I Promise, Part 4
  By Aldric
  Copyright 2004 by Aldric, all rights reserved.
  
  *****
  This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY.  It contains
  depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are
  not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or
  if such material does not appeal to you, do not read
  further, and do not save this story.
  *****
  I Promise, Part 4
  
  Liz called two days later, telling Jared to be at her house
  at seven o'clock that evening.  Jared remembered the promise
  he had made to Jen, and told her that if this was for him to
  earn the pledge card back that she should call Jen and let
  her in on it.  Liz thought that was an excellent idea.  "Is
  there anyone else you think I should invite?" she asked, but
  didn't wait for an answer.  "Bring your sister along with
  you, she should be allowed to enjoy this too."
  
  Jared and Ashley showed up a few minutes early, and Liz
  invited them inside.  Lisa, Lois, and Jen were already
  there.  Jared had expected Nick to be there since Liz was
  his big sister, but Liz started the evening's entertainment
  without him.
  
  "This is simple, almost too easy, but I'm bored so I'm
  letting you off the hook.  You're going to go on a treasure
  hunt.  The treasure you will be hunting for is your clothes,
  so I'll need them now."  She stopped and waited for Jared to
  strip.  By this time, he didn't even hesitate; although it
  was still extremely embarrassing for him, all of these girls
  had seen him naked enough times that it no longer mattered. 
  Besides, Jared's mind was on the treasure hunt, as it was
  still light outside, and would be for at least an hour, and
  kids were outside playing.  He started to take off his
  shoes, but she told him he could keep those.
  
  Once Jared handed over all of his clothes and was standing
  naked except for shoes and socks in front of the five girls,
  she continued.  "All you have to do is follow the clues. 
  They're really quite simple; you shouldn't have any trouble
  figuring them out.  When you're done, you will find your
  clothes and this card."  She held up the pledge card Jared
  had signed.  "Each clue will lead you to the next clue. 
  There are shortcuts that will take you directly to where
  your clothes are, but they will cost you.  The closer you
  are to the end, the smaller the price you have to pay for a
  shortcut.  But there is a catch; the shortcut is sealed
  inside an envelope, like this one." She handed Jared a
  sealed envelope.  "You don't know what the price is unless
  you open it, but opening the envelope means you accept the
  cost.
  
  She waited a few seconds for the message to sink in and to
  see if Jared had any questions.  "If you want to go straight
  to the end, all you have to do is open that envelope. 
  Otherwise, here is your first clue."  She handed him a paper
  printed off a computer that showed a picture of the front of
  a house.  The caption to the picture read "Under rock on
  front porch, 400 block of Maple Street."
  
  "There is one catch however, your sister has covered for
  both of you, but you have to be home by midnight.  Now that
  is many more hours than you need, so you don't need to feel
  rushed, but you also can't wait for ever.  If you don't get
  to the end by eleven tonight, Ashley will have to take your
  clothes and go home without you.  And of course, that means
  you won't get back the pledge card."
  
  "What happens if someone else finds the clue before I do and
  takes it?" Jared asked.
  
  "Then I guess you're on your own.  You always have the
  shortcut.  If you're worried about it, then you shouldn't
  hang around too long waiting for dark or for kids to go
  away.  But it's your choice how you manage the time.  All I
  promise is that every clue will be in place before you get
  there, and they are not in places where they are likely to
  be taken by other people.  Any other questions?"
  
  "How am I supposed to find this house?  You can't really
  expect me to run down up and down the streets naked until I
  stumble upon it."
  
  Karen thought for a second and asked "You really don't know
  where Maple Street is?"  When Jared shook his head no, she
  said "It's the street right behind my street.  And this is
  the 500 block, so its one block either north or south, but
  you'll have to discover that for yourself.  The addresses
  are painted on the curb, and almost every house has the
  numbers above the garage door."  Jared looked back at the
  picture, but the area above the door was blurry.  "That
  house does have the number, but I erased it from the
  picture.  Anything else?"
  
  Jared didn't have any other questions.  "Then we'll see you
  at the end.  Remember, no later than eleven; although you
  can run through the clues in about 15 minutes.  Are you
  going out the front door or the back, or do you just want to
  open the envelope?"
  
  Jared wasn't going to open the envelope, at least not this
  early; he guessed the price would be too high.  He hadn't
  been to Karen's house since they were little kids, but he
  remembered that the houses on each side had a fence but the
  one behind did not.  That would at least put him on Maple
  Street.  He indicated the back door, and the girls followed
  him out.
  
