The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Title: A Hill of Beans

Author: Redsliver

Chapter 23

* * *

Mary sat down next to Dan as he sipped burnt police station coffee. She had her phone out. Lilith was babysitting. Richie was at the concert. Harper was off with some woman. Morwen. All Mary could do was focus on her job. On the troubled drug addict kid who fled custody.

The only bright spot in her life was that she had coffee at the cafe. She looked up and saw one of the younger officers walking Darleen Little over to her. Darleen was incredibly animated, insisting the handsome young cop take one of the cookies she carried.

“Darleen?”

“Mary! Oh my god, are you alright?”

“As alright as can be,” she said. “This is Don. Don Sievert. A client of mine.”

“Hi!” Darleen said. She opened the pink box and offered it to Don. “Homemade chocolate chip?”

“Thanks,” he said, looking pale. He picked out the cookie and dunked it straight into his coffee cup. Mary shook her head when Darleen turned it towards Mary.

“You are such a housewife,” Mary said.

“And you’re a go-getting career woman,” Darleen said. “No wonder we make such a great pair. Did you get out of Richie anything more about Harper?”

“Yeah, but nothing much I could do about it,” Mary said. “Has Caitlin mentioned a girl named Morwen to you?”

“Weird name,” Darleen said. She watched Mary’s face squeeze in impatience. “No, I’ve never heard it before.”

“Your daughter needs you?” Don asked. “Why are you here? I wouldn’t be here for Frankie if Trevor wasn’t in… Oh my god! Your daughter’s with Trevor!”

He was up to his feet like a bolt and found Darleen had grabbed his pants. He looked down and she shook her head.

“She has two daughters,” Darleen said. “Lily’s fine.”

“God, I hate the name Lily,” Mary said. She reached behind Don and grabbed a cookie and bit into it miserably.

“Mr Sievert, Mrs Cowie?” A tall detective in his sixties walked over. “One of our officers called in a car driving disruptively slow across George Street.” He said and lifted a newly printed picture off of a clipboard. The paper was still warped from the hot ink. Any younger detective would have left the picture on the tablet and carried that over. Hell, the two older ones as well. “Is this Franklin Sievert?”

He had a picture taken from the camera mounted on a police cruiser. It showed a rage-filled face of a young man hunched over, using the front of a car as a shield.

“The girl in the driver’s seat was with Richie at the hospital,” Darleen said, first.

“She works at Burger King with Don’s ex-wife.” Mary balled her fist. And Richie. They had been shown a picture of Centre 200’s parking lot. Obviously, since she had lived in the city from childhood. Moreso for the giant banner of Gabrielle Xu hanging off the building behind Frankie.

“That’s my brother,” Don said.

“He ran, but we’ve got four patrol cars surrounding the block and four more on the way in. Mrs Cowie?”

There was no moment to stop. She was stampeding towards the front exit of the building.

“There’s not much she can do until we bring him in,” the detective said.

“Doesn’t mean she’s gonna sit around and prove that,” Darleen said. “Cookie?”

* * *

The wind buffeted Richie’s ears as he pulled himself hand over hand. He couldn’t fathom how long he had been climbing, but there was no way the ground should’ve been as far away below him as it seemed. He stopped looking down and dragged himself up. Looking up didn’t help. It never felt like he was getting closer.

He looked back down.

Again?! More?!

He climbed faster.

* * *

Harper laughed as viciously as she could. It was a struggle. Her scalp hurt. Morwen roughly pulled Harper by the hair out into the gardens. Pale and slender women rushed away from tending their garden patches.

Harper dug her fingers into the soil. The stone floors of the palace had been perfectly smooth. The dirt of the garden crumbled under her fingers. She couldn’t hold herself back.

“Stop fighting, woman! You’re mine!” Morwen screeched.

“For a few more minutes! My man is coming to get me!” Harper laughed. She managed to kick and scramble to a crawl, it eased the tension on her hair. Morwen bellowed and marched faster.

“You’re not worth this!” Morwen sneered.

“Or, for the first time, you underpaid,” Harper said.

Morwen cursed and spat. They passed out through the gardens, beyond the arms of the east and west wings. Dirt and soil gave way to white rolling ground. Harper managed herself up to her feet.

