"But Mommy, I don't want to learn piano!" Allison riposted unanswerably, "None of my friends have to! Piano is dumb!"
"Now, Allison, we've been over this already," her mother, Mrs. Fisher, murmered distractedly, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she shuffled through a file of papers, "Just a moment, Mrs. Smith, I have the documents right here..."
"It's gross and stupid! Why do I-"
Mrs. Fisher abruptly cut off her daughter with a violent gesture that any child is familiar with; "Be quiet and don't bother me."
"Mmmmmmmmoooooommmm" Allison dared, stretching out the word for maximum annoyance.
"Allison! Go to your room this instant! Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Smith, my daughter's just acting up a little, let me see... It's C as in CAT" her mother continued, still making "the gesture".
"You're mean! You're the meanest mommy in the whole wide world!" Allison shouted, stomping up the stairs to her room, as her mother continued to apologize to Mrs. Smith for the shouting.
"It's me she should be apologizing to," Allison thought to herself, "No one ELSE's parents made them take these stupid dumb music lessons. I don't even like the stupid piano! What a waste of time!"
Allison was a third-grader, and with all the prestige being the oldest in the elementary school makes you, had decided that she knew much more than her parents when it came to herself. She figured she'd had to put up with enough indignancies over the years (school, vegetables, bedtimes, restrictions on watching tv, not getting to do any of the FUN things her friend's parents let them do, etc.), and no longer could she bear the cruel yoke of tyranny to which her parents had her firmly attached.
The catalyst for this ultimate blowout was something as unassuming as music lessons. The school principle, a woman Allison had grown to hate for her unfailing ability to convince Allison's parents to make her do boring things, had sent home a letter entitled "Budget Cuts". Although she had snuck a look at the letter, Allison couldn't quite understand exactly what it meant, but one thing was clear; no sooner had her parents read it then they declared she must take music lessons. The timing was opportune; her Uncle Paul had just lost his job and had to downsize his house to an apartment, leaving him with many relics which he was obligated to then dispose of. Fortunately for Allison, Uncle Paul had owned an old, dusty, rickety, banged-up, scratched, chipped, peeling, out-of-tune abomination which he dared to call a "piano", and he was more than willing to sell it to her parents at a discount price when they inquired as to his intentions for it.
That settled the matter, as far as her parents were concerned. It wasn't every day, they explained to Allison, that you got an opportunity to purchase a "vintage antique" that was still "fully functional", and they meant to seize the chance to do so. It would be a great thing, they continued, if Allison might learn to play it. She could become a great pianist, they said, playing wonderful music that would fill the house whenever she wanted to. Didn't that sound nice?
No, Allison had decided. No, it did not sound nice at all. She had heard two testimonies concerning the piano; one from her sometimes friend Gabby and the other from a rather dull sort of boy by the name of Harvey Henderson.
Harvey's review had been nothing but positive, and for that reason Allison vowed she would never take the piano. The young Henderson boy was, in her judgement, a "complete and utter nerd" to be willing to spend "hours a day" practicing.
Gabby's review was even more damning. From her, Allison learned horror stories "I had to play until my fingers ached!", "My teacher smacked me with the book if I didn't play it perfectly the first time!", "Every day I have a lesson, it lasts the whole day!", "It's so, so hard, I've been learning it for years and I still can't do it right!", and so Allison cemented her resolve to never play the piano. Ever. The only way her parents could get her to play the piano would be by killing her, then manipulating her fingers on the keys. She would never play of her own free will, of this she was certain.
Her parents, in their ignorance, apparently failed to recognize her resolve, and tried to convince her, cajole her, incentivize her, and finally give her an ultimatum: She would play the piano, or she would be grounded "indefinitely".
Under the ultimate threat of grounding, Allison gave ground, but still tried, whenever possible, to convince her mother that taking the piano would do her no good. She tried arguments from finance ("Piano lessons will be expensive"), arguments from logic ("I can't do well in school if I have to spend all my time on the piano"), and arguments from Utilitarianism ("I'll be happier if you don't make me take the piano"). None of these masterpieces convinced her clearly irrational parents, and so Allison had tried the whining technique, but apparently she had picked a bad time to do so.
Her anger had abated considerably by the time she heard her mother finishing up her conversation with Mrs. Smith ("Thank you so much for your patience, I knew I had it somewhere I just didn't know where! No, no, I'm sorry for wasting your time."), and was turned more towards depression when she heard her mother slowly thumping up the steps.
"Allison?" Mrs. Fisher's harried face appeared in the doorway, "I'm sorry for being so harsh with you, but you have to be quiet when I'm on the phone, honey."
Allison, though calmer, wasn't going to let an opportunity slip past, "None of this would have happened if you weren't making me take the piano" she grumbled just loudly enough to be audible.
"Oh, Allison, not that again!" her mother sighed, coming in and sitting down on Allison's bed next to her, "Chin up! You'll learn to love it eventually, even if it takes some time to get used to learning how."
