Hello dear forum, dear authors and readers
I wish everyone a belated Happy Christmas! This has probably been a very unusual year for most of us. For all of you who have had difficulties, I hope the new year will be a happier one. Please keep going and don’t let it get you down.
I have written another little story - maybe it will bring a smile to some of you. Best wishes from Germany - Brillenstein
DAS INSTITUT Snow-covered mountain peaks jerked nervously past the windows. Further down, boring forest, then garish green with moronic cows on it. Whitewashed houses with shit-brown balconies. Finest fretwork, boring as shit. Switzerland, that’s what it is. The most boring country ever. It was still quite early in the school year and my father raced south with me after an extremely scant breakfast. For the first few hours we had shouted at each other - i.e. I had shouted at him and he had limited himself to saying “no” and smoking. Now we had no strength left for that and I had disappeared under my headphones. Volume and hatred at maximum! What did he think he was achieving? That would be the seventh school in my life. Three of them boarding schools. Flunked out everywhere. Or bunked off. Or flunked out because of bunking out. Suddenly I had to smile: after all, I’d pushed him to the max so he was smoking in his sacred BMW735i (Yes, the very one Jason Stratham drove in ‘The Transporter’)… uuuuh, naughty girl. And also, sadly, I would have to leave the Swiss ‘Institute for Higher Daughters’ again after a few days. The face of my father, Sir CEO, looked strained. Actually, you would think that adults would become more relaxed in the course of their lives, because of the experiences they have. Serenity and all that. Why couldn’t he just accept me as I am? Some children are just not meant for school. Or university. Or whatever he and my ma came up with for me… my gosh, I just turned 16! I really don’t know what I want yet! I just know it’s not what they want! The car took a tight turn for the umpteenth time, my stomach and I were pushed ungently against the car door. Sh*t - what’s up now? For what felt like an hour we’ve been winding our way up one switchback up the mountain and down the next into a mini-valley. Narrow pass roads up, gravel roads down. Is this school behind the seven mountains by the seven dwarfs? 700 kilometres from civilisation? Is that how they’re going to force me to stay, because you have to walk seven years through the forest to get to the next town? Forget it - I’m leaving anyway. When we finally reached the boarding school - at the end you had to ride through a dark, black forest for seven weeks - it turned out to be a knight’s castle. Full of creepiness. With grey towers, gate, portcullis, moat and all. Father parked the car in the narrow courtyard. I decided to make the right impression right away and turned my music up even louder so that I was guaranteed not to hear anything. Mr. CEO almost had to carry me into the director’s room - which I found funny again. On the way there, we startled a couple of chicks in some kind of evening dresses and thick glasses. Boy, were they ugly. All right, the ball of nerds and debiles - I wouldn’t stay an entire day here even if I had to walk through the night to the nearest tractor driver. Then we were sitting in one of those knight’s halls, my father was talking to a dreadful woman who I thought was the headmistress: High-waisted, floor-length dress, completely stiff and glasses with a chain around her neck - horror show. They squawked for quite a while and meaningful glances kept wandering over to me. I put my legs nice and wide on their desk so that the ugly auntie had to look at my knickers all the time. Just like that, as a greeting. Suddenly my father pulled my headphones away.
“Heyyy?!” “Katharina, this is Frau- " “How many times have I told you to call me Cat?” “Cat-tharina, this is Frau von Sillenbach.” “Correct, I am the head of the ‘Institute for Higher Daughters’.” “Who cares?” “Well, Fräulein Katharina, you had a long journey. You must be thirsty. Perhaps a little fatigued too- " “Dude, do you guys always talk so pompous here?” “I’m sorry, Frau von Sillenbach, but you’re hearing it for yourself now- hopeless, but on the other hand-” “On the other hand, our house is predestined for just such cases. Disciplinam et correctura. I guarantee you, Herr von Fallersleben, in two years you will not recognise your daughter.” “Two years??? Hahhahahaa… I won’t stay here two days.” “Not only will she have passed the exams with a top grade-” “Dad? You do realise I’m not staying here?” “She will also be a respectable, young and obedient noblewoman.” “My ass!” “Once you sign our contract, we guarantee 100% success.” “I’m sorry, Catherine. Your mother and I have been patient with you long enough. This time…” “What???” “This time you’ll have to learn the hard way.” All of a sudden, my father didn’t seem like a CEO and a global player anymore, but rather old and tired. I almost felt sorry for him. But fuck it. This is my life. “Sorry dad, but that’s not how it works.” I grinned in the old saddleback’s face, took the glass and drank it down. My old man was still hanging like a gulp of water in the chair next to me, looking completely out of it - all the while the ugly cow was grinning stupidly at me… “Why” was my last thought before I slumped.
