The Assignment Ch. 06

The atmosphere in the room was heavy. I was quite sure the other students wished to know about what they had just witnessed but none of them dared speak or draw attention to themselves in any way. Of course they would not be aware, as I was, of the significance of our recent guest. Annabelle appeared to be considering the punishment Jennifer had been forced to promise and even Mistress Hartley herself looked distracted as she idly leafed through the folder of essays before her.

Jennifer closed the folder and let is rest on her lap. Although she showed no obvious sign of it I was convinced the sudden appearance of one of the Sisters had, not surprisingly, made her uneasy. I had heard stories that the Sisters came and went as they pleased within The Institute and their interference was often resented by even Senior Mistresses. Michael had clearly not deserved what he had been put through but even if any of the Nurses had tried to stop it (which I very much doubted), they would have been unsuccessful. Both his wrists in casts was the thing about Michael's appearance that stayed with me most and I wondered what he had done to result in them being deliberately fractured.

"Miss West," Jennifer began, thankfully breaking what had become a long silence, "I think a different order of the day is appropriate."

"Yes Mistress," replied Annabelle.

"Would you please lead the Meditation Session planned for this afternoon now? I feel there are a few matters which I should attend to."

Annabelle seemed genuinely pleased with the instruction. "Of course, Mistress," she replied.

Mistress Hartley turned her attention back to myself and the other students. "We will review your essays later," she explained. "Miss West will be in charge of the next session."

Again, Jennifer didn't add the obvious need to obey Miss West in exactly the same way as we did her - the need for that was obvious. We stood as Mistress Hartley left the room and then Annabelle took over seamlessly, explaining we would be moving to a different room across the hallway which has already been set up for the session. She led us out of the Therapy Room and then through a door almost directly opposite. Once inside, she indicated we should stand with our backs against the wall, at attention. I had to force myself to adopt the student, rather than Prefect pose. As always, I was conscious of my bust being hugely emphasised by the position, though had to admit Annabelle only glanced at it fleetingly.

The first thing that struck me was the room was quite elegant compared to the somewhat austere accommodation we had used so far. The floor was carpeted, the walls were a soft pastel lavender colour and the lighting was sympathetic and relaxing. Next I noticed the five mats laid on the floor so that they formed a circle, with each mat pointing towards the centre like the spokes of a wheel. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, but I instinctively did not like it. Annabelle spent a few moments removing one of the mats then rearranging the others so they were now positioned like the four main points on a compass.

"Lily you sit on this mat, facing inwards," Miss West instructed and I walked over to my designated mat and sat down which was not an easy feat with the tightness and shortness of my skirt.

Annabelle arranged it so that the boys occupied the mats to either side of me and Julia was directly opposite.

"Meditation is all about eliminating external influences and considering what you have done in the past, and how you can improve yourself for the future," Annabelle explained softly as she walked slowly around the outside of the circle the four mats formed. "For this session, you will all stay in uniform but to help you get the most out of your time in here, you will each wear a hood, which will just allow for a little more introspection."

I had been hooded a few times both when I was an actual student and during some Prefect training. I always found it hot and uncomfortable and it was always unnerving to be cut off from what was going on around you, but I suspected worse conditions would be imposed in this session. Julia on the other hand did seem to have gone a shade paler, as if it was something she was very uncomfortable with.

"For Meditation," Annabelle continued, "we do use what we describe as a Heavy Hood. It will mean you cannot see or hear anything but I am going to issue you each with a pair of in-ear monitors, so that I can still give you instructions. Does everyone understand?"

We all responded affirmatively.

"Good," Miss West replied. "It does take a few minutes to fit each hood but once everyone is ready I will begin the session by communicating with you through this," she waved a little smart phone like device at us as she continued to circle us.

"Lily, you sat down first, so you will be hooded first," Miss West announced.

"Yes, Miss," I replied without too much anxiety.

"Put these in first," she instructed handing me a pair of small earphones which fit comfortably inside my ear canal.

There was a tall cabinet in one corner of the room and I watched as Annabelle moved over to it and removed something from inside. When she turned around to walk back to me I could see she was carrying something, though in the dim light of the room I could make out very few details. As she got closer I could see her upper arm muscles were tense with the weight of the object and I began to realise this was the hood I was going to be expected to wear. I had pictured in my mind a simple black latex hood, with a zip and maybe an integrated collar to finish but I had never seen anything like this. It appeared to have the look of leather but maintained an obviously rigid shape as it was carried.

By the time Annabelle knelt behind me to fit it, I was nervous and it was possible she noticed my breathing had grown a little more rapid.

