Choices Pt. 01 - Coercion

"What 'what' honey?" she asked now in her own voice, it slipped from her lips silky smooth and menacing.

"What are you doing in here?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. I could feel Victoria shivering in the bed next to me. My brothers were behind me, I could hear them breathing. The woman pulled her hand out of her hair, reached over her shoulder, and wrapped it around the chain locking-mechanism from the door.

"You left the door unlocked, I assumed you were inviting me in. Such a rude question to ask a guest," she said, the corner of her lip ticking up slightly. I couldn't tell if she was just messing with me or if she was absolutely crazy. I decided to play along, in case she was crazy. The whole situation just felt so surreal and even with the adrenaline running, I wasn't fully awake.

"We are sorry for the miscommunication, we are in for the night. We aren't accepting any guests. Maybe we can meet in the diner in the morning. But you need to go now," I said carefully. I was hoping that she would just leave and then I could jump up and locked the door. And barricade it. Instead, the woman laughed again.

"Honey I am here now, and anything we do from here on out, we do together," she said. Something about the way she said it made my skin crawl. I guess the whole situation made my skin crawl. I can't remember ever being so completely unnerved in my whole life.

"You are not invited here!" Brandon suddenly said, harshly, from the other bed, "You can't just walk into someone's hotel room. You scared the hell out of us. You need to leave." I felt a little relieved. I didn't want to be doing this alone.

"I haven't even begun to scare the hell out of you little boy," she said. I saw a flash in her eyes and I wondered what that meant.

"Why are you here?" Victoria now asked, repeating my earlier question. Her voice sounded small and girlish. The woman sighed and shook her head.

"You kids aren't going to let this go, are you? You just have to know. This is why I always get abortions," she said. No one spoke. I was so tense that my muscles ached. I was barely breathing and there was cold sweat all over my body.

"You don't have to tell us anything," I offered, "You just have to leave." The woman acted like she didn't even hear me.

"You kids weren't supposed to be here," she said matter-of-factly. "I was doing a little work today out in Elderville and I was coming back here to lay low for a little while. I think I took care of the security camera, but you can never been too sure." The name of the town seemed familiar for some reason. At first I wondered if we had driven through it. Then I remembered. The liquor store robber. Somehow, I managed to feel even more nervous than before. If she was telling the truth...

"We don't want to know about it..." I said. The woman laughed again.

"You know too much already honey," she said, "You guys must've really pissed off Meredith, she put you in this room." Then she laughed again. I thought of our jokes and Tyler's smart mouth in the diner. Was that why this bizarre woman had woken us up in the middle of the night? Tyler seemed to feel that responsibility as well.

"Oh come the fuck on," he said sounding more scared than annoyed, "Brandon, let's just get her out of here. She is like 5 foot nothing, a buck five." I heard him start to shuffle off of the bed. Brandon was moving too. I breathed a slight sigh of relief. They would get her out of here. I looked more closely at the woman. She seemed nonplussed. Once both of my brothers were out of their bed, the woman spoke.

"More like a buck six with this," the woman said in a monotone. The hand by her side rose up slowly. There was a semi-automatic pistol held gingerly. Like some sort of gangster movie. My breath caught in my throat and my eyes bulged from their sockets. Suddenly, this no longer felt like an unsettling experience, it seemed positively dangerous. My brother stopped in their tracks.

"See, look what you made me do!" the woman said, sounding actually angry. Her wrist hung loosely and the gun jump in her hand. I winced and tried to duck into my bed, afraid it would go off. My brothers dropped to the floor. The woman laughed again.

"Christ, please lady. We are sorry about Meredith and everything. We will just go get in our car you can have the room," Brandon said, his voice cracking. The woman was shaking her head slowly.

"Too late for that boy," the woman said coldly, "Like I told your girlfriend here, it is too late for that."

"It's my sister," my brother said automatically. I saw the woman smile slyly, but she didn't directly address his comment.

"We don't know anything," I said, "We don't know what your job was in wherever. We don't know your name. We don't know anything. We will just go."

"I'm Iris," the woman said immediately and I winced, "See you know too much."

"We won't say anything," Victoria said, "We don't want to know anything else."

