| Chapter Four Solitary Confinement |
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| The next morning, Wendy made up her bed and folded her uniform neatly and set it on the chair beside the bed. She decided she would stay in her pajamas because they were more comfortable, and she didn�t feel like putting on clothes that she had worn the day before. She sat on her bed and stared out the window up at the sky. The clouds were low and some were gray, some were white. The frost in the corners of the window reminded her of just how cold it was outside. The room was warm and though she wasn�t looking forward to what the day might bring, she was happy to be inside where it was warm as opposed to being out in the frosty mid December air. She thought about her visit with Ricky and what he had said, still of all the things she had done in the past, this was the worst. How would she ever make it right? Did she want to make it right? Wendy wasn�t sure at all what she really wanted to do. As the day passed, Wendy had braved opening her door, going across the hall to the bathroom, and even picking up the tray of food that set outside her door. At least they hadn�t forgotten. Wendy paced the room in her bare feet part of the time, stared out of the window some more and even played with some of the frayed edges on the bottom of her pajamas as she sat on her bed. She wondered if she would ever be allowed out of that room. Why hadn�t someone come to talk to her yet?� When she finished pacing the room again, she sat on her bed and stared out the window. The clouds had grown dark, and small droplets of water hit the panes of glass and ran down, resting on the window sill. Wendy could see small flashes of lightning in the distance, and the light rumbling of thunder. She wondered how long it would be before it was over the school. She hoped it was going the other direction. Wendy didn�t mind thunder, but she knew how much it scared Lizzie. As the afternoon faded, Wendy thought about why she was inside this punishment room. She knew what she had to do to get out, but so far no one had come to see her. Wendy thought about how much her life had changed since she came to Barrington Hall and how different she was. How she missed her real parents, but that Mark and Patricia had been good to her, and that any time she had been punished, she had deserved it. Wendy started to cry. She knew eventually she would have to face her father. If not today, then tomorrow, but she would stay in the room until he came, and when he did come, she knew what she had to do. She had to take what was coming to her. The thoughts had barely left her mind when she heard the turn of the doorknob. Her stomach tightened, and she began to tremble. Wendy�s eyes widened when the door opened and the figure that entered, was indeed Mark. In his hands he carried a tray of food. Wendy felt a little relieved. Mark took the tray over to the small table in the corner of the room and set it down. �I�m sorry, Daddy,� Wendy whispered. Mark turned and looked at her. �It�s not like you to be so disrespectful. I�m shocked, and I don�t know what to say to you.� �Is it suppertime already?� Wendy asked. �Not for another 20 minutes but most of what she cooked was ready. I knew you only got a late breakfast and no lunch, so I brought it to you now,� he replied. Did you use the bathroom across the hall today?� �Yes, sir,� Wendy replied. �Good! I will be back in a while to collect this, and I expect your plate to be clean.� �Yes, sir,� she replied. When Mark left the room, Wendy jumped up and started gulping down the food on the plate. As she ate, she noticed a small tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush beside the tray on the table. When she finished eating, she went across the hall and brushed her teeth. She washed her face and dried it with the arm of her sleeve. She returned to the isolation of her room and waited. The sky had grown dark and the rain hit heavy against the window. It had been raining most of the afternoon, but the thunder had gone the other direction. Wendy wasn�t sure of the time, but she had a feeling that if Mark were coming to collect her dishes, it would most likely be just before bedtime and just after her bottom thrashing. Wendy sat curled up on her bed and cried. She wished she could take her naughty behavior back. When she woke, the light of the sun peeked through the clouds. Suddenly Wendy realized, she had fallen asleep and it was morning again. She quickly sat up and looked at the table. The tray and her dinner dishes were replaced with a stack of fresh pajamas and a note. Wendy jumped up and ran to the small table. �You were sleeping so soundly when I came for your dishes last night that I decided not to wake you. Here are some fresh pajamas. Go across the hall and shower. Your father will bring you breakfast around ten. Love Patricia. Wendy�s heart skipped a beat. She had certainly expected her father to