Confessions of a Mailgirl Ch. 09

FRIENDS

As I exited Barbara's office I was more confused than ever. Confused about myself, my life, my feelings toward Barbara. What the hell had just happened in there? How was it possible that after spending the morning humiliating me in front of several hundred DDE managers and supervisors, treating me like little more than a shiny new product the company was rolling out, Barbara had been able to ignite an intense desire for her with just a few kind words? Was this similar to a Stockholm syndrome situation where a hostage begins to bond with their captor? Was Barbara counting on this bonding as part of her plan to keep me enslaved here as a mailgirl long after my original contract had expired as she had confidently told me was going to happen?

The truth is that I'd been fascinated by Barbara from the start and that had only grown over time. Her keen intelligence, unshakeable self confidence, and the way she cooly handled problems as they arose were all attributes that I'd grown to admire and envy. She was also undeniably attractive, the very image of a beautiful and powerful businesswoman as if cast in the role by a Hollywood director. And now I'd also discovered that she had a charismatic stage presence as well. Despite being used as a naked prop, I couldn't help but admire the potent and articulate way she had sold her vision for the Mailgirls program today.

But then there was Barbara's dark side. Her lies and manipulations, using people as pawns to be moved around her personal chessboard. The way she had tossed Kelly out like the morning trash after she was no longer useful to her. Her hypocrisy in telling the audience today that there would be zero tolerance for sexual harassment after she'd already gagged, whipped, and tied me up in her own office. And now I knew she was manipulating Anna as well, planning to use her as a surrogate to control me while I was away from work.

I couldn't deny now, though, that I felt a growing attraction for Barbara despite this dark side. Hell, maybe even because of it. Being under the control of a puppet master who could expertly pull my strings without any moral qualms about it - and with no easy way for me to sever those strings - was both frightening and exciting.

As I walked through the ninth floor trying to wrap my head around everything I saw Kelly kneeling on the Mailgirls mat looking shaken and despondent. I wasn't on any kind of deadline to get to Marketing so I decided to make a detour. I walked over and knelt down beside her, then reached a hand out and placed it in hers. Kelly turned to look at me with tears in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Danica," she said, "I've totally fucked everything up for you. It's all my fault."

"No it isn't, Kelly," I said to her. "I'm a big girl. It's long past time for me to own my mistakes and quit blaming you. You never put a gun to my head to make me do anything." I squeezed her hand. "You're my friend, Kelly, and I need you now more than ever."

"Thank you," she said choking back a sob as she reached up with her free hand to wipe her eyes. As we knelt together hand in hand on the mat I thought back to the beginning of all of this. I hadn't really known Kelly well back then but the two of us had shared experiences as DDE's first two mailgirls that no one else could fully understand, not even Anna. As Barbara slowly stripped away everything I possessed I realized it was more important than ever that Kelly remain a part of my life. I especially valued her opinions since she had a way of cutting through the bullshit when it came to Barbara.

My presence seemed to help Kelly compose herself. After a bit she looked around to make sure no one was nearby listening, then said in a low voice, "You know all of that crap about the condo and the permanent nudity and Anna being in charge of you away from work? Barbara can't really make you do that. As long as you show up to work and fulfill your contract she can't say squat about what you do away from here. You should tell her to go piss up a rope."

"I know," I said, "but she'd just use Anna as leverage. She'd threaten to fire her or send her back to her mother or something like that to get me back into line." I pondered about whether I wanted to go any deeper than that. I decided that if Kelly and I were going to remain friends I'd try to be as honest with her as I could. "Besides, I want to obey her. I know it sounds crazy but I want her to force me to obey her."

Kelly nodded her head. "Yeah, I thought so. You're really into this humiliation and submission crap aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Well you definitely came to the right place for that. DDE must be fucking nirvana for you. So what's going to happen if someday you're not so into it anymore or Barbara goes too far?"

"I'll leave," I said.

"Really? You think you'll be able to just walk away? You're in the spider's web now, girl. The longer you're in it the harder it will be to escape."

