07 - LISA IS NAKED

Lisa Griffiths was in her one hundred and twentieth week of strict solitary confinement. After so long in this position she was finding it harder to get through the days and the effort of fighting down the horror was getting too much for her. Each day she woke up with a feeling of surprise that she should still be alive and in her right mind. Those first days of  sheer horror might be two years in the past, but she continued to feel,  each time her eyes opened to face yet another day of hopeless captivity, the despair of her first seconds after stepping into that tiny cell. Her days were still devoted to forcing her mind to enter another world and leave this claustrophobic hell behind her, but the effort was growing harder each day her ordeal came that bit nearer the end. At the back of her mind was a growing fear that her last few days of solitary might be the ones that consigned her mind to the horrors of incurable madness.

 She was expecting to be allowed out in three weeks time and was standing upright as ever in her cell, mentally working on the plot of her seventh novel and thinking it must be mid-day, when the door made a strange noise - the first time she had heard anything like it. To her surprise, it swung open and two guards became the first people Lisa has seen for two years and four months. And a smiling Hatchet-Face told her to come out.

"I must have lost count somewhere along the line" said a delighted Lisa as she followed the guards into the reception hall where she had been stripped and shaved more than two years ago. "I thought I had three more weeks coming to me!" With a feeling of shame, she saw that she could not control her trembling - or her tears.

"Your counting was correct, Lisa! But the Justice Department looked at your case and your excellent record and decided to take off a few weeks for good conduct. You will have the weeks given to you in some other form, so your punishment isn't quite over. But the worst of it is. You will not be locked up again. Please sit here in this chair!"

Lisa obeyed. She was ecstatically happy to be out early and totally unbothered about any substitute punishment. Hatchet Face hurried off and returned with a pair of scissors, a bowl of hot water, soap and a razor. Soon her long golden hair which had grown down to her waist by now was lying all around her on the floor. Her head was shaved until it was utterly smooth.

"Luckily for you, you have a well-shaped head!" said the guard, desperately forcing herself to keep her hands off this exquisite piece of womanhood. She had drooled over Lisa for one hundred and twenty weeks except for her annual leave and the week she had been sick. Now she had the warmth and musky feminine odour of her favourite inmate close enough to touch and smell. It was sheer Heaven!

Lisa was told to sweep up and dispose of all the clippings and shorn tresses, finally bagging them up. She was then ordered to stand to attention, while the Guard told her about her continuing punishment now that she was finally an ex-solitary inmate.

"As you know, all solitary inmates continue to be punished by being barefoot for the remainder of their sentence. A woman serving a second term will lose her upper garments and be bare-breasted for the remainder of her imprisonment. You are the first woman to be awarded three terms and in addition you served another woman's second term. This means that you will remain naked for the remaining months of your sentence. In addition, you will keep your head permanently shaven and any sign of growth will be punished by six strokes of the cane to be administered to your bottom. So be careful to keep that scalp smooth in future"

And if you don't I hope I'm the one who gets to cane you! was her unspoken thought! She pictured the sound of the whooshing cane and the sharp crack on those lovely cheeks and the red lines she was drawing on that soft skin and felt her loins throb and burn.

 "Further to this,  on the first day of each month, until you are released, you will be publicly flogged on your back with a leather strap. The number of strokes will never be less than twenty and never more than sixty. The exact number will be decided at the time and you will know the number the previous night."

************************************************
 Samantha, working in the field near the solitary building, was the first to see Lisa emerge. She was not surprised that her much missed and eagerly awaited friend  was nude, although she had hoped that they would at least allow her to wear briefs. What truly shocked her was Lisa's shaven head. No one else had been shaved after being freed from the punishment cells. She looked at her supervisor, who nodded, and ran over to Lisa. She stopped short of touching her, but Hatchet - Face smiled for a change.

"Have a good hug, you two! Then get back to work, Samantha. Then we get Lisa over to the infirmary for a check-up. If she's OK we'll have you both working side by side before the day ends!"

Lisa put both arms round Samantha and kissed her on the lips, drawing back straight away as she wondered if this might not be to the liking of her escort. But Hatchet - Face was smiling tolerantly and Samantha’s eyes were shut in ecstasy, so she kissed her again and two tongues rubbed against each other. Then the guard coughed and the tender reunion was over.

The prison doctor gave her a very thorough examination. As a healer, she hated to think of people like Lisa being sick and untreated in that hellish place and  was determined to ensure any damage done to her was put right as soon as possible. But this girl was incredibly fit! She asked her several questions and again was pleasantly surprised to see that her mental processes seemed to have escaped the degenerative effects of prolonged solitude. He finally returned her to Hatchet - Face's care.