"I'll never love it! I hate it! It's stupid!" Allison continued, barely audible.
"Don't be that way, sweety, you haven't even tried it yet!" her mother chuckled unconvincingly, "The piano is coming later this week, then you'll see what a wonderful instrument it is! Come on, do you want to help me get dinner ready?"
First she had to play some stupid instrument, then she was going to be used as slave labor? Although she was the victim of a horrid injustice, Allison consented to follow her mom downstairs.
-----LATER THAT WEEK-----
Allison had just returned home from school, in a relatively cheerful mood. The day had been fun, she didn't have any homework, it was Friday, and she was generally looking forward to a relaxing weekend. It all changed as soon as she stepped in the door.
"Surprise!" her mother shouted, pointing to the worst device of torture ever devised, "The piano came!"
Cursing Uncle Paul, the principal, and most of all her parents, Allison forced herself to look at the dreaded beast. It was worse than she had feared; she had always known she would never have a happy relationship with the fiend, but it was of even poorer quality than she had imagined. The keys were badly chipped and scratched, and unevan. The frame of the piano was badly dented and peeling. Part of it was simply broken, and her parents had propped it up with books to keep it from falling down. The bench looked horrible too, splintery and bumpy and generally uncomfortable. All in all, it was unbearable.
"Isn't it wonderful?" her mom continued obliviously, "And here I was, thinking it couldn't be any good at the price Paul wanted. Well, I was wrong!"
Allison merely groaned aloud.
----------
Eventually, someone showed up to tune the piano. He gave a double-take when he saw the piano, and looked at Allison's parents like "THIS is what you called me to tune?". Allison's father nodded brusquely, and with a shrug the tuner got on with his business.
After what seemed like forever, the tuner finished working on the piano. He then waved over Allison's parents and began talking to them in a low voice. Although they looked incensed at whatever news they were receiving, the tuner was doing a good job at keeping them calm enough to keep from errupting. Curious, Allison wandered closer to eavesdrop.
"All I'm saying is, that's one old piano," the tuner said as inoffensively as possible, "I've done my best with it, but it might need a little more than what I can do for it right now. If you're intending on using that, I really advise against it-", Allison's father opened his mouth as if to break in, but the tuner gestured at him to keep quiet, "Wait, wait, listen to me. I'm sure it can be fixed, but I'll have to do a lot of work on it and it can't be used meanwhile, so if you want me to come take another look at it later, let's schedule an appointment right now."
For a brief moment, Allison was overcome with glee. The piano was hopeless! The tuner was clearly trying to avoid getting on his customers' bad side when he still hadn't been paid, but the odds were good that once he was they would never see him again. This glee lasted until the tuner was out the door with a tip of his hat, and her parents rounded on her.
"Well, we can't have you falling behind on your piano lessons," her father began sternly.
"But daddy, I haven't even-"
"Don't interrupt me!" interrupted her father, "Now where was I? Oh, yes. We can't have you falling behind on your piano lessons, so we'll find a place where we can take you for your lessons until our piano is fixed. You may not have much opportunity to practice, but it's better to start learning sooner than later."
"Won't it be fun?" her mother joined in, "A piano class! It'll just be one-on-one with your tutor, and you can practice right there in the lesson! Eventually, we'll get our piano fixed up, and by then you'll already be able to play a little bit! Doesn't that sound great?"
Allison did not think it sounded great.
----------
At school the next day, Allison tried to share her misery with Gabby, someone she felt would surely be a kindred soul. Unfortunately, Gabby's name was much more apt than her parents would ever have guessed.
"Wow, you have to go to piano lessons outside of your house? That sucks! It'll probably take, like, twice as long!" Gabby babbled, "I know how you feel. My tutor just unexpectedly quit, and now I have to go to one of those places too! It'll probably be horrible! Ugh!"
"Wait, I thought you hated your tutor!" Allison managed to slip in while Gabby took a breath.
"Oh, you mean Mr. Kensington? He was sooo mean! But then he got a job as a private tutor for some rich family, and moved away. I haven't had him for a few months. My new tutor was this high school boy named Chris, he was pretty cool! But then my mother ruined everything, she was talking about how I wasn't "progressing" enough with him, and the next thing I knew he quit!" Gabby paused to breath, but had done so before Allison could even open her mouth, "So he was gone, and my mother was like, 'Time for a change of scenary, missy'" Gabby giggled at her own imitation of her mother, "And just like that, boom! Today I'm having my first lesson at the Piano Academy for Piano Academics! It'll-"
"Really? Me too!" Allison interjected with shock, "We're going to the same place!"
"No kidding? What days are you going? Maybe we'll be in the same lesson!" Gabby squealed cheerfully.
"Tuesday and Saturday." said Allison, with a grimace.
"Rats!" exclaimed Gabby, "I'm going on Monday and Wednesday. Really tough luck getting Saturday." she added sympathetically, "But hey! I'll be going today, so I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!"