"I know," I said. "Believe me I'm not blind to what Barbara is capable of, but if that time comes I've got to have faith in myself that I can find a way out without letting her screw up my life." As I said that it felt like I was trying to convince myself of it as much as I was Kelly.

"I hope you're right," Kelly said. "Personally I think you're making a mistake, though. She's already got you by the short and curlies here at work so why grant her that power away from work?" Just then Kelly's watch lit up alerting her to a pickup order. "Gotta go," she said as she smiled at me, squeezed my hand, and gave me a peck on the cheek.

As she was getting to her feet I said, "Kelly, just do what Barbara told you. Lay low, don't cause any problems, then get the hell out of here when your contract is up."

"That's my plan," she said. "I'll be as invisible as a naked girl can possibly be."

After she was gone I reluctantly rose to my feet and began walking toward the stairs. I was thankful for having had the chance to talk to Kelly but was dreading the humiliation tour of the Marketing department that lay ahead of me. I'd seen my old friends from there only once since becoming a mailgirl and that hadn't gone well at all. Whatever respect they'd had for me had evaporated into a mixture of contempt, condescension, and lecherous amusement at my new role. And they hadn't even seen me naked yet.

As I walked through the ninth floor it struck me how much things had changed here in the tower in the past three months. At first the presence of a nude mailgirl had pretty much brought all work to a halt but now it barely created a ripple. I can't say that I was no longer being noticed, but these people had seen me naked so many times that I'd become a normal part of their work environment. Most of them just gave me a glance as I went by before returning to whatever it was they were doing.

I knew it would be very different in the rest of the complex though, at least for awhile. Most of the several thousand DDE employees working outside of the tower had never seen a live mailgirl and Barbara had made sure I'd be the first and only one they'd see for now.

I made my way down the tower stairs to the third floor, then to the entrance door to the south wing. Marketing was on the opposite side of the wing so I had a long walk through "virgin territory" to get there.

But the walk through the south wing in front of dozens of people getting their first look at a mailgirl was the easy part of my task. Too soon I stood outside of the familiar doors leading into the Marketing department dreading what I knew lay beyond those doors. This was a moment I'd known would eventually happen, but now that it was here I desperately wanted to be almost anywhere else. This was where I'd started my career at DDE and I had spent nearly a year of my life here. I couldn't have imagined back then that someday I'd walk through these doors completely naked in the middle of a busy work day.

Starting out in the tower had probably made it easier for me to transition from DDE's management development program to mailgirl since very few employees there had known me previously. Most of the people working in the tower have never seen me with clothes on and, if Barbara has her way, never will. Beyond these doors, though, that's not the case. Here I'd once been a colleague, valued employee, friend, and equal. Now I was returning as an inferior who had been permanently consigned to menial delivery tasks while serving as naked eye candy. I doubted I'd be able to look any of them in the eye now even if company policy didn't prohibit it.

You'd think that after three months of constant nudity at work I'd be fairly jaded about it by now, but that's just not the case. Oh, I'd obviously become more accustomed to it over time but there's always a point in every day that it strikes me just how bizarre and surreal this really is. It's something I'm always conscious of as I go about my duties. My nudity affects every interaction I have with other DDE employees. It's what clearly separates me from them and Barbara had sought to widen that chasm at every opportunity. By stripping mailgirls of their right to wear clothes it had made it easier for her to convince others that we weren't really one of them, that we were a sub-class undeserving of the rights or respect of other DDE employees. Strapping electronic leashes to us in the form of smart watches or phones that monitored and controlled everything we did only reinforced this, as did a demerit system that could be used to punish us for any deviations from the rigid and arbitrary rules set for us.

Hiromoto had used his wealth and power to exploit loopholes in labor laws to cleverly create the modern day equivalent of a slave girl class within a corporate structure. Mariko had managed to mitigate this somewhat by offering herself up to Hiromoto to protect the other girls, but Barbara had no such restraint in pushing the limits of this concept as far as she could. By using nudity waivers, contracts, and carefully navigating through loopholes in labor and sexual harassment laws she had successfully created her own slave girl class right here at DDE. And now she had ordered me to parade naked in front of my former friends and colleagues. It was such a delicious humiliation that she hadn't been able to resist it for even a single day once the expansion of the Mailgirls program to the rest of the complex had made it possible.