She rushed forward and put herself side by side with Morwen. Morwen’s rage achieved a new height. Harper slapped the hand from her hair and looked up at the endless blue sky and sun.

“You’d think a satellite would’ve found this place by now,” Harper said.

“No, that’s not space above us,” Morwen had gone deathly quiet in her rage. She stopped and Harper took an extra step forward. A knot of greenery drilled out a hole in the cloud. Cold quiet wind was soundless under the drumbeat of Harper’s heart.

* * *

Lilith tucked the blankets in tight and swept Trevor’s bangs out of his eye. He needed a haircut, but neither Flo nor Dan had worked up the willpower for the fight that always entailed. The boy couldn’t keep his eyelids open, he yawned and rolled onto his sleeping side by the time Lilith got to the lightswitch.

She missed. She wobbled on her feet and clutched her stomach. She grabbed the doorjamb and patted the wall, too low, for a second before she found the switch and darkened the room. She left the door open.

“Shit, Lilith!” Zita whispered and grabbed her friend.

“It’s OK, we can talk normally, he sleeps through most things,” Lilith said.

“You look like you’re gonna hurl,” Natalie said. Her hair was a mess of random braids after having been bullied into it. Whatever, the kid had fought the girly stuff, but he had fun.

“Maybe,” Lilith said. She hung onto Zita. Zita moved her towards the bathroom. Lilith shook her head and flexed. “Air! Patio!”

“Sure,” Zita said, Natalie grabbed the other side of Lilith and they aimed the girl through the kitchen and out the back door.

Lilith took a big breath. She blinked her eyes. The wave had passed. She felt normal. She staggered forward and grabbed the table. It was wet. Everything out here was always wet. It never seemed to get enough sun, even a day after the last rain.

“What’s wrong?”

“Do you need Richie?”

Lilith looked at Zita and Nat cross-eyed, “Richie? Why Richie?”

“She gets like that,” Zita said. “It comes and goes.”

“It’s gone, it went,” Lilith said. She stood up and took a long breath. Her body shivered with the chill March night. “I’m feeling—”

She was green again. She bolted for the end of the deck and grabbed the railing. Her feet kicked up as she levered herself over the railing. Disgustingly loud, she retched.

“Is that blood?!” Nat shrieked.

It was too bright red to be blood. She couldn’t explain the color. Nothing Lilith had drank or eaten had been anywhere near the vibrant color that geysered from her lips!

They had had grilled cheese sandwiches for Christ’s sake!

It didn’t seem like she was throwing up. She was purging, clearing out something that couldn’t quite hold on inside of her any more.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She launched herself back, bowling through the shoulders of Zita and Nat as she fell onto the wood. Green knifed upwards into the sky. Autumn leaves twisted off the stalk. The curling grassy tower powered up in front of them.

“What the fuck is that?!” she asked, panting.

Zita and Natalie were staring upwards, like turkeys drowning in the rain.

“I—”

“Richie’s up there,” Nat said.

“Then we go after him,” Zita declared. “I’m gonna grab our coats and shoes. You’re gonna stay and look after Trevor, right Lil?”

“What in the flying fuck? Why would Richie be up there?” Lilith muttered. She frowned. “That came out of my guts!”

“Yeah…” Nat said warmly. “Maybe we’ll find some more up there and you won’t throw it up this time.”

“Right, you’ve been a real pain in his ass,” Zita said, rushing inside.

“Oh my god,” Lilith said. “I need to talk to someone sane.”

She almost called her mother. She stopped. She dialed Flo.

* * *

“She’s never not shown up to work,” Flo said. “I’d fire all of you for another of her, normally.”

“Don’t be silly.” Keith laughed from the fry stations. “You can’t fire people. Frankie worked here for two years.”

“Obviously!” Flo laughed. “But, I’m worried about Oksana. What the hell, right?”

“Right,” Keith said. “You gonna answer the callbox?”

“Hi! Welcome to Burger King, can I take your order?” Flo put on her smile as she punched in the button on the side of her headset.

“Yeah, can I get two whopper combos, cheese, onion rings instead of fries.”

