Back to Chapter 24
Chapter 25 � The Equinox
Two
days after her release from the Royal Residence, Maria Elena returned to
her job at the university. There was plenty of work for her because the
leaves of all the trees on campus had started to turn and already the
grass needed constant raking. Criminal # 101025 knelt in front of the
university gardeners and was promptly issued a rake. With no further
ceremony she stood up, walked to a section of lawn near the campus
administration building, and began gathering fallen leaves. Her
supervisor had told her that would be her primary concern for the next
month, raking as much as possible during her working hours. Once the
leaves from their sections were gathered, Maria Elena and her co-workers
had to dump them into specially-built wagons and later move them to an
enormous compost pile located next to the university�s agriculture
department.
In Danubia it was illegal to burn leaves or any other organic matter.
Leaves had to be buried back into the soil or transported to collection
sites. At the height of autumn, many criminals, especially ones who had
spent the summer working outside, were ordered to help collect and
transport leaves and garden debris from public parks and also from the
yards and gardens of pensioners and other people who were able to gather
up the leaves, but not strong enough to transport them.
To add to the effort, the Danubian Church handed over many of the people
performing Public Penance, which that year included Cecilia and Jason.
For several weeks the couple joined a group of 20 other university
students who were performing Public Penance. They wandered around the
neighborhood outside the university with their shovels and wagons,
taking away the garden debris of older residents and hauling it to the
compost pile. The work was dirty and hard, but because they were
collared servants they had to do what they were told.
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Cecilia�s transition to performing Public Penance turned out to be
psychologically difficult. She knew that she had to be extremely careful
to adhere to correct protocol at all times, because everyone was
watching her. One important detail that set her apart from hundreds of
other people performing Public Penance was her dark skin. It was obvious
she was not Danubian, but she was performing a deeply Danubian ritual.
She became the focus of much curiosity and people paid much closer
attention to her than they would have paid to any Danubian under the
same circumstances.
Cecilia was much accustomed to being in charge, but her collar took away
that perceived authority. In class, for example, she had to get out of
her seat and kneel whenever she was called upon to answer a question.
She had to assume the correct posture, which meant getting on her knees,
extending her hands out in front of her, spreading her legs, and arching
her back to completely expose her vulva to anyone standing or sitting
behind her. By Wednesday afternoon, all of her classmates had seen her
in the posture of Penance, which meant that everyone she knew had seen
her vagina and anus fully exposed. She had one professor in particular
who seemed to delight in her predicament. He called on her continuously
and instructed her to come to the front of the class before kneeling and
answering so that everyone could see her. He was strict and picky about
how she positioned herself and did not let her return to her seat until
she had assumed the �proper� pose for several minutes.
Cecilia knew that she did not have the right to complain, because the
entire purpose of Public Penance was to experience humility. Being
forced to expose herself changed her personality. Much of her
self-confidence had vanished with her clothing. She dropped her bossy
abrasive manner of treating people and became more reserved and shy.
Jason had told her that eventually her self-confidence would return, but
once it did return it would be a different type of confidence and much
more profound. During the first few days of wandering around the campus
in the nude and exposing herself to everyone she knew; she didn�t see
how that would be possible.
As Cecilia had foreseen, Jason took a leading role in her life. She
quietly followed him around Dan�bikt M�skt, watching him and copying
whatever he was doing at the moment. She wouldn�t have wanted to admit
it, but whenever she was not in his presence she felt uneasy, to the
point of feeling unprotected and afraid. She needed to be with him as
much as possible. She had always felt that need, ever since she met him,
but she had managed to keep that need in her subconscious thoughts. With
the collar on her neck she no longer could hide behind her authoritative
position or her abrasive personality to conceal her underlying fear of
being without her fianc�. She would not be able to live without Jason,
and for the first time in her life could openly admit that, both to him
and to herself.