  Once outside, he paused and listened and watched for a few
  seconds.  The house behind Liz's was quiet, it looked like
  maybe nobody was home.  He hoped so as he dashed naked
  through the backyards and ran up to the back corner of the
  house.
  
  From there, Jared could see that he was 3 houses from the
  end of the block in one direction, and many more, too many
  to count in the other.  Besides, there were kids playing in
  the backyard of one house 5 doors up, so that made up his
  mind.  He raced across the back yards of the 3 houses and
  dropped down on the grass to watch.
  
  He could hear a lawn mower somewhere up the street, but
  there was no traffic and for right now he couldn't see
  anyone out.  He thought about waiting until dark, but he
  didn't know how many clues there were or how far he had to
  go, but she had said it would take 15 minutes to complete if
  he just ran though the clues, so if he waited till dark he
  would have two hours to finish.  However, the street numbers
  would be harder to read.  He decided to just go and find the
  house and get it over with no matter what.  He was just
  ready to jump up and go when three women came around the
  corner and headed down the sidewalk in a fast walk with
  their arms pumping while they talked to one another.  He
  settled back down until they reached the street that Liz
  lived on, and then he made his move.
  
  Running as fast as he could he cut across the corner lawn
  and onto Maple Street.  The first address came into view, it
  was 402, so luck was with him, he was on the correct block. 
  Now he had to find the right house.  He tried to unfold the
  picture as he ran, but dropped it and had to stop to pick it
  up.  As he turned around, he could see 3 boys on bikes
  coming up behind him, so he looked at the picture as quick
  as he could, trying to make out some distinguishing feature
  of the house.  Then he saw that the house had a flag pole in
  the front yard.  He took off running again, looking down the
  street.  Five houses down he could see the pole.
  
  The boys on the bikes caught up with him, laughing as they
  circled around him.  They were about Jared's age, but he
  didn't recognize any of them from school.
  
  "I lost a bet" was all Jared could think to say.
  
  "Sucks to be you" said one of the boys.  "Have a nice run"
  said the third.  "Hope to see more of you" said the third. 
  "Oh, wait; there isn't any more of you to see!"  With that,
  the boys rode off down the street laughing loudly.
  
  Jared was slightly winded as he reached the house with the
  pole.  It was clearly the house in the picture.  On the
  front porch he could see a rock with papers under it, but he
  wouldn't be able to reach them unless he climbed the three
  steps and entered the porch.
  
  Not even slowing down, he leaped the steps and ran to the
  rock, but as he passed the front window he saw an older
  women just coming from the back of the house.  He reached
  the rock and grabbed all the papers, turning to leave just
  as the front door opened.  The women had a broom in her
  hands, and Jared decided to jump over the railing.
  
  He landed poorly and fell down, then tripped on a bush as he
  was getting up.  That gave the women time to get to him and
  she swatted him hard on his rear end with the wooden handle
  end of the broom.  "What are you doing in my yard running
  around like that" she was yelling.
  
  Hoping to escape before she caused a crowd to gather, he
  turned sideways and headed towards the back yard, only to
  see that it was fenced in on three sides by the other
  neighbors.  She was standing between the two houses Jared
  had come in by, so he ran across her back yard to go out the
  other side.
  
  But as soon as he got there he saw that she had a short
  fence that blocked him off, leaving him only two choices:
  try to climb the fence or go back and run past her.  The
  fence was too high to climb, so he paused for a second to
  catch his breath.  The women was still yelling something, so
  he knew he had to get going.
  
  Running at full speed, he dodged left and right, trying to
  fake her out, but she still landed two good, solid blows
  with the broom.  The first one was across his belly, and
  nearly knocked the wind out of him, the second was across
  the back of his thighs and that one really stung.  But he
  was past her and now only needed somewhere to go and hide
  until he could read the next clue.  He decided to keep going
  the same direction up Maple Street as he had gone before. 
  He could hear the women yelling that she was calling the
  police, which gave him reason to ignore the pain from the
  three swats with the broom handle and run.
  
  The road turned to the left, and he saw his break; there
  were four empty lots and one house under construction.  The
  empty lots had several old trees on them, and offered the
  only cover he was likely to find in the area.
  
  Once hidden as deeply as he could get, Jared laid down to
  catch his breath.  He looked at what he had grabbed from
  under the rock and saw that he had two envelopes.  One had
  "shortcut' written on it and the other had "Clue."  He
  ripped open the one with the clue.
  