"Did you know my uncle was a criminal, a real professional," she said. She reached over her shoulder again and slid the deadbolt lock in place. She walked over towards the hotel chair and sat down. She sort of slung herself across the chair sideways, her legs dangling over one of the arms. No one spoke, and she stared at us for a long time. Blankly, like she was waiting for something.

"No," I said finally, "I didn't know that."

"Well he was," she said quickly, like I had just been hoping I would say what I said, "And he always said that you never leave loose ends." As she spoke, she slowly raised her gun again, I could see the barrel rising and in a moment, I could see the end, I was looking down into the dark center. She was aiming between my eyes. My blood ran cold. I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes. I knew in that moment, I was going to die. And I couldn't even come to terms with what that meant. I simply went blank.

"Please don't!" Tyler yelled out loudly. Suddenly Iris dropped the gun into her lap again. I breathed. A little.

"Though you know...I have a lot of time to kill...or not kill if that idea makes you nervous," she laughed to herself at her joke and I felt a deep hatred for her, something I'd never felt before in my life. But I also felt impotent, I didn't even dare move, "And you know there is more than one way to...not skin a cat."

"Just don't hurt us," Brandon said, his voice on the edge of panic. The woman lifted her gun again, but tapped it gently against her chin. I didn't know much about guns, but I knew that this was not something you were supposed to do. I prayed to God that it would go off. I should've felt guilty about that though, but I didn't.

"Well," she said, moving the gun back to her lap, "The problem is that you have all of my little secrets here. You have all the leverage." She said.

"You have the gun," I said. Iris rolled her eyes at me.

"Sure now, but you don't want me to kill you and you don't want to spend the rest of your life with me," she replied, "So I need something else."

"Whatever you want...I have a little money," I said, realizing that we were bargaining. But Iris laughed again.

"No...No that isn't it. Don't get me wrong. I am taking your money. But that isn't leverage. I need something to make sure you won't talk," she said. She had a thoughtful look on her face and she was staring up at the ceiling. For a moment I had a mad idea to jump up and grab the gun away from her. But I knew that I couldn't. I stayed frozen in place.

"Like I said, whatever you want." As I spoke, I saw a slow, steady smile spread across the woman's face. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye and then slowly licked her lips. She was an attractive woman, but the effect was cold, almost reptilian somehow.

"You have something I can't let someone else know. I need the same thing from you. And I need to entertain myself until my ride comes in the morning." she said. I had no idea what she was getting at. But I didn't really have any choice now. Whoever has the gun sets the rules, "You said, sister right? You're all related? I can see the family resemblance now." She took some sort of weird pleasure as she said that. I could almost see her mouth water. It was wolfish, bestial.

"What do you want? Like a social security number?" I asked. The woman laughed again. She sat up quickly in the bed, spinning so that she was sitting in it correctly. She spread her legs wide and, whether I wanted to or not, I could see into her skirt. I saw that she wasn't wearing panties. The lips of her vagina were clearly visible and I could see that she was clean-shaven. My eyes dropped to avoid seeing it.

"Hey you, older girl, what's your name?" she asked me. I looked up again, keeping my eyes on her eyes.

"Nic...Nicole," I said nervously.

"Ok Nikki," she said, biting her lip, "Pick one of your siblings."

"For what?" I asked, looking at my little sister, and feeling out in my mind for my brothers around me. She shook her head and laughed yet again.

"I promise I am not going to hurt anyone. Choose someone," she said. I had no idea what she was getting at. How could I choose someone for...something? The fact that her legs were spread made nervous. There was really only one thing I could do.

"I choose me," I said. I was the adult after all. That was the whole point here. Iris smirked at me angrily.

"I said a sibling," she said.

"I am one of the siblings," I responded.

"No fucking lawyer answers," she said angrily. She shook her head and then looked at me for a long time. Her eyes were icy. Almost dead. I could feel her gaze reaching inside of me, touching everything with cold. Finally she rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"Fine," she said, "This time I will allow it. But no more bullshit now. When I ask someone to do something, you do it just like a say. Okay Nikki, up out of bed walk over here." She said. For a split second I was afraid that my muscles wouldn't react. My bladder felt heavy and my chest was tight. Iris raised her eyebrows at me. Finally, I managed to raise myself off of the bed and I shuffled, heavily, over towards the chair.