When I regained consciousness, I was obviously lying on a bed. Yes, it was a bed. At least that’s what my fingers told me, because I couldn’t see anything. Although not quite correct: I saw light… well somehow… something… at least it was bright. Brightness with spots in between. Involuntarily I squinted my eyes and tried to make out something. Nothing. Everything around me remained a single bright mush. Panic rose in me. What had happened? What had they done to me? Dad? I felt wave after wave of heat coursing through my body. Speaking of my body. I felt under the covers… this… these weren’t my clothes?! Who? When? I sensed smooth fabric, some kind of dress. In the bed? Oh shit, that was a nightgown? Who wears shit like that from the last century anymore? I really needed to get out of here. The whole thing was starting to give me the creeps. Abruptly I straightened up in the bed.
“Ah, you’re awake.” Said a voice from nowhere. “You’ve had a good night’s sleep since yesterday afternoon. Not bad, sweetie.” I turned my head in the direction of the voice. Obviously a young girl. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recognise anyone. “Cute when you blink your eyes like that. Really. But don’t bother, it won’t work. You’ll have to get used to it. Sorry, you’re in the club now.” “What?!! I’m blind???” I shouted out this sentence. It just burst out of me! I felt like my heart was racing and I felt dizzy at the same time, like I was about to pass out again. “Oh sweetie - calm down. I know it’s a lot to take in all at once right now. We all felt that way at the beginning. I’ll make it short: first, you’re not blind, you’re just severely short-sighted. Secondly, this isn’t forever - at least it doesn’t have to be. Well, could be… theoretically… never mind. Third, you’d better get used to it sooner rather than later, or the dragon will finish you off.” “I want to go home right now! Where’s my mobile phone? I need to talk to my dad on the phone!!! Now!” “Well, we all want that. Especially a mobile phone. But you can forget it. By the way, I’m O - Orphelia, actually - and it looks like we’re room sisters. What’s your name?” “Fuck you! I want to get out of here now!”
My voice rolled over. In a wild panic, I threw back the covers and tried to stand up. But still seeing nothing, I stepped on a pair of slippers neatly placed in front of the bed, I buckled away, lost my balance, my right foot slammed against something very hard, pain rose inside me and I fell back onto the bed. I couldn’t do anything about it, but immediately hot tears welled up on my face and I cried like I had done perhaps the last time I was seven years old. Suddenly something changed in the bright, billowing mush around me. A spot moved slowly towards me, became darker, more elongated and for a moment I thought I recognised a silhouette. “Oh sweetie. You have to be a little more careful now. At least while you don’t have your glasses yet. Come here.” I felt a caring arm touch me and pull me towards it. My wet face was pressed against a soft shoulder. I smelled hair, sensed a hand caressing me and felt like I was seven again. I was feeling so alone and unhappy. Spontaneously I wanted to hug O, to crawl into her - but what was it? Her body was very hard, as if she was trapped in a barrel? All hard? “Wss? What’s that?” “Oh that… well, take another deep breath little one. Here comes the next scare for you: This is our, shall we say, school uniform here at the Institute. Sorry, no nice news for you again. But you are here in the house of corrections. Disciplinam et correctura. This is a corset. You understand? Learning posture, my ass. Always upright and so… well, the truth is they want us not to run. It’s the same with glasses. You come in here, you get ten dioptres. If you already have glasses, they just add them on. +10 for long-sighted people, -10 for short-sighted people. The deal is: become an obedient lady, make your parents happy, write a super degree and the ten diopters are taken back. Problem: for every fuck-up you do in between, you get punished. I’m at -16 now… so, that’s the story in a nutshell.” I stared at the dark spot in front of me. My eyes wandered around the room, of which I could see nothing, but absolutely nothing. This was supposed to be my new life all of a sudden now? This was what my ma and pa had come up with to make me a good daughter in the end? I couldn’t believe it. Minus ten diopwhatever? Punishment. Corrections. I couldn’t understand a word.
“Now get your mouth back shut. We’ve got to get you started now - but, Ha, first things first: you still haven’t told me your name. You are?” “Cat.” I said in a toneless voice. “Cool. Cat and O. O and Cat. Now that you’re as good as blind, I’ll pass you your clothes. Panties, tights and the special vest we all have to wear under our corsets.”
