She had always been self-confident about it, but there was still a certain tension in knowing she needed to impress this one person. She had spent years in an exercise program to make her body as beautiful and sexy as possible. That, she decided, had paid off.

Fully dressed once more, she resumed her seat, as the Dean asked, “Now, do you have any questions you wanted to ask me?”

She nodded. “I did have one, Sir. At a lot of colleges, they have a policy that students can test out of certain courses, and get credit for them, by proving they already know the material. Is it possible to do anything like that here?”

The Dean began his automatic answer, but stopped suddenly, He had an intense, almost dizzying feeling of deja vu. An instant later the memory returned, of Kathleen’s brother asking essentially the same question — not in the interview, but during the orientation session for new students. “They really are very much alike,” he thought.

Dean Porter looked at Kathleen thoughtfully. She’d had years of practice, and was obviously ready to be a NooseMeister in so many ways — he’d rarely seen so much arousal in a past choking test. But she was also a little aloof. Again, so much like her brother. Not yet ready to connect with a hanging audience. Of course, she didn’t have to be ready now.

The Dean quickly matched up the observation with another recollection, one that was never far from his mind during any interview. A memory of the very last thing Amy had requested of him, years ago:

“Sometime, you’ll get another applicant like Grant. Technically perfect, unlimited potential. You’ll feel positive you want them as a student. But sort of deficient in social skills, maybe. When that happens ... get them together with someone like me.”

Dean Porter pulled open a desk drawer, then realized he still hadn’t answered Kathleen. “Oh ... No, we don’t do anything like that. In any class where you’ve mastered the material, you will be expected to contribute to classroom discussions, to help other students understand the material. You will function as a sort-of junior teacher in those classes, although without a formal title. “ He located the file he’d been looking for and opened it. He tore a blank sheet off a small notepad and began copying some information from the file.

Disappointed, Kathleen responded, “Yes, Sir,” and watched him curiously. He seemed distracted. “Sir?”

The Dean finished writing and handed her the note. “This is another one of our applicants for the next entering class. I’d like you to contact him in the near future, meet with him, and get to know him.” He noticed her surprise, and smiled. “I think a mutual acquaintance would be valuable to both of you,” he reassured her. He chuckled again. “And don’t read an offer of admission into this. We still won’t decide on that for some time yet.”

Kathleen frowned as she looked over the note. A name, an address, a phone number. Maybe they always do this — match up students in pairs before admission? Maybe they do roommate choices this way? But what if one of us gets in and the other doesn’t? Is my admission contingent on contacting this boy? Does that make sense? It’s probably not a big deal. The Dean must see us as the two major incoming powers. He wants us to be friendly. That makes sense. “Yes, Sir.” She politely put the note in her pocket. I don’t need anybody else,. If the Dean wants me to meet him, I’ll do that, and see what I have to work against.

The Dean leaned forward and pushed a button on his phone. “Tina, send Runner in, please.” He stood and once more offered his hand to Kathleen. “Thank you, Kathleen. As you probably know, we’ll be sending out admission letters in mid-August.”

Kathleen stood and shook hands with him again, and nodded. “Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

The door opened, and a student entered, wearing a Second Year uniform.

Kathleen looked, and her eyes shot open wide. Not that she’d ever met this boy before. She was positive she would remember that, even if it had been at Grant’s hanging. Kathleen herself was accustomed to instantly attracting every eye in any room he entered. I’d have some pretty stiff competition, if this boy was there too. The brown, almost coppper-colored skin, the perfect face with large brown eyes, the blonde hair flowing like a flaxen waterfall. So exotic, so obviously from Somewhere Else. Kathleen hadn’t realized the scope of the Academy’s outreach program.

And that body...!

Kathleen caught herself wondering what it would be like to be in bed with this boy. Does he know sex tricks I’ve never heard of? Has he been teaching them to the other students? She felt the residual tingles from her choking test intensify.

Kathleen took a breath. I must get hold of myself. Fine, he’s a stunning, sexually magnetic boy. I’ve been able to hold my own in that department. And there’s no way he arrived here better than I am at hanging. Nobody is. I’ll beat anything he can do.