Up until she began performing Penance, Cecilia only had a vague idea
about what her fianc� did with the Church, since he was not one to push
his beliefs on her or anyone else. Now that she wore a collar, the
Clergy expected her to understand why what she was doing was spiritually
significant. It turned out that Jason knew all about Church teachings
and was able to explain them. He was well advanced in his theological
training, whereas she knew absolutely nothing. He had memorized a large
portion of the Texts of the Ancients, knew the parts of the
Judeo-Christian Bible that were relevant to the Danubian Church, and
could sing Danubian hymns in their original language. She would have to
rely on him to catch up and not look like a total fool in front of the
Priestess. One of the first things he had to teach her was correct
prayer protocol, since she didn�t even know that.
Even though Cecilia was wearing a Penance collar, officially she was
classified as a criminal. Because she was collared, she had a custodian
and an owner. Many places in Dan�bikt M�skt that previously had been
open to her now were off-limits. There were clubs and restaurants that
she had been able to go to with her students or with professors that
would no longer welcome her. She reluctantly acknowledged that her place
in society had changed; that there was no point in thinking she could
possibly be the same person or lead the same life she had led before she
visited the Temple.
Cecilia�s feelings about the Socrates Club changed along with how she
felt about herself. She had been going to the criminals� hangout
throughout the entire time she had been in Danubia, but always as a
guest of Jason or Kim. She could not be a member because she was not
collared, thus whenever she was there she felt like an intruder. The
reason she really went was because the club was the only place in
Dan�bikt M�skt where it was possible for her to make love with Jason.
On Friday afternoon Cecilia Sanchez filled out a membership card to
formally join the Socrates Club. An assistant manager interviewed her to
make sure she understood the club�s rules and her own role within
Dan�bikt M�skt�s criminal society. The Socrates Club, which previously
had been a place where she felt like an intruder, had become a place of
refuge, a place where she was accepted and where she belonged.
That night Cecilia took her place at the microphone on the stage of the
club. In accented Danubian she recited her own life, from her
experiences growing up, to her studies in Chicago, to her flight to
Danubia, and finally her current transformation. She concluded with:
�I don�t know if I will be performing Penance for the rest of my life or
not. Maybe I have a future, or maybe I have nothing ahead of me except
the endless present, the reality of the collar on my neck, until my soul
separates from my body. I guess that is something the Creator doesn�t
want me to think about, so I�ll try not to think about it.�
She looked at her fianc�, took a breath, and continued:
�Now that I am performing Penance, I know that the only thing people
will see about me is my collar. The collar and my nakedness have become
my identity to the world. The Creator has forced me to understand that I
can�t think of myself as a university program director any more. I have
to accept that my job is not who I am; it�s only what I do. I guess� I
suppose� after four years of living in Danubia, I still have to figure
out who I really am.�
Cecilia left the stage, returned to her table, and cuddled in Jason�s
arms.
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While Jason and Cecilia were sitting at the table, she couldn�t resist
doing what she always liked to do, massage his penis and work him into
an erection. Slowly she rubbed his thighs and gently touched his
testicles before circling her fingertip around the end of his penis. It
did not take much to make him hard. As usual, they left the table and
slipped out of the main dining area of the club through a small door on
the back wall. As usual, she led him upstairs with her hand fimly
gripping his shaft.
As soon as they were in the room, their normal sex routine changed.
Cecilia was in a relatively quiet mood, so instead of straddling Jason,
she got on her elbows and knees on the bed and presented her backside to
him. He held off on the temptation to enter her right away to
concentrate on touching and massaging her widely spread bottom. He
gently touched her vulva and teased her clitoris, making her desperate.
She arched her back even more, frantic for him to enter her. He
continued rubbing her bottom and teasing her, but made no move to
actually push inside. He was desperate himself, but he held back because
Cecilia needed to be taught a lesson. She was collared, and thus not in
a position to give him orders.
�Oh Jason� Oh please� Ohhhhh.�
He surprised her by saying: �You need to wait. Don�t be so impatient
about everything.�
Finally he did decide to push inside her, not because she was desperate,
but because he could not hold off any longer. As he thrust and she
moaned with pleasure, he silently berated himself for not having more
control over his own body. He pushed into her as hard and as deeply as
he could, climaxing, but staying inside as long as he could to make sure
she had the orgasm she wanted. After they were finished he would have a
big surprise for her.
