Hidden In The Woods

by Rachel Burns

  I nodded along with him. I seemed to have gone completely bonkers. I was getting too into this whole game that he was playing with me.

  I ate my cereal up pretty quickly. As long as I was here, playing along did sound like a good idea and looking at dogs and learning about them wasn’t a hardship.

  He carried my bowl and spoon over to the sink. He washed it by hand and put everything away, but he was very quick about it.

  “Why are you so fast?” I asked. If I was pretending to be a kid, then I could ask anything. They always did.

  He sighed and didn’t look at me. “I’ve got a certain routine that makes me fast. Some people just are, darling. Never you mind about that.”

  “I’m sorry, Daddy. I shouldn’t have asked.” I had never been nosy before, and I sincerely didn’t want him to get mad at me again. I was still sore.

  He was next to me in a second. “Darling, you didn’t do anything wrong, and I want a smart little girl. That means you have to ask questions. I am just sensitive about that, but that’s my problem, not yours. Off you go to school where you can ask as many questions as you want.” He gave me a hug, and then he walked me through the family room to the classroom.

  He sat me down at the old-fashioned desk, and then he got a book from the shelf and opened it up to the page about dogs.

  “Tell me about what you want in a dog,” he asked me.

  I thought before I answered, “I want a friend who likes to stay by my side.”

  He smiled, pleased with my answer. “A companion then. Now most dogs shed. Do you know what that means?”

  “Yes, I do. It means that they lose their hair. Is that bad?” I asked him. Would he say no because of that?

  “Some shed more than others. That could be a problem. You aren’t allergic are you?” he asked me. His smooth forehead wrinkled up.

  “I don’t think so.” I didn’t have much experience with animals, neither the indoor kind nor the outdoor kind.

  “Then it would be better to pick one that doesn’t shed to be on the safe side. Size is also of importance. Would you be afraid of a big dog?”

  “I don’t want the dog to bite me. It needs to be nice. And I don’t like drooling. Size doesn’t matter, I guess. But I don’t want it to jump up on me and knock me down either.”

  “Very good. You are getting more precise. Santa likes that. He wants to bring you the perfect gift for Christmas. Let’s go online and see if we can’t find a dog test to find the perfect one so Santa can get it for you. Come to the computer, darling.”

  Was he really going to let me go online? He went to an expensive looking computer and turned it on. “I made you a very modern classroom. I hope you like it.”

  “Yes, thank you, Daddy.”

  He pulled out my chair, and I sat down and waited.

  “Click the compass twice, darling. That’s right. Now what should you type to find what you want?” He was clearly into this teacher thing. He had to be around my age, but he sounded and acted exactly like a teacher would.

  “Dog test?”

  “Okay, try that.” As always, he was smiling.

  I typed it in, and we saw the first few of thousands of hits. I pointed to the second suggestion and peeked over my shoulder at him.

  “Okay, darling.”

  I clicked it and the test started. The computer asked us several questions: how much time we wanted to spend with the dog, if we had experience and of course about shedding. Daddy said that he’d had several dogs in his life. He told me that he had grown up on a farm. This whole dog thing was giving me lots of information about him.

  Only thirteen dogs suited us. I pointed to a Schnoodle. “I’ve never heard of that kind before.”

  “Neither have I. Click it, darling.”

  “Oh, Daddy, look at him. He’s adorable.” A miniature of the dog Sandy that Annie had in the movie was shown there. We read about him, and I was melting, picturing the dog sitting on my lap already.

  “Click on the others as well to see if you don’t like one of them better.” We clicked and read about all of them, but I was still sold on the idea of a Schnoodle.

  “Okay, you can start writing, but I want to read it, and I will correct any mistakes that you make. Penmanship counts to.” He went back to his desk and got paper and a fountain pen out. “Have you ever worked with one of these before?”

  I shook my head. I’d never seen one before, only in movies from the fifties.

  “It requires practice. Be careful with it. Daddy has a few chores to do in the kitchen. I’ll leave the door open, but I want you to try this pen. Don’t push too hard are you will break it.”

  I carefully took it and tried to twist off the lid. It opened up into two pieces in my hand. “I broke it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” I apologized.

  He chuckled and twisted it back together and pulled off the lid. “Try again,” he encouraged me.

  I started writing ‘Dear Santa’ and he nodded and left. I was finished when he came back. He had given me a couple pieces of paper, and I had needed them all. Inks spots had been my biggest problem.

  He took my letter and sat down at his desk to read it. He smiled as he read.

  I had written it like a little girl but with perfect grammar and spelling.

  “I think Santa will be very pleased,” he told me, folding my letter and slipping it into his shirt pocket. “I’ll see that this gets sent off. Now, get out your math book and open it to page eighty-nine.”

  I got it out, and that had been where we had left off in school. He had obviously been following me … everywhere.

  Why hadn’t I noticed him?

  Daddy asked me questions and explained what I didn’t understand. He gave me a complete lesson very professionally. I figured that he must be a real teacher. He gave me homework and everything.

