Out of The Shadows

A Serious Discussion (Nathan's POV)

*NATHAN'S POV*

I double checked what time it is in London before I rang Jess. It was nine so Alysha is probably getting ready for bed but I need to speak to her first. I opened my laptop and brought up facetime, then called Jess on her phone.

"Hey Nath!"

"Hey, I need to talk to Alysha; do you think you could get facetime up on your laptop and give it to her?"

"Yeah sure, she's just doing homework but she should almost be finished."

"She's still doing LP?" I asked annoyed. She should've been done hours ago.

"Yeah, she got work from all her teachers and there are at least two or three activities she has to do for each subject." Jess sighed. I calmed down, it was a valid reason. "I'll set up facetime, talk then."

"Yeah, thanks Jess"

"It's okay" She said and hung up.

I ran a hand through my hair; this could go one of two ways. Alysha could either: understand and accept what's going to happen or she could hate me and make things worse for herself. Although she's a young teenage girl so throw hormones into the mix and only god knows what will happen then. In that case any number of things could happen. Example: she acts like she's fine but really shuts down, secretly hates me, and explodes sooner or later from bottling it all up. This is probably never going to completely end with our friendship intact. Well what's left of it anyway...

I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard my computer going off. Jess name came up and I answered it. Alysha was sitting at her desk looking scared, not even looking at me. Jess was standing behind her and gave me a look as if to say to go easy on her then left the room. I watched Alysha closely trying to figure out what I should say first. I did plan it out in my head but that plan disappeared as soon as I saw her. She was shaking and refused to look at me. I broke the silence.

"Alysha, can you look at me please?" I asked softly and her gaze lifted a little but wasn't looking me in the eye. I sighed. 'This is going to be harder than I thought.'
"I got your message, what did you want to talk about?" I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to dive right into what I had decided, and instead break it to her slowly. It didn't help I was in another country so I couldn't exactly stop her from doing anything stupid right this minute.

"I-I... I just wanted to tell you that I'm really sorry and I'll do anything for you to forgive me. I-I just c-can't stand you being m-mad at me like t-this." She said sniffling. Finally she looked me in the eyes and I could see right through her. She was terrified, upset and stressed. I could tell she was sorry but I can't just let it slide because she's apologised. She has to earn back my trust and accept the consequences.

"You know I can't just forgive you because you're sorry. You need to earn my trust back; you have to accept the consequences for your actions."

"I know but there has to be something I can do! Please, I didn't mean for any of this to happen" She cried. It broke my heart to see her like that and for me to not be there to comfort her but I had to stay strong. She would never understand and take me seriously if I let her tears get to me.

"You can start by behaving, and accept the punishment I'm going to give you. What I said this morning still stands, but I am adding to it. Because you obviously will never learn otherwise and-"

"No please! I'll behave and I've learnt my lesson, please I'm sorry!"

"Alysha. Stop and listen to me. If you keep cutting me off and back-chatting you will only make it worse." I said growling slightly. I heard her whimper as she looked down. I continued.
"You are not going to your friends' house, you are grounded for six months, you are not getting your iPad back until I can trust you again, and what I said about school still stands. If it's minor I may let it slide, but if you get another detention there's no more chances. Is that clear?"

"Yes Master" She said quietly, waiting for me to continue.

"Now, when I get back on Sunday I'm going to give you ninety to a hundred lashes, and you will spend the night in the basement chained. Every night for the week after that you will come to me and ask me to give you at least fifteen lashes before bed, and ask for me to drink from you morning and night. Depending on your behaviour while I'm gone I will either add something or minimise the punishment. Minimising your punishment won't be easy though, and I'm not going to tell you how I'm going to do it, or what you have to do to reduce it. Got it?" I spoke firmly the whole time and tried not to raise my voice. I think I got through to her but the blank expression on her face tells me otherwise.

"Alysha, answer me."

"Y-yes I understand Master."

"Repeat what I just said. I want to make sure you were actually listening to me." I narrowed my eyes and waited for her to speak.

"When you get back on Sunday I'm going to get ninety to a hundred lashes, and spend the night in the basement. For the week after that I have to ask you to give me fifteen lashes before bed each night, and ask for you to drink from me in the morning and at night. And depending on my behaviour while you are gone you will either add something or reduce the punishment." She said just loud enough for me to hear and didn't look at me once.

"Can you stop looking away from me? Please." I said slightly annoyed. She looked at me and shrunk back into her chair, hugging her knees. I sighed. I needed to wrap this up.

"Have you finished your homework?"

"No, I've still got to finish English."

"I want you to go straight to bed when you're done. I'll call again tomorrow and see how you're going okay?" She nodded but didn't say anything.
"Be good" I said and ended the call. I shut my laptop and lay back on the bed. 'I just hope I'm doing the right thing and not completely overdoing it.'