----------
When Gabby didn't come to school the next day, Allison turned to the only person who remained that she thought could help her, Harvey Henderson.
"It'll be great!" Harvey said with so much enthusiasm it was scary, "I'm going to the Piano Academy for Piano Academics too! I hear that it's the absolutely best school for young pianists! Also, my tutor sent my parents an email saying that she had a schedule conflict and couldn't teach me anymore, so I had to find another tutor. It'll be great, though! What days do you have?"
Fortunately for Allison, Harvey was going on Thursdays and Sundays.
"That's a darned shame," Harvey grinned eerily, "Well, at least we have the same teacher! I can't wait for you to have your first lesson; then we can discuss together the wonders of music!"
The bell rang just in time.
---------
Allison tried every trick in the book to convince her mother she wasn't sick, but they all failed miserably.
First, she tried to get her mother to take her temperature, planning to run the thermometer under hot water. Unfortunately, the thermometer looked nothing like the TV show she watched had led her to believe it would, and her mother just stuck it in her ear, pushed a button, read the temperature and declared "You're fine.".
Next, she had tried to stick her finger down her throat to make herself puke, but she chickened out every time she retched.
Finally, she buried herself under her covers, hoping the heat would raise her temperature.
It didn't.
It was a very miserable Allison who rode silently in the back seat as her mother drove her to the Piano Academy for Piano Academics. It was a long ride, but Allison was so busy sulking and bemoaning her miserable life that she didn't even think to ask "Are we there yet?" the obligatory million times. Her mom made several early efforts to make conversation, but when they all ended up with her talking to herself, she gave up and they continued the ride in silence.
"We're here!" Mrs. Fisher declared with fake cheer as they pulled into the parking lot of a huge campus.
Initially wowed by how many huge buildings there were, Allison forgot to sulk and asked "Is this all for one teacher?"
"No silly!" her mother laughed, "This is an academy! Many teachers teach here, we just have to find the building your teacher teaches at, and we'll be ready to go!"
Allison then remembered to be mute, and silently stepped out of the car and followed her mother grimly.
After a short but awkward walk, they found themselves in front of a building titled The Right Honorable Joseph H. Keller Memorial Piano Center, where Allison's teacher supposedly taught.
"Sorry honey, but I have a meeting to go to with your principal, so I won't be able to sit through your lesson with you" her mother began ominously, "This is the building, though, I'm sure of it. Do you want me to walk you in?"
Allison stood there, silent and unmoving.
"I said, do you want me to walk you in?" her mother said, louder, and, still not getting a response, finally gave up and grabbed Allison's hand, practically dragging her into the building.
Allison was dragged into the building, more or less dragged up the stairs, and finally dragged to a door labeled "Victoria Chu, Piano Teacher". Allison's mother rapped on the door in a fed-up kind of way, and almost immediately the door opened.
Allison had expected her teacher to be an old lady with gray hair up in a bun, the kind who wore a skirt that would reach her shins, wear spectacles, admonish her pupils severely, and would hit frequently with a ruler if displeased. Only two of those preconceptions had any truth to them.
Her teacher was, not unexpectedly, a woman. However, she was rather young, probably in her mid-twenties. She was Asian, slightly below average height, and somewhat... substantial. She wasn't fat, but neither was she a stickwoman. She was wearing a short-sleeved semi-formal white buttoned shirt, as well as a skirt, albeit one that didn't go down to her shins. Her black hair was somewhat pinned up in the back, but not quite into a bun.
"Hello, Mrs. Fisher is it?" she asked, smiling pleasantly and reaching out to shake Allison's mother's hand, "Excellent, excellent! Just in time too! And is this Allison?" she paused to smile at Allison, "I'm Miss Vicky, and hopefully together we can learn a thing or two about music!" she said, grinning again as she reached to shake Allison's hand.
Allison limply shook her hand, somewhat numbed by shock.
"Oh, come now! That simply won't do!" said Miss Vicky, suddenly gripping Allison's hand tightly, "Shake like you mean it!" she ordered, giving Allison's hand a firm, brisk shake.
Allison grudgingly tried to give a shake that would satisfy her new teacher, while simultaneously not appearing to be caving in completely.
"Still not right! SHAKE!" commanded Victoria.
Allison shook.
"We're going to have a great time together!" Victoria smiled, glancing at her watch, "I'll start the lesson now, shall I? Would you like to stay?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have a meeting with Allison's principal." Allison's mother said hastily and apologetically, "Wonderful meeting you, I'm sure you'll be a great teacher for Allison, but I've got to dash!"
"Alright then, she's safe with me Mrs. Fisher!" Victoria said, smiling widely again, "Bye!"
As Allison's mother left, closing the door, Allison surveyed the room curiously. There was a door on one of the walls that looked as though it lead into a small office, and there was also a large grand piano up against another wall. Against that same wall, there was also a shelf of piano-related books.
