Chapter 9

Dukov and Kim returned to the Central Police Station as soon as the classmates had entered their school. Kim removed her cape as soon as they entered the building, since she was strictly prohibited from wearing it inside. She folded it over her arm and followed her Spokesman back to his office. Upon getting back upstairs, Dukov and his client helped the secretaries set up four recovery tables.

All of the Spokespersons previously had agreed among themselves to help Eloisa's classmates as much as possible. Spokesman Havlakt had persuaded the sentencing judge to grant several concessions to ease the suffering of the group. The most important was forcing the punishment to be moved indoors. There was the psychiatric release for Eloisa that spared her any physical humiliation by forbidding the punishing officers to touch her. Finally, the sentencing judge had agreed that as soon as each criminal's switching was over he or she would immediately be released back into the custody of the Spokesman, instead of having to wait for the entire group to be finished.

The police had arranged to switch the ex-students in groups of four. Once each group was punished, there would be a brief break while the punished criminals left the school, and then the following group would be tied down and punished. The ex-students had agreed that the women would be punished first so they could be released and returned to Spokesman Havlakt's custody as soon as possible.

Part of the males' motivation for allowing the women to go first was out of self-interest. The men knew they faced sexual humiliation at the hands of the female police officers assigned to punish them. They did not want their female friends to see that part of their punishment, so they preferred to have the women from the group leave the school and return to their Spokesman's office before their own switchings began. There were eight women and 20 men, so the first two groups to be punished would be the females.

Spokesman Havlakt hired a van to bring the punished criminals back to the Central Police Station, paying for the service out of his own pocket. The other Spokespersons helped by having their recovery tables set up in their offices. Dukov planned to take four of the criminals, including Eloisa.

Kim was hoping to have Sergekt come to Dukov's office. She wanted to comfort him, but Dukov explained why that would not happen.

"Kimberly, it is not proper that you see Sergekt after he has been punished. Nor is it proper that he be present following your punishment. If you love another person, do you really want to see him broken, crying, and humiliated? Is that how you would want Sergekt to see you?"

"No, Spokesman Dukov, I guess not ... I guess I really wouldn't want him to see me..."

"Then you will allow Sergekt to preserve his dignity in your presence, and he will do the same for you. You must not see him after he has been whipped. The person who needs you today is not Sergekt, but Eloisa."

About a half an hour after the recovery tables were set up, Spokesman Havlakt called Dukov to let him know that he was coming in with the first four women from the group, including Eloisa. The van pulled to the side door of the police building that was closest to the stairs leading up to the Spokespersons' office area. Dukov, Kim, one of Dukov's secretaries, and two other Spokesmen-for-the-Criminals were on hand to receive the four women and help them get upstairs.

Spokesman Havlakt opened up the side door of the van to reveal four naked women, all of them Kim's friends. He helped each one get out. Eloisa's face was distorted with pain and tears were running down her cheeks. She was not crying. The other three were sobbing and holding on to each other, but Eloisa was absolutely quiet.

The three sobbing women quickly went inside and made their way upstairs, guided by the other two Spokesmen. Kim took a quick look at their backsides. The bottom of each was badly marked up with dark reddish lines, punctuated with ugly-looking purple welts. All of the women had been struck across the upper thighs as well. One had four red lines across her upper back. However, as bad as the marks were, in no place had the skin been broken and within two weeks all traces of the punishment would vanish from the women's bodies. It would take much longer for the marks to vanish from their minds.

Eloisa stood alone in the cold, shivering with her arms wrapped around herself. She sadly stared at the ground, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. Forgetting about Eloisa's fear of physical contact, Kim walked up to her friend and tried to touch her shoulder. Eloisa squealed and backed away. She looked at Kim with a truly horrified expression.

"Eloisa ... please. You have to come upstairs. I promise I won't try to touch you again. But you have to get out of the cold. You'll get sick if you stay out here."

Dukov stepped near Eloisa, gently adding, "Eloisa, please come with us. Kimberly is here to watch over you. You must come to my office and rest."

Shivering ever more violently, Eloisa nodded and slowly made her way to the door. By now her body was almost white from the cold, making her switch-marks looked like red slashes of paint laid across a marble statue.

Dukov and Kim breathed a sigh of relief when Eloisa made it through the door into the heated police station. She was shivering violently and still hugging herself, but with a slow, unsteady walk she managed to climb the steps.

Kim studied Eloisa's face as she ascended the steps alongside her Danubian friend. Kim realized that Eloisa must not have cried at all during her switching. She had focused all of her internal torments into one purpose, to not let the police hear her cry. Kim could tell that she still was tensed up from that effort, and she needed to release her pain and emotion. Eloisa's face almost seemed locked in that horrified expression.

After a very slow, laborious climb up two flights of stairs, Dukov's secretary held open the main door to allow the Spokeman and the two criminals to enter. Eloisa stopped in the reception area, staring the four recovery tables. She put her hands on one of them to steady herself.