Exhausted, they cuddled for a bit. Cecilia dried off her lover�s penis
and began to play with it. She normally would have started telling him
what a naughty boy he was and that he needed a good spanking, but that
night he did not give her the chance to start up with that. He sat up
and moved to the edge of the bed. He grabbed her wrist.
�You need to get over my lap.�
�What?�
�You�re collared, Cecilia. That means some things in our lives are gonna
have to change, and that includes what we do in here. Now, I�m telling
you again, you need to get over my lap.�
Reluctantly Cecilia obeyed, moving across Jason�s lap. With his
fingertips he pushed her legs apart and made her position herself so
that her bottom was tilted upwards and properly presented. He began
massaging her bottom-cheeks. When she started to respond, he reached
between her legs and gently touched her vulva. She was becoming aroused
again. Abruptly he stopped.
�We need to get something straight. As long as you have that collar on,
I am the one who�ll decide when you cum. I will decide when I think you
deserve to have an orgasm. You need to turn that part of your life over
to me. If you really need it, it�s OK to ask, but don�t expect me to
always say �yes�. Do you understand?�
Shocked by her fianc�s sudden transformation, Cecilia silently nodded.
Jason landed a sharp slap on her bottom. She squealed.
�Look, how many times have you told me that nodding is rude? You�ve
always told me to say �yes, Cecilia� and �no, Cecilia�. Now it�s my
turn. I expect the same standard of behavior out of you that you expect
out of me.�
He landed a second hard slap on her bottom.
�Do you understand?�
�I� yes� yes, Jason.�
�There�s another thing. I�ve given this some thought, and I�ve had to
make another decision about things between us. As long as you wear that
collar, you can�t spank me. I�m the one who will have to spank. You have
to agree to that, because you need to understand that humility is not
just for when you�re out on the street. Your collar requires that you
exercise humility with me too.�
Cecilia thought for a second, still terrified at what was happening.
�Jason, please� can I sit up so we can talk about this?�
�No, not right now. I�ll tell you when you can sit up.�
�But� you�re collared too. You don�t have no right to tell me��
�Yes, I�m collared, and I�ve been collared for four years. That means I
have four years of training over you. Do you really think you know more
than me?�
�I guess not��
�I guess not also. This is something you�ll have to do. I know that for
a fact. You have to do it.�
Still shocked by Jason�s authoritative voice and his certainty that he
knew what he was doing, Cecilia said nothing more. She lay quietly,
waiting for whatever it was that he was going to do to her.
He could feel her trembling slightly. She was scared, not only of the
painful experience she knew she was about to endure, but also because
the last remnant of her authoritative fa�ade had been surrendered along
with her clothing. They had changed places, because only a week before
it had been Jason lying across Cecilia�s lap. She was vulnerable,
realizing that her only choice was to obey Jason. Obeying him had never
been her intention, and yet, that was what she would have to do.
He massaged her bottom, relishing the feel of her soft, warm, dark skin.
Finally he rested his hand on her right bottom-cheek.
�I love you. You�re the only woman I�ll ever love.�
�I�m yours, Jason� I�ll prove it��
There was nothing more either needed to say. Cecilia would have to feel
what it was to be spanked� not spanked erotically, but to be spanked
severely, to the point of tears and beyond.
Jason started with moderate slaps, hitting her on alternate bottom
cheeks. He was in no hurry, so he let several seconds go by between each
slap. He sensuously massaged her bottom between slaps and occasionally
touched between her legs to tease her vulva. He was strict about her
staying still and quiet. If she moved or tried to put her legs together
he gave her a warning pinch on her labia.
Nothing more was said, but Jason paused after he had spanked Cecilia for
about 15 minutes. Her bottom stung, but not too badly. In fact it felt
hot, and had Jason wanted to, he could have easily aroused his fianc�.