return, and she had expected to get a thorough bottom warming before bed, but Patricia had come instead, and she had slept through it. Wendy gathered up the clean pajamas and headed across the hall. The water felt so good, and to be able to wash her hair felt even better. Wendy dried off and put on her clean pajamas top. As she slipped her undies on over her bottom, she wondered if this was the last day in which she would be able to do so without feeling pain. Wendy hung up her wet towel, gathered her dirty things and headed back across the hall, as she reached her doorway she looked down the hall. Her father had just come around the corner. Wendy scurried through the doorway and ran to her bed. Her heart pounded with fear as Mark entered the room and shut the door behind him. He did not have breakfast with him. Wendy gulped as she clutched onto the covers. She watched as Mark paced the length of the room twice before he stopped and spoke to her. �You deserve to be spanked and I never intended to let you go this long without it. I spent most of the evening and the night in the hospital with Nadia. That is why your mother came last night instead, I should have taken a belt to you the night the sheriff brought you home, but I was too angry. I fully intended to do so last night, but Nadia got sick. Your mother and I talked this morning and we have decided that too much time has passed for you to get a whipping now.� Wendy�s eyes widened. She couldn�t believe what she was hearing. She sat straight on her bed, and listened. �Still, there needs to be a consequence for what you did. I talked to Mr. Parker and we have all agreed, that since you have already spent so much time in isolation, this will be your punishment. This is your juvenile Hall and this is where you will spend the next 5 days.� The words hit Wendy hard. She jumped off of her bed, and ran to Mark. �Daddy, no! Don�t make me stay here alone. I�m sorry for what I did. I�m sorry. It�s not too late, Daddy It�s not!, Daddy please, I don�t want to stay in here by myself.� Mark pulled Wendy�s hands off of his arm, picked her up and sat her down on the table. �Stay put!� he scolded. Tears ran down her cheeks as she cried aloud. Mark stood before her. �I want you to listen to me. Stop crying and listen, or I am going to leave and we can finish this talk later.� Wendy calmed herself the best she could and tried to listen. �Your door will be locked, but I will come every two hours to let you use the bathroom if you need too. I will also bring you all of your meals. I will bring you a book to read, and your school books for study, but the main purpose of your confinement, is for you to think about what you did to wind up here. I will wake you every morning at the same time, you will dress, make your bed, eat, and then I will give you the work that I expect to be completed when I return. While you are confined to this room, you will obey everything I say and I hope that in five days when you are allowed to return to your room, you will appreciate the freedom you had and just what your behavior cost you. Now go and lay on your bed!� Wendy wiped her tears as she jumped down from the table. She did as she was told, and went to her bed. When she heard her door close, and lock, she burst into tears. This was far worse than any spanking. For the next five days, life in Barrington Hall went on without Wendy. Kids went to school and ate together in the cafeteria. They laughed together, cried together and did homework together. Wendy ate alone, did her school studies alone, cried alone, and fell asleep with only the company of the moonlight sky. The only person she saw for the entire five days, was her father when he brought her food, and supervised her studies. He would open the door for her in the morning at breakfast, and stand outside in the hall while she used the bathroom and showered, then he would put her back in the room and lock the door. He would come several times a day and check on her. As well as at Lunch and dinner time. Wendy hated being punished this way. It made her wonder how kids in detention could stand it, or how Ricky could have stood it for as many days as when he had been locked up. Wendy tried to talk to Mark when he came, but he would scold her and remind her that she was being punished, then he would give her instructions as to what she was to do, and nothing else. �Stand right there!� he would say while he closed the door and then he would shadow her to the bathroom and wait outside the door. When she would come out, he would clutch her by the back of the neck and return her to her room. On day four, of the five days, Wendy woke when she heard keys clang against the door. She yawned and stretched under the covers. �Wendy!� her father called. Just like all of the other mornings, Wendy knew that meant to get up. She pushed the covers back and crawled from her bed. She stepped into her slippers and walked to the door. �Yes, sir?