The Girl

The water in the bathtub was cold and the clothes itched but even Connie couldn’t deny that it did feel better to be clean and clothed again.

Yet once she was done she didn’t have anything to do but sit and wait, she knocked on the door a few times to ask what was going on and on the one occasion it had been answered the man on the other side, someone new she didn’t recognise, had shoved a plate of food into her hand and curtly told her that she would start in the morning.

So she had sat and waited, stoking the fire and watching the sun travel across the floor until eventually, it went down. She was about to get ready for bed when the door suddenly swung open and another woman walked through.

She was taller than Connie, taller than any woman she had ever seen in fact, and her hair was as black as the night. Yet it hung in odd clumps as if she had just come out of a heavy downpour and her clothes, the same habit-like uniform as hers was wrinkled and stained with something that Connie could not place.

The door slammed shut behind the other girl and she began to strip off, hardly casting a glance over at Connie.

“Hello,” Connie said, suddenly unsure of herself as the other girl peeled off layer after layer of clothing. “Are you already on Punishment Detail.”

“Yes.”

It was all the other girl said as she stripped down completely, Connie couldn’t help but look at her body for a moment before good manners snapped her eyes away. The girl was bigger than her in other ways than height as well, her chest larger and her figure softer.

She kept her eyes averted until she heard the splash of water. When she dared to turn and look again she saw that the girl was sitting in the tub. Her eyes locked on the fire, seeming totally unbothered by the cold water.

“Sorry,” Connie blurted out, suddenly feeling like she had to fill the silence. “I got the water dirty earlier.

The girl glanced down at the water and then laughed, a soft mocking sound that set her teeth on edge.

“This isn’t dirty,” her voice was jovial yet there was something in it that only added to the unease. “You’ll find out what dirty is in the morning.”

Connie wanted to tell herself that the girl just meant that it would be hard work but something about the way she was acting set her on edge. Yet after that, the girl refused to be drawn into anymore conversion, only getting dressed for bed and going to sleep.