However, arousal was not the reason he had Cecilia over his lap. In the
interim while he allowed her to rest, she knew that what she had just
endured was only a warm-up. Within a few minutes Jason would be slapping
her hard. She was desperate to have the waiting come to an end, but also
desperately scared of what was about to happen.
Jason positioned her with his fingertips and massaged her bottom one
final time. Then he slapped her with real force. She squealed, but dared
not move.
SLAP-SLAP!... SLAP-SLAP!... SLAP-SLAP!...
Jason was spanking Cecilia with quick double-slaps, one on each side of
her bottom. She knew that he worked out and continued to be an excellent
runner, but she did not realize how strong he was until she felt his
hand on her bottom: over and over, with no hint that the punishment
would end any time soon.
Finally she was able to surrender herself and cry. Through the haze of
her pain, she vaguely hoped that her fianc� would stop as soon as tears
started falling, but the spanking continued uninterrupted. Once her body
was heaving with sobs, Jason slowed down, but struck her with a hard
slap about every 15 seconds.
Cecilia was crying uncontrollably when Jason finally stopped. He placed
a reassuring hand on her back and gently rubbed her sore bottom. Finally
he told her to stand up and to lie on the bed. He gently stroked her
back while she cried herself to sleep. In a quiet voice he said
something to her, although because she was asleep she couldn�t hear him.
He really was saying to himself:
�You�re mine, Cecilia. You�ll prove yourself to me, just like I had to
do for you. That is our Path in Life, for both of us.�
He kissed her swollen bottom and lay beside her to go to sleep.
----------
By
the third week of September, signs of the impending change of seasons
dominated the Danubian landscape. Already the trees were turning color,
the nights were becoming longer and colder, school children were
settling into their routines, and the countryside was busy with the
first part of the harvest. The Fall Equinox was rapidly approaching,
which meant the nation was beginning its descent into the darkness and
cold of winter. Along with the Fall Equinox would be the most important
religious holiday of the Danubian calendar, the Day of the Dead.
Cecilia spent several days teaching Maria Elena about preparing for the
ceremonies. The most important part of the preparation was special food.
Blood-red fruit punch and blood-red sauce had to be prepared, along with
black noodles and potato pastries shaped like skulls. The food was
unique for the Equinox, because protocol prohibited any recipes eaten
during the Day of the Dead from being eaten at any other time of the
year. Also, any prepared dishes eaten during the Day of the Dead could
not be purchased for money; therefore each household was responsible for
preparing its own food.
Four years before, Victor�s wife and Tiffany had taught Cecilia how to
prepare the Day of the Dead dishes; now it was Cecilia�s turn to teach
Maria Elena. She invited Carmen and several other students from the
exchange program who were performing Penance, so for several days
Victor�s kitchen was full of naked women learning first hand about the
most Danubian tradition of all.
When Carmen noted that the pots of blood-red juice and sauce looked like
something from a horror movie, Cecilia commented:
�This is only the beginning. We�re all gonna be marching this year, and
when we do, you�ll really get to have the death experience.�
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On the morning before the Equinox, the women packaged up the food they
had prepared to take it to the Church that was located on the university
campus. They had not prepared the food for themselves, but for the
Church to distribute to marchers and worshipers over the next two
nights. Because Cecilia, Maria Elena, and Victor all were collared, no
adults in the household would remain to have dinner. Pedro would have to
spend the holiday with Spokeswoman Kimberly Lee-Dolkivna, who also had
to take care of the sons of Vladik Dukov and his wife Tiffany.
The women were joined by the other students from the group of 13 who had
taken collars to protest Maria Elena�s trial, along with Victor, Jason,
Kim�s sister Cynthia and her husband, and a couple of Jason�s friends
from his Church group. The group carried the food over to the university
and dropped it off at the Church. There were over 20 people present, so
one of the Priests came outside to give them a short service and
blessing. From there they boarded a trolley and traveled downtown to the
Plaza of the Ancients, where thousands of naked criminals and Church
penitents already had gathered.
Maria Elena was surprised that the square was quiet, because she would
have expected that such a large crowd would be making more noise.