"Well, then, let's get started." said Victoria briskly, "We have a lot of material to get through, and not that much time. Sit on the bench."
Allison sat on the bench, staring at the keys. They were in much better condition than the-
"Your posture needs work," Victoria said, cutting over Allison's thoughts, "Back straight, like this" she added, straightening Allison's back, "head up" she said, pushing Allison's chin up, "hands on the keyboard like this" she said, putting Allison's hands on the keyboard like that.
Allison was shocked and uncomfortable, but a little bit too scared of Victoria to say anything, so she did her best to keep the new form. Victoria stalked around her menacingly, finally deciding it was acceptable.
"That'll do," she finally declared, and Allison, with immense relief, relaxed back into her old posture.
"What do you think you're doing?" Miss Vicky said sharply, "Do you think that posture is only for fun? You must remain it in whenever you play the piano."
With a mental groan, Allison tried to pull herself back into the posture, but she obviously wasn't doing it right.
"Wrong, wrong, wrong" Victoria said, making corrections to Allison's posture, "Your head should be like this, your back isn't quite straight, that's not where you hands go, did you even pay attention to what I showed you? 'Learn' is a active verb. You learn. I try to teach you, but you won't learn unless you decide you want to learn."
Allison nodded nervously, and tried to remember the position. However, Victoria made her stand up, then sit down with proper posture ten times before she was satisfied.
"That's still not very good, and I'm sure if I tested you on this at the end of class you'd get it all wrong again." Victoria announced, "But it will do for now. Let me see if I have a book that should be around your level."
As Miss Vicky turned away to take a book off of her shelf, Allison heard an audible *glorp* sound come from her teacher, but before she could give much thought to it Victoria was shoving a book on the piano stand and dragging a stool over to sit down on. The book was titled "Expert-level Compositions by long-dead Russians".
"This is the most basic book I own," Victoria said, sitting down on the stool, "So I expect you to be able to master at least intermediate level pieces from it. If you can't do that, well-"
Just then, another audible gurgle, followed by a groan came directly from Victoria's stomach. She burped quietly, and rubbed it gently.
"Excuse me, I ate something yesterday that didn't really agree with me."
Allison stared, fascinated, at Victoria's stomach. She hadn't noticed it at first for some reason, but Victoria had quite a gut. Her shirt was very tightly stretched over it, and it was constantly putting out sounds of digestion. Allison couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before.
Victoria followed Allison's eyes to her bulging midsection, and smiled viciously at her. Nervously, Allison looked back.
"I suppose, Allison, that now's as good a time as any to teach you about... punishment." Victoria smiled ferally, "I expect nothing but top quality work from my students, that is, work of much higher caliber than anyone else's students can possibly produce. And how can I get my students to this level?"
Allison's merely stared silently with wide eyes.
"People are most motivated by punishment." Victoria said softly, "And I offer my students very harsh punishment indeed. Observe."
Victoria slowly unbuttoned the bottom part of her shirt, displaying her distended tummy.
"My students can pick; they can excel beyond even my expectations, or they can fail. This is one of the failures." she said, poking her stomach which gurgled gently in response, "Her name was Gabriella Rodriguez, although I doubt anybody but us know that now. She didn't try hard enough; she stumbled halfway through Chopin's Etude Opus 10 Number 2, which, considering that she came to me with prior knowledge, is thoroughly unacceptable. She had to be punished for her negligance, and she was. She's being thoroughly liquified and forced through me as we speak." Victoria said, sticking out her belly and massaging it gently, "So tell me, Allison. Do you want to be a success or a failure? If you succeed, you can be one of the greatest musicians the world has ever seen. If you fail, you can still be one of the greatest musicions the world has ever seen, or at least part of one anyway. I expect you to show me your choice by your efforts."
Allison, panicked, straightened herself up into what she hoped was a good posture, placed her hands as she thought she was supposed to, and looked at the book.
Victoria absently patted her stomach as Allison fumbled herself into good form, "You know, Gabby's probably taking so long to pass because of all the competing music tutors I've had to introduce to my poor little stomach here. It's been nonstop digestion ever since I started up this business, and it's kind of clogging me up." she glanced at Allison, "Looks like Gabriella's getting some company soon!"
Even though Victoria hadn't moved an inch, Allison screamed "Please don't eat me!" then burst into tears.
"Oh, are you scared?" mocked Victoria, "If you can't stop crying, my tummy will be more than willing to comfort you."
Allison fell silent almost at once, sniffing and wiping her face with her sleeve.
"Now, since you don't have the musical background Gabby did, you will start by learning to read music. You must be able to perfectly sight-read music by next class, as well as be able to read and play unfamiliar songs with a single glance. Failure will result in... I think you know what failure will result in." Victoria concluded, buttoning up her shirt with a satisfied smile.
