Pearl Essence: Pt 3
- 0 -
“Miss Brown, could I see you in my office for a moment?”
“Right away, sir.”
Mr. Barrington leaned back in his overstuffed chair. Thinking over the past few months, how all his hard work had been ruined by one girl, but how that was all about the change. In the interim, he had a new secretary, and a new operation that would far exceed his wildest expectations. A knock on the door.
“Come in.” Mr. Barrington said, patiently.
Miss Brown walked through the white-oak double door. She was wearing the new Barrington Estate Country Club uniform; A white skirt to match her white, pinstriped blazer with the clubs insignia on the left breast. A pink polo, fully buttoned, with collar popped and tie were below the blazer. Her hair was held back by a wide, white headband, showing the pearls in her ears. . She stood proud and tall, awaiting her next command from her boss.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, please sit.” He motioned to the chair infront of is desk, on which she sat primly, demurely, folding her legs at an extreme angle so she could sit as tall as possible. “It is time.”
“That is wonderful news, sir.”
After months of preparation, of planning, he was finally ready to enact his latest attempt at turning this town into a haven for proper ladies and gentlemen. There would be no errors, and there would be no reversal.
“Starting tomorrow, you may begin re-recruitment. I will make sure the subjects are malleable, and you already know what you must do.”
At the thought of doing his bidding, thinking of how proud she can make him, how wonderful it will feel to help him complete his wonderful goal, she smiled.
She must make him proud.
“Thank you, sir. I will not let you down.”
“Of course you won’t. You’ll do a wonderful job, Samantha.”
She smiled again as he used her first name. It was an honor and a privilege to be called by her first name.
- 1 -
Jessica slipped quietly up the stairs. No one must know she is here. After the purge, after everything was ruined, she kept a secret cache of clothing to help bide the time until she could return. She knew she would return, she could feel it deep inside herself. She was let loose once, and so she would be again, and when it happened again, she would make sure it stayed that way. She opened her closet, and there, of course, were all of the things she loved about her lifestyle. The beautiful dresses, the brightly colored skirts, the matching polo-and-sweater sets, the heels she loved to wear. A tear dwelled in her eye, thinking about how long it had been since she’d worn any of her beloved outfits, how she so dearly missed being a proper young lady, how she wished she did not have to hide out here. But she was patient. A proper young lady could be patient, could behave. Until the time came once again to be set free.
Jess woke up, sweating after another nightmare. She couldn’t tell where they were coming from, or what they were about. She could only remember bits and pieces of the terrifying dreams, much like she could only remember a small portion of her life over the last 6 months. Most everybody in the town had similar memory issues, as if something happened, something big, as if some shadow fell over the town. Any questions she had about the time were either dismissed out of hand, or she was given an answer that was not satisfactory. And yet, she could still feel something. Some presence, some force that was dangerous to her and her lifestyle, that threatened to bring the shadow back again, for good.
“You know, I’ve been having bad dreams too, lately.” Alice said, sitting on top of a wide tombstone. It was nearing the end of summer, so the group tried to spend as much time as they could at the graveyard until school started up again. Surprisingly, they were mostly un-bothered by anybody coming to pay their respects to the dead.
“Me too.” Beth said. “Like, I see this hallway, and I can’t see what’s in it, but I know it makes me happy. I can feel that.”
“I think that’s what makes them so scary,” said Jess. “we’re all having similar dreams, and we have no idea what they’re about.”
“You’re right. And, I feel like I’ve been having them more frequently. It’s almost every night that it happens.” Alice told the group.
Jess and Beth both agreed to that. They had both become more and more anxious, more frightened by the dreams they couldn’t explain, but they also felt like an answer was coming soon.
An answer they might not like.
Beth had been more worried than the others. While her friends were still foggy about the details, somehow, she remembered everything. The politeness, the new group of friends, the country club with it’s rolling green fields and friendly faces, ladies and gentlemen whom she grew close to, skirts and dresses she loved wearing. She couldn’t understand why she could still remember, but the memories sent a shiver down her spine. She sat on the edge of her bed, holding the old pearls in her hands.
What power these held over me.
She had kept them, and she still couldn’t tell why. It felt important. The day when the system was brought down, the ladies had been enjoying a nice luncheon at the country club. Her dark purple dress reached to her calf (I still have that dress I think it looked so nice) and her black sun hat made her feel oh so nice. The other ladies were decked out similarly, in dresses of yellows, blacks, and floral prints, all of them wearing lovely hats and even lovelier smiles. She smiled at the memory, when a knock came at her door.