However, the collared subjects understood that they were about to
perform a important service for the Church and the Danubian nation,
something that all of them took seriously. The tradition went back 3,000
years, to the beginning of Danubia. The weight of those three millennia
fell heavily upon both the marchers and the Clergy members as they
prepared for the ceremony.
Clergy members and Temple attendants spread out around the plaza with
buckets of white and back body-paint. Other Clergy members pulled tarps
off huge piles of wooden torches that had been deposited at foot of the
steps of the Temple. Behind the torches were piles of arm-slings and
basins full of oil were lined up at the top of the stairs.
There was a religious service on the plaza and an explanation of the
significance of the Day of the Dead for those who were marching for the
first time. Maria Elena was pleased that her comprehension of Danubian
was good enough that she actually understood a lot of what Grand Prophet
# 4 was saying. Following the ceremony and several hymns, the Grand
Prophet picked up an unlit torch and a sling. He called a naked young
woman to step forward and stand next to him. Maria Elena�s heart skipped
a beat, because the young woman was Grand Duchess Anyia.
At first fear and hatred rose up in the Colombian, but then she took a
closer look at Anyia�s face. She could tell that Anyia had changed,
because all of the arrogance, greed, and cruelty that had been part of
the Grand Duchess�s expression had vanished. She was a totally different
person, quietly and shyly doing what she was told to do. Grand Prophet #
4 told Anyia to kneel in front of him, which she quickly did. She
assumed the proper position, with her arms extended in front of her, her
forehead touching the ground, her knees spread, and her back arched to
properly display her vulva and sphincter. She had knelt facing the Grand
Prophet, so her body was lewdly displayed to everyone standing in the
Plaza.
The Grand Prophet told Anyia to stand up and face the crowd. He handed
her the sling, which she placed over her shoulder. He then handed her
the torch, which she put into the sling. The Prophet explained how best
to carry the torch to avoid muscle fatigue in the arms or back cramps
while Anyia demonstrated. When the Prophet explained how not to carry
the torch, Anyia demonstrated the incorrect holds as well. The Prophet
explained how to light the torch and how to quickly put it out if
necessary, with Anyia continuing her demonstration. Once Anyia�s task
was over, she set the torch down and resumed her kneeling position in
front of the Grand Prophet.
As she watched Anyia�s performance on the steps of the Temple of the
Ancients, Criminal # 101025 realized that she had something to be
grateful for. She was ordinary: an ordinary criminal leading an ordinary
life. No one would pay any special attention to her apart from Victor
and her university friends. No television cameras would follow her; no
commentators would have anything to say about her; no fans would worry
about what she was doing and try to imitate her. Her anonymity was
something for which she could give thanks to the Saints, or in this
country, to the Ancients, as they were called. She would not have
exchanged places with Anyia for anything.
Maria Elena understood that there was no point in hating the Grand
Duchess, because there was nothing left to hate. Anyia now was nothing
more than a possession of the Church, just as Maria Elena was an asset
belonging to the Ministry of Justice. Anyia�s life was no longer her
own: she had to rise, or kneel, or pose for a demonstration on the
orders of the Clergy. In fact, in a way Maria Elena now felt sorry for
Anyia, because of her notoriety. She felt that the Church, in its
triumph over the Grand Duchess, was parading her in front of the public,
making sure the world understood she lost her authority and now was
nothing more than living property. Maria Elena realized that, for
herself, the fall in her life was not nearly as significant� really, how
much worse was it to be a collared criminal than a drug courier? But�
for the Duchess�
The Grand Prophet was not finished using the Grand Duchess as a
demonstration prop. He ordered her to rise and again to face the crowd.
He explained the significance of the body paint that everyone in the
march would have to wear. Meanwhile two Priests quickly covered Anyia�s
body and face with white paint. One of the Priests highlighted her with
black details, which totally transformed her appearance and made her
look ghoulish. Over the next hour everyone in the Plaza would undergo
the same transformation. Anyia knelt upright facing the Plaza while she
waited for her fellow marchers to be painted and to get ready for a
night of walking.