Her eyes fell on the boy’s metal collar. “Runner — Property of the Hanging Academy.” Okay, I did hear the name correctly.

The boy smiled and held out his hand. “I’m Runner. The Dean asked me to show you around, if you want.”

Kathleen shook hands with him, and gave him a small smile. Don’t act impressed. “Sure. I’m Kathleen Sadler.”

Runner’s grin spread wider. “I would have known that, even if the Dean hadn’t told me. You look so much like your brother.”

Kathleen blinked. “You couldn’t ... Oh, his head is here, isn’t it? You would have seen that.”

“Well, yes. But I feel like I know him better than from just seeing his head, and I can see a lot of him in you. Amy told me all about him. Even a little about you, too. I just couldn’t wait to meet you...”

It took Runner’s words a moment to register, before Kathleen sucked in a deep gasp. “You knew Amy?? Wait, there’s no way! She must have been hanged five years ago!”

Runner laughed. “I’ve been here awhile. It’s a long story. Do you want to see your brother?”

Kathleen blurted, “Sure!” Then forced herself to calm down. She worked to slow her breathing. Never let anybody think they have power over you. She cleared her throat, and said more softly, “I’d like that.”

Kathleen jumped slightly when the Dean spoke. She’d almost forgotten he was there. “Runner, here’s her file, if you want to take a look at it.” He handed Runner the folder he’d had in front of him through the interview — Kathleen’s folder, not the other one the Dean had drawn from a drawer near the end.

“Thank you, Sir.” Runner opened the folder, and his fingers flipped through the three pages in a few seconds. Kathleen frowned at the boy’s rudeness. If the Dean was going to let him see a file, the least he could do was actually read it. Especially if the subject of the file was standing in front of him.

Runner looked at the Dean. “Is that all, Sir?”

He nodded, and chuckled. “Don’t let her break anything.”

Runner gave him a mock-serious look. “I’ll cover the cost of any damage.” As the Dean laughed and waved in dismissal, he said to Kathleen, “He’s just kidding, really. He’s not really worried about you breaking stuff.”

Kathleen blinked and shook her head slightly as she followed Runner through the outer office. Walking down the hallway, Runner said conversationally, “I see you’ve read Tannin’s book on breath control. That’s a good one. We’ve got more comprehensive studies here in our library, but that’s a good beginning.”

Kathleen frowned. “How did...” Then she remembered the bibliography she’d included in her application. “So you already read my file earlier?”

“Hmm? Oh, no. Just now. Anyway, most students don’t have the kind of reading background you’ve got when they first come here, so you have a head start.”

Kathleen looked back toward the door of the Dean’s office and replayed Runner’s quick glance at the file in her head. How the hell did he do that? Did he read all of it? To get back to the question foremost in her mind, she said, “You said you knew Amy? We’re talking about Grant’s roommate?”

Runner gave her a softer smile than she’d seen so far. “Right. We were ... wait, let me show you this.” He stopped walking and extracted a plastic-encased photograph from a pocket in his uniform shorts. He handed it to Kathleen.

Kathleen stared at the picture. Yes, that was Amy, all right, just the way Kathleen remembered her, except for having much shorter hair. And there was Runner himself, looking several years younger than he did now, sitting on the ground at Amy’s feet, looking up at the camera while holding one of Amy’s legs lovingly. Runner and the two girls flanking Amy were all naked, while Amy was clothed. It didn’t quite make sense, but...

Runner was looking over Kathleen’s shoulder, and pointed. “That’s Jana, who developed most of the bound-feet hanging choreography we use now. And this is Melissa, and you’ve got something in common with her — her older sister graduated from here too. That was Miranda. Miranda was Amy’s inspiration to be a NooseMeister. Like Amy was mine. And Grant was yours.”

Kathleen coughed, trying to collect her thoughts, stunned at how much Runner knew about her. Looking again at the picture, she said, “You guys were all really close.”

Runner nodded, and appeared to brush a tear aside. “Very.” He took the picture back, and began walking again. “Another advantage you have is that you’ve spent a lot of time getting sexual experience. Some of the First Years’ background in that is a little iffy, when they first get here. We do teach them a lot here, of course, so pretty soon they get caught up. But you’ve already spent a lot of time at the local hook-up clubs.”

