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“Annabelle!? Lord have mercy, is that you!?” The aged male voice shouted in disbelief. A handlebar-mustached man in his late fifties shook his head in bewilderment, putting a hand over his face.
“Oh, Fuck…” Belle had been snapped back to reality, both her and Bret having separated from one another in a panic, pulling whatever they could close to their bodies for privacy. “Uncle Graham, I-- I can explain--” her voice quivered as all semblance of arousal completely left her body. What the fuck did I do? He’s going to tell dad-- Jesus Christ, no… Belle panicked, shaking her head back and forth as tears streamed from her face. What a nightmare.
Bret stayed silent, taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. “Graham, this is my fault. I have been so stressed out over my summer coursework and my job-- I just… I snapped and convinced her this would be fun. This is completely my fault.” His voice wavered but remained mostly firm.
Belle’s heart stopped. Bret, why would you do this? She asked herself as gnawings of guilt took hold of her. She basically threw herself at him and he immediately took the burden onto his shoulders.
“Both of you get dressed. Right now,” responded Graham in a calm, yet livid tone. “I am going to make sure no one sees you two in this disappointing state.” He shook his head as he walked over to the trail proper and kept his eyes open for any other hikers that might be coming this way. The last thing he needed was for any of his guests to see this mess.
A few minutes later, the distraught Belle and Bret got dressed in silence and slunk over toward Graham. Belle’s eyes shifted upward, noting the look of utter shame plastered across his face. As they made eye contact, the ranger shook his head with his arms crossed.
“Come with me. Now,” demanded Graham as the three marched onward.
Belle’s mind spiraled into a chasm of anxiety, overwhelming her with dreadful musings. Was her father going to find out? He was good friends with Graham, who in turn, was a friend of her family as well. In all likeliness, her father would probably come to enjoy the hiking trail himself sometime soon and have a chat with the currently fuming park ranger himself.
As they passed another couple on the trail, Belle looked up from the ground and briefly glanced over at them. The young couple gave them an odd look, noticing how sweaty, disheveled and upset the three looked.
A slight giggle came from the woman as she grabbed her male companion’s sleeve. “Graham looks pissed, what do you think happened?” She whispered a little too loudly.
“By the looks of it, I have a few guesses,” chuckled the man as they passed and began to whisper more quietly.
A deep pang of humiliation wracked Belle. The look on Bret’s face mirrored her own; an expression of sheer, unfettered regret. “I-- I’m sorry, Bret…” Belle muttered under her breath as tears streamed from her face and hit the floor. Bret didn’t respond, being far too preoccupied with his own thoughts. Belle’s breats and nethers still throbbed, adding to her discomfort. Why couldn’t i control myself? Am I losing my mind? She scoured her mind, trying to make sense of this nightmare of hormones and irrationality that consumed her. There had been a strange dream, right? She only had a vague recollection of a white cow. On that same train of thought, she pieced together how all of this started when she stole that fucking Cowtina statue. Despite not being a superstitious person, a feeling of paranoia seeded itself within Belle.
Wsssssssh
The sound of quietly rushing air filled the room as the air conditioner droned. An exhausted Belle pulled her face away from her hand and glanced around the room with tired eyes. Bookshelves and display cases showing off various art and trophies lined the walls of the upper-middle class, modern living room.
“Oh, God…” Belle groaned, shaking her head. I don’t want to talk to my dad; how did I get myself into this situation? She cursed her misfortunes, ruminating on what led her here.
Two days prior, she fucked Bret outside. Not just outside, but just barely off a hiking trail at a local park where all kinds of happy, innocent young people came for a decidedly un-sexy day of exercise amidst nature’s splendor. They were yelled at, reprimanded, and ultimately taken away by Graham before getting banned for life. The look of disappointment on that man’s face was burned into her brain forever.. She recalled how mortified Bret was as well; his face deep crimson with shame as he blamed himself over and over for getting carried away. Even when all of this was blatantly her fault, Bret still accepted full responsibility.