� she answered. Mark handed Wendy a clean school uniform. �Get dressed,� he ordered. �Yes, sir, Wendy replied. She took the clothes from Mark and when she turned back toward her bed, she heard the door close. Wendy stripped, and put on fresh underclothes, a crisp clean white turtleneck, Navy blue vest and regulation Navy Blue skirt. She sat down and slipped on her white tights, and then put on her shoes. She gathered up her pajamas, folded them neatly, and sat them on the chair beside her bed. She then went and tapped lightly on the door. Mark opened it, and Wendy stepped out into the hall. �Make it quick!� Mark ordered. �Yes, sir, �Wendy replied. She turned around so that her back was facing Mark and then she placed her hands behind her back and locked her fingers together like she had been told to do on the first of the five days. She turned and walked to the wall and turned again. Remembering to keep her right shoulder next to the wall, she walked until she reached the bathroom door, then she stopped. �Mark cleared his throat, and Wendy quickly disappeared into the bathroom. She obeyed and made her bathroom stay as quick as possible. When she entered the hall again, her hands were behind her back. She walked alone the wall and stopped in front of Mark. He let Wendy stand in front of him for a minute, and then he motioned with his head, for her to go back into her room. Wendy stepped in and went right to her bed. As Mark stood in the doorway, Wendy pulled her covers tight and tucked them in around the edges. She then placed her pajamas at the end of her bed, quickly brushed her hair and then went back and stood in front of Mark. �I�m ready, Sir,� she said. �I will be back in thirty minutes with your breakfast,� Mark stated. �Thank you, Sir,� Wendy replied. With hands still behind her back, Wendy turned and went to the corner closest to the door. When she heard the door close and lock, she took a deep breath. �30 minutes isn�t so bad.� she whispered. When the keys jangled in the door again, Wendy took another deep breath. Her stomach was growling and she could smell the warm food as Mark entered the room. Wendy listened as he walked across the floor and set the tray of food onto her table. She listened to him walk back through the door and close it behind him. Wendy waited until his footsteps could not be heard before she left the corner and went to her breakfast. Three warm pancakes smothered in syrup stared back at her, and to drink, she had been given a cup of hot chocolate. She took a seat and cleaned her plate. When Mark returned, Wendy was sitting on her bed reading the book that Mark had brought to her on that first day of confinement. She quickly set the book down, stood beside her bed, and placed her hands behind her back. Mark entered the room, gathered up her dirty dishes and set them out into the hall. He then came back into the room, placed his hand on the back of Wendy�s neck, escorted her to the table and placed her in the chair. He opened her history book, and her math book and gave her the assignments she was to finish before he returned in an hour. After Mark locked her door again, Wendy burst into tears. She could hardly wait for this day to be over, then she would have only one more day, and she would make sure she never spoke to her father so disrespectfully again, and be confined like this, where she was expected to be so obedient. She hated it, and it was killing her. When she managed to get her crying under control, she quickly got to her homework, so far in the three days that she had been confined, she had only gotten four demerits for minor infractions which were mostly mistakes, and not getting all of her work done. One was for not putting her hands behind her back when she was suppose too. She still had today and tomorrow to go, and if she received six more, she would get an extra day in this dreaded room. Wendy had no intensions of getting extra time, so she worked as quickly as she could to finish her work before Mark returned. Wendy laid her math and history paper out for Mark to see when he returned. She closed her books and set them next to her other books that were on the table, folded her hands, placed them in her lap and waited. She knew she couldn�t get up from the chair until Mark returned. She hoped he would return soon, very soon. While she was waiting, Wendy wondered what Ricky was doing. She wondered how Nadia was, and if Sarah had been able to stay out of trouble. She hoped someone out there was taking notes so they could tell her everything that happened while she was being punished. She then thought about why she was in this room, and how bad she felt for being so rude and disrespectful to her father. Confinement was a terrible punishment, one worse than a spanking, for the spanking would have been over four days ago, and most of the affects from the spanking would have been gone as well. Suddenly the jangling of the lock pulled Wendy from