Before long, the lesson had ended. Allison was trembling with fear the entire time, but she somehow made it through without any failures that doomed her. That didn't stop Victoria from taunting her the entire time as she gurgled Gabby out of existence.
"My, my, you've got a lot of work to do," Victoria concluded at the end of the lesson, "You barely squeaked by this time, and it'll be much harder next time we meet because I'll probably be hungry, so you'll have to impress me. At the very least, you should have sight reading down, your posture down, and the first few songs from this book memorized. I suppose you'll somehow have to buy a copy of this book," she said, waving "Expert-level compositions by long-dead Russians", "However, I don't think any stores around here stock it. And another thing; don't even think about telling your parents about this. Every now and then some kid thinks they can outwit me, and what's always ended up happening is that their parents don't believe them and the next time we meet, I get an extra-large meal."
Nodding nervously, Allison got up and moved quickly towards the door. Victoria watched her leave with a predatory smirk on her face.
----------
Although her mom had tried to make conversation with her, Allison remained silent during most the car ride home. Only at the end did she work up the courage to speak.
"Mom?" she began, her voice quivering.
"Yes, sweetheart?" her mom responded.
"Victoria... Victoria..." Allison trembled, then burst out crying, "Victoria said she would eat me", she gasped, "And she said she ate Gabby", gasping again for breath then, "And she said she'll eat me if I don't be perfect!" With those words having been spoken, Allison burst into uncontrollable sobs.
"Don't be so melodramatic, dear, it can't have been as bad as that." Mrs. Fisher said, trying to sooth Allison, "Maybe you just didn't connect with your teacher, but she sounds like a perfectly marvelous young woman. You'll get used to these lessons in time, even if she is maybe a bit strict. All you have to do is try, you can do anything you set your mind to!"
Allison was unconsoled, as her mother was reacting exactly as Victoria predicted she would. Despite her fear, she began to come up with a rudimentary plan. Her mother was probably right: she could do anything she set her mind to. What if she set her mind to eating Victoria? If Victoria could do it, how hard could it be? Probably not that easy, or she would have heard of someone else who could do it. She would only have a week to figure it out. Also, if she failed to figure it out, the time spent would detract from her time to practice the piano, which would lead to her being devoured for sure. No, practice was certainly the safest route, even if it was much less satisfying.
----------
Before her Saturday lesson, Allison studiously practiced her posture, her hands, reading music, playing freshly read music, and even managed to obtain a copy of "Expert-level compositions by long-dead Russians" from Harvey. Harvey apparently had not been threatened by Victoria, and he thought Allison was exaggerating her claims, although he couldn't come up with a satisfying explanation for the absence of Gabby.
"Allison," he said pushing up his glasses in a way he only did before starting a lecture, "That's ridiculous. Humans cannot eat other humans; Victoria simply could not possibly fit Gabby into her stomach. This is already assuming she would be willing to do such a thing, which I doubt as she seems a good teacher. Your problem is just that you don't like discipline, so you're exaggerating what she said far beyond what actually happened."
And having said that, he refused to be convinced no matter how much she argued with him. He was, however, completely willing to give her his copy of the book, as he was willing to believe Victoria was making a complete beginner learn it.
Despite all her efforts, however, the best Allison could do was get her posture right and manage some poor sigh-reading. She simply couldn't play new songs as she read them without messing up, and she didn't even have a clue how to start with the Russian music. As Saturday drew nearer and nearer, Allison grew more and more fearful.
----------
Allison's mother tried to convince her to go to her second lesson with a positive attitude, and to be confident that all her hard work would pay off. Allison herself wasn't quite so sure. Her hard work, though much more than she had ever heard of anyone doing before (except possibly Harvey), was still not all Victoria had wanted, and hadn't Victoria said she wanted to be impressed? Not even meeting expectations wasn't likely to work out.
Allison had tried to convince her parents to let her not go, but nothing worked in any way but to make them more adamant. They felt Allison had an "irrational fear" or a "phobia" of the lessons, and were convinced the best way to break it was by making her go. Allison decided, therefore, that the only way to get out of it was to trick them.
When Allison and her mother were in front of Victoria's building again, Allison turned to her mother and said "I remember the way, mom. I can go by myself."
"Good for you, Allison!" said her mother, beaming, "I'm glad to see you getting used to this idea! Well, don't let me stop you, I'll be headed back to the car."
Allison marched into the building, then closed the door and peeked out of it until she was sure her mother was gone. As soon as her mother left, she planned to make a run for it, then come back to the building just before her lesson ended to meet her mother outside.
Unluckily, just then, Allison heard the unmistakable sound of a stomach growling. She turned around, and found herself face-to-face with Victoria, today wearing a black top, who was scowling at her.
"Well? What do you think you're doing? Your lesson started almost a minute ago! You know the term 'Three strikes and you're out'? Well, consider this stike one."
Again completely shocked and caught off guard, Allison obeyed Victoria unhesitatingly, instead of making a run for it like she would have done if not flat-footed. Slowly, Allison trudged up to Victoria's room, Victoria following behind her.