Willlessly, I followed O’s instructions and dressed myself piece by piece. As if in a trance, I raised my arms and for the first time in my life felt a corset close around my upper body. It was like a second, firm skin that stretched from my breasts down to my hips. As O tightened the first strings my whole body was forced into an upright position. I fought tears again and yet at the same time felt a special change begin. My spine became completely straight, my flanks tightly strapped, my belly flat, but my chest pushed forward gently. With a sigh, I inhaled deeply and felt that my hard nipples were pressed against the firm fabric of the corset. I felt humiliated. But there was more. My cheeks were flushed, my ears hot. And deep inside me, another feeling was spreading, irritating, surprising… I was aroused. I was confused in the extreme. What was happening right now? My whole life so far was turned upside down. Where was the Cat who fought for her independence every second? The petulant teenager who fiercely resisted every restriction on her freedom? Fight for your right to party! Fuck the system! Get a hold of yourself. Don’t take any shit from me, Cat! What’s wrong with you? “Thanks O - I know you only mean well. But I need to see the headmistress now. Please, take me to Frau von Sillenbach.” “Girl, girl, I can tell you’re still on a rant. It’s your life. I can’t order you around. But if I may give you a hint: You’ll meet the dragon soon enough. I mean, you’re not getting out of here anyway. Well, in your present condition. You can’t see three centimetres, and in case you didn’t know, we’re in the middle of the Swiss Alps. 76 km from the nearest village. And I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet: if you leave the institute grounds without permission, i.e. without transponder clearance, the ten diopters are irreversible… so just in case you think you can sneak away. Trust me sweetheart, people have come up with great ideas like that before you and regretted it bitterly.““But you can’t just put up with that. I mean, this is deprivation of liberty!”. “Deprivation of liberty? No siree, that’s what our parents signed. § Section 12, paragraph 3 ‘In order to achieve the objectives guaranteed above, the Institute may use any measure it deems appropriate. In doing so, physical integrity must only be guaranteed insofar as this does not jeopardise the above-mentioned contractual objective’. In other words, you have us on the hook.” Everything in me screamed ‘NO! I don’t want this. I’m not going along with this.’ And I got even angrier when I thought about the fact that my parents had sent me here with their eyes wide open. “Cat… believe me, I know very well what you’re going through. I was no different a year ago. Things have changed a bit since then… I can’t explain it to you very well… but maybe we should go downstairs first, I’ll introduce you to the other girls and most importantly, we’ll get you some glasses first so you can see again. Huh? What do you think about that? They have a pretty big selection of really fancy glasses downstairs.” Yes, that was true. I finally had to get back among the sighted. This shadowy flurry around me was still driving me crazy. I couldn’t think straight at all. First see clearly again and then see further. “All right, let’s go for it. Glasses. Even if that doesn’t mean I agree with all the madness. Will you take me downstairs?” O snorted. “Sweetie, sure I’ll lead you - but shouldn’t we finish dressing you first? I mean, you look hot in just panties and a corset too, but we’re a respectable institute for superior daughters here.” I felt myself turning bright red. I had completely forgotten that I was still standing half naked in front of my new roommate. A short time later I had slipped on a long dress - dark blue, as O described it to me - and put on strange high-heeled lace-up boots. The fashion at this school seemed rather two hundred years old - how fortunate that they didn’t still tie bear skins around you. “You’ll be all right, Cat. Come give me your arm. I’ll guide you.”
A little unsteadily I reached my right arm out, O took me by the hand while at the same time she grabbed me around the waist with her left. Still seeing nothing, all my remaining senses were on high alert. O’s touch made me aware of my new corset. I felt my tightly laced boots, the pantyhose, the long, unaccustomed stiff dress. I felt my laced chest. My much more erect posture, the emphasis on my womanly figure - again, to my confusion, I found that the whole situation was quite arousing me. Carefully, O led me out of the room and we descended a stone staircase. What else did I expect in a knight’s castle? The air was cool and pleasantly fresh. And when had I last thought about the smell of air, let alone opened my sensors to it at all? My visual impressions, however, were still most modest. Perhaps the pale mush around me was now a little greyer than it had been in the upper room. My feet sensed a hallway carpet. My ears picked up muffled sounds behind closed doors. O was chattering away at me all the time in a soothing singsong. It was all about frames, the correct nose bridge, lens sizes, the correct eye distance and more words I had never heard in my entire life. Finally we reached another room. I was manoeuvred onto a chair - even that wasn’t so easy for me as a new corset wearer: O held me by both hands and I dropped backwards into a nothingness and plopped down a bit gruffly on my buttocks.
“Sooo sweetie, here we go. I think there’s nothing more exciting than finding a matching pair of glasses for a person. And with you, it’s even your virgin frame… if that’s not hot!” “O would you just put some glasses on me so I can finally see again.” “Hooo hooo, take it easy with the young horsies. First we need your exact stats…” “You know what they are, you’ve said it a dozen times: minus ten diopmetres.” “Where did the silver dragon save you? Ah, there you are: von Fallersleben, Katharina. Katharina - Cat? Of course. So watch out. Yes, you have minus ten diopTRIES, but there are a few more values to consider. It says here: slight astigmatism, sphere -10.0 right and left. Cylinder right 0.25, left 0.35, axis 100° and 80° and very important, the pupil distance right 31.5, left 32. It may seem strange to you now, but they all have their meaning. You’ll notice when you play glasses swap with the other girls later on.”
tbc …