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As dawn broke, I got up and washed my face, keeping a weather ear out. The house was still empty, and once I'd showered and breakfasted, I gathered up my purse and headed down the road to do some long-overdue shopping. I'd recently been upgraded to full time, and I had the fat bank account to prove it. And I felt that my wardrobe needed updating in any case.
When I returned home, there was still no sign of my sisters. I wasn't entirely comfortable with their extended absence, but decided not to worry too much about it. Instead, I devoted a precious couple of hours swimming, knowing for sure that tonight, things would go to pot for me.
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But as the day wore on, my sisters continued to remain absent, and I began to worry despite telling myself there was no need to. My sisters were devious, and their conduct towards me the day before told me all I needed to know; they would take charge when they returned, and if they brought any males with them, I'd soon be in the middle of a newly-formed pack, with my sisters sharing the role of alpha. And the longer they remained away from the house, the greater my worries grew. I threw myself into housework (and more swimming) to try and distract myself, and for a little while, I could forget the dark cloud hanging over my head.
But there was only so much housework and swimming one could do, and by the time I emerged from the water at sunset, I heard the unmistakeable sounds of a car pulling up to the house. Three cars, in fact, and my heart sank right to the bottom of my chest as I hurried inside and upstairs to dry myself. My sisters were home, but they were alone, much to my relief. That didn't last long; as I pulled a dry shirt on, the door crashed open, and my sisters walked in, their faces taking in everything; the damp towel draped over the end of my bed, my damp hair, and the damp clothes in the laundry hamper. Faith sighed. "I see you've been busy while we were away," she said, folding her arms.
I shrugged. "I had a lot of time on my hands," I said.
"Well, consider it your last time to enjoy yourself," Hope said. "Your freedom is over. From now on, you're answering to us, and you won't have a second to ... indulge yourself in freedoms you had no right to in the first place. You might've had a cushy life while Mum and Dad were alive, but now they're gone, and it's time for us to rule, just as we'd always planned."
"That means you do everything we tell you to do," Patience told me.
"And you will never do anything we don't want you to do," Charity and Chastity said in unison. They were the most twin-like out of the girls, and they were said to be very close. How close they were was up for debate, and I didn't want to speculate how much of their affection was platonic.
"In other words, you're going to be our slave," Prudence said.
"And if you don't like it, tough beans," Temperance finished. "We've stood all we can of your bossy ways. Well, the tables have turned. We rule the roost, and you're going to learn very quickly what it means to be at the mercy of seven alpha females."
Faith smiled and stepped closer, before slapping me across the face. The weight of her arm was behind it, and I saw stars for a few moments. "On your knees," she told me, and I flinched as I obediently knelt, roiling inside with anger and humiliations. I didn't have time to let those emotions bubble up; Faith's mind speared through mine, laying bare every corner to her hungry probe. Memories, hopes, fears, secrets, dreams and desires all lay exposed to her view, and it wasn't long before I felt the other girls' minds all join in the violation. Before long, every corner of my mind was mapped out, and nothing remained secret to them. It was not a pleasant feeling, and I felt like throwing up.
"No," Patience said sternly, and to my horror, the nasuea was gone, replaced by adoration and thankfulness. Stunned, I realised my very emotions would now be twisted to match my sisters' desires, and if they wanted me to be cheerful, then I'd be cheerful, even when I felt like crying. One very, very tiny part of my mind remained my own, and I locked all that I was inside it, using the memory of my recent swims to secure that tiny part against my sisters' prying mental gaze. That tiny corner contained the freedom and breathlessness of being deep underwater, where my body fought against the need to breathe, diaphragm spasming, bubbles bursting loose with each convulsion, the pain and pressure growing more unbearable by the moment, until I felt I had to take a breath, my lungs burning as they were steadily deprived of air. The surface beckoned, light dancing in ripples, but I held on, pushing myself to the utter brink, refusing the siren's call that beckoned me towards the surface and the precious air that waited above, my body crying out in silent appeal to kick my way back up and breathe.
But in that corner of my mind, the one corner my sisters could never claim, I was able to hold on, depsite the ever present peril of drowning. There, wrapped in the tiny recess I'd carved out for myself, I was safe, so long as I stayed underwater. To surface was to surrender, and as I got to my feet, Patience's false emotions overriding my natural desire to throw up, I held tightly to the small part of me that revelled in being deep underwater, desperate for air, but knowing that if I ever surfaced, I'd die. That tiny corner, all the sensations of running out of air - the increasingly powerful contractions, the pain and pressure in my lungs, the bubbles bursting out with every contraction - reminded me I was alive. So long as I could hold onto that, I knew I'd survive all my sisters could throw at me.
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