"It's my fault" she said quietly. "It's all my fault. I'm the reason the others have to do this."

Rather than argue with her, Kim decided to try to get Eloisa to release her pent-up anguish. She stood close to her friend, as close as she could without touching her.

"Eloisa, you are a very brave girl. You did good not to cry. But now you're safe, with people who love you. It's all over, and you have to let yourself cry now. Please, you have to cry. It's OK. There's just me. No one else will hear."

Eloisa looked up at Kim, then straight ahead. Suddenly she did start crying quietly. She sank to her knees, holding onto the table and burying her face in her knuckles. Kim so badly wanted to hold her, to try to re-assure her with a simple touch from a friend, but she couldn't. She worried that if Eloisa completely sank to the floor, there would be no way to get her up.

"Eloisa. Eloisa. Please, you have to get on the table. I have to make sure you're not hurt."

Eloisa struggled to get back on her feet and slowly positioned herself face-down on the table. Her body jerked with sobs. Kim studied the red and purplish stripes on Eloisa's bottom and legs. They were no worse than the markings on the other three classmates, but Kim felt that to punish Eloisa in such a manner was an abomination. She had suffered so much, and through no fault of her own, continued to suffer.

As Eloisa lay crying, Kim studied her backside. The welts on her bottom now formed hard, ugly ridges where the switch marks had crossed each other. It was obvious it would be several days before she could sit normally, not until the blood drained out of the welts and the skin had softened again. In spite of Eloisa's fear of being touched, Kim planned to wait until she went to sleep and then would gently spread some lotion on the welts to soften them.

When Eloisa finally cried herself to sleep, Kim set to work with the lotion. She put small amounts on her fingertips and very gently applied the lotion to the welts. As she softly touched her friend's damaged bottom, Kim again felt that strange sensation of arousal and sexual excitement. She totally forgot about her earlier view that punishing Eloisa was an abomination. At that moment Eloisa looked so graceful and tragic, lying on the table with her pale body contrasting sharply with the dark red and purple marks from the switch. Kim now badly wished she could have witnessed Eloisa's switching, instead of just being tempted by studying its aftermath. As Eloisa's body relaxed and her bottom spread, Kim could see her open labia and bottom-hole, nestled in a small patch of unmarked skin among all those welts. Like the others, Eloisa had shaved prior to her punishment, so the most private parts of her body were completely on display. Kim suddenly felt the urge to lean down and gently kiss Eloisa...

Kim came to her senses with a start. What in the hell was she thinking? This was her friend, and here was Kim, getting aroused by the sight of her punished body. She felt horribly guilty. And yet, Kim continued to see a strange beauty in Eloisa at that moment. Somehow it seemed that suffering fit the melancholy singer, just as her collar and welts seemed to complement her beautiful figure and soft pale skin.

Kim's first Christmas in Upper Danubia was the most emotional she ever experienced. She badly missed her family in the U.S. She envisioned her parents and her sister, her cousins and grandparents, all gathered to celebrate without her. Kim knew full-well there would be plenty of uncomfortable discussion about why she could not be in the United States this Christmas, and why she would miss the next Christmas as well. Kim knew that her actions had left a huge hole in her family's soul. Once again her heart filled with remorse as she remembered last year, how she had been so desperate to break away from her parents to go off with Tiffany and Susan and get drunk with a bunch of classmates. If only she had known, if she could have appreciated ... but now of course it was too late.

Kim's Christmas in Danube City, however, promised to be full of fun and social events. She had to divide her time between the Dukovs, Sergekt, Eloisa, her co-workers, and her friends at the Socrates Club.

It was only natural that Vladim and Maritza Dukov would want Kimberly to spend as much time as possible at their house during Christmas vacation. She made the rounds to visit various relatives and friends of both Maritza and Vladim as they took her to dine at other people's houses. The elder Dukovs also took her to several churches and pageants. Often the events required her to stand outside for long periods of time, so like it or not, she had to wear her criminal's cape.

One night, as a member of Vladim Dukov's family, Kim even had dinner with Vladik's fiancée and her family. The visit to the house of Vladik's fiancée was the most awkward of that first Christmas season, because she was the only criminal in a house full of 25 people. During dinner the American was forced to sit naked at a table full of formally dressed members of Dukov's family and the family of his future in-laws. To make things worse, Dukov was treating Kim in the same manner he treated his own daughter, and introducing her as though she was family instead of a foreign client serving a two-year sentence. Dukov's future in-laws stared at Kim with unabashed curiosity throughout the dinner. Things got even more uncomfortable when Kim's singing career was mentioned and she was asked to join eight other women in singing Christmas hymns. The group stood in the living room, Kim's bare figure contrasting sharply with the bright dresses of her companions. However, in the end Kim survived the evening and was left with the impression that everyone in the household liked her.