Kathleen coughed again. Another item of information Runner had apparently taken in during his glance at her file. “Uhhh, yeah. That, and my Dad recently started letting me spend a couple of nights a week with our slavegirl. Maya taught me a lot about sex with femmes, and gave me some good pointers about males.”

Runner looked at Kathleen. “That does sound helpful. Still, there’s nothing like really meeting people at the clubs...” He stopped suddenly, and looked more closely at Kathleen’s face. “You did go to the femme clubs a couple of times, but mostly you went to the mixed ones. You like sex with males a lot better.”

Kathleen stopped walking and stared at Runner. There was nothing about that in her file. “How did you...” Further words failed her.

Runner patted her shoulder. “You’ll learn to read body language here too. And don’t worry about what I said about femmes. You do have some experience, and you’ll get more here. We don’t assume any of the students is an expert.”

Kathleen looked at him, puzzled. Runner kept saying “we” in reference to teaching. “Aren’t you one of the students, not a teacher?”

“Well, both. I’m taking Second Year classes, but I’m also one of the First Year teachers. You’ll probably be in one of my classes.”

Kathleen felt herself being enveloped by a cloud of awe. This boy can’t be just an average student. No way are they all like this. She hoped her next question wouldn’t cause offense. “Why are you ... well, just a Second Year? If you’ve been here five years?”

Runner laughed and started walking again. “Now we’re back to that long story. I’ll tell you all about it sometime, if I get the chance. The short version starts with the fact I grew up on Purity Island. You know where that is?”

“Ummm ... yes. But I thought...”

Runner smiled, with an air of explaining something for the thousandth time. “Yes, yes. But there were natives there when it was discovered. I sucked up all their genes when I was born, somehow.”

How many surprises is this boy going to come up with? “I believe you when you say it’s a long story.”

Runner laughed again. “Really. Anyway, I couldn’t even read when I came here. I spent two years studying for my high school equivalence test, and then the Dean let me spend a year taking classes at the university. Internet, I mean, not in person. I got my two-year degree, and then finally started as a student here.”

“Didn’t you say you did the university stuff for one year?”

Runner nodded. “They call it a two-year degree, but they don’t literally make you spend two years. It’s all a matter of finishing a certain number of courses. Oh, there was a bonus, too. The university sent some people here to make sure I really was doing the work I claimed to be doing. One thing led to another, and I ended up in contact with Dr. Devor at the university, who was interested in doing research on NooseMeisters. So we’re working together on a project to see if we can figure out which is more important to making someone a NooseMeister: genetics or environment. I mean, is there a gene for it, or is there something about the atmosphere of the home? My roommate is Mindy Warren. She’s the youngest of five siblings who’ve all been NooseMeisters — including Melissa, who you just saw in that picture, and her older sister Miranda. After Melissa came Maria and Melanie, and now there’s Mindy. Melanie did her hanging a few months ago, so there’s just Mindy left. Now, the question is, why did they all become NooseMeisters? Is it because they all shared some kind of NooseMeister gene, or is it because they all grew up together? I’ll want to talk to you, too, because I know your brother and your uncle were both NooseMeisters.”

Kathleen nodded. “I never knew my Uncle Seymour, though. He was hanged before I was born. So it’s not like being around him affected me. And the truth is I never paid much attention to what Grant was doing either.”

Runner’s eyes lit up. “See, that’s useful. Anyway, I’ll want to talk to you more about it. And so will Dr. Devor, if that’s okay. We’re leaning toward it being genetic, because I had absolutely no NooseMeisters to emulate growing up.”

There was a quickly-approaching pounding sound from around a corner up ahead, and an excited bark. Kathleen, was startled; she wouldn’t have guessed there were feral dogs here. Then two puppygirls burst into view from the adjoining hallway and galloped toward Runner and Kathleen on four stubby limbs each.

The one in the lead had short hair in an eye-catching pink, matching an elaborate harness seemingly made of pink felt, and also matching her upraised, wagging tail. The trailing girl had a similar harness, but with color scheme (including hair) a more normal-looking brown.