"Don't worry," she comforted, "the eye pieces are shaped so the hood won't press against your eyes. Now the material does respond to temperature so it might feel as though it is getting a little tighter as it heats up but that is normal."

My immediate thought was that is was more likely the material got tighter as it lost moisture but that was only a guess - my skills weren't suited to Engineering or any of the other technical pursuits The Institute invested in.

Annabelle held the hood in front of my face and even before it covered my face it was intimidating. She moved it back so it was in contact with me and then pulled it around each side of my head. I felt her pulling what I assumed were buckled straps tight around the back of my head and sure enough there was a collar piece which fitted around my neck, just making me aware of the expansion of my neck when I breathed rather than restricting it. I felt the hood was something I had been locked into, rather than something I was wearing. The darkness was total, as was the silence enforced by the hood. But the weight of it was equally noticeable. I felt Annabelle support my head as she slowly lowered me into a lying position on my back on the mat and I knew that without help or the removal of the hood I was going to be unable to stand. I realised I was starting to panic and immediately I started to employ skills I had been taught to calm myself down.

Annabelle's soft voice came through my earphones quietly. "If you can hear me Lily, raise your hand."

I did so. The hood allowed breathing through the nose only and was so tight I had quickly realised I could not open my mouth within it to speak, even if it allowed sound out, which I now doubted.

"Good," Annabelle responded. "Focus on your breathing, slow, deep breaths and we can start when everyone else is in position."

I had absolutely no awareness of what was now going on around me. I had been cut off from essentially everything. For a second I considered the possibility that everyone else would now leave the room and I would be here alone but I quickly dismissed that as having no purpose. However, it did occur to me that once the session began it would not necessarily be the case that what I heard Annabelle say via my earphones would be the same as what everyone else would hear. Effectively isolated from each other, but all believing we were undergoing exactly the same experience, I recognised this as an excellent opportunity for Annabelle to employ some creative psychological manipulation strategies.

Through my earphones I heard Annabelle check that each student in turn could hear her, and then her reassure each of them to just focus on their breathing, She had to tell Julia a couple of times to relax and I hoped she wasn't too overwhelmed. I was already incredibly hot and feeling claustrophobic and I could well imagine the others were feeling the same, if not worse.

"Welcome to your first Meditation session."

Annabelle's voice through the earphones was soft and relaxing. I could almost hear how she was enjoying having the four of us literally at her feet. I imagined she was still slowly prowling around our prone forms, so easily and effectively held down by the surprising weight of each of our hoods.

"In this session today," Annabelle's voice continued, "I want you to think of why you are here, what changes are you going to experience to your behaviour and attitude and how are you going to achieve those. You already know the rules here are strict but just being punished for breaking them will not change you fundamentally. You must want to change, and not just to avoid regular, strict consequences. You must want to change because you want to be better. Each of you, think now, about what that means for you."

Annabelle went quiet. I had no idea for how long as trying to even estimate the passage of time was impossible under these conditions. Suddenly I felt the lightest touch on my thigh and I flinched involuntarily.

"Sshhh," Annabelle's voice whispered through my earphones. "Stay still."

I felt one of her fingertips gently trace the path of the welts her cane had left on my thighs the day before. She took her time, only stroking each mark once. I felt incredibly vulnerable, unable to prevent the unwanted attention in any way.

"You were very brave," Annabelle complemented me, "and the marks look so beautiful on you."

Had everyone heard that? I wondered.

There was another period of silence. Again I couldn't tell for how long. I knew this was almost certainly unnerving the others - I had at least had some training to endure this kind of torture.

"Now let's think about what the rest of the day will hold," Annabelle began again. "The essays you wrote yesterday have all been assessed and you will be given full feedback on these later, along with necessary corrective measures. All of you have earned some of those but some more than others."

It wasn't difficult to detect the delight in Miss West's voice whilst she informed us of that.

"And there is your first group discipline session as well," Annabelle continued, still in that soft, almost hypnotic tone. "You have all by now had some sort of discipline witnessed by at least one other student whether that was in class yesterday or in your dorm last night. But being together in a group, knowing everyone is to receive some discipline is a very different type of experience. And it is surprising who prefers to be disciplined themselves rather than having to watch others."

That was a well made point. I knew I would struggle to watch Julia endure some of the more serious forms of discipline that might be administered. Obviously I didn't really care about the boys though I did wonder what the nervous Christopher had done to get himself sent here.

After more silence, Annabelle made a comment which expressed some surprise. "Julia are you feeling a little cold?"

I could only guess Julia had in some way indicated no, possibly by shaking her head or waving her hand.