"Here she is, Rosanne! Fit as a fiddle and ready to get her substitute punishment at any time you see fit!"

 Lisa was then taken to see the Governor. He looked a great deal more embarrassed than she felt! This was the first time she had been naked in the actual presence of a man, but she knew she had been visible both to Menendes and, just over a year earlier, her own father, so this was really nothing new. She stood with her arms at her side, making no attempt to hide her private parts. Because they had only shaved her head and she stood straight as ever  he couldn't see much of her womanhood although Lisa was amused to see his eyes wander down to her generous blonde bush only to jerk guiltily back a number of times!

"Congratulations on completing your confinement successfully. I expect you have been told that your final three weeks are to be replaced with another punishment which you may chose to receive at any time in the next three weeks. You will receive twenty one strokes of a leather strap on your back - one for each day's solitary remitted. Or you may choose to go back and serve the final three weeks. And never fear! Twenty one days is all you'd get."

"I'll take the flogging, Sir! I don't know that I could face that cell so soon after getting out! Not now that I've smelt fresh air again after so long. And I don't choose to wait. There's no time like the present!"

"Very well! I should have mentioned that the flogging will be witnessed by all inmates and staff. You may remain in my ante-room until we get things ready for you. Maybe half an hour" he looked at Rosanne, or Hatchet-face as Lisa still thought of her! She nodded. "So! Thirty minutes it is. I hope you show the same courage as you have during the last one hundred and twenty weeks! I'm sure you will. You will find plenty of reading material to amuse yourself with while you wait!"

She went into the other room, picked up an English newspaper and started to catch up on a world from which she had been excluded for so long, and sat in a comfortable chair. Soon she decided it was too comfortable and she got up and sat on the floor. Even the carpet felt unnaturally soft and she almost longed for the cool clean touch of polished marble against her skin! But only the marble - not the awful confining walls. The Governor was as good as his word and in thirty minutes she was marched between two escorts to a wooden construction on the opposite side of the prison enclosure to the solitary block. They secured both arms and legs and she was spread out like a St Andrew's cross.

Rosanne had been given the unpleasant task of whipping her and she whispered some encouragement before laying on the strokes with great force and at five second intervals.

"Don't worry! This won't break the skin and even if it does the cuts will be very superficial. There'll be no permanent marks, I promise. But it will hurt, because I am a strong woman and I hold nothing back, so you'll need to be brave!"

Hatchet-Face was right about it hurting! Lisa had never been hit by anyone until getting punched bloody by Sandra and that hadn't hurt at all at the time, the excitement of the novel experience of fighting being her only sensation. But this relentless strapping was hellish! She quickly regretted refusing the piece of wood to bite on! This useful aid to bearing pain had been used before and was covered with deep tooth marks left by generations of agonised defaulters. She had grimaced with disgust and politely declined the offer! She knew she would gratefully accept it for her eight remaining floggings!

Rosanne was good at her job and kept her promise to leave no deep cuts, hitting her ferociously hard but always with the flat of the strap. When it was all over, her back was red all over but there were no more than a few trickles of blood from abrasions which would heal in just a few days. Then the shaven headed twenty year old was released and taken back to the doctor.

"I see you chose not to go back to the cell, then!" said the doctor cheerfully. "I don't blame you. After a taste of freedom those last days might have been very damaging. Now let's examine today's damage!"

She washed the blood away with some lint dipped in antiseptic. She flinched but made no sound and he apologised.

"Don't be sorry, doctor. It hurt a lot less than the strapping!"

She was told there was no need for a dressing. Not that one would have been allowed, as it would have meant she was no longer naked. Thanking the doctor, she was led away and soon found herself hoeing the rocky soil of the prison gardens side by side with a delighted Samantha. The two worked hard until the day's work was over but had plenty of time to talk and the rest of the afternoon went by very quickly, as would the remaining months of her imprisonment.

"Remember that day when you asked why some women were barefoot" asked Samantha.

"Yes! I said it must be very uncomfortable stepping on these razor sharp stones. Take my word, Sammy - it is! But I've eight months to get used to it!"

For three weeks Lisa shaved her head every morning, getting Samantha to feel it and ensure no bristle was left before they all lined up for the morning inspection, standing outside their hut in all weathers. It was wet and windy at this time and sheets of rain were driven across the grim yard as the guards, dry under their capes walked up and down the line of cold inmates, Lisa being the coldest and Sandra, now on the mend mentally, the second coldest.

