A Madman's Love Revisited

        What he loved most was that she was all dressed up for him.

         Tina wore a cheerleader’s outfit, replete with mini-skirt and pigtails, but no panties.  He knew because when she had done a forward roll for him, the short skirt had of course flipped downward, exposing her lovely wares.  She had stood up prettily, extending her arms into the air to wave her pom-poms for him; in fact, she had actually cheered for him.

         “Go, Teddy, go!  It’s all for you, you know!  So go, Teddy, go!  It’s all for you, you know!”  Her voice had been high and shrill, and he imagined her standing with other young cheerleaders, shaking their pom-poms while shaking their pom-poms.

         When she was done with her cheer, he wanted more.

         “Would you dance for me, Tina?”

         When he saw her hesitate, he knew it was because she was thinking, contemplating a sultry, sensual move for his pleasure.  It made him happy.  And when she finally did her spin and twirl, her twist and turn, it made him erect.

         “I can’t believe you did all this for me, honey,” he cooed into her ear when he brought her to bed.  He breathed her in, and marveled at the sweetness of her smell.  It was innoncence and purity, youth and virginity, even though he had been with her a thousand times and planned to be with her a thousand more.

         “Only for you, Teddy,” she responded, her voice quivering.  Teddy knew the quiver in her voice was from desire, and he decided he couldn’t wait anymore. 

         “Come here, baby.  Let’s do this." It wouldn’t take much to undress her; there was only the halter top and the mini-skirt.  When she was revealed to him in all her glory, he smiled.

         “My god, you’re beautiful,” he murmured, kissing the crook of her neck, her lips.  “So beautiful.”  When he kissed her cheeks, he tasted salt there, and when he pulled back to look at her, tears made her rouged cheeks glisten.  He wasn’t concerned.  It was a secret message to him, so instead, he nodded and spoke.  “You want the chains, don’t you?”

         He wanted her to nod, he willed her to nod, and when she did, he moaned quietly with excitement.  It was almost imperciptible, her nod, but it didn’t matter because he knew, oh god, he knew.  “I love you, Tina, I love you so much.  You absolutely know how to make me happy,” he said to her, getting the chains.  They were heavy and black and rusted, and when he secured them to her wrists, they pinched her delicate skin and she winced, opening her eyes wide…but she continued to smile.  She smiled because she loved him and would do anything to make him happy. 

         But it wasn’t  just about him.  It was also about her, and there was more romance to come.  More foreplay.  It was the least he could for his Tina, as she had already done so much for him, given so much for him. 

         He kissed her and caressed her, drinking in the taste of her skin, the smell of her.  From the space between her breasts, he worked his way down, kissing and fondling her, while savoring the moment when he would reach her most sacred, secret place.  Her sweet, tender—

         Suddenly, he froze.  Only inches from her warm center, he stopped in horror.

         There was a hair there.  He pulled himself back up from between her, closing his eyes and shaking his head to rid himself of the image of the thing he had just seen.  But when he opened them again, he saw it.

         A pubic hair.  His eyes widened with shock, and while he stared at her plump center, he realized that it wasn’t just a hair. 

         There were hairs.

         He screamed in terror and leaped back from the bed.  “What is that?” he yelled, his eyes wide with fear and disgust.  “What is that?”

         Tina lay on the bed, her chest heaving up and down with short, ragged bursts for breath.  It was then that he saw them:  the two buds on her chest that were becoming breasts.

         He pointed at her in horror.  “What is that on your chest?  Are those…breasts?  But you’re supposed to be flat!  And you can’t have hair!  I don’t want hair!  Women have hair!  I want a girl!”

         “I am a girl!” she pleaded.  It was then that he noticed that the sing-song voice of girlhood had been replaced with the deep throatiness of womanhood.

         He turned from her in revulsion, and suddenly vomited.  There was a woman in his bed, a grown, vile woman  where there should have been a girl.  A young girl.  A little girl.  His girl.  It was dishonest, untrue.  It was sacrilege.  It was betrayal.  It was  a punch to the stomach—it took his breath away.

         “How could you do this to me, Tina?  Why?  I thought you wanted to be with me.”

         The child on the bed wrestled against the chairs that held her fast.  “Please, Teddy, don’t do this!  I’m still your girl!  I’m only elev—“  Her eyes strained in desperation, trying to reach him, knowing that her life depended on it. 

         It was then that he realized the innocent gaze of youth held the ever-growing glint of maturity,and suddenly, Teddy couldn’t bear look at her.  He averted his eyes to look at something—anything—else.  But his eyes returned to the dewey soft hair sprouting between her legs and his hurt--his anger--rose. 

         A headache exploded at the side of his temple, and his left eye began to twitch uncontrollably.  He paced the dark, dank cellar with a frenetic energy, his mind whirling at this unbidden discovery.

        “Why would you do this, Tina?” he wailed.  “Why? How could you hurt me like this?”

         On the bed, Tina alternatively sobbed and groaned with fear and for mercy.  “Please, Teddy, I’m still your girl, please—“

         “Now you’re gonna make me do something that I don’t want to do—“

         “I’m sorry, I’ll shave it, please, just don’t hurt me—“

         He stopped his pacing of the cold cellar floor, and then went to Tina.  He slapped her.  “You’re lying to me!  Stop it!  You think shaving will solve it?  Shaving will make it better?  It'll grow back! Grow thicker..." He shuddered with revulsion.  "And what about those…those things on your chest?  What are you gonna do about those?”

         “Please, I’m sorry, just don’t hurt me—“

         “Don’t hurt you, Tina?  What about me?  You hurt me, and you hurt me in the worst way possible—you betrayed me.  We were going to be together forever.  Don’t you remember?  You were supposed to love me forever—“  Sharp pains pierced either side of his temples, and the twitching eye increased its flutter.  His hands began to shake.  “You’re just like all the others, Tina.  They grew those..things, too.” 

         “I’m not, Teddy!  I swear, I’m not—“

         He slapped her again, harder than the first time, and she screamed with an intensity that it hurt his ears.  But here in the cellar of his home, where the walls were had been specially sound-proofed, no one would hear but Teddy.          

         Not that it mattered.  She had broken his heart, and from the tattered pieces of his love a black rage grew. “I loved you, Tina!  And you betrayed me.  How can I forgive that, Tina? Huh?  How can I?”

         Tina screamed for forgiveness, but it fell on deaf ears.  From the bedside table, Teddy opened a drawer and pulled out a knife.  “I can’t, Tina.  I can’t.”

~~~

         The news that evening was filled with ugly reports.  There was first the story of Christina Myerson.  She had been abducted in a park three years ago at the age of eight.  The police reported that they found her body dumped on the side of the road, naked and horribly multilated. 

         And in a unrelated story, there was breaking news:  a six-year old girl had been reported missing.