She started pacing back and forth, waving her arms. “When I tell Marina
and Jenny about the article, they start wink-winking nudge-nudging like
they’re into a little slap and tickle themselves. Then Jenny goes all
oooooo-eeeeeeee-ooooooo spooky spookier than normal, I might add
and now Marina looks like someone ripped her heart out. Jenny has
dis-a-*****-peared of the face of The PLANET! Pun intended of
course.” Alice added.

Lara felt a moment of dizziness overtake her, she pressed her back to
the cool wall. Whether it was Alice’s rant or something else, she felt
like she was fading out. The air changed, growing electric and Lara
shook her head hard. Alice went right on yelling.

“And now Candace and Bette are living next door to Ivan and Kit. Dana
married the cat killer. And you! YOU!” She waved a finger under Lara’s
nose. “You’re the new hard-assed Mistress of Pain, I presume. Hello
world, here comes someone pissed in my Cheerios PERKINS!”

An odd look crossed Lara’s face as the electricity in the air faded.
Her eyes blurred, then cleared, finding some soulfulness. She shook her
head and blinked hard.

“Alice! Hi!”

Alice smacked her. Hard, so hard her fingers hurt, upside the left side of her head.

“Hi! Hi????? Where the ***** have you been for the last half hour I’ve
been yelling at you?” Alice berated her, her whole body shaking.

“Um”

Lara looked around, her face going pale as she recognized the kind of
equipment around her. “Al,” she whispered, “where are we?” Lara’s voice
was barely a whisper as she pressed back into the corner of the room
away from the door, fear moving into her eyes.

Alice’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Lara? Are you all right?”
Alice asked, moving towards Lara, the look of helplessness in her eyes
and Alice felt bad for a moment that Lara was so confused. Only for a
moment; the woman had been about to strap her down and whip her for
***** sake.

“I don’t know. I feel so so odd,” she said, running her hands over
her arms as if to check and see if she was still all there. Goosebumps
rose on her long arms, and Alice watched her body language.

“Odd doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Alice snarled. “You were just
about to chain me up to that.” She waved her finger toward the
spanking bench “that stainless steel monstrosity. After that, it all
gets kinda hazy but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been my idea of fun. And
speaking of fun, whatEVER possessed you to come here?”