“No, I want fries.”

“Fries for one, onion rings for the other.”

“Hmmph!”

“And to drink?”

“What do you want? Diet coke?”

“Oh, I’m fat now?!”

“Diet Pepsi alright?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. Two Diet Pepsis,” he said.

“Thank you. Pull up to the window,” Flo said, as she finished the order.

That’s when the police came into the restaurant.

“Mrs Cowie, please!” One officer said as a severe woman stormed up to the counter.

“Hi!” Daisy asked from cash. “Can I help you?”

“Get your manager,”

“Take over drive-thru Daisy,” Flo said, putting the headset on the teenager. “Hi Mary, what’s wrong?”

“Actually, ma’am, this is our job,” the police officer said, stepping up next to Mary. “Can we speak in private?”

“I’m Frankie Sievert’s lawyer.” Mary raised herself and stared down the policeman. “I’ll be coming.”

“Fine,” the cop said.

“The back office,” Flo said. “Are you three going to be OK? Daisy, you’ll have to do drive-thru and cash.”

“Where the fuck is Oksana!” Daisy snarled. Her face instantly turned to a bright smile. “Hi! Welcome to Burger King! How can I help you today?!”

Flo frowned. Cursing in range of the dining room. Daisy would have to be written up. She let the police and Mary Cowie in through the employee’s only door. She led them back around the stacks of buns and into the back office.

“Is this about Frankie? Do I need to call the owner?”

“No, this man and this woman were seen driving… oddly on Townsend and George St,” the police officer said. He showed a tablet to Flo.

“Oh my god! Oksana didn’t come into work today! Is she OK? Did he hurt her?”

“Calm down, they went to the Centre 200 parking lot and—”

“Why is he going after Richie?”

“Who?” The policeman asked, eyebrow raising as Mary pushed forward.

“I don’t know,” Flo said. “He came to my house looking for Richie’s phone number and address. It was the final straw to get him fired.”

“Richie is an employee here?”

“Yes, Richard Jackson. Richie,” Flo said. “He was dating Mrs Cowie’s daughter until the du—until Harper dumped Richie for some other woman.”

“And does Frankie know Morwen?!” Mary said.

“I don’t—”

Flo’s phone started spinning in a vibrating circle. She had plugged it in on the desk. She couldn’t have it on her person during her shift, but she had taken to keeping all valuables in the lockable office ever since Frankie had started working.

Lilith Cowie holding Trevor in a hug lit up the face.

“That’s my babysitter,” Flo said. “She wouldn’t call me at work if it wasn’t important.”

“Miss, if we could—”

She ignored the cop and picked up the phone. Mary stepped forward, worry fought rage on her face. If she hadn’t met Trevor days before, she might have slapped the phone from Flo’s hand. Harper came first.

That little boy. Lilith as well.

“We’re going to need Oksana’s last name,” one officer said.

“Lilith! Is Trevor alright? What’s going on?”

“I threw up a giant beanstalk!”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Richie’s up there! Zita says so… I… Why do I need you to know that?”

“I’m coming home,” Flo said. “Shit!” She hung up hard. “I’m sorry officers. What do you need so I can take care of this emergency?” She was already calling the restaurant owner. Someone needed to get in here and cover her responsibilities. She was amazed she could even scroll through her contacts.

“Your missing employee’s full name? When was she supposed to start her shift?”

“Oksana Kremensky. 8pm.” Flo answered as the phone picked up. “Hi! Bob, I got an emergency call from my babysitter. We’re understaffed. The police are here looking for Oksana’s who might be in trouble. You need to get down here.”

“Oh, shit! I’ll be there in less than ten minutes.”

“I’m putting Keith in charge,” Flo said.

“Dammit! That bad? Keith’s a good man, it’ll just be a few minutes. Is Trevor OK?”

“I’ll text you when I know everything,” Flo said. “Thank you.”

“Less thanking, more momming. Go!”

She hung up. “Officers, may I go?”

“Uh…”

“The owner will be here in less than ten minutes. Talk to Daisy, they’ll get you a comped meal,” Flo said. She grabbed a jacket from the back of the office chair and stepped out to the kitchen.