"Careful Nicole," I heard Tyler say. Iris smiled at that. But she watched me closely as I walked toward her. When I was a few feet in front of her, I stopped with my shoulder hunched, scared.

"Sexy jammies, Nikki," Iris said sarcastically. I looked down at my clothes. A massive red t-shirt and socks. I had a comfortable bra and panties underneath for the drive.

"Yeah," I said and I shrugged sheepishly. That comment, combined with her still spread legs made me very nervous. I could feel butterflies in my stomach. Or maybe that doesn't say enough. I had a jackhammer in my stomach.

"Take 'em off. Take all of it off. I want you naked," she said. I honestly have no idea what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting something terrible without adding any form or content to that general fear. But I knew that I wasn't expecting that. Maybe if our intruder had been a man... But not this. I simply shook my head. I couldn't even imagine disrobing in front of this...woman. And my siblings too! That would just be...humiliating. I looked over at my siblings, they were staring at me wide eyed and scared.

"No...No I can't do that," I finally managed to say. I crossed my arms in front of my breasts. The woman looked at me coldly for a long time. The gun bounced hotly in her hand. Finally, she stood up slowly and walked a little closer to me. She was a couple of inches shorter than me but I felt like I shrunk in front of her. She pointed the gun towards me but down, aiming near my leg. But she kept an eye on my siblings as well. She clicked her lips and shook her head slightly.

"Listen, this part of the game isn't going to be fun for you and, thinking about it, it really isn't fun for me either," She said. I had no idea what she was talking about, I could barely hear her over the nervous rasp of my own breathing, "We can do this a few times: I will tell you to do something. You can say, 'oh no, I mustn't, dearest me!' and then I will say something else that will make you change your mind. Eventually I will just come out and say it." She paused again. Didn't speak. Just kept staring at me. I could feel the tension rising in the room. I knew my siblings felt it as well, and I heard Victoria crack.

"Say what?" she asked, timidly. Once again, Iris began speaking quickly, as though she had simply been waiting for someone to ask the question.

"That if you don't do what I say, immediately, I am going to kill you," she said, lifting her gun up slightly, "There is no negotiations now. We had our negotiation. I was going to kill you," she tilted her head to one side, "you said you didn't want to die," she tilted her head the other way, "So I compromised. I am keeping your mouth shut without killing you. But you kids have to compromise too. That is what teamwork is all about." She smiled at herself as she said that.

"Compromise?" I asked and Iris nodded vehemently. She inched closer to me. When she started to speak, she leaned in, pushing her thin finger into my chest.

"I promise I don't kill you and you promise that you don't say, 'no,' to any of my requests. You don't act like you can't. You suck it up and do it. You won't get more warnings about this. I know what I am doing. You have to trust me here Nikki and company. Think of it this way. Trust is life. If you don't trust me, then you don't have life. That isn't a threat. It is a fact. You have a choice. You do what I say or you die. Now take off your fucking clothes bitch." And with that, she backed up and flopped herself down on the chair.

"Why do you want them off?" I asked finally. I knew it was dumb. But I didn't know what else to say. Iris rolled her eyes and flicked her wrists, sending the gun lolling around.

"What did I say about lawyer bullshit? Don't look for loopholes. I don't want you questioning me at all. Just do what I tell you to do," she said. Then she just stared at me.

She couldn't have possibly been any clearer. I didn't really have any choice. I took a deep breath and let it out. I looked up at the ceiling. This entire situation was just so...crazy. How was this happening? I knew this wasn't a dream, because...it wasn't. But how could it be real? I didn't really have the luxury of figuring it out. I reached down to the bottom of my shirt. I closed my eyes and quickly pulled it up over my head. I dropped it uncomfortably onto the floor, kept my eyes closed. I knew that...everyone could see my comfortable white bra and my boy-shorts underwear. I knew that my siblings had seen me in a bikini before. Hell, probably in skimpier underwear at some point in our lives. But this felt different. Terrible. And it was going to get worse. I slowly reached up behind my back, thrusting my chest out.