The elder Dukovs treated Kim very warmly on Christmas day. She cooked dinner with Maritza and Anyia. Later she ate with the entire family, including Victor Dukov, his wife, and their two sons. Kim had to spend this Christmas separated from her own family in the US, but she was fortunate enough to be part of another.

Kim spent more time with Eloisa than she originally had planned, given that Eloisa's singing was very much in demand at the end of the year. Kim found herself on stage with Eloisa's other back-up singers almost every night between December 20 and January 1. On December 24 the five singers appeared at Danube City's main cathedral to sing several ancient Danubian Christmas hymns. The event was televised, with Eloisa's performance prominently featured as part of the Christmas programming. Many Danubian television viewers were intrigued by Kim's appearance among the back-up singers, amazed to see the American "Maragana Girl" singing Danubian folk music that was hundreds of years old.

During all their Christmas performances, including the televised one, Eloisa and her back-up singers remained completely naked except their collars. In spite of their contribution to the nation's Christmas celebration, the five young women were criminals, still subject to the laws that denied them the privilege of wearing normal clothing at any time during their sentences. When they finished, always to loud applause, the five lead singers, as well as the men who were playing the instruments, acknowledged both their gratitude and their place in society by kneeling on stage and touching their foreheads to the floor instead of bowing. Kim knelt and leaned forward to put her forehead to the stage floor along with the others. The practice had long since stopped bothering her. She was a Danubian criminal and it was what society expected of her.

By the end of the year Kimberly Lee's identity had undergone a profound change. She no longer saw herself as a graduate from her high school, as a tourist from the United States, nor even really as an American. Kim instead had become a full member of Danubian criminal society. All of her closest friends were criminals, her co-workers were criminals, and even her de facto parents were ex-criminals. In some ways Kim's life was fairly easy. As a part of the criminal sub-culture she was forced to adhere to very strict rules and protocol. She had her place in society, a place as well defined as that of a professional such as Vladim Dukov, or even that of a policeman such as Vladik.

Kim's friends were the most important part of her existence. The group was very close. Kim felt that any of them could be a soul-mate, not just Sergekt and Eloisa. She could talk to any of them about anything. Most importantly, her Danubian friends were people she could trust. They shared everything: their free time, their suffering, their hopes for the future, their dreams.

The place where Kim most fit in was the group's musical band. She sang in harmony with Eloisa's other three back-up singers, to the point that Eloisa decided to start training Kim to sing songs with Danubian lyrics. Eloisa listened attentively to Kim's singing, occasionally telling her how to re-sing a word of phrase to cover her English accent. By January, the American was a full member of Eloisa's group of back-up singers, able to perform as well as any of the others. Kim's soul came out in her singing every bit as much as Eloisa's soul came out while she was on stage.

One part of Kim's life as a criminal was not easy, however, and that was building up the courage she needed to face the next of her four corporal punishments. As Christmas passed and New Year's day rapidly approached, Kim's soul filled with apprehension. The punishment would take place on January 2. Vladim Dukov confirmed that the arresting officer would be available to switch his client. In fact, the female cop was planning to cut short a vacation in Vienna with her boyfriend precisely to be on-hand to punish the American. Dukov also learned that the cop's male partner also would be present for sure. He planned to cut short his vacation with his family at the other end of the country to return to Danube City on the 1st, to be on-hand for Kim's punishment the following day.

Dukov was concerned about the two officers' enthusiasm. "Those two seem quite determined to punish you. It is not common for a police officer to cut short a vacation solely to be present at a particular criminal's punishment. You know that police officers can stand in for each other, but in your case the two officers have been adamant that they will remain in charge of your punishment."

Kim spent New Year's Eve with Sergekt and his friends. By this time the group's members were fully recovered from their punishments and back to their normal selves. Kim spent the entire evening in extreme apprehension, nervously watching the clock. Within 36 hours she would have to face those two cops again. She wondered if the two officers had thought of some horrible new way to punish or humiliate her. She trembled at the knowledge that the two officer's hands would be able to touch her wherever they wanted. She knew they would, that their rough hands would fondle her most intimate regions, that her body would hide no secrets from her two tormenters.

Sergekt was as kind as he could be to Kim throughout the evening. He knew what she was going through, having gone through the exact same emotional turmoil just two weeks before. There was very little he could say to comfort his girlfriend, other than to tell her to remember that, however horrible the moment of her punishment might be, at some point it would be over. "I tell myself that every time I have to face the switch. It doesn't help when I'm actually being punished, but it helps a little bit before because it is the truth, nothing lasts forever."

Kim and Sergekt stayed as long as they could at the Socrates Club after New Years Eve. Before returning to Dukov's house they sadly and quietly made love in one of the "intimacy rooms". When Sergekt finally said goodbye to her in Dukov's livingroom the following morning, Kim held him tightly as tears rolled down her cheeks. She faced punishment in less than 24 hours. She would not see him again until after the switching.