Summer most Dreadful (Google x Lina)

Aviane. Leah Martin Strauss somberly fingered the blister of pink pills from it’s nondescript white and pink wrapper with a resigned sigh. For a soon to be sixteen year old young girl, getting on birth control for the first time is usually an exciting, transformative occasion but Leah had a far more pessimistic outlook: She might just need it to protect herself. She gingerly peeled the small pill out of the blister and ingested it; just one week from that day, she could very well be happy to have taken this precaution.

Leah had some history to her. Both her parents died in a car wreck when she was seven and since then she had paddled from one foster family to the other, drifting in and out of undiagnosed depression from a very young age. The Martin’s, the family she finally seemed to have found a definitive home with had been her guardians for the past four years. Apart from one uncle, Leah had no blood relatives left after her parents passed and that man exactly was the root of Leah’s deadlock and consequential melancholy. See for the past few years, ever since the Martin’s took her in and offered her a real, permanent home Leah had really picked herself up: she made friends at school, her grades improved and she generally became a happy teen. Where her biggest concern had always been where she was going to end up next, the Martin’s had given her the opportunity to grow into a regular teen, with teen trivialities and teen issues like everyone else her age. Except for summer.

During summer, when Leah’s classmates and friends went on vacation with their parents or hung out at the beach or the mall, Leah spent roughly eight weeks with uncle Dominic, the sole remaining Strauss she was related to. After the accident it was assumed that Dominic would become Leah’s legal guardian but child services measured the man up to be unsuitable to take care of a seven year old. Uncle Dominic was a retired soldier living in a decrepit cabin in the Wyoming Wilderness, at least half an hour on the back roads by car from the closest town barely large enough to be on the map. If not for off-trail hikers and the hydroelectric dam which could be heard right up to the cabin if the wind blew in the right direction the area wouldn’t be worth mentioning at all.

With her feet pulled up and her back against the headboard of her bed, Leah checked her phone for updates on her social media profiles; The phone had a ninety-eight percent charge, it was likely not going to be have to be charged until September as not only was cellular reception in the area uncle Dominic resided in spotty at best, he also disallowed her to bring them saying that charging them was a waste of power.

Twelve updates, most of them likes and thumbs up. The recent picture she posted of herself wearing a sexy Star Wars themed outfit garnered the expected success; It was the internet after all: show a bit of skin and you’re praised all the way up to the clouds. Leah’s eyes brightened a little as she perused her notifications; She was going to miss this life.

Leah was into geek fandom and popular culture, not too uncommon these days. When she wasn’t playing online video games, she would spend weeks sewing and crafting genuinely impressive costumes out of discarded clothes and whatever she could get on the cheap at the thrift store. It was called cosplay (short for costume play), and even though Leah didn’t drag herself from one convention to the other she enjoyed the process of making her own getups and subsequently showing them off on social media. Leah was popular too, albeit it among her friends and friends of friends, she was definitely not a big name. She packed a small sewing kit to take with her, in case she had a little spare time.

In case, because the assumed dullness of the venue wasn’t the most disheartening prospect of her upcoming vacation in the woods, if only it was. Her Uncle Dominic was what terrified her, and it was certainly justified. If any of her so-called vacation — a outing made necessary both by the Martin’s careers and the convenient availability of uncle Dominic — resembled that of years passed she would spend half her time doing chores and genuinely hard work her uncle had saved up all year and the other half being punished for doing it poorly, even if that wasn’t so. Uncle Dominic didn’t spare the rod, or his belt, or anything else he could find to chastise her with and last year… well last year punishment had really advanced to be inherently more sexual, with him making it clear that not only he was enjoying it, he was also looking forward to it. He made her a promise that year: that next year — this year — when she turned sixteen, that he was finally going to break her in. He quite literally told her he planned to rape her. Which brings us back to the birth control pills. Aviane. Leah wasn’t sure if he was merely scaring her, which he loved to do, or if he was genuinely prepared to take her virginity. That’s why she needed the pills. She needed them to protect herself just in case.