  I worked quietly on my math, thinking that if I got out of here and back to my school, it would be easier to catch up this way.

  Then came English. He taught me grammar and then he had me write an essay about dogs. He disappeared into the kitchen again. I could smell food cooking.

  For my essay, I picked the theme about what made up the perfect dog. I wasn’t finished when he called me.

  I tiptoed into the kitchen and peeked in. He was peeking back at me and smiling.

  “This is our first real meal together. I made you something special, and afterwards, I have a special treat for you too.” He was excited to see me. I got the impression that he was thrilled to have me here with him. He wanted to spend time with me.

  He set a plate down in front of me, and I sat where I had this morning. He sat down across from me.

  “Britney, I want us to thank the lord before we eat our main meal every day. Bow your head and fold your hands.”

  I did, thinking how adorable I probably looked to him as I did that.

  He blest the food and house and all the things that the Lord was gracious enough to give us, and then he blessed both of us.

  I said Amen when he was finished, and he looked pleased.

  “I’m a man of faith, so I will be seeing to your religious education too.”

  “Okay, I always liked Sunday school,” I agreed with him.

  He gave me another one of those brilliant sGilbert. “I think the two of us are going to get along just fine.”

  We ate together, and when I started to slouch, he told me to sit up pretty. Not in a mean way but in a ‘you can do it’ way. I did feel like an only child, a loved one.

  After I had cleaned my plate, something that no one cared about at home, he got a pink birthday cake out of the refrigerator and lighted the candles. I watched him wide eyed. He sure was spoiling me.

  “Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy Birthday, my dear Britney. Happy birthday to you,” he sang as he walked the cake over to me and set it down in front of me. “Make a wish, darling.”

  I wished that this wasn’t only a dream. I almost got all the candles out on the firs
t blow. I shrugged and got the rest while he clapped for me. “That’s great, Britney. You did well.”

  He got out a knife and cut the cake. The cake was delicious, and he’d made it especially for me.

  My mom had her sisters over last night, and she worried more about what they wanted and what she would like, so she had ended up putting pistachios on my cake because the three of them loved them. I hated them.

  He truly was a far better parent than what mine were. I couldn’t remember either of them spending an entire morning with me as he had just devoted to me.

  In the afternoon, he let me go outside and see the snow. I had seen it before but not often. He first gave in after I had promised to write a poem about the snow.

  I got to make a snowball and throw it at a tree except that mine didn’t reach the tree. His did. He had laughed and told me that with lots of practice I could have a true fire aim.

  I was surprised with myself that I already felt so relaxed with him, even relaxed enough to beg to go outside. He was relaxed enough to let me, and I didn’t try to run away.

  After that, we went back in and watch on old TV show about a pioneer family living on the prairie. The first show of season one. He bragged that ‘we’ had them all, and that was exactly the thing he wanted his little girl watching.

  We sat on our sofa, and he had his arm around me the entire time. At first, it was very uncomfortable, but then it got more comfortable. He wasn’t doing anything other than laying his arm around me.

  Afterwards, I got to go and play in my room. I played with my dollhouse. It only had two dolls: one that looked like him and one that looked like me, I mean exactly like him and exactly like me. I had the doll of me playing in her beautiful Victorian bedroom, and the doll of him one in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure how they should interact with each other.

  Daddy called me when it was time to eat. After he set down my plate, he asked me what I had played.

  “I played with my dollhouse.”

  He smiled pleased with me. “That’s very good. I’m glad you still like it. I was a little afraid that you might have gotten too old for something like that. Most girls grow up too fast nowadays,” he complained.

  I nodded along with him and ate my sandwich.

  He ate his sandwiches very quickly, like a starving teenager boy would. It was so difficult to size him up. In one moment, he appeared to be my age, but in the next, it was very clear that he was older and wiser than me.

  He sent me off to play while he cleaned everything up.

  I glanced around my room and spotted my colored pencils. I started coloring a picture.

  He was finished quickly, and he called me out to the living room. He had set up the game console. “I know you like tennis. Let’s play that.”

  We played that and a few other games.

  I nodded happily when he announced bedtime. I was tired and ready for bed.

  He cleaned everything up and took my hand and brought me into the bathroom to brush my teeth. He brushed his too. When we were finished, he started undressing me.

  I was getting uncomfortable about this. He didn’t have a pair of pajamas waiting.

  I stood on the tiled floor naked, facing the mirror, and he stood directly behind me. He was looking at me in the mirror.

  I tried to cover myself up.

  “You don’t need to hide. You’re very beautiful. I know that you have never been with a man before, and I am going to be very careful with you. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

  His words had the opposite effect on me. I was afraid. I hadn’t seen it coming. He had seen me naked twice before, and nothing sexual had come from it. I had fallen for the whole dog trick and let him play his games with me.

  Maybe I could use the game to my advantage? “But I’m too little for something like that,” I told him.

  “No, darling. In my day, eighteen would have been an old maid. Trust me this is part of your proper care. A woman needs to be petted and loved. You would get very sad if I didn’t take care of you like I should. I’m not going to do that to you. Daddy knows best.”