“Hello, Elizabeth. May I come in?” It was the first time she’d heard her full name in months. Something sparked inside of her, but she was still confused. Who was this girl standing on her porch? How did she know her name? Why is she wearing my dress? The girl standing at the door had on a short, dark purple dress, with a black belt, and a black sunhat. She was carrying a paper bag with the clubs insignia. ElizaBeth stood aside and let this mysterious girl in, thrown off by her outfit.
“Oh, how silly of me. I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Samantha, I am a representative of the Barrington Estate Country Club, and I’ve come to speak with you. I understand you still have your pearl earrings?” She said, her smile dazzling in the afternoon light.
“Yes, I do.” Elizabeth said. “But, how did you know that?”
“We have our ways. Would you mind getting them for me?”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.” She began to shake walking up the stairs. New thoughts were brewing inside her. No, that wasn’t right; hidden thoughts, and they were coming out from some deep, locked part of her mind.
Will I get to wear my pearls again? Will I get to wear my dresses again? I do hope so.
She brought the pearls back downstairs, and was instructed to put them on. She almost missed the first time, because she was shaking so badly, but finally she slipped one, then the other, into her ears. Immediately, a rush of thoughts and desires entered her mind (dress up dress preppy be proper behave good girl young lady dress properly be preppy). She looked up Samantha, who was smiling brightly at her. She smiled back.
“How do you feel?” Samantha asked, already knowing the answer.
“Magnificent.” Elizabeth said.
“Welcome back. Now, go get dressed, I have a very important mission for you.” She handed Elizabeth the bag.
Elizabeth felt more excited then she had in a long time. She was given instructions by a proper, preppy young lady. She would once again become a proper, preppy young lady herself. Thoughts kept bubbling up to the surface, and she was glad she kept her old clothes, and her pearls. Everything was back to the way it should be.
I’m free.
“You changed her already? Well done.”
She blushed at the praise, and hoped next time she received praise it would be in person, not over the phone. “Yes, sir. Just as you expected, with the new system turned on, it only took a few auditory cues in order to reawaken her.”
“Perfect. And the rest?”
“I’ve seen to it that she will go to her friends and reawaken them as well, and give them the same instructions.”
“Wonderful. You may come back now. We have to prepare.”
“Yes, sir.” She hung up, adjusted her hat, and walked proudly toward the clubhouse.
- 2 -
This may very well be the most important moment in her life. She was given the chance to prove that she was capable of doing the right thing, of reawakening her friends, of reforming them, returning them to their former glory. It took her no time at all to readjust to wearing a dress and heels.
Oh, how I missed this so. She did a final preen in the window of the door, saw that everything was indeed perfect (of course i’m perfect i look beautiful), and knocked.
“Beth?” Alice said, shocked beyond belief. She barely recognized her friend, but some part of her was happy to see her.
“Hello, Alysia. I’m sure you already know why I’m here.” She smiled and invited herself in.
Alysia could hear a slight buzzing noise, and knew this would be it for her. She tried to put up a fight, but her hand stretched out anyway, in acceptance of her fate. She placed a pearl in each ear, and smiled wonderfully.
“It was so difficult to pretend for so long that I didn’t want this.”
“We all want it, it’s just a matter of how badly. You know what comes next, right?”
“Of course. I’ll be right back down.” Alysia walked upstairs to get changed, and Elizabeth looked on after her.
She will be perfect soon. Just like me. Just like we all will be.
The two girls, dressed beautifully in summer dresses, walked together up the front steps of her home.
“I must warn you, she will be more difficult than you or even I.”
“Why is that?” Alysia asked, adjusting her sunhat with her lace-gloved hands.
“I’m not sure how much she will remember. She was not one of the last to be woken up, but she had the least number of sessions with the clubhouse. Her transformation was done almost exclusively of any help from the club.”
“So you believe she will put up the most resistance since she had less time to break down her defenses?”
“There is only one way to find out.” Elizabeth knocked on the door.
Jess saw the two girls walking up her driveway, and knew right away what was happening. It started again. Whatever IT is. She had no idea what to do. She knew why they were here, and what would happen when she opened the door. The door slid open. I DIDN’T LOCK IT. “Hello, Jessica?” Hearing her full name, she automatically walked toward the door out of her room, but was able to stop herself. I have to hide, quick.
She went into her closet, and made sure the door locked behind her. “Jessica, are you home? We need to speak to you.” She could hear the click of the girls heels on the hardwood floor downstairs, and with each step felt something inside her weaken. She fell to the ground in her closet, and began to cry. Next to her face was a bag, one that she’d never seen before. One that I have not seen in months. She opened it, and the contents spilled out.