her thoughts. She forgot what she was suppose to be doing and she jumped up from the chair. The only part of her that was still touching the chair, was her hand as it rested on the back. She was completely turned around when Mark entered the room. When Wendy realized what she had done, it was too late. Mark had already seen her, and his face showed it, as he quickly walked toward her. Wendy quickly leaned away as he approached. �I�m sorry! I�m sorry! I didn�t mean too,� she cried. Mark suddenly stopped just a within arms reach of Wendy, and took a deep breath. He knew he wanted Wendy to learn discipline and obedience, but he knew how forgetful she was. He knew getting up from the chair wasn�t an act of disobedience, but more an act of Wendy�s forgetfulness. Wendy listened in relief as Mark told her this. With the three added demerits, Wendy now had seven in all. She knew she had to try even harder not to get anymore. Wendy took her next bathroom break, and after drinking that cocoa, she really needed it. When they returned to her room, Wendy went straight to the corner while Mark looked over her math and history. When she heard Mark call her from the corner, she went and stood before him. �Your math and history are perfect and I will take them to your teacher. It is forty-five minutes until lunch and I think it is time we talked about what this week has taught you so far. You have been in confinement for three days, plus the two prior. What do you have to say for yourself?� Wendy started to speak, but suddenly she felt Mark grab her arms and lean over her. He clutched her wrists and folded them behind her back. �Obviously you have not learned where your hands are suppose to be, nor have you learned to stay seated until I tell you to get up. I think we shall have this discussion later on in the day after you have had time to think.� Mark pointed to the corner, and Wendy quickly went to it. When the door closed, and locked again, Wendy stood in the corner and cried. How could her father be so mean to her, she had learned her lesson, and all she wanted now, was to be able to go back to her room, to see Ricky again, and to hug her mother again. When Mark returned with her lunch, Wendy waited for permission to leave the corner, and when it was given, she quickly went to the table. As she ate, Mark thumbed through one of her books and prepared the next lesson. �When you�re finished eating, work on this and then you may sit on your bed again and read.� Wendy swallowed her mouthful of food. �Yes, Sir,� she replied. She then took another bite of food. Wendy stopped chewing her food, when Mark leaned over and kissed the top of her head. �I will be back in an hour, and then we will have our little discussion.� Mark turned and walked from the room. Wendy finished her lunch and then made herself comfortable on her bed. She chose the end closest to the window because then it didn�t feel like she was lock in and being punished so much, especially when she lost herself in the story to which she was reading. She became so involved in the story that she didn�t even hear the clanging of the keys. Mark cleared his throat, and rattled the keys. Wendy suddenly realized Mark had come in and a knot developed in her stomach. She dropped her book, and jumped up from her bed. She quickly placed her hands behind her back, and timidly looked up at Mark. �What do you have to say for yourself?� he asked. �I didn�t hear you come in because I was reading,� she whispered. �Do you need to use the bathroom?� he asked. �Yes, Sir.� Wendy waited until Mark went to the door and then gave her permission to follow. She couldn�t wait until this punishment was over. As much as she loved him, she didn�t like him supervision her every move, and more than that, she didn�t like being treated like a criminal, she wasn�t a criminal and she hated being locked in, and watched. When she returned to her room, she stood just inside the door awaiting instructions as to what she was suppose to do next. Mark entered the room behind her and closed the door. He pointed to the corner, and Wendy obeyed. Mark stood just a few feet behind her. Wendy stood perfectly still, with her hands behind her back, and her head up. The only sound she could here, was her father�s breathing. �Wendy?� �Yes, Daddy?� Mark smiled, for it had been many days since he had heard those words, still he knew he had to remain firm. �Would you come here please?� Wendy turned from the corner and approached her father, With puppy dog eyes, and quivering lower lip, she looked up at Mark. �Yes, Daddy?� Mark practically melted, but he did his best not to show it. �We need to discuss the behavior that got you sent to this room.� �I�m sorry I behaved the way I did. I don�t know why I did it.� Wendy looked at the floor and then back up at Mark. �I had no right to talk to you and yell at you about Ricky. It wasn�t any of my business and I�m sorry, Daddy. I won�t ever do it again!