Belle suddenly shivered, wrapping her arms over her chest. Why her father enjoyed keeping the thermostat so low, she would never understand. Focusing on more innocuous grievances helped keep her mind off of how awful her current situation was. A part of her wondered if he did deliberately let her sit so long waiting for him to enter the room so her anxiety and fear would build. Perhaps as some type of punishing pregaming to make Belle repentant.
“Annabelle. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come home and visit,” a masculine voice dully stated. A tall, well-formed man with short, well-kept brown hair and blue eyes stepped into the room. He was cleanly shaved with a faintly wrinkled, yet chiseled face. “Look me in the eye. Don’t think I don’t know when you’re sitting there and seething over how you don’t want to be here.” With that, he sat down in the chair across from Belle and stared at her intently.
Belle winced as soon as she heard the name ‘Annabelle,’ never having been a fan of her full name. To her, it seemed a bit childish and girly in comparison to the energetic, go-getter partier she wanted everyone to see her as. As soon as her father demanded her attention, she shifted her gaze to meet him, trying her best not to snap and tell him off for being an asshole.
“I know you’re not stupid. You know why you’re here, don’t you?” He asked her in a low voice, resting his elbows on his knees as he pushed his fingertips together.
“Yes-- I obviously do. Just punish me and get it over with; I know what I did wrong, okay?” Belle insisted with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. She fidgeted in her seat and adjusted her gaze toward the wall for a moment before turning back to her dad once more.
“Annabelle. I am putting you through college and paying for most of your bills and living expenses. You really try to paint me as the bad guy, don’t you? You--”
“I get it!” Belle snapped, glaring at him angrily. “You do all these things for me and you are going to talk about how I act like you’re a bad dad or something. I’ve heard this before.”
The patriarch’s face flushed red as a vein notably bulged on his forehead. He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing. “If you interrupt me again, I am cutting all financial support outside of the bare minimum you need to survive. Do you understand me?” His voice dripped with constrained anger.
Belle winced and folded her hands in her lap. “Y-- Yes, I understand.” Her demeanor grew meek at the prospect of losing out on her leisure money. She made some money from her online-endeavors but it wouldn’t be enough to make up for the loss of her precious dad bucks.
‘’I pay for you. I support you and even keep my mouth shut when you choose to do all your online crap.” He cleared his throat and let out a sigh. “I understand that personal hobbies are important. You won’t grow academically if you feel shackled to your studies twenty-four seven. Because of this, I look the other way as long as you maintain your grades.”
Belle felt herself growing angrier by the second. She wanted to open her mouth and scream at him for being condescending. Big fucking whoop; do you want a cookie for not being abusive enough to take my hobbies away?
“And now you humiliate me. I am part of this community just as you are. When you behave obscenely, it reflects poorly on the whole family. Graham is a dear friend. He’s like an uncle to you, why would you do this? What the hell were you thinking?”
After a moment of awkward silence, an increasingly upset Belle finally spoke. “I-- Bret was the one who pushed for it. It’s not completely my fault. I am already banned for life, I learned my lesson already so you don’t have to lecture me.”
The well-groomed man raised an eyebrow. “Bret, huh? Graham mentioned Bret saying something like that, but I don’t believe it. That young man has a good head on his shoulders. Honestly, he has been a wonderful influence on you. I’m willing to bet that you pushed him into it and he’s trying to take the blame for you. I’m not saying he doesn’t share some blame, but I’m confident he didn’t instigate a single thing.” He was incredibly unamused with his daughter.
Belle clenched her knee as her hand trembled in anger. Are you fucking serious? She felt slighted and demeaned by this man who was supposed to be her father. “I am your goddamn daughter! You should believe in me more, Jesus Christ!” Belle crossed her arms over her chest in frustration. “You have so little faith in me that you think Bret created some elaborate freakin’ lie. What the hell?” She got herself worked up over this point while completely ignoring the fact her father was right. The whole situation was her fault and Bret was taking the blame.
