✅ A Dose of Humiliation

53. Discipline

"Has there been some kind of problem?" Mrs Miller asked, raising an eyebrow. Everyone went silent immediately. "Was there some kind of spill?"

"Yeah, sorry," Marcie answered right away. I could see the fear in her eyes as she spoke; she knew that she would be in for some kind of punishment just for spilling a drink. But she also knew that it was less than what I would face for peeing on the floor, and she had gotten used to her mother's punishments a little. "I knocked a glass over when I woke, I didn't realise there was a drink somebody didn't finish before bed, and–"

"Or did Lorna not manage to take the precautions that she promised?" that piercing voice interrupted. "You know, I don't think a simple spilled drink would spread so far across the floor, and I don't think you would be using the deodorising disinfectant to get it out of the carpet. Marcie, I expect better of you. Your friend needs to be punished if she can't act responsibly, that is exactly why her parents authorised me to administer appropriate discipline. They told me to punish her, specifically so that things like this will not happen in the future. But lying helps nobody, so I think it is appropriate that you face a spanking together. So that you will think twice before doing that again."

"But Mum–"

"Don't interrupt me, young lady, you'll only make it worse, and I don't think your friend would appreciate that. You will both accept fifteen strokes because somebody did not take care of the furniture while she is here as a guest, and refused to wear a diaper even though she is such a baby that she still needs one. And an additional twenty strokes each for lying about your sins. And five more for interrupting me."

My face was burning with shame as she so casually mentioned my problem and called me a baby in front of all my closest friends; but it didn't stop me giving the response she expected. Any argument could only have made it worse.

"Yes, Mrs Miller."
"Yes Mother."

"Good. Now, I dare say your punishment doesn't have to be immediate. In fact, I think that it would be appropriate to make you wait a little so that you can think about what you have done. So you will face your punishment after breakfast. Do you understand me?"

I just nodded. A glance around the room told me Elspeth was fighting the urge to complain. She'd always had a problem controlling her anger, and now there was something she could really be mad about. And she couldn't be spanked either, because her parents would never have agreed to it. But she knew that Mrs Miller would be happy to take it out on Marcie if someone else said something against her; and that was enough to make her hold her tongue.

When Marcie's mum left us, we all knew that we would have to finish cleaning up. I couldn't stop apologising to the others, especially to Marcie. But nobody seemed to be particularly upset. They all knew that this was just one sadistic parent taking any opportunity to punish us, and they didn't blame me at all.

Twenty minutes later, there was no trace of a stain on the carpet, and everything that needed washing was in the machine. We'd done everything we could reasonably be expected to do, and I think we all felt quite proud of ourselves.

"You know what?" Marcie said, while the girls who still had clean sleeping bags folded them away and everyone got dressed for a new day. "I don't care anymore. This is the last time Mum gets to punish me like this. When she treats my friends like that, I don't want to be in this house."

"I'd say move in with me," Elspeth suggested. "You know how much I'd love that. But as long as she has deferred parental responsibility, she could kick up a fuss about my parents."

"Stay with me?" Serena spoke up. "I know you were joking about it yesterday, but there's no real reason you can't. My house has a basement suite, two bedrooms with their own bathroom and kitchenette, and you can bolt the connecting door to the rest of the house if you want to feel like you've got a place to yourselves. Somewhere to stay until you find your feet, if you want it."