� �Are you saying you have learned your lesson?� �Yes, Sir, I have, honestly, I have.� �And if the notion stuck you to interfere again, or to speak to me the way you did, then what?� Wendy glanced down quickly, and then looked up into Mark�s eyes. She knew without a doubt, what would happen. �I�d get the whippen� of my life.� �And what else?� Mark sternly asked. Wendy thought for a minute as she looked around the room. �You would put me back in here?� she asked Mark reached over and placed his hand under Wendy�s chin. �I want to make it clear to you what the consequences would be if you ever behaved the way you did, again. We have had talks like this in the past about certain behaviors, and you usually take them seriously, let�s hope you have done so this time.� Mark let go of Wendy�s chin and placed his hand on her shoulder. �I have, and I know I won�t ever do it again because I�m really sorry for the way I talked to you, and I�m sorry for not being quiet when you told me too. I should have stopped, but I didn�t.� �Well then, I think this confinement has taught you quite a lesson even without the spanking, but rest assured, if this happens again, there will be quite a spanking. Do I make myself clear, young lady?� Wendy knew why her father was being so firm with her, but his sharp voice made tears come to her eyes. �Yes, Sir, quite clear.� I�m happy to hear that. Now I know this punishment is suppose to go until tomorrow night, and I should make you stay, but I believe you when you say you�ve learned your lesson. Supper is in three hours, so between now and then, I want your bedding stripped and taken to the laundry. You can stop by the linen closet and get fresh, then come back and make the bed up. You may not talk to anyone, or stop anywhere along the way. Go straight there and straight back, understand?� �Yes, sir.� I will bring you a bucket and some cleaner to wipe the bed down, and the table. Then you can sweep and scrub the floor. Tonight you may eat supper in the cafeteria at the table with your mother and me. I will come and get you when it is time. When supper is over, you may go back to your own room, but you will spend the rest of the evening there. You may sleep in your own bed tonight but you may not come out. Your punishment will be over when you wake tomorrow morning. I am letting you off early, don�t make me regret doing so!� �No, sir, I won�t,� Wendy replied with a smile. �Good! Now get to stripping that bed.� Mark turned and headed for the door. �Daddy?� �What is it, Wendy?� �I love you,� she whispered. Mark turned and walked back over to Wendy. �I love you too, sweetheart,� he replied as he wrapped his arms around her. �I don�t like having to punish you, but you must learn that your actions do have consequences.� Wendy nodded slightly as her snuggled close. �I know,� she replied. Wendy spent the rest of the afternoon stripping the bed, and cleaning the room. When Mark returned, Wendy walked proudly down the hall, with her hand in his and they entered the cafeteria together. Wendy was so happy to see Patricia, that she couldn�t stop hugging her as she sat at the table. She did notice the other kids looking at her, but Wendy tried not to pay too much attention to them. She didn�t want to wish too much to be with them because she knew she couldn�t. Though she deliberately tried not to look for Ricky, when he walked past the table, their eyes met. Ricky smiled at her but kept walking. She smiled back and then looked out the corner of her eye to see if Mark had noticed. �I told Ricky that you were being let out early, but that he couldn�t speak to you until tomorrow,� Mark said. Wendy quickly went back to eating her supper. When she finished, Mark instructed her to place her hands behind her back, and he shadowed her as she walked down the main hall, up the stairs, and down the hall to her room. When they reached the door, Wendy stopped. �Go inside and get into your pajamas, and then you may go and brush your teeth, but make it quick.� Wendy hurried through the door, but once inside, she stopped in the middle of the room. It had been seven days since she had seen a room with all the warmth of home that a tear developed in the corners of her eyes. She missed it more than she thought. �Wendy, I said hurry!� Mark scolded. Wendy looked over her shoulder and then quickly returned to her task. She gathered her pajamas and headed for the bathroom. When she came out, Mark was waiting. He walked with her back to her room and opened the door. �Wendy?� Wendy turned and looked at her father. �Yes, Daddy?� �I will only say this once, Do not leave this room!� Wendy swallowed hard, and shivered at her father�s scolding words. �I won�t,� she replied With a sweeping gesture of his hand, Wendy continued into the room. When she heard the door close, she ran and jumped onto her bed. �Yipeee!� she cried. �I�m home!� She jumped down, pulled the quilt from her bed, and headed for her favorite spot. |