“Anything you need?” Flo asked after rapidly explaining things to Keith, Daisy, and Louis.

“Woo! No adults!” Daisy cheered. She withered under Flo’s gaze. “Sorry, thought it was funn—Hi! Welcome to Burger King!”

Flo stormed out the back and found Mary’s car in gear waiting next to hers.

“Is there anything I need to know?” Mary said.

“Yeah, lots of shit,” Flo said. “Maybe I’ll tell you when I know anything.”

“I’m going after Richie,” Mary said.

“Good luck,” Flo said. She started her car and backed out of her parking space.

* * *

Oksana looked over her shoulder. Why had she run with him? He had threatened her! With a rat! She had wanted those cops to show up! She looked over her shoulder. The flash of red and blue beamed around the corner, rolled up the street, but no one came over to her. What were they doing?

“Oksana!” Oksana collided with Caitlin and the pair of them crashed to the ground. Caitlin on the bottom and her casted wrist flailing out on the pavement.

“Oh my god!” Oksana squealed. She pushed back in hurry, scraping her right palm on the asphalt and climbing off of Caitlin. “Are you OK?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Caitlin said, but she shook her wrist and didn’t wince. She pointed with her good hand. “He went up there!”

Oksana saw it, it stretched to the sky, into clouds blocking out the night. The back parking lot was well lit. It was filled with cars. It was empty of anyone but Caitlin and Oksana.

“Why didn’t I see it from the front of the building!” Oksana mumbled. “The cops! We can go get the cops!”

“What?” Caitlin grabbed onto Oksana’s belt and pulled herself up onto her feet.

“There are cops! And they were looking for Frankie! He fucking kidnapped me and—”

“And you ran over here rather than back to the cops?” Caitlin said. “Why?”

“I dunno! I was wanted here… I…” Oksana swallowed. “We go get the cops and—”

“Frankie’s climbing,” Caitlin said. “He wanted Richie.” She put her busted hand in front of Oksana’s face. “I can’t go after him.”

Oksana stared up the infinitely long stalk. Her face paled and her hands shook.

“You want me to…”

“I want everyone to!” Caitlin said. “I can go get us cops. You gotta go after Richie.”

Oksana wanted to shake her head and say no. A rat ran over her foot and she shrieked in terror. It zigzagged past her towards the stalk.

Thunder split the sky.

Oksana found her voice.

“No! No! No! No!”

* * *

The stage went black. Gabrielle’s lungs were heaving madly. She had sung her heart out. The energy of this small town had been electric. They were probably starving for big shows. It might’ve been impossible to not sell out.

If she had been as big as she had been now when the tour had been booked, she’d have skipped the Atlantic provinces altogether.

She rushed off backstage. She needed to soothe her throat and make her last costume change. The crowd were already calling for the encore.

Eight minutes and counting.

She returned an excited hug from Felicity, one of her backup dancers. Everyone was beaming. Even security. Paul was usually tight faced at this point. She rushed with the crowd to the dressing room.

“I got you a fresh one,” Blaire dropped off a cold water bottle at Gabrielle’s station.

“That was sweet of you!” Gabrielle said. Felicity was right up against Gabrielle’s back, zipping down the back of the second costume. Gabrielle kicked off her shoes.

“A couple of the backstagers got in here,” Blaire said.

“Oh, wheelchair girl?”

“No, dude and a girl with a cast,” Blaire said. Gabrielle wiggled out of her top and hopped into her next pair of boots. Felicity quickly zipped them up. Blaire accepted the bottle back from Gabrielle. The opening bandmate gave an awkward glance at Gabrielle’s tits while one of the other dancers thrust a dress down Gabrielle’s torso.

“Richie and Caitlin,” Gabrielle said, picking the bottle back. “I think they must’ve got swept up in the crowd.”

“Actually, Paul said they fucked off,” Felicity said.

“What?”

“Yeah, out the back door,” Felicity said. “You gotta fix your boobs, Gabby.”

Felicity zipped up the dress. She had a few more minutes as she didn’t have to be out there for song one.

“That sucks,” Gabrielle said, reseating her tits in the front of her final costume.

“They went out back,” Blaire said. “I think Jahil had a crush on the redhead.”