Dominic Strauss


Life for Dominic Strauss was rather comfortable though he was aware
that most people would look at his little set up and run as far as
they could back to ‘civilization’. Those sort were just a bunch of
bitches who couldn’t survive five minutes without some sad little
creature comforts, coffee that cost five dollars for a cup or
restaurants that charged you an arm and a leg for something that no
normal person should be able to pronounce. There was something pure
about living out where Dominic did, at least he thought so. The cabin
was nothing fancy but it was comfortable enough for him, it had power,
running water, there was a roof over his head and no one else for
miles around him. In the summer he would fish and year round he
hunted, this place was a paradise. He didn’t even need a job in order
to sustain this life, not really, just a lovely little government
double dip of welfare and military medical retirement pension gave him
plenty of money and when he needed more he would just sell some of the
moonshine that he distilled.

Hell that shit was selling really well these days and it had become
difficult for him to keep up with the demand anymore, the man who
owned the liquor store in town who bought the stuff told him that
‘hipsters’ would drive out from the cities to buy it at a premium. A
bunch of fools who apparently spent a lot of time and effort to make
sure they looked as quirky as possible were willing to spend a lot of
money on some good old white lightning because they thought it was
more authentic. It had only started in the last year or so but the
extra money that was coming in was a welcome treat, Dominic had
finally decided to catch up with the times and get a computer along
with an internet hookup. Nothing fancy of course, he hadn’t let some
teenager at Walmart upsell him to the highest end model, just
something he understood to be reliable and effective.

Until he had owned one Dominic had laughed at the thought that he
needed a computer but he had found there were some things to like
about having one. At first he had just screwed around with it, played
some solitaire with it, watched some porn, discovered youtube and
spent hours laughing at stupid shit there. One day, on a whim, he had
chosen to search for the name of his favorite little niece, expecting
to maybe find a picture or two that the girl had posted on some social
media bullshit… instead he had found her little hobby. His little
Leah, whose summer visit he was so looking forward to this year,
apparently liked to dress up in different outfits and show herself off
for the camera. It even seemed that she had a small little following,
no doubt guys who would love to pin her down and strip away those
outfits that looked so good on her. A fake account hadn’t been hard to
make and soon Dominic was following her, spending hours examining her
pictures and reading the comments she left. The girl had even been
kind enough to put up a few videos where she demonstrated how she made
her outfits and explained what she used. Those had been of particular
interest to the forty six year old man, in fact they had inspired him
a little bit.

And so Dominic had passed the time waiting for the upcoming visit,
preparing for the day when she would arrive and he would be able to
entertain himself in a far more interesting and even productive way.
Over the course of months he bought quite a few little things through
the internet (so much more useful then he had initially thought) and
had them delivered to a PO Box in town, building up a little stockpile
as he prepped.

Finally the day came when she was due to arrive, a bus would be
dropping her off in town and Dominic would be picking her up from the
stop. He had awoken that morning, as he always did, with a hell of a
hard on, but that day he didn’t bother doing anything about it. Rising
slowly, a gulp from a bottle of clear liquor taking the edge off the
ache in his back, Dominic went about getting ready, prepping the room
his niece would be staying in when she wasn’t sleeping at the foot of
his bed. He didn’t bother to shower, it had been a few days but he
didn’t smell too bad, instead just getting dressed right away, the
same white t-shirt he had worn the day before and some well-worn
jeans.

Another pull from his liquor bottle along with bacon and eggs made up
his breakfast before Dominic settled into his favorite seat, a
battered recliner, and watched some fishing shows on the tv. No reason
for him to rush just yet, he had a little time and if Leah had to wait
at the bus stop for a little bit then it was no big deal. Eventually
he did rise, haven fallen asleep for perhaps an hour while sitting in
his recliner, Dominic climbed into his battered
truck
and started the long drive down the winding and mostly unpaved road.