"Thanks for coming in without your mom." Victoria said once they were both in her room with the door shut, "Now there won't be any loose ends to tie up if you mysteriously disappear. I had to pull some strings to convince the police that Gabriella's parents had something to do with her disappearance, and trust me that case is passing by even slower than Gabriella did." Victoria grimaced, rubbing her lower belly, "Luckily, you'll be an easy one. No one saw you go into the building, so you never went in. You must have tried to skip the class, gone somewhere else, and then been kidnapped or abducted. How unfortunate."
"Now, I don't want anyone to accuse me of being unfair, so you will have the chance to present what you've learned. I've recently taught a truly brilliant pupil, one Harvey Henderson, now HE is a good student. Maybe even a little too good. So, Allison, I expect you to perform at his level, if not higher."
Victoria grimaced again, and patted her stomach which growled again, even louder.
"Thanks to Mr. Henderson, I haven't eaten for quite some time, so you really better have something good up your sleeve. Begin!" Victoria commanded.
Allison, shaken, sat down with perfect posture. Victoria grunted, annoyed, but spoke no words of approval. Nervously, Allison asked, "What should I start with?"
Victoria stared at her for a second, then said "I think you should start by helping me play 'Digestion'. It's a difficult piece, but I think if you cooperate with my stomach it should be within your capabilities."
Allison turned pale.
Glaring, Victoria said "You haven't gotten your three strikes yet, so you're safe for now. But this is strike two, you should be able to figure out what to do without me telling you. Start with something from that book I showed you last lesson."
Fingers trembling, Allison took the book off the shelf, and opened it to the only song she had even managed to understand any of. Nervously, she corrected her posture and begin to play.
Her playing was very jerky and with gaps as she struggled to find the next keys. Victoria yawned, and her stomach growled the loudest growl yet, distracting Allison and causing her to mishit a key.
"Strike three and not a moment too soon!" Victoria said, leaping to her feet, "Don't bother trying to salvage it, you've already made a mockery of this wonderful composition by your horrible playing. But don't worry, you won't have much time to dwell on that, you'll be facing a much bigger problem shortly."
Allison screamed as Victoria advanced on her, and backed up against the wall. Victoria approached, salivating slightly as her stomach rumbled discontentedly.
----------
With a lazy hiccup, Victoria struggled to her feet. No matter how many times she ate someone, she was still unbalanced by the extra weight around her midsection.
"Hic! Oh, she hit the spot!" Victoria moaned, sitting down on the piano bench which creaked under her weight, "Abso-hic!-lutely delicious!". Victoria patted her bulging stomach gluttonously. Her stomach churned violently for an instant, and she belched.
"Comfortable in there, hic! Allison?" Victoria asked her stomach, "You don't seem to hic! be enjoying yourself too much. If it's company you want, I think you still might be able to catch Gabby somewhere in my large intestine."
Allison was crying, kicking and thrashing inside Victoria's gut. The limited space inhibited the success of her attempts, however, and although Victoria's belly bulged violently again, Victoria just burped again.
"Ugh, you're certainly hic! a fighter, Allison." Victoria sighed, massaging her slightly aching tummy, "Everyone else gave up once they were safe inside me. Stop moving hic! around so much, you'll give me a stomach ache."
Trying to escape, Allison looked around Victoria's churning gut. It was very disorienting, but she thought she spied what looked like a closed opening. Desperately, she tried to shove herself up it.
Victoria retched as she felt Allison trying to force her way back out, "No, no Allison!" she gagged, "That's a one way street!" and with that she swallowed hard.
A sudden contraction squeezed Allison back into Victoria's stomach. In a last attempt, Allison tried to kick and punch her way back to the opening and force her way out again.
As her stomach shook violently, Victoria decided it was time to put an end to all this nonsense. She burped three times, and with that Allison's air was gone.
Allison slowly stopped moving, and Victoria, smiling with the look of sated gluttony, let out one last "Urp!" of satisfaction. Her stomach was throbbing fairly painfully, it had never taken a pounding of the order Allison had visited upon it. Even full-grown adults had passed through Victoria from mouth to bottom without doing so much damage. Against her will, Victoria was slightly impressed.
"Ooohhh, Allison you certainly were a firecracker." Victoria groaned as she tried to massage her belly, "HIC! I hope you decide that's enough for now, and continue your journey uneventfully."
Victoria usually liked to nap after a meal, but her stomach was aching too badly. Absently, she tried to button her shirt back up only to find that Allison's thrashings had broken the buttons off.
"Goddamn, Allison!" Victoria exclaimed suddenly, "How many people have I eaten while wearing this shirt? A lot; Caroline, Samantha, Chris, Gigi, and they were all bigger than you. All of them passed through without this kind of trouble. If only you had applied that kind of effort to your music, maybe you wouldn't be churning in my gut."