The day Lisa didn't shave to the satisfaction of the inspecting officer was particularly stormy with the wind howling across the prison buildings and the rain forming puddles inches deep. Both Samantha and Lisa overslept by few minutes. If they had gone to sleep at lights out, all would have been well, but they had talked into the small hours as well as kissed, innocently enough at first, but very passionately after a while and it got more steamy as the hours ticked by! Finally Sandra hissed at the pair not to be such bloody fools and get some sleep.

"You'll need all your strength for tomorrow - you're both working outside all day and it's not easy, I can tell you in this weather - or had you forgotten in your mad lust for each others' young and nubile bodies! And don't be selfish Lisa. Sam can't afford to get into trouble. She needs all the good conduct marks she can get!"

This shamed Lisa into getting into her own bed and letting Samantha get to sleep, but she found it hard to get off. Some of the effects of her long incarceration were beginning to make a belated appearance after she had successfully kept the horror of her predicament at bay for so long. Night-time was not happy for her these days. When she did wake up both she and Samantha were behind the rest in the race to be ready.

"I'll shave myself, Sammy without your help! Don't get yourself in trouble! I'll be fine and it's so dark and stormy they'll not check me that thoroughly!"

Lisa might not need to dress, unlike the rest. But she always took a long time shaving and it was never without thoroughly going all over that naked head that she felt confident enough to face scrutiny. She felt a bit of bristle, but had no time to go over that patch again so she hurried out and took her place in line with only seconds to spare.

As luck would have it, the inspecting officer was Hatchet-Face, a woman who was thoroughness personified. It would take more than a drop of rain to make her skimp  on her duties! The isolation cells were empty at present, and the whole complex locked up and deserted, so she was on normal duties for the time being until some foolish woman stepped out of line, which might not be for a long while. Since Lisa had come out and the signs of what could happen to seriously misbehaving inmates were there for all to see, there had been an amazing falling off in acts of indiscipline. No one wanted to end up like her, naked, bald and facing a monthly public flogging!

Lisa cursed under her breath as the woman made her way steadily along the line of women, taking her time to inspect each one and ordering the odd one here and there to be placed on report. She was getting colder and colder and wetter and wetter and only wanted to start working and getting some warmth into her body. And she knew that her scalp was not one-hundred percent shiny. In fact it was not shiny at all, and several tiny golden hairs could be seen. And the bitch had a flashlight with her!

Finally she got to Lisa and shone the torch onto her head. Lisa felt herself going red in the face. She prided herself on her own thoroughness and knew that her romantic session last night had caused her to fall below her own high standards this morning. Six of the best were soon to be marking her bum, and there was no escape for her - not from this hawk-eyed cow!

"Well, Lisa! We have been careless today. What happened? Couldn't we sleep?"

This was her chance perhaps to avoid a caning. But she refused to plead and make excuses.

"I stayed awake too long, Ma'am. It won't happen again I hope. I promise to try and do better in future."

"Are you trying to get out of your caning?"

"Oh, no Ma'am. That's not what I meant! Surely you know by this time that I'm not afraid to take my punishment!"

"Very well! I award six strokes in accordance with your tariff as an ex-solitary inmate and eighteen for talking back. Do you want to appear formally before the governor or take my punishment now?"

"Take your punishment now, Ma'am."

Since Lisa had been at the end of the line, she was told to walk over to the trestle which was always outside the girls' hut and from which many a brisk crack of wood on skin could be heard from time to time!

She bent over it so that she was almost doubled up. Lisa hoped that they would not tie her hands and feet as was the usual practice. She wouldn't move under her caning and the delay was making her colder and colder. Her head ached terribly as the rain and wind battered its shaven nakedness. She might have had a not too close shave, but it still felt bloody cold! She recollected how eating an ice cream too quickly had caused her similar pain in the past, but that had always faded soon enough. But this pain would last all day until she got indoors again!

Of course, the pettifogging Hatchet-face had to secure her! And she had to read out her pompous bit of ceremonial before setting to work on her!

"Lisa Griffiths, imprisoned for theft and ex-solitary inmate, you have violated the terms of your continuing punishment by having a perceptible growth of hair on your scalp. For this you will receive the statutory six strokes of a rattan cane upon the buttocks. For failing to address me with what I feel to be the respect due to me and, I suspect, trying to wriggle out of your caning, I award a further eighteen strokes. Do you have anything to say?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I was not trying to get out of my caning. I'm not scared of a bit of pain. And I repeat that you ought to know me better than to think so badly of me! And now, for God's sake get it over with. I'm perished!"