"Wait, no, stop. Wait," Iris said suddenly. She waved her arms around annoyed. I let out a low sigh of relief. She had decided that she couldn't go through with it. She started to wave her arms more wildly, "I can't do this."

"Oh thank God," I whispered under my breath. If she noticed, she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she talked louder.

"I can't do this with you guys scattered all over the room. I need you guys, you other ones, to come over here and sit on the edge of the bed," she said. She kept waiving her arms. She wanted my...audience to be even closer. My air caught in my throat again. I felt suddenly cold, I was shivering. At first, no one moved.

"This is not optional," was all that Iris said. Slowly I could hear my brothers rising up from the floor. I could hear the bed groaning as Victoria rolled over and sat down. After a moment it was quiet. Despite my better judgment, I glanced quickly to the side. I could see all of my siblings, sitting side by side on the bed, looking at me nervously. They caught my gaze and looked down at my feet.

"Alright," Iris said, "keep going." The reprieve was over. All of the tension was back. Maybe it was worse. How could I take my clothes off in front of my brothers and sister? Even the half second of hesitation it took to have this thought seemed to annoy Iris. She looked at me sharply and raised her eyebrows.

Once again, my hands began to reach up behind my back. I found the clasp of my bra and easily unhooked it. Basically on instinct, without thought, my arms rolled forward. My bra loosened and then tumbled down into my hands. I could feel the air-conditioning against my breasts and I looked down. My breasts were one of my better features, they were firmer and higher than they should have been given their size. I could see my pink areolas and my thin, long nipples were contracted, almost hard in the cold and in my tension. I was standing in side-profile to my siblings, I knew they could see one tear-drop shaped breast, one hard little nipple. I wanted to lift my hands up, to cover them. I tried to pretend like my siblings weren't nearby, but I had only partly completed my task. There was still more that I had to do. The more mortifying half.

I decided that the best thing was to just get it done, like ripping off a Band-Aid. More like ripping off my dignity, but I didn't think about that. I hooked my fingers into the waist band of my panties. I kept my eyes closed still, pretended that I was simply sitting in my room at home, getting ready for a shower. I pulled the waistband down around the large rise of my bubble butt. I slipped them down around my hips and let them fall down around my legs, landing on the dirty hotel room floor. I was naked. I stood up straight, breathing.

"Open your eyes," Iris ordered. Automatically now, my eyes flashed open. First I looked down. I could see the swell of my hips, the light skin of my legs. I could see the small, tight pink slash of my vagina between my legs, my lips small, my large clitoris soft. I was waxed bare and my skin looked smooth. Under other circumstances, I might have been happy with the way I looked. As happy as I ever could at least. I glanced over at Iris and she was smiling. "Turn over, take a look at the fam and say hello." I shivered. I felt my stomach turn. I wanted not to act, but I could feel that gun. I could feel the danger it represented. I turned slowly, my eyes open despite myself. I saw the room spinning around me and I wasn't sure if it was because I was turning or because I was losing my mind. Finally, my eyes settled on the bed. Brandon, Victoria, and Tyler sitting on the bed in that order, all of them looking down.

"Hello," I said, my voice barely audible even to myself.

"Look up brothers and sister!" Iris said loudly, "Look at big sister Nikki. Come on Ty! Come on...other boy and...other girl! What are your names? Seriously, tell me," Slowly, my siblings' heads rose. I could see the terror and embarrassment in their eyes. Victoria looked like she was about to cry.

"Victoria," she said warbling.

"Brandon," my eldest brother said, sounding like rage was boiling just below the surface.

"Bran and Vicky, I like it," Iris said, then she turned toward me, "turn and face your family." I simply complied now, turning so that I was facing them head on. Iris was to my back. I felt my siblings' eyes on me, reluctant but compelled.

"There, I did it," I said, "can I be done now?" I asked. My knees felt weak and I could never remember feeling so embarrassed in my life. My cheeks felt red and hot, my stomach was churning wildly. Iris was laughing. I guess I didn't really expect anything else. I could feel the six eyes of my siblings on me, coating me and making me feel...dirty.

"We are just starting Nikki. Why don't we tell your siblings how often you masturbate?"

"What?" I asked, spinning around, and looking at Iris. She was smiling more viciously than ever. But I could see pure hate in her eyes now.