  My face dropped into a frown, and I started to cry. I was shaking and hiccuping, and I felt so alone and helpless.

  “Hey, it’s okay to be afraid. A good little girl like you doesn’t know what to imagine about making love. Daddy will show you. I think it would be best to get you into the tub. Warm water will relax you.” That said, he started the water and added some kind of oil to the water.

  I slowly moved off to the side. I was going to slip out of the door and run like mad, but when I turned to run, he was standing in front of me.

  I peeked back at where he had just been, and he was gone. Then I looked in front of myself again.

  How had he done that?

  “I know that you’re scared, but running from your problems isn’t going to help. Get in the tub.” His last words were said so strictly that I was afraid he would spank me again. I didn’t want that either.

  I merely stood there and gaped at him stupidly.

  “Hey, why don’t I pin up your hair so it doesn’t get wet. That way you can go right to bed when we are through. You’ll be very tired then.” He grabbed me by my arm and walked me to my chair.

  I sat down and shifted my arm so they covered my breasts without making it obvious that I was trying to cover myself up.

  He brushed through my hair and twisted it up into a pretty knot.

  I looked older. I didn’t want to be any older. I wanted to go back to being a little girl.

  I felt used and tricked. It had been a game to have sex with me. I’d heard that men would go to great lengths to sleep with the girl they wanted to sleep with. Crazy men took it to this extreme.

  He had me in his arms in a split second. He laid me in the tub and put a folded up towel under my head while I sniffled and shook in fear.

  I glanced away as he undressed.

  He was in the tub in no time again. He moved so he was laid out next to me. I turned my head away from him.

  He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my neck.

  “Please don’t,” I sobbed, wishing I weren’t so weak. I needed to be a fighter, and I simply wasn’t. I was terribly cliché that way. I should have been better at sports. I should’ve gone to the self-defense classes for women. I shouldn’t have been too girly to box.

  “Trust me, I know what is best for you. This is it. You will really like doing this soon. I promise.”

  “No, I won’t.” I drew my knees up and crossed my arms over them tightly, so I was sitting up in the water.

  I jumped a moment later when I felt his finger in between my legs.

  He was fingering me.

  I grabbed hold of his arm and tried to stop him by pushing him away, but his arm didn’t budge in the least. He was even grinning.

  “Stop, or I will run away the first chance I get.”

  “No threatening me. You can’t run away, so don’t waste time trying. Besides, I don’t want to talk about punishment when I’m pleasuring you.”

  “This isn’t a pleasure. I hate it,” I informed him.

  He moved, and I moved with him sliding in the tub.

  When we stopped, I was lying on my back, and my legs were open so wide that one of my legs was hanging over the side of the tub.

  “No,” I screamed.

  “Just keep on screaming no until you can’t stifle a yes.” His head popped under the water, and he was touching me down there with his fingers, or was that his tongue?

  I peeked down and saw that his head was honestly right over me … down there.

  I tried to climb out of the tub, but he had his arms linked around my legs holding me in place. He was still down there … licking.

  Why hadn’t he drowned yet?

  My head fell back, and I couldn’t worry about silly things like that anymore. I was grasping on to the side of the tub and mumbling no in a very unconvincing way.

  He wouldn’t stop, and what he was doing fel
t so good, and I needed him to continue. My hands glided to his shoulders for support as I held him under the water.

  I gasped for air as if I were the one under water. My walls were crashing down all around me as I felt him on me.

  My nipples felt somehow lonely. They were straining for someone to touch them.

  I screamed out Daddy as I had my first orgasm.

  I’d never had an orgasm before because I hadn’t been very good at playing with myself. I thought about my grandmother in heaven watching me, and I simply couldn’t do it.

  I’d been right about being watched. I was glad that I had never given him that kind of impression of me.

  I was still breathing hard when his face popped out of the water. He kissed me and held me tightly. “You’re doing so well, Britney,” he whispered in my ear.

  I screamed in his ear as I felt the worse pain of my whole life. He had entered me.

  “Don’t cry. It will start to feel better very soon, my beautiful darling.” He was inside of me, and I wasn’t a virgin anymore. I frowned and started to cry again.

  “I’ll make it feel nice. Just relax, darling.” His fingers were doing what his tongue had done before, but now his penis was adding to the feeling. He had one arm under my head, holding it gently so I wouldn’t bump my head when he plunged back and forth inside of me.

  “Please, please, please.” I looked him in his eyes not knowing myself what I meant by that.

  I had to scream ‘Daddy’ again.

  I looked to him to explain all this to me. Why did I’d like this, and how had he known in advance that I would like it?

  “Such a good girl. I’m so proud of you,” he praised me.

  I was now staring at the ceiling and letting myself feel what was happening to me. The feeling of him moving in and out of me, and his dancing fingers on the little nub that I had never really known what to do with, felt so amazing.

  I had liked to touch that nub when I was in the shower, and it felt good to touch it, but this was beyond belief.

  “Daddy! Daddy, Daddy.” I was jerking under him.