“She was super cute,” Gabrielle agreed.

“I like ’em a little less beat up,” Blaire said.

“I don’t!” Felicity said. Gabrielle and Blaire shot icy glares. Felicity skipped off to her change station.

“Car wreck,” Gabrielle said. “His girlfriend was supposed to be his plus one, but I get the idea she came out looking worse than Caitlin.”

“In that case, I’ll tell Jahil, maybe he can catch her smoking a joint out back or something,” Blaire said. “You better get going. Give ’em hell!”

Gabrielle twisted her lips. She dropped her water bottle with the cap inverted on its mouth and rushed out. She saw Mike and Paul. Paul lit up. Mike looked professional.

“It’s a bit stinky and sweaty, walk me out back for a quick breath of air?” she asked.

“You sure you got time?”

“So they yell Encore a dozen extra times. The show can’t start until I’m back,” Gabrielle rolled her eyes.

“Right,” Mike said. “If Jake gets pissed at me for the delay. You got my back, Paul?”

“No,” Paul said with a smirk. “I’ll never forgive you, Mikey.”

Gabrielle was already marching. Mike rushed up. She smiled as he shadowed over her. “What’s up with Paul?”

“Crush on you,” Mike said.

“Right, I already told him no,” she answered.

“Stopped him from asking or pushing,” Mike shrugged. “Didn’t stop him from feeling.”

“I get that.” She didn’t.

Mike opened the door for her and she took a long deep breath as she walked outside. He held the door.

There the redhead was, yelling with a brunette.

“Frankie’s climbing! He wanted Richie! I can’t go after him!”

Gabrielle all but screamed when she turned her head and saw the giant sprout of green stabbing upwards towards the sky. It was eight feet from her; she felt like it had jumped out of a shadow. Her knees shook.

“You good? Don’t go too far. I don’t know what those girls are shouting about, but it’s not our business.” Mike said, he leaned back in the doorjamb. He didn’t have line of sight of the girls. They were blocked by the beanstalk. He didn’t react. “It’s time to get back—”

Thunder split the sky.

“No! No! No! No! No!”

Gabrielle froze.

Richie was up there.

Someone was after him.

His help was abandoning him.

“Gabby!” Mike said as Gabrielle bolted and jumped onto the stalk.

“Gabby! Gabby!” He shouted blindly around. She frowned, but didn’t look back down.

* * *

Richie pulled himself up onto the white rolling cloud ground and kicked off the beanstalk. He panted and heaved and spit and cursed. He had no idea how long he had been climbing. A week? Three? He shook on his knees, and scrambled away from the mouth of the hole. A rat had failed to climb into his tight pant leg. He still kicked and flinched, certain it was on him.

“Welcome, Richie Jackson.” The voice hit him in the gut. “I was certain you weren’t this kind of man.”

“The kind that rescues the princess?” Richie said, his voice cracked and dry. He pushed himself up to his feet. Harper was there, dressed in a barely opaque shift. She ran for Richie, but Morwen clamped a hand on Harper’s wrist and yanked her back. Harper’s feet swept out and she crashed down on her ass.

“Harper!” He shouted. He took a deep breath. “Give her back!”

“Return my beans to me,” Morwen said. “I won’t even charge you interest. Oh? You don’t have them? Shame.”

“I’m not leaving without her,” Richie said.

“I think you will be,” Morwen said. She laughed. The white cloud earth shook. There was the crack of thunder. Dark rolling back spots swirled, painting the ground with threat. “I can almost guarantee it.”

“She was so fucking wrong about you once, Richie,” Harper said. “She—”

“Quiet!” Morwen thrust Harper down into the ground.

Richie rushed her, ready to clock the woman in the delicate nose. She licked her lips and moved faster than he could witness. Harper’s scream seemed to bellow out a line of speakers from just before him to the brown soil in the courtyard of the palace.

“You’ve only made me more certain,” Richie said.

“Then come inside,” Morwen said. “We’ll renegotiate and you’ll be leaving Harper to me.” She dragged Harper who cursed and spat through the gardens towards the palace door.

“Running away from me isn’t enough,” Richie said. He marched towards the palace.

* * *