While Anyia knelt in silence, the Clergy members organized the Plaza
crowd into several lines. The body paint came first, then the torches
and the slings, and finally fire for the torches. While the marchers
were being painted, Church bells rang across the city to announce the
beginning of the first evening of mourning and repentance. After Maria
Elena�s friends and Victor were painted, she was frightened by how
different they looked. It seemed that there was something more to their
transformation than just a crude paint job. She took a deep breath as
she felt the cold wet paint cover her body, because she was beginning to
feel apprehensive. The low, sad pitch of the church bells certainly did
not help her mood: unlike the higher-pitched ringing of church bells in
Latin America, there was nothing cheerful about the sound of Danubian
bells.
The sun set; and the bells suddenly stopped. The city fell into complete
silence; it was so quiet that Maria Elena could hear the breathing of
everyone around her and the hiss of the blood flowing though her own
ears. The silence overwhelmed her.
The Grand Prophet handed a torch to Anyia. The Grand Duchess walked
along the row of basins to light the oil. She let out an ear-piercing
whistle to let everyone know that the march was beginning. The marchers
closest to the Temple approached the steps, picked up torches and
slings, lit their torches in the oil, and passed through the main
Temple. On the other side of the building they separated into two lines,
one going north and the other going south.
Maria Elena followed Carmen and the other norteamericanos up the
steps, her thoughts still on Anyia. She dipped her torch into the
burning oil and then glanced over to see that Anyia was still standing
next to the Grand Prophet. Anyia would march, but because she was by
herself she would have to trail along behind the Clergy members. Maria
Elena felt ever-increasing sympathy for her former nemesis; not only was
the Duchess a public spectacle, but she had come to the Temple alone and
her only companionship over the next two days would be the Clergy.
Maria Elena�s line of marchers plunged into the darkness of the forest
behind the Temple. The night was overcast and pitch-black, so all she
could see was the line of torches stretching out ahead of her and the
light from her own torch reflected off Carmen�s painted back. At first
the foliage from the forest obscured the dots of fire stretching off
into the distance and the Columbian could see only a few torches ahead
of her. However, eventually the marchers emerged onto the river beach
and climbed up onto the main street heading north. The line of lighted
dots extended as far as she could see� seemingly into infinity.
Maria Elena became aware that the marchers were not alone. Huddled on
either side of the road were crowds of silent Danubia civilians, all
wearing black prayer robes. The worshipers had covered their heads and
were barely visible in the dim light. More than anything they looked
like a sea of lost souls, shrouded ghosts in the Realm of the Dead.
At that point Maria Elena experienced a feeling that nearly everyone in
the march experienced; a sensation of leaving the Realm of the Living.
The line of burning dots extending into the darkness, the pitch black of
the night, and the shrouded figures that did not seem human all gave her
the sensation she no longer was alive.
----------
Whether or not she was still alive, Maria Elena realized one thing; she
no longer was in Danubia. She was in Pereira, back in Colombia. She had
never left Colombia, because she had never broken up with Jose Pablo.
They were both at the university, and when they were not in class they
were hanging out with their friends. It was a good life they had, one
full of promise. Each got along just fine with the other�s family. Drug
trafficking was something that she heard about on the news, but not
something she had any experience with first hand. And Jose Pablo� not
dead, not dead at all. He had never joined the Colombian Army, and was
nowhere close to that platoon when it was ambushed. She saw, in vivid
detail, what her life would have been like had she done just two things
differently the year before.
Maria Elena was still on campus when a young woman came up to her and
slapped her hard across the face, knocking her down. She looked up to
see herself, the self of the alternate reality, the self who was
well-dressed and leading a happy productive life.
�Why did you do this to us? Why? You killed me, you killed the man we
both loved, and you killed yourself! Why?�
�I don�t know��
With that, Pereira faded into darkness.
Maria Elena spent the rest of the night badly shaken by that� dream� or
vision� or whatever the hell that experience was. Anyhow, she no longer
had to guess how her life would have been had she not wasted it; she now
knew for certain.