"You're lucky I don't give you eighteen more on top of the eighteen I've already awarded. But, as you say, you've proved many times that you're no coward and I'm sorry to have said you were! Are we happy now?"

"Yes, thanks Ma'am!"

And then the swishing started. Each time the cane struck her cheeks, sprays of water were thrown up. As it proceeded she wondered whether the wet was a bad thing after all. She was pretty sure that it was making for a decidedly less painful time than it would be if the weather were dry. In any case, the throbbing in  her buttocks eased within the first hour and she was hardly aware of it for the rest of the day as she and Samantha toiled away in the open, drenched with rain and buffeted by the wind the whole time.

They had just unloaded twenty heavy crates from a truck and were waiting for further instructions when the first chance came for the two friends to talk.

"Does it hurt, Lisa?"

"A bit. I think the rain helped. When I get caned again and if it's a dry day, I'll be able to make a comparison. It's a big day for me, Sammy! My brother got lots of canings at his school but Dad wouldn't hear of me going to a place that used any form of corporal punishment. It was interesting to experience what George did. Mind you, I bet he never got twenty four all at the same time! The wimp never got more than six! Wait until I tell him! Won't he be jealous!"

"You might joke, Lisa, but it didn't sound too funny to me! I should have helped you shave. I wish you'd let me! You know how I love helping you!"

"You mustn't risk losing any points, Sammy. Sandra was right last night. I was selfish and I'm glad it was me and not you who got it! I get out in August whatever happens. I spoke to a nice man from our Embassy, called Potts. He says it's guaranteed and my ticket's booked! But you could lose loads of remission if you aren't careful. I can't let that happen to you, my darling. If you ever get in trouble, I'll always try to take the blame. I promise!"

"You're such a friend Lisa. I never had a really good friend before. It's been a very bad life for me up until I met you. I'll maybe tell you about it one day. But not now. It hurts to talk about it, even to you my love!"

Then a guard came up and told them to carry the cases over to an open store. Each case was heavy and needed both of them to carry it. By the time they had finished it was time to go inside for lunch.

"I wonder what was in those cases?" mused Samantha as they sat side by side at the same table and ate. Lisa made sure she was close enough to be in constant contact. it was so wonderful to feel another body against her after two years of utter loneliness!

"Most likely nothing but rocks, Sammy. I don't think they're anything useful. Just a way of making us sweat! Certainly it can't be anything perishable or delicate - not if it stays out in the open in this weather!"

"I was sweating and that's for sure. I bet I smell!"

Lisa leant sideways and sniffed her friend's armpit.

"Yes, you do. But a nice smell! The nicest! Sammy?"

"What, Lisa?"

"Come and visit me in Wales when you get out. In fact, come and live with me. I've got loads of money, you know. My grandfather left me a fortune in trust and I get to get my sticky little paws on it the minute I get home! Come and live with me. I'll start looking around for a cottage in the middle of nowhere - or a house in town if you prefer to live in a city."

"The country would be lovely. We both like the open air, don't we?"

Having thus settled their future they got to their feet, the break being over and followed the guard outside. Lisa gasped again as the rain hit her unprotected head. Soon that confounded pain was slicing through her again. Samantha saw she was in some discomfort.

"The bottom still hurts does it? I'll kiss it better later!"

"My head hurts, darling Sammy. You've no idea what it's like being bald!"

"I get the same in this weather. But I suppose you get it worse, like you seem to get everything worse. It's only a week before your next public flogging. I'll be there after to kiss your back better. I wonder if the same bitch will do it?

"Most likely! There's nobody in solitary is there? We're all good girls these days. And when I am paraded before them to be whipped as an example of what can happen, they'll be even better behaved!"

"Why don't you go to the governor and ask him to let you off the beatings? He is quite a nice guy. I know he likes you."

"It's not up to him, Sammy. The Justice Ministry revised the rules for ex solitary people to take my case into account. Bare feet for one offence, bare feet and topless for two, naked for three, and naked, shaven headed and regularly whipped for four. I don't think they've dreamt up a schedule for five. That sixteen extra weeks means I am considered to have served four terms. And to think my father had just about managed to get me off them and I told him not to."

"You must feel really stupid not to have let him!"