“Oh, you want me to have faith in you? How many times have you given me this same speech about not being a crappy father who won’t believe in her daughter, just to find out you lied and I was right to doubt you?”
Belle hesitated. “I-- there were a couple of times but still, I--”
“A couple??” Her father barked in response, his frustration mounting. “Shoplifting when you were fifteen. You gave me this speech about believing in you, then security camera footage showed you’re a liar. At nearly seventeen, you yelled at me all summer whenever I asked about your summer work since I needed to believe in you and stop hounding you. Turns out you didn’t even touch the work.”
“H- Hey! That’s just two instances-- I was a freakin’ kid!” Belle stammered, growing flustered and feeling very small.
“Just a few months later, you insisted how important it was for me to let you help tutor your fellow students after school. You are an incredibly bright young woman when you actually try, and I see your grades in those AP classes that you actually like, so I believe you. I start to get suspicious, you rant at me, then I find out you were lying to me and using tutoring as an excuse to stay out longer after school and goof off. It was just a means for a later curfew, wasn’t it?” The man maintained eye contact with his daughter, staring right into her soul.
“I-- just…” Belle’s words lacked any confidence at this point. Her sassy, confident facade crumbled into nothing.
“I’m going to stop listing examples. Basically, I don’t trust you. I don’t even think trust has to be earned by my own children; I trust all of you innately and give all of you the benefit of the doubt. However, once that trust is lost, whether it’s from my own child or otherwise, it has to be earned back. I don’t trust you, Annabelle.”
Those words cut through to Belle’s heart like a dagger, tears now streaming down her face. How can he be so fucking heartless to me? “Daddy-- why… Why would you say these things to me? I-- I mess up sometimes, but I’m trying really hard-- I…” She couldn’t even refute her father’s points but still didn’t want to come out of this as the bad guy.
“Because I love you. This internet thing you do with the streams and clicks and making yourself look cute so lonely men give you money? It’s not sustainable. You need real skills. It needs to remain secondary-- a hobby, rather, while you pursue a career path that will set you up for success. You think I’m oppressing you and that I should treat you like an adult. But you behave like a child and rely on me to support you. I am your father; until you’re fully autonomous and don’t rely on me, I am going to continue being your parent. Do you understand?” He took the silence as a yes. “So let’s discuss our next steps.” He took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. “Annabelle. Starting next week, you will be doing 20 hours of volunteer work a week. For the rest of the summer. I will give you more details on Monday since I am still working out the details, but you need to earn my trust back and do something to repent for your irrational behaviour on the hiking trail.”
Belle’s heart sank as she panicked. “N-- No! Please! I need those twenty hours… Between my summer coursework and my self-employment, I barely have any time for myself as it is-- I… I know what I did wrong, please… I promise I will never do something like that again, please be lenient with me!”
“Lenient?” The man laughed, deriving great amusement from his daughter’s words. “This IS lenient. I will make sure to get progress updates on your volunteer work as well. If I find out you’ve been slacking at the end of the summer, or if you disappoint me again, there will be two options available to you.” He paused once more, waiting to see if Annabelle would interrupt him again. “The first option will be to move back in with me. No more living with your besties while I subsidize your living expenses. You will move back home while you complete your schooling. Your mother and I will feed you, provide your necessities, and give you support while you go through school There wil be curfews, heavily monitored spending budgets, no more wasting time on your streams and whatever nonsense, and weekly progress reports from you to ensure you’re not slacking.”
Belle was speechless; her heart sank into her stomach as a feeling of dread washed over her. That sounded like a complete nightmare; being treated like a fucking child while having to interact with her dad every single day. There was no way she could let this happen.
“The second option is that I cut off all support of any kind and set you free. No more daddy breathing down your neck, no more lectures and speeches. I will offer you no financial support of any kind and you can find a way to afford living with your friends on your own. If you choose this option, you are free to switch to option 1 at any time. We love you and will take you in if you need help. However, don’t be surprised if your mother and I have less faith in you if you’re not smart enough to accept option 1 from the beginning.”