  Inside was a picture of the side of a convenience store
  showing a phone booth.  A quarter was taped to the picture,
  and the caption had a phone number.  Jared knew where the
  store was, but the phone booth was out in the open along a
  street that had frequent car traffic.  From where he was he
  could get to it fairly quickly, in fact, he was pretty sure
  that if he went out the back of the empty lot he was in he
  was no more than a block away.  There weren't any houses
  along that street, but during the time he was there and on
  the phone he would be clearly visible to anyone driving by. 
  And waiting for dark would offer little help as the parking
  lot was well lit at night.
  
  As he lay there considering his options, he saw a police car
  make a slow pass up the street.  He realized that was going
  to add even more risk to his task.  He watched as the police
  car stopped and saw the three boys on bikes ride up to it. 
  They talked for a few seconds, and then pointed across a
  back yard in the opposite direction.  The police car hurried
  off to the corner and turned in the direction the boys had
  pointed.  Jared wondered if the boys helped him by directing
  the cop away.
  
  By the time the cop was gone and the boys had ridden off,
  Jared's breathing was back to normal and the stinging from
  the broom handle was now just a dull ache.  He thought again
  about using the second shortcut, but figured that as bad as
  the task was, the shortcut was bound to be far worse.  Once
  again, he headed out to try and complete a task.
  
  The back of the lot was a tangle of weeds and brush that
  opened onto Moss Avenue, the street the phone booth was on. 
  There was no path through the brush, and Jared could see
  that many of the plants had small thorns.  Once he started
  through, there would be no place to hide.  Protecting his
  balls from scratches, he picked the best path he could
  through the brush, coming out about a half mile from the
  store.  He looked around and saw that there was almost no
  place to hide if a car came, so once again he took off
  running.
  
  Luckily for him, he reached the store without any cars going
  by, and when he got there he saw near the phone a garbage
  dumpster that offered a place to hide if he needed it.  He
  quickly looked inside, but the smell of rotting garbage made
  him hope he didn't need to use it.  There were two doors
  marked as men's and women's rest rooms, but both doors were
  locked.  One last look for traffic and he went to the phone
  and dialed the number.
  
  The phone rang three times, and Jared thought about hanging
  up before his luck ran out, but after the fourth ring an
  answering machine kicked in.
  
  "We're not here right now" he heard Liz's voice on the
  machine, "just leave a message.  Jared, if this is you, just
  say so and we'll call you back.  Just make sure you answer
  the phone when we call."  The message ended, and Jared heard
  a tone.
  
  "Its me, Jared" he said, and then hung up.  He went over by
  the dumpster to wait until the phone rang.  He found that he
  could move it away from the wall just enough that he could
  squeeze in behind it.
  
  Time passed slowly as he waited.  He heard a noise, and saw
  a girl in a bathing suit come around the corner.  She had a
  bag in one hand, and a large key in the other, and Jared
  recognized her from school.  He pressed back behind the
  dumpster as far as he could, hoping she wouldn't see him. 
  She used the key to open the women's room and entered.  As
  soon as the door closed, the phone rang.
  
  "No, not now" Jared said as he raced to the phone before she
  came back out.
  
  "Hi Jared" Liz said over the phone, "are you having fun?"
  
  "Please, just give me the next clue, there's a girl in the
  bathroom here."
  
  "Not if you can't be pleasant to me."
  
  "Okay, no, I'm sorry, but I'm not having any fun."
  
  "How's the weather?"
  
  Jared was exasperated.  "The weather's nice, it's warm and
  humid.  Please could you give me the next clue?"
  
  "Okay, that was much better.  The next clue is inside the
  girl's restroom."  The phone went dead, and Jared hung up. 
  The only way into the rest room was with a key, and that
  meant he had to get the key from Barbara, the girl who just
  went inside.  At that moment, the door opened and Barbara
  stepped out.
  
  "Oh my god Jared, what are you doing?" she asked as soon as
  she saw him standing there naked.  She was now dressed, the
  bathing suit in the bag.
  
  "I have to get inside the bathroom."
  
  She looked at him for a second and then said "I don't know,
  I stop here every day to change clothes before I go home and
  they know it was me who took the key.  If I don't turn it in
  I could get in trouble."
  
  "I'll only be a second" Jared said.  He saw a car coming
  down the street with its turn signal on.  "Please let me in
  before that car gets here."
  
  Barbara looked at the car and opened the bathroom door. 
  Jared pushed past her to get inside, and she followed him in
  and closed the door.  He began searching the room, which
  didn't take long because there was no place to hide
  anything.  "What are you looking for?" she asked him as he
  was taking the top off the back of the toilet to look in
  there.
  
  "A clue" was all he said.
  
  "A clue to what?" she asked.  They heard a car pull up right
  outside the bathroom.  The car door closed and somebody
  tried to open the bathroom door.  A women's voice from
  outside said "You guys wait right here, I have to go get the
  key."
  