"Not really. I wasn't having him dig me out of this one, Sammy. It's my life and my responsibility to take what comes. That twenty one were bearable and you yourself say they haven't left a mark. Mind you, Sammy, I'll take advantage of that bit of wood next time - I think. I nearly cried out a few times towards the end. In fact, if you'd been close enough you'd have heard a few squeals!"

"They must have been very little squeals. None of us heard a thing! And you'd better not cry out ever in the next eight months! You've a reputation as a hard woman, Lisa! And I get a kick out of my best mate being so tough. You mustn't lose face over a bit of a beating!"

**********************************

Three days later, a new inmate stood in Lisa's way as she went to get a drink of water after shovelling vast quantities of gravel. It had been the heaviest hard work since they let her out and she was sweating and very thirsty.

"Nice tits, baldy! Nice bum too. Those assets are wasted on a butch cow like you!  They should shove you back down below where you belong and can't corrupt innocent girls with your disgusting ways!"

"I'm sorry! May I please pass! I'm thirsty and we only have a short break. I don't want any trouble!"

The new arrival's response was to push Lisa and send her sprawling, causing her to cut her bare body on the gravel. She was furious at this and all the rage which had made her attack Sandra came back to her. But she knew she mustn't get sent back to solitary and be parted from Samantha again. She loved her too desperately for that. So she kept her cool. Hatchet-face/Rosanne came up and asked what was going on. Lisa chose her words carefully.

"I just slipped and fell, Ma'am. But as I was falling I decided that it would be very nice to fight this girl and wipe that stupid smile permanently off her ugly face. But I would never do so without permission!"

Hatchet-Face laughed uproariously.

"Well, if I had been spoken to like that, I would certainly take up such a challenge" she said to the angry new girl. "I'll try and get a fight between you sanctioned by the Governor. It'll need to be a proper organised affair  - no crude brawling. I'll try and arrange it before your flogging Lisa. You won't want to fight a big girl like her in a weakened state."

 "I'd fight her straight after being cut down! I'm not scared of her or anyone!"

"Calm down, Lisa!" ordered Rosanne in a kindly voice. "We don't want to be going back down below, do we. Now! I think from what I saw that you are the injured party here and I'll let you choose your weapons"

"My fists, Ma'am. Maybe the odd kick!"

"Bare fists it is! And feet are allowed too. My, this should be fun! Not for you, maybe But I love to watch a good fight with loads of blood and cracked ribs. Don't let us down now, you two. And let's get back to work. This isn't a holiday camp!"

Lisa downed her water thirstily and rejoined Samantha. Soon they were shovelling away side by side.

"You've got great shoulders, Lisa. All those exercises paid off in that hole! The way you've muscled up in these weeks is amazing! They won't recognise you when you go home. You're cut all over, Lisa. That looks bad, what happened!"

She had not seen the brief scuffle, having needed to visit the toilet at the time.

"I was pushed over and fell. I asked Rosanne if I could fight the other bitch and she's going to set it up. I expect it will be after work so everyone can come and watch us. Will you be my second, darling!"

"Yes. If you like. But I think you need someone who knows about patching up cuts. I might not be all that good. Ask Rosanne. She likes you - and how! - and she'd know how to repair the damage between rounds and I bet there'll be lots! I'll watch and learn the ropes in case you get in any more fights, which you will, especially if you win! They'll be lining up to challenge you!"

"I'm not looking for a career as a fighter, not just to entertain my fellow inmates and Rosanne! All I want is to show that cow she can't get away with bad mouthing me and shoving me around."

"That's what you say now, Lisa. But it may not be your choice. If you beat that girl and give them a good show, you'll have no choice. Get to work with that shovel, Lisa! Keep building up that muscle, 'cause you're going to need it!"

Lisa flung a huge pile of gravel from the skip and Samantha started spreading it out over the square prison parade ground. It was not a warm day but the sweat was pouring off her already. She had little time to think about anything apart from keeping her rhythm going, but she was aware that her body was coping well with all this hard work, and she was enjoying every minute of it. She loved being out in the open, after those two terrible years. The fact that a high wall topped by barbed wire surrounded the compound mattered not a bit. It sure as hell beat that tiny cell! And she was being allowed to work with Samantha all the time! They were still the youngest inmates and the Governor had stipulated that they should be together as much as possible. If only that new girl had not ruined it all by forcing her into a fight she didn't want. And then it hit her! She did want that fight. And if they forced her to do it again, then so be it! In fact she hoped they did! She shovelled more furiously than ever and the veins in her arms started to show with all the effort. Samantha had to ask her to slow down at one point, because she couldn't keep up!