It was with the full knowledge that I was a lowly slave girl that I reluctantly, and with a knot in my stomach, pushed open the door to present myself to my old friends and new masters.

OLD FRIENDS, NEW MASTERS

I stood inside the doors of DDE's Marketing department momentarily paralyzed, unable to take another step. To be standing nude in such a familiar area had a greater effect on me than I could have imagined and for the first time in ages I had to fight an overwhelming urge to cover myself. I was in a corridor that led past several offices on each side, then opened up into a large floor filled with desks and cubicles which is where I'd once worked. The view of that area was limited from here so no one had seen me yet, but even a glimpse of it had left me frozen in place, unable to move. The idea of walking in there like this, totally naked with a phone strapped to my arm and the number 9 inked on various spots on my body, suddenly seemed completely insane.

On my immediate left was Sanjeev Singh's office, the man who'd once been my immediate boss. I could see him through the glass working at his desk, totally oblivious to my presence. Since Sanjeev had been at Barbara's presentation today, along with Stephanie, I decided I'd start there since he'd already seen me like this anyway. I took a deep breath to calm myself, then walked to the door and entered his office.

Sanjeev looked up at me with a stunned look on his face and it was clear he had no idea I'd be coming here. I assumed my required stance with my hands behind my back and my feet spread. "Danica?" he said in a puzzled tone. "I did not order a Mailgirl delivery."

"No sir, Barbara Anderson sent me here. And please refer to me as Nine, sir."

"Yes, of course. Nine. That will take some getting used to I think." Sanjeev was clearly flustered by my sudden appearance.

Sanjeev was in his late 30's with flecks of gray in his thick dark hair. He had a thin runner's build and had actually competed in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney in the 10,000 meters. Born and raised in Jaipur, India he'd attended college in the U.S. and had been with DDE for about eight years. Despite his years in the U.S. he still spoke English with a pronounced Indian accent. Sanjeev had been a pretty good boss, although he was quiet and somewhat remote. It was always hard to get a read him so I had no idea what his true feelings were about me or the Mailgirls program. He wasn't one to rock the boat, though, so he'd go along with whatever he was instructed to do by the tower.

"And why did Barbara send you here?" he asked.

"I'm supposed to go to every department this week and answer questions and assist them with learning to use the Mailgirls app, sir."

"Ah, I see. I believe I understand how everything works and have been reading the literature," he said, holding up the Mailgirls Service Guide that had been handed out at the presentation earlier.

"Yes sir," I said, and for a moment I thought I might be able to get out of here without having to face any of the others. That hope was quickly crushed.

"There are some people out on the floor who have authorization to use the service so perhaps you could go talk to them to see if they need any help."

My heart sank. "Yes sir, I'll do that. Is there anything else you require?"

"No, Nine. You can go."

"Yes sir," I said as I turned and exited the office. Back in the corridor I looked toward the main floor area with dread and had to fight an overwhelming desire to run out of here back to my comfort zone in the tower. As I struggled to find the courage to face my old colleagues the door in the office opposite Sanjeev's opened and I was shocked to see Stephanie emerge from it with a bright smile on her face. I glanced at the name on the door and realized that she'd been promoted to an assistant manager position since I'd left. That's why she'd been at the presentation today.

"Well, look who's here," Stephanie said with a laugh. "It's Mailgirl Nine!"

I fought to compose myself, terribly embarrassed to be standing in front of my former friend like this. "Y-yes ma'am," I stammered. "I was ordered to report here and answer any questions you may have about the Mailgirls program."

"Oh I don't have any questions about it," she said with a smirk. "I understand your role perfectly. I think we should present you to the rest of the gang, though. I'm sure they'd love to see you in your new uniform." Stephanie then reached up and placed each of my already hard nipples between the thumb and forefinger of each hand and began teasing them out to even greater prominence. "I just want to make sure these are nice and perky," she said as I stood there in shock. "I think it adds a nice touch to your uniform." When she was done she slapped me hard on the ass. "Follow me, Nine," she commanded as she walked down the corridor toward the open floor of the department.