Eventually, Victoria did manage to fall asleep, but she woke up every few minutes to a sudden pain somewhere in her large stomach.
Finally fed up, Victoria got up and went to her small office, where she had a couch and some medicines. She took some sleeping pills, and lay down on the couch.
"Ooohh, you really endure to the end, don't you?" Victoria gasped as she tried to rub the ache in her belly, "Even as a lump of meat in my gut you're still bothering me." With those words, Victoria fell asleep.
----------
By Sunday, Victoria was feeling much better. The bulge in her tummy had shrunk slightly, and although she still felt like she had a perpetual stomach ache, the pain was much more bearable. She dressed in her favorite white shirt, and although she had to struggle to button it over her gutful of Allison, she managed to fit it on.
"Good morning, Allison!" Victoria said cheerfully, looking at her barely contained stomach, "How are you today?". She waited for her belly to make a sort of gurgling rumble in response, then smiled and said "I see you're digesting nicely. Let this be a lesson to you; it's futile to fight the inevitable. My tummy has made mush out of every single person to pass through it, and I'm glad to see you're no excep-URP!"
Victoria covered her mouth, surprised. "Well, you may be giving me some gas and bloating, but we'll see who has the last laugh when my digestive system finishes with your remains. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some preparations to make before my lesson."
Heading to her office, Victoria opened the bottom drawer, and carefully slid out a false bottom. Reaching inside, she took out a black notebook and box. Opening the book, she wrote "Number 46: Allison Fisher. Predicted: Number 47: Lindsay Fisher. Number 48: Mark Fisher.", and sighed contentedly.
"Well, Allison," Victoria said, poking her softening stomach then wincing as it hurt, "We don't have a souvenir for my souvenir box yet. Hopefully, something of yours will survive its journey through me, although I wouldn't count on it, as nothing has yet."
With that, Victoria turned on her computer and checked her mail.
"Hmm... A Megan Clark wants lessons, and I do seem to have an opening, as one of my students became my dinner last night, and I can't very well teach some sludgy leftovers in my bowels how to play piano... Let's see if Miss Clark will be my student, or, failing that, another meal."
"Now, Allison, we've been over this already," her mother, Mrs. Fisher, murmered distractedly, holding the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she shuffled through a file of papers, "Just a moment, Mrs. Smith, I have the documents right here..."
"It's gross and stupid! Why do I-"
Mrs. Fisher abruptly cut off her daughter with a violent gesture that any child is familiar with; "Be quiet and don't bother me."
"Mmmmmmmmoooooommmm" Allison dared, stretching out the word for maximum annoyance.
"Allison! Go to your room this instant! Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Smith, my daughter's just acting up a little, let me see... It's C as in CAT" her mother continued, still making "the gesture".
"You're mean! You're the meanest mommy in the whole wide world!" Allison shouted, stomping up the stairs to her room, as her mother continued to apologize to Mrs. Smith for the shouting.
"It's me she should be apologizing to," Allison thought to herself, "No one ELSE's parents made them take these stupid dumb music lessons. I don't even like the stupid piano! What a waste of time!"
Allison was a third-grader, and with all the prestige being the oldest in the elementary school makes you, had decided that she knew much more than her parents when it came to herself. She figured she'd had to put up with enough indignancies over the years (school, vegetables, bedtimes, restrictions on watching tv, not getting to do any of the FUN things her friend's parents let them do, etc.), and no longer could she bear the cruel yoke of tyranny to which her parents had her firmly attached.
The catalyst for this ultimate blowout was something as unassuming as music lessons. The school principle, a woman Allison had grown to hate for her unfailing ability to convince Allison's parents to make her do boring things, had sent home a letter entitled "Budget Cuts". Although she had snuck a look at the letter, Allison couldn't quite understand exactly what it meant, but one thing was clear; no sooner had her parents read it then they declared she must take music lessons. The timing was opportune; her Uncle Paul had just lost his job and had to downsize his house to an apartment, leaving him with many relics which he was obligated to then dispose of. Fortunately for Allison, Uncle Paul had owned an old, dusty, rickety, banged-up, scratched, chipped, peeling, out-of-tune abomination which he dared to call a "piano", and he was more than willing to sell it to her parents at a discount price when they inquired as to his intentions for it.
That settled the matter, as far as her parents were concerned. It wasn't every day, they explained to Allison, that you got an opportunity to purchase a "vintage antique" that was still "fully functional", and they meant to seize the chance to do so. It would be a great thing, they continued, if Allison might learn to play it. She could become a great pianist, they said, playing wonderful music that would fill the house whenever she wanted to. Didn't that sound nice?
No, Allison had decided. No, it did not sound nice at all. She had heard two testimonies concerning the piano; one from her sometimes friend Gabby and the other from a rather dull sort of boy by the name of Harvey Henderson.