Kathleen shook her head in amazement. A puppygirl had made that sound? The pink-haired one skidded to a stop in front of Runner and began licking his leg, with another bark and a very dog-like whimper of excitement. Kathleen said, “I’ve never heard a puppygirl who could bark like that.”

Beside the pink one, the brown-haired one looked up at Kathleen and gave her a very shy-looking smile, then rubbed up closer to the pink one and kissed her shoulder. Kathleen wondered whether they’d been in the middle of something when the pink one heard Runner’s voice. It was clear there was some special relationship between Runner and her. Runner had dropped to a crouch and put his hands on either side of the pink one’s head, and rubbed noses with her affectionately.

To Kathleen, Runner explained, “She’s had lots of practice. This is Puppy. She trained his entire life to be a dog. She came with me from Purity Island. That’s how they do it there.” Runner gave Puppy a kiss on the lips. “The Dean let us get Daisy as Puppy’s mate a year ago. Daisy’s a more standard puppygirl, from a local pet store.” Runner giggled. Puppy wagged her tail enthusiastically. Runner pointed back the way the puppygirls had come. “Puppy, go get Andrew and Mindy. Okay? Get Andrew and Mindy.”

Puppy quickly turned with another bark, and pounded back around the corner, Daisy following in her wake. Runner stood. “She can’t talk, but she can understand most of what we say.”

Kathleen blinked. “Literally can’t talk?”

Runner nodded. “Never learned. She doesn’t even imagine she’d be capable of it. I assume Daisy can talk, but I’ve never heard her. She just follows Puppy everywhere.” He laughed. “Puppy love. Literally. I think Daisy sees Puppy as the perfect model for the puppygirl Daisy wants to be.” He resumed walking.

They arrived at a door, which Runner opened. Kathleen followed him in. “This is the Hall of Honor,” Runner explained. “All students who’ve been hanged on-campus are here. Mostly they were hanged at demos or at parties. You know about those?” Runner quirked an eyebrow at Kathleen.

She nodded. “Grant didn’t talk about it, but I’ve read all the Web site info about the Academy.”

“Good. Now, along all the stacks here are the demo and party boys. Your...”

Kathleen suddenly stopped short and pointed, her jaw hanging slack in astonishment. “What...? Why do you have a Zeke Hillcrest effigy hanging here? I can’t remember him having anything to do with hanging.” What appeared to be Zeke looked especially out of place as a full body, hanging by his neck next to a wall of heads. He was naked and fully erect and smiling as if hanging was his favorite thing in all the world.

Runner started laughing, and eventually sputtered, “I didn’t even stop to think, you don’t know about Larry. We’re all used to him here.” He gave Kathleen a more serious look. “Larry was a NooseMeister. He really gives us a lot of inspiration, because he shows us how dedicated to our craft we can all be. He went through major facial reconstruction to look like Zeke Hillcrest, because we had a client who wanted that — to hang Zeke. And afterwards Larry was processed by Full Body Associates, if you know who they are. His thanerone was extracted; most of it came to us here at the Academy. They replaced his organ and muscle tissue with something longer lasting, but the skin and hair is Larry.

The client kept him for several years. When she didn’t need him any longer, she returned him to us. She knew this was Larry’s home. We all think of the Academy as our home — me more than most, I guess, but we all do.”

Kathleen was still staring at “Zeke.” “So ... now he just hangs here in this room?”

Runner laughed. “Ummm, well, no.” He pushed a button, and the body slowly lowered to the floor. “Any of the students can sign him out for a night. Just so long as they clean him at the end and put him back up there again. Larry was Amy’s closest friend, other than Grant, and I know from Amy that Larry would really adore the idea of his body being used and loved. And hanging from a noose in between. We do love him. He’s one of us. One of the best of us.” Runner pushed the button again, and the rope lifted Larry’s body until it was dangling a foot off the floor again.

Kathleen saw something from the corner of her eye, and she turned to look at it ... There was a head standing alone in its own niche in the wall across from the general shelves. Kathleen’s hands dropped to her sides, her heart fluttering. Softly she breathed, “Grant,” and stepped closer. For the moment she was oblivious to Runner’s presence.