Though he was running a little late Dominic didn’t go straight to the
bus stop, instead stopping by his PO box to pick up one last package.
For the last few months, in addition to some interesting little things
he thought might be fun to have around when Leah arrived, Dominic had
been receiving a variety of packages full of the things that his niece
would use in crafting her little outfits, planning on having her dress
up for his pleasure whenever the urge struck.

Finally, nearly an hour late, Dominic pulled up to the bus stop,
smiling to himself when he saw Leah there and reaching over to open up
the truck door for her. “Get your pretty little ass on in here.” He
greeted her, voice gruff, he was not a man used to asking politely.
“You know I don’t like spending too much time down here in town.”
Already there was a dangerous glimmer in his eyes, lust and something
darker could be seen if you looked close. Leah was finally sixteen and
as he looked at her Dominic felt it was long past time that she got a
lesson on what her proper place was in the world.

The squalid little town bordered on the Shoshone National Forest and it didn’t need a forest fire to be blistering hot. With a single suitcase and a small backpack and no phone, Leah had been baking in the unrelenting heat near the bus stop wondering if Uncle Dominic was going to show up at all. She was wearing denim shorts and a white sleeveless top with a blue leather jacket on top; She could have dressed lighter but she didn’t want to encourage Dominic by flaunting any more skin than she needed to. Who knew, perhaps this year wouldn’t be as bad. The initial result was that her top was drenched, at least the back of it that was covered by the jacket.

Leah pushed her large sized sunglasses up her nose for the umpteenth time checking her watch for as many plus one.

“Jesus fucking christ!”, she exclaimed to herself stomping her sandal clad foot on the dusty pavement that served as a sidewalk. She shouldn’t have come, she should have stayed home. Any sane girl wouldn’t have come out here knowing what he was like. The year before she pretty much served as his house slave, doing laundry that seemed to have piled up for months, cleaning every bit of his cabin he apparently never cleaned himself, scrubbing his truck, massaging his feet… She fixed his deck, his roof, she dug out dead trees surrounding his cabin, anything that she could conceivably do she did yet he didn’t thank her once. Oh no, after all that work, he pointed out every little thing she could have done better, every little thing she did wrong. Never, not a single chore was completed to his satisfaction and they always lead to the same thing: disciplining. Punishment. Corporal punishment. He beat her. He used his bear-sized paws, his belt or he’d send her outside to cut her own stick he’d then beat her with until it shattered. He’d make her strip too, sometimes completely. In the buff. Naked. She must have cried more last year more than she sweated but she always tried to cry when she was alone; Try, it didn’t always work that way.

Why go then? Why not report the bastard? She could not. Her spending the summers in Wyoming was an arrangement the Martins had come to appreciate, built their business about; It would pose a problem if they were to suddenly have to take care of her all Summer. They might make it work she had often thought but it was too much of a risk to take. She’d been abandoned back into the foster system too many times over things much more trivial than what could easily be discerned a major sexual abuse case, she just didn’t know how the Martins would react to such hardship. Leah figured that if she made it through these harsh two months, she’d be able to resume her cheery happy go lucky life for another ten. She had a good thing going and she was really, really afraid to bust it. She was just going to have to make it through this. Again.

When Dominic's truck finally pulled up, Leah sighed with relief; At least she wasn’t stranded on the sidewalk. She didn’t have enough money to pay for the bus back so if he didn’t pick her up… she wouldn’t know where to start; She certainly couldn’t find her way to his cabin by herself.

He set the tone with his greeting right away and it looked like he grew even bulkier than the year before, hardly fitting in between the seat of his truck and the wheel. “Hello Dominic.” Leah greeted enthusiastically while pulling herself up in his truck. Seeing how filthy it was, she was sure that she’d been the last one to clean in and she would surely be the next.

The drive up to the cabin was relatively uneventful, halfway there at least and he hadn’t said a word beyond his initial greeting, but neither had she. He was wrong thinking she was sixteen already though, her birthday was in three days. How many times she wished she didn’t have her birthday in Wyoming; She hated her birthday. His gift the year before? A birthday spanking! Made a spectacle out of it too. Guess she had that to look forward to.