  "To tell me where I'm supposed to go to next" he responded,
  knowing that if they delayed too long the women would be
  back and would be waiting outside the door for her turn.  He
  found the two envelopes taped under the sink.
  
  "I've got it" he said, grabbing the envelopes.  "Now you can
  turn the key in, I'm off" he said, not even wanting to take
  the time to read the next clue.  He opened the door and
  stepped outside to find 4 boys ranging in age from about 6
  to 14.
  
  Seeing the looks on the boy's faces as he stepped out of the
  women's bathroom naked, he pointed to Barbara and said "She
  took my clothes, watch out or she'll take yours too." 
  Without another word, he took off back up Moss Avenue
  towards the empty lots again.
  
  Once he found some cover, he opened the envelope with the
  clue.  Inside was another picture, this time showing a key
  hanging from a thread tied to a street sign.  Both sides of
  the sign were visible; it was the corner of Lake and Oak,
  back towards Liz's house.  The caption said "The key opens
  1515 Lake.  Back bedroom on the right, top right-hand drawer
  in the dresser."
  
  By now it was getting towards dusk, and movement would be
  easier.  Jared knew which way to go, and he made it to the
  street sign without any encounters.  He had to jump to reach
  the key, but once he had it, he headed up Lake Street,
  looking for 1515.
  
  The same 3 boys that had passed him before passed him again. 
  "Still at it I see" they said, and after a couple of circles
  around him they rode off laughing again.
  
  Jared quickly came to 1515, and the house was dark.  He ran
  along the side into the back yard, and then went to the back
  door.  Using the key, he entered the house as quietly as he
  could, listening for any sounds from within the house. 
  Hearing none, he headed for the back bed room.
  
  From the posters on the walls to the decor, the room was
  obviously a teenaged girl's room.  Inside the indicated
  drawer was a folded sheet of paper and an envelope.  Jared
  wasted no time opening the folded sheet of paper.  Inside it
  read "Answer the phone when it rings."
  
  Moments later, the phone rang, and Jared answered it. 
  "Leave the key on the dresser and then tie yourself to the
  bed using the straps already there and wait for whomever
  lives here to come home, or use the shortcut.  You have 3
  minutes before they come home to decide" Liz told him over
  the phone before hanging up.
  
  Jared spent the first minute inspecting the bed, finding
  cords tied to all four posts.  The cords had well-tied
  nooses at each end that once pulled tight would make it
  impossible for him to escape.  Jared tried to figure out who
  lived here, but after a minute-long search he had not
  uncovered any clues.  He had to make a decision now whether
  to tie himself naked to a girls bed, not having any clue
  whose house he was in, or to open a shortcut envelope and be
  bound to what it said.
  
  He tried to guess if Liz would have chosen a time when just
  one of her friend would be coming home, or if the parents
  would be there as well.  From what he had done already
  today, he couldn't rule out getting caught by adults, and
  how could he explain his actions to them.  Not willing to
  risk the certain trap of being bound to the bed, he decided
  to open the last shortcut envelope.
  
  Inside was a note that read "Go back down Lake Street until
  one of the team finds you.  I get a Souvenir and all the
  winners get a show!"
  
  As he was going out the back door, he could hear the front
  door opening.  Jared quietly exited the house, cut across
  the neighbor's backyard, and then came back out to the
  street.  He wondered how long it would be before they found
  him, but he didn't have to wait long.
  
  The three boys on bikes caught up with him when he was just
  a few doors down the street.  "Man, what a chicken you are. 
  I lost the bet because of you" the first boy said.  "Yah,
  but at least Devin and me guessed right" said the second. 
  "We're with the team, you're to come with us" the third
  said.  They directed him to a house just a few doors down
  the street and took him inside.
  
  The four girls who started were there, as well as a fifth
  girl, Kelly, who was a photographer for the school
  newspaper.  Kelly had first seen Jared naked when he had to
  beg for money in the park.  This time instead of a small
  digital camera, she had a big camera with a very long lens
  on it  "Man, you sure did look funny standing naked outside
  talking on the phone" Kelly said, "but I got some great
  pictures of you there, and coming out of the ladies
  bathroom.  The women with the broom was good too."
  
  Jared couldn't believe it, they had been there watching him. 
  "What are you going to do with the pictures?"
  
  Liz provided the answer.  "Oh, nothing I can thing of right
  now, but something might come to mind later.  Maybe we'll
  sell them to you."  
  