Belle kept her eyes closed tightly as tears splashed into her lap. Why is he so fucking cruel? Why can’t he just trust me? She began to wallow in self-pity, cursing those who forced her into such an awful situation.
“Do you realize how lucky you are? Do your twenty hours a week. If you can’t handle your internet job on top of it, I expect you to prioritize volunteering. Your two priorities will be coursework and volunteer work; anything and everything else is superfluous and unnecessary. I won’t stop you from pursuing your hobby, but you might have to learn to make some sacrifices, just as I have done for you by being such a generous and forgiving father.”
“I--...” There were many choice words Belle would like to share with her father but she couldn’t muster the strength or courage to do so. Dejectedly, she looked back up at her father with puffy, red eyes. “I-- I understand everything… Please, may I go home?” She asked pathetically, giving off the air of a kicked puppy.
“Yes, you are free to go. However, it wouldn't hurt you to stay for dinner once in a while. Why don’t you come by sometime under a happier pretense?”
Belle wanted to scream about how there could never be a happy pretense with him. “Yes, daddy… Bye.” She got up and turned to leave. How could he expect her to come home willingly when she was treated like garbage every time she swung by?
Belle stood in her room, stripping naked as she tossed her sweat-stained clothes in the corner. She then shambled over to bed and flopped onto her back. “Ugghh…” She massaged her breasts, feeling a dull throb within them and her nethers still. She hadn’t thought about it as much the last couple of days since the whole public sex thing. She had been too preoccupied with her own humiliation and the way her father spoke down to her every opportunity he got. However, the pressure on her tailbone and on top of her head grew harder to ignore.
A twinge of horniness washed over her as her mind grew foggy. Vague thoughts of giant, dark cocks and the lovely scent of greenery flooded her mind. “W- Wait… No-- not again… Please…” She recalled how whenever this happened, she lost control of herself. Not only did she have to deal with her father and dumb fucking volunteer work, but her body and brain were still performing acts that terrified her. She tried to think about the stream she planned on doing tomorrow. What game should I play? Belle desperately attempted to think of something she enjoyed; her streams and her online career. She loved coming up with intricate plans to boost her views.
Why then, was it so hard to come up with a good hook? She was supposed to be sharp witted and more intelligent than the idiot masses who watched her. However, as soon as she tried to turn the gears in her heard and think up an intricate scheme, her brain fogged over andd stopped her in her tracks.
It would be easier to show my tits and act like a ditz while I play. Why overthink it? You know you’ll get more clicks this way.
This dangerous thought echoed in her head. Was it her own subconscious or something else? A chill went down Belle turned her head to stare at Cowtina; the idol sat on her desk and stared at her. Hadn’t she hid the idol or put it away so she didn’t have to look at it? Or did she imagine doing that? Regardless, the dumb little statue gave her chills.
“Is this your goddamn fault?” She snarled at the idol, feeling an irrational sense of anger. All of this started when she stole the ugly thing from the Uptown Marketplace. She needed something to vent her anger on, even if it was irrational. “You!---” As she ranted, exhaustion suddenly consumed her. She swore that the statuette’s eyes glowed as she unwillingly fell into a deep slumber, falling back into her pillows.
Belle stood in a grassy pasture completely filled with fog. She could barely see five feet in front of her. “Where-- am I?” She asked groggily as she took in her surroundings. Something about her predicament felt equal parts familiar and terrifying. Belle took a deep breath and started to walk forward slowly.
Before long, she sensed something ahead of her; a living being up ahead watching her intently. Panic consumed Belle as she froze in her tracks, staring forward as her heart rate picked up. “Who-- Who’s there?? Where am I!?” Belle demanded, trying to sound confident and angry despite her wavering voice.
A large form moved toward Belle from the fog, taking careful steps as it came into view. At the same time, the fog receded another twenty yards, revealing a pure white cow with blue eyes.
“Miss Belle, it has been far too long, hasn’t it?” Asked Hesat, projecting the words right into her brain.
END
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