Her old pearls, a dress, and a waterfall of memories fell on the floor around her. Thoughts of the dresses, the hair, the dancing, how nice and proper everybody looked, how nice and proper SHE looked, and how she missed it. Looking up, she saw herself standing in the closet, wearing what she recognized as her favorite dress at the time. Nice and tight around the waist, firm at her bosoms, but loose and free around her knees. She was fussing over her pearls, when she turned around and looked down at herself.
“Oh, poor thing.” Jessica said with a hint of sadness. “Whatever are you doing on the floor?”
“I...I can’t do this. I can’t become you again, I just can’t!” Jess was still sobbing, afraid that this wasn’t just a hallucination, something that could be brushed off, but a physical manifestation of the mental barricades she put up eroding.
Jessica bent down and gently placed a hand on Jess’s back. “It does not have to be this way, you know. You can accept me and let me free. You’ve done it before, remember?”
“That was against my will! I didn’t know what was going on!”
“A part of you did. You must realize something. When the clubhouse moved in, they did not plan to transform any of us, change us into somebody we were not. Mr. Barrington recognized that, beneath every single one of us, there is a proper young lady waiting to come up, and that includes you.”
“What...what are you saying?”
“I’ve been inside you your whole life, I was just unable to come out before Mr. Barrington’s arrival.” Jess wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her counterpart. Was it really true? Have I been Jessica the whole time without realizing it?
“The reason you took so quickly to becoming preppy, to behaving properly, is because I was there. I just needed an avenue to get out, and Mr. Barrington gave me that avenue. Trust me, would I lie to you?” Jessica’s smile was reassuring. Jess felt her resolve begin to slip. It must be true, the things she was saying, else how could it have worked in the first place. She stopped crying, and begin to smile. Jessica stood up, and held a hand out to her goth self. Jess reached up, and was pulled up. She was face to face with herself, and she smiled.
She adjusted her pearls in the full length mirror one last time, and unlocked the closet door. Elizabeth and Alysia were sitting on her bed, waiting for her.
“Hello, ladies.” Jessica said with a smile.
Elizabeth seated herself at a table in the grand ballroom at the country club. There would be no dance tonight, it was an informational meeting. The young ladies were wearing their finest evening wear, sparkling floor length dresses in pinks, reds, greens, yellows, and any other color imaginable, accompanied by men in black suits and bow ties. They were all excited to be in this room again, in each others company again, and in their own comfort zones again.
“It was so wonderful of you to volunteer for this position.” Jessica said to Alysia, as she adjusted her friends light blue tie, making sure it was perfectly straight. Alysia was wearing the clubhouses uniform, smiling, fixing the last button in her blazer. She smoothed out her skirt. She stood proudly, beaming into the mirror, and looked back at her friend.
“The opportunity was just perfect. To be able to work so closely with Mr. Barrington is a privilege and an honor. I was so lucky to be picked.” She remembered how, after the last of the girls in town had been reawakened, there was a mad clamor to be assigned a job inside the country club. Everybody had signed up, but only a select few were chosen. Alysia, like the other ten girls, would be Mr. Barrington’s personal assistant’s, doing anything he asked, and loving every second of it. “Now get out there, he’ll be out any minute, and you’ll want to hear what he has to say.”
As Jessica was about to take her seat next to Elizabeth, Mr. Barrington stepped onto stage to a standing ovation. Behind him trailed his entourage, including Samantha, who Jessica remembered instantly. I helped her become who she is. She smiled at the thought, and took her seat.
“Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you all for coming. I cannot stress what a pleasure it is to be standing in front of you all again. It has been a hard few months, I know you all had to lay in wait, but I am so glad to see you all seated here again. And I can assure you that nothing like that will ever happen again.” Light clapping from the audience. He held a hand up, the clapping ceased. Thousands of beaming faces were staring up at the stage, listening with rapt attention. “Over the preceding months, we have been working hard on creating a way to not only keep you all out, but also bringing out any newcomers. We now have a force field of subconscious suggestion surrounding the town. Anyone who enters will be immediately put under it’s effects, and anyone living here will be unable to resist. Everyone will be drawn out, and will stay out. To prove it to you, ladies, I will require you to remove your pearls.”
The ladies, albeit wary about being asked such a strange request, did as they were told. Not only were they able to do it, they felt no noticeable difference in attitude. They really were free, and it really was permanent.
“You no longer require them as a subliminal messaging device, as you are now free due to outside elements, but of course, a proper young lady mustn’t be without her pearls.”
Thousands of internal voices repeating the phrase back was almost palpable as the room full of ladies put their pearls back in.
Jessica looked over at Elizabeth, smiling at her. She could not believe how lucky they were. They had the privilege of being perfectly preppy, proper young ladies, and she smiled at just the thought.
Everything is right again. This time for good.