If I hadn't felt debased and degraded before I definitely did now as I followed behind her. As we walked onto the Marketing department's main floor I began seeing familiar faces reacting to my appearance. There's definitely something different about being nude in front of people you know and it heightened my embarrassment far beyond what I normally felt in the tower. Stephanie continued to lead me until we reached an open area in the middle of the floor. "Everyone to me," she said loudly, and people from throughout the office began gathering around us. The employees here were relatively young, mostly in their twenties and early thirties, and the atmosphere tended to be more casual than in the tower.

"Get into your standing position, Nine," Stephanie ordered and I quickly obeyed. I lowered my eyes to the floor unable to meet the gaze of my co-workers. My nipples remained prominently extended and I felt myself becoming moist which only added to my shame. If the presentation on stage today had been my ultimate humiliation up to now, this was even worse.

"I'm sure you guys know that Sanjeev and I went to a Mailgirls meeting today," she said to the gathered group. "I'm also sure you recognize Mailgirl Nine here. She was on the fast track to success but decided she preferred a career as a mailgirl instead." There was some snickering and laughter, but I kept my eyes glued to the floor trying vainly to imagine I was somewhere else. "Since we're going to start using mailgirls next Monday I thought I'd pass on a few things I learned today. The first thing you need to know is that mailgirls don't have names they have numbers. You have to call them by their number even if you know their name."

"That seems pretty fucked up," I heard a familiar voice say. It was Gary, the only one of my friends who'd been nice to me at a party I'd attended after becoming a mailgirl.

"It's company policy, Gary. We have to be able to identify them so we can give them demerits if they're being bad mailgirls," Stephanie replied sarcastically. "And Nine here has been a very bad mailgirl so she's been permanently banned from ever wearing clothes again on DDE property."

"Really?" a woman named Tamara said with a laugh. "That's pretty crazy!"

"Crazy but true," Stephanie said. "She's going to be a permanent mailgirl, isn't that right, Nine?"

"Yes ma'am," I responded. Whatever friendship had been between us was obviously over as Stephanie spoke of me in the most demeaning and spiteful way possible.

"So she has to call you ma'am?" Tamara asked. "And why is she standing like that?"

"She's a little servant girl so she has to call everyone sir or ma'am," Stephanie said. "And that's how she's supposed to stand when she's waiting for orders." I was reduced to being a naked prop again as Stephanie and others talked about me like I wasn't there.

"You can also make her kneel," Stephanie continued. "Show them, Nine." I got down on the floor in my kneeling position.

"Wow, that's freaking hot," I heard Tom say, another of my former friends.

"You haven't seen anything yet, Tom," Stephanie laughed. "Nine, get into your inspection position."

I groaned inwardly as I rose to my feet, spread my legs, lifted up on my toes, and placed my hands behind my head. I was surrounded on every side by my former co-workers with every inch of my body exposed. Earlier I'd had to fight off arousal while in this position but now I was on the verge of sobbing. What had I ever done to Stephanie that she would turn on me like this and treat me in such a demeaning manner? I'm sure she'd been badmouthing me to everyone here ever since I'd become a mailgirl and I wondered now if we'd ever really been friends.

"We have the right to inspect a mailgirl's uniform," Stephanie continued, "and you can send her to the shower to get cleaned up if she's too smelly or sweaty. Nine here loves being inspected so much that she had an orgasm on stage today while it was being demonstrated." This brought a reaction from the crowd and she gleefully went into great detail describing everything surrounding that humiliating moment. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare as almost everyone, at Stephanie's urging, took out their phones and began taking pictures and videos of me from every angle hoping for a repeat performance. When it didn't happen Stephanie finally moved on.

"One thing I have to warn you about, though, is you can't sexually harass the mailgirls," she said. "No inappropriate touching even if she's begging for it. And no matter what you think of Nine you can't call her a whore, or a slut, or a twat, or a skank."