  Liz continued, saying, "You used a shortcut to get here, and
  the one you used was for a souvenir for me and a show for
  the winners.  Too bad you didn't use a different one.  So
  let's see who won.  Who bet he would tie himself to the
  bed?"
  
  Only one person raised a hand, one of the boys who had
  followed Jared around on bikes.  "Oh, Ken, you did realize
  that when you bet the stakes were very high, didn't you?"
  Liz asked the boy, who was staring at the floor.  "Because
  you lost and Devin and Peter won, I think I will let your
  friends decide your fate."
  
  The other two boys were laughing and slapping each others
  hands, but Ken was far from happy.
  
  "They can think about it for a minute" said Liz.  "But right
  now, Jared and Ken, I claim your underpants as my souvenirs;
  sign them and hand them over."  She pointed out to Jared
  where his clothes were stacked, and he quickly dressed
  except for his underpants.  Ken slowly took off his clothes,
  trying to ignore the cat whistles and cheers of his best
  friends and the close inspection Lois gave him as he removed
  each piece of clothing.
  
  Once Ken was naked and Jared was dressed, Liz asked Devin
  and Peter if they had thought up a suitable fate for Ken's
  wrong bet.
  
  "Well, we think he should have a choice in it, so he can
  decide whether he wants to go home and tie himself to his
  sister's bed, or go down to the store and call us on the
  phone like that kid did," Peter said, pointed at Jared.
  
  "Aw, come on Peter, you guys wouldn't really do that to me,
  would you?" Ken asked, but both Peter and Devin assured him
  he had to choose one of the two.  Everyone waited to hear
  his choice.  "There is no way I'm going to allow my sister
  to find me tied up naked, so I guess that leaves the phone."
  
  "All you have to do is run there, call us, and wait for us
  to call back," said Devin.  "But when we call back, you'd
  better answer on the first ring or we'll hang up and you'll
  have to go again."
  
  "Yeah, except if you have to do it again, we will also tie
  you in your sister's bed for her to find you," added Peter,
  handing Ken a quarter for the phone, "So you'd better not
  worry about cars or people and stay right by the phone."
  
  Ken was completely red, but he didn't argue about his fate. 
  He didn't want to cross Liz's attention by not paying the
  price set by his friends.  He only hoped that someday he
  would have a chance to get back at them.  After he left it
  was 12 minutes before the phone rang.  Liz let it ring four
  times, picking it up just before the machine did.  After she
  hung up, she looked at Devin and Peter.  "How long do you
  want to wait before I call him back?"
  
  Jared and Ashley left then, not waiting to see how Ken made
  out.  When they got home, Ashley said "Wow, I wouldn't have
  believed it, but you got three of the cards, and in just one
  week.  All you need to be able to be dressed before company
  comes at Thanksgiving is one more card."
  
  "That still isn't fair, I should be done.  I don't even know
  who has the card," Jared said as he was undressing as
  required by his sister's rules.
  
  Ashley went to her room and returned a few seconds later
  with the last pledge card.  "I have it.  I wonder just how
  far you would go to get this back.  Maybe I'll wait till
  school starts and something will come to me then.  After
  all, that's only three weeks away."
  
  A sudden realization hit Jared.  "This whole thing was your
  idea right from the start, wasn't it?"
  
  "I saw the way most of the kids at school treat you, and how
  you just let them, especially girls.  So I approached Liz
  one day, and together we came up with a plan.  But that
  doesn't matter very much now, what matters is what you will
  do to get this last card back, because without it, Liz and
  Lisa are free to keep on doing anything they want to you."
  
  Jared hung his head low, staring at the floor and not
  talking.
  
  "Good, I like it when you become so submissive to me. 
  Because you are such a complete and total dweeb I'm going to
  give you a chance to become even more submissive.  Here is
  what I demand.  You are to create four new pledge cards,
  just like these, and sign them.  Give one to Adam, Jen's
  brother.  Give another to Ken, Liz's neighbor.  The third
  card you give to Lois."
  
  "The last card you can give to anyone you want, but you have
  to tell me who you give it to before you try to earn it
  back.  Once you have all four of those cards back, you can
  have this one."
  
  Ashley laughed as she was leaving the room.  Jared knew that
  no matter what course of action he took it was hopeless.  If
  he didn't earn the cards, they would do something as bad as
  the day they used fishing hooks in his ball sack.  But if he
  did make the cards, he would have to endure even more
  degrading activities.  In addition, there was no guaranty
  that Lois wouldn't do the same thing to him that Ashley just
  did, make him create new cards.  Nope, he didn't have a
  chance.  He decided the easiest path was probably to make
  the new cards, so he got started on them right away.