"Aroused then?" Annabelle pressed. A pause then, "Well something is making your nipples want to show themselves."

Now I felt my breasts being stroked through the thin material of my blouse and my bra. The isolation of the hood was so total I was not aware Annabelle had even moved close to me.

"No similar development from Lily," Annabelle commented, followed by a barely audible sigh of satisfaction.

"But Christopher is in solidarity with you Julia," Annabelle announced, "though of course it is not his nipples that have become erect. That's a punishment credit for an unauthorised erection, Christopher," Annabelle announced, "and I will have to turn those trunks down. Lift your hips off the mat. Good boy."

I could only guess at Christopher's humiliation. Unless he was particularly stupid, he must have been aware the image of him hooded and now with his trunks turned down exposing his erection must have been on everyone's mind.

"Now keep your hands by your sides, Christopher," Annabelle continued to instruct him. "But take a few moments to think of times in the past when other people have seen your exposed erection. Maybe in a changing room at school or at a gym, maybe someone has walked in on you at some time. Did they comment? Did they laugh? Did they tell others about it? Were you ever made to show it, maybe to teach you humility?"

I appreciated her cruelty whilst at the same time feeling sorry for Christopher. Was Annabelle trying to push him over the edge I wondered? In her position, I knew I would try.

"I bet you would like to stroke it, wouldn't you Christopher?" Annabelle purred. "It looks like it wants to be. It is clearly making itself available for any sort of attention. Think of times when it has been stroked. Do you do that a lot yourself? Have you had a girlfriend do it for you? Focus on your breathing Christopher."

Annabelle gave him some silent respite, but only for a time.

"Which of the students here would you like to stroke it most, I wonder?" she asked, with apparent genuine interest. "Lily looks as though she would do it really well for you and at the end she might let you ejaculate all over her breasts. Have you noticed how large they are?"

Christopher must have made some sign in the affirmative as Annabelle gave a little chuckle and admitted it would be hard not to.

"But maybe you would prefer Julia," Annabelle continued, "prim and proper Julia. I am sure she would want to impress you with her skills and I don't think she would like a mess to deal with so she might finish you off in her mouth."

So Annabelle had portrayed me as the big breasted slut and Julia as the prim girl worried about what people would think. Clever caricatures, but even I wasn't expecting what came next.

"Or maybe you would prefer some bro time with David?" Annabelle continued, relentlessly. "He could do you and then you could return the favour. The two of you will have much more experience of handling needy erections than the girls. Is it true most boys practise daily from even before teens in some cases? You know what you enjoy and I am sure it will be the same for each other. And if not you can always swap preferences when you chat in the shower afterwards."

"Oh David," Annabelle said with apparent disappointment, "now I am going to have to turn your trunks down too. Odd that you got hard just now."

Well that was David's character in the group firmly set even if it wasn't true that he had only got hard when the conversation had turned to the topic of him and Christopher together.

"Oh, David, that is unfortunate," was the next comment by Annabelle that came through my earphones. "Punishment credit for unauthorised erection and exceptional punishment credit for unauthorised ejaculation."

Poor thing. Had he been so worked up that the process of Annabelle turning his trunks down, with the inevitable manipulation of his erection that went with that, caused him to ejaculate? If it had it wouldn't have been very satisfying for him. Worst of all if he had demonstrated he couldn't control himself on this occasion, there would be a bigger temptation for Annabelle or any other staff member we came into contact with to try again. Having said that I did hope it was a principal focus of what improvements he should make to his self control as the course continued.

The confines of the hood were really starting to test my endurance and I knew I would probably be in the best condition of the four of us. I was genuinely starting worry for Julia so it was with great relief that Annabelle announced that was enough meditation for our first session. She advised us to keep our eyes closed as the hoods were removed but she was hardly quick about doing it. By the time mine had been removed and my eyes had accustomed themselves to the dim light in the room, I could see everyone else had already been released from their hood. Like me everyone seemed to be in a state of some distress from the ordeal, David especially.

"I think a fifteen minute break to freshen up would be a good idea," Annabelle announced and all of us nodded wearily in agreement. I had been pouring with sweat inside my hood and looking around it seemed everyone else had too.

"Mixed shower room is at the end of the hall," Annabelle added in a neutral tone, though she was obviously relishing the prospect of inflicting that humiliation on us. "I'll have fresh uniforms brought for you all but that fifteen minutes is an exact limit and begins now."

I could tell Julia was hesitant about showering with the boys but I knew she would be naked before them at some point so I gently took her arm and guided her down the hall.

It was still morning on effectively the first day of the course. Even I already had questions about how I would make it to the end of the next two weeks.

"