Chapter 2: Trouble

In the middle of the darkened room stood a red covered plinth, the centre of attention for a reverential, hushed audience. A dark skinned couple, naked, and writhing in the throes of their ecstasy, adorned the plinth. The only light shone down on them, highlighting every dimple and strained muscle in the back of the uppermost performer, as avid eyes drank in each rivulet of sweat. There was no hidden intimacy; all was on display as the wildly coupling duo climbed towards their next mutual peak.

Warm receptive openings clung to the uniting shaft, and ragged breaths rent the still air. An eruption of cries rose from the throats of the lovers, who peaked, and then the sound stilled to gentle murmuring. Finally - one exhausted woman rolled off the other.

"Well?"

A tall Germanic woman who had appeared beside the sweat soaked dais spoke the impatient word.

"Nothing..." Jolene panted, "Nothing at all,"

In a practiced motion, Jolene slid the flexible dildo from her body, and turned her gaze on her spent lover.

"Manda, are you OK? Manda!" Jolene's voice raised a pitch.

Jolene shook Manda's lax shoulder, trying to rouse her.

"No! No, Jolene - she's entranced, leave her..." Margit boomed.

Despite her concern, Jolene reacted instinctively to the command, snapping her hand away from her sister's sweet skin.

"Manda, listen to me. What do you see? What do you feel?" Margit asked.

Manda only twitched, sighed and smiled. Then in a fluid motion, she curled herself into a foetal ball, her full lips peeled back, and emitted an eerie hum. The volume of the sound increased until it bit at the eardrums of the assembled. The sound peaked, and Manda broke into a singsong voice.

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble" Manda sang.

"Sheeit, what the hell's that?" Jolene asked, rhetorically.

"That, m'dear is Shakespeare," Alison proudly announced.

"I know that - fool. But why is she saying it?" Jolene growled.

Further conversation was cut short; all eyes were drawn back to Manda. Her body straightened itself violently, and flew into the throes of a full-blown seizure. Agonisingly she shuddered and contorted on the small platform. Margit moved quickly, threading her arms through Jolene's; she held the frightened black girl firmly, rooting her to the spot.

"She'll be fine; Manda will be back with us all very soon," whispered Margit.

Finally the wicked contractions of Manda's body stilled. Seconds later, she sat up smiling.

"The power has been used. A route to the orphan has been gifted to us!"

Lascivious laughter filled the darkened cellar.

Rachael sat alone in her bedroom, thumbing through the latest copy of 'Glamour', bored out of her senses. When she reached the fashion pages, her attention was caught by a stunning leather creation. It was sensuously draped across a smouldering model; immediate images danced in her mind. Unconsciously, her mind slipped the neckline a little lower revealing a crinkled nub, Rachael groaned and smacked the pages shut.

Tears misted her vision.

'What's wrong with me, why am I so... '

She flopped onto her bed, burying her face deeply in the pillow. Long sobs wracked her young frame; as she fell into her private hell.

'I'm not gay! I know I'm not, Darren knows I'm not. It's just not true' Rachael's despair thundered back into her mind.

"Rachael, Rachael, it's time to go!" her mother shouted up the stairs.

"I'm not going!" Rachael yelled back.

"Yes, you are, my girl, this is important."

Rachael stomped from her room and down the stairs. She avoided her mother's gaze, and stood with her head hung. Idly she kicked the wall with her heel, moody to the last.

"Come on Rach, car now! Let's just get this over." her mother said, frowning at her youngest daughter.

The car journey proceeded in stony silence, eventually Susan tried once more.

"Look Rach, if this man gives you the all clear, you can go back to school tomorrow."

"Great, back to all the teasing, give up mum - you don't understand!" Rachael murmured.

"Darren will be there..." said mum.

Yeah, if he will still speak to me. He might not want to talk to a..." Rachael's voice tailed off.

Susan shifted down a gear, and pulled up on the hard-standing outside the surgery. She got out, stared for a moment at her seated daughter, and then walked to the passenger door. Susan swung the door wide open.

"Out, come on, just a chat with a doctor - that's all it is."

Unwillingly, Rachael left the security of the car, and slunk towards the door. Behind her, Susan locked the car, sighed and then followed Rachael into the surgery.

'I wonder which of us is the most nervous. Rachael's right, I don't understand, not at all, ' Susan thought.

The doctor looked up briefly from his desk; he motioned Susan and Rachael to sit down. For what seemed like an age he flicked through the pages of a closely typed report. Eventually he removed his half-moon glasses, used them to quickly scratch his nose, and spoke.

"So Rachael, how are we?" he asked.

"Wonderful, what do you think!" Rachael snorted.

"Yes, I can imagine."

"Mrs Savage, it may be easier for me to talk with Rachael alone. Just for a short while." The doctor raised a bushy eyebrow.

"Anything you want to ask Rach, you can ask in front of me. We have no secrets," replied Susan.

"Ah, but Rachael is a young woman. I would like to respect her privacy." The doctor smiled.

"No way, I stay!" Susan glared.

"As you wish, of course. Rachael, I'm Dr Fazakerly, Justin, if you prefer. I specialise in counselling teenagers, helping them. I'd like to help you Rachael, or is it Rach?" Fazakerly beamed.

"Rachael to you, Justin," smirked Rachael.

"Good Rachael, so how long have you been sexually active?" Fazakerly asked.

"Sexually..." Susan choked on the word.

Fazakerly said nothing; he just calmly raised his forefinger to his lips. Rachael blushed deeply.

"Well I have snogged - once or twice. Is that what you mean?" Rachael replied.

"Not entirely, your file would suggest a little more than snogging.," Fazakerly commented.

"I may have fooled around a bit, who's been grassing?" Rachael asked.

"In this 'fooling around' have you had full intercourse?" Fazakerly queried.

"No! I haven't. Mum I haven't, honest" Rachael paled.

"It's all right, Rachael I believe you. Tell me though, when did you start 'fooling around'?" Fazakerly smiled.

"'bout three years ago, I s'pose," replied Rachael.

"So 11 then," Fazakerly noted her response.

"11!" Susan gasped.

"Not uncommon, Mrs Savage, not uncommon at all. Tell me, in your own words Rachael, what happened the other day?"

"Well I was waiting to read, and I got turned on - real hot. So I..." Rachael's words faltered, she glanced at her mother, "I felt myself up, then when I had to speak, the words changed. They changed, I just read what they said - and then all hell happened... I left."

"These feelings, the 'hot turn on' was it from you?" The doctor queried, sitting forward slightly.