Harvey's review had been nothing but positive, and for that reason Allison vowed she would never take the piano. The young Henderson boy was, in her judgement, a "complete and utter nerd" to be willing to spend "hours a day" practicing.
Gabby's review was even more damning. From her, Allison learned horror stories "I had to play until my fingers ached!", "My teacher smacked me with the book if I didn't play it perfectly the first time!", "Every day I have a lesson, it lasts the whole day!", "It's so, so hard, I've been learning it for years and I still can't do it right!", and so Allison cemented her resolve to never play the piano. Ever. The only way her parents could get her to play the piano would be by killing her, then manipulating her fingers on the keys. She would never play of her own free will, of this she was certain.
Her parents, in their ignorance, apparently failed to recognize her resolve, and tried to convince her, cajole her, incentivize her, and finally give her an ultimatum: She would play the piano, or she would be grounded "indefinitely".
Under the ultimate threat of grounding, Allison gave ground, but still tried, whenever possible, to convince her mother that taking the piano would do her no good. She tried arguments from finance ("Piano lessons will be expensive"), arguments from logic ("I can't do well in school if I have to spend all my time on the piano"), and arguments from Utilitarianism ("I'll be happier if you don't make me take the piano"). None of these masterpieces convinced her clearly irrational parents, and so Allison had tried the whining technique, but apparently she had picked a bad time to do so.
Her anger had abated considerably by the time she heard her mother finishing up her conversation with Mrs. Smith ("Thank you so much for your patience, I knew I had it somewhere I just didn't know where! No, no, I'm sorry for wasting your time."), and was turned more towards depression when she heard her mother slowly thumping up the steps.
"Allison?" Mrs. Fisher's harried face appeared in the doorway, "I'm sorry for being so harsh with you, but you have to be quiet when I'm on the phone, honey."
Allison, though calmer, wasn't going to let an opportunity slip past, "None of this would have happened if you weren't making me take the piano" she grumbled just loudly enough to be audible.
"Oh, Allison, not that again!" her mother sighed, coming in and sitting down on Allison's bed next to her, "Chin up! You'll learn to love it eventually, even if it takes some time to get used to learning how."
"I'll never love it! I hate it! It's stupid!" Allison continued, barely audible.
"Don't be that way, sweety, you haven't even tried it yet!" her mother chuckled unconvincingly, "The piano is coming later this week, then you'll see what a wonderful instrument it is! Come on, do you want to help me get dinner ready?"
First she had to play some stupid instrument, then she was going to be used as slave labor? Although she was the victim of a horrid injustice, Allison consented to follow her mom downstairs.
-----LATER THAT WEEK-----
Allison had just returned home from school, in a relatively cheerful mood. The day had been fun, she didn't have any homework, it was Friday, and she was generally looking forward to a relaxing weekend. It all changed as soon as she stepped in the door.
"Surprise!" her mother shouted, pointing to the worst device of torture ever devised, "The piano came!"
Cursing Uncle Paul, the principal, and most of all her parents, Allison forced herself to look at the dreaded beast. It was worse than she had feared; she had always known she would never have a happy relationship with the fiend, but it was of even poorer quality than she had imagined. The keys were badly chipped and scratched, and unevan. The frame of the piano was badly dented and peeling. Part of it was simply broken, and her parents had propped it up with books to keep it from falling down. The bench looked horrible too, splintery and bumpy and generally uncomfortable. All in all, it was unbearable.
"Isn't it wonderful?" her mom continued obliviously, "And here I was, thinking it couldn't be any good at the price Paul wanted. Well, I was wrong!"
Allison merely groaned aloud.
----------
Eventually, someone showed up to tune the piano. He gave a double-take when he saw the piano, and looked at Allison's parents like "THIS is what you called me to tune?". Allison's father nodded brusquely, and with a shrug the tuner got on with his business.
After what seemed like forever, the tuner finished working on the piano. He then waved over Allison's parents and began talking to them in a low voice. Although they looked incensed at whatever news they were receiving, the tuner was doing a good job at keeping them calm enough to keep from errupting. Curious, Allison wandered closer to eavesdrop.
"All I'm saying is, that's one old piano," the tuner said as inoffensively as possible, "I've done my best with it, but it might need a little more than what I can do for it right now. If you're intending on using that, I really advise against it-", Allison's father opened his mouth as if to break in, but the tuner gestured at him to keep quiet, "Wait, wait, listen to me. I'm sure it can be fixed, but I'll have to do a lot of work on it and it can't be used meanwhile, so if you want me to come take another look at it later, let's schedule an appointment right now."
For a brief moment, Allison was overcome with glee. The piano was hopeless! The tuner was clearly trying to avoid getting on his customers' bad side when he still hadn't been paid, but the odds were good that once he was they would never see him again. This glee lasted until the tuner was out the door with a tip of his hat, and her parents rounded on her.
"Well, we can't have you falling behind on your piano lessons," her father began sternly.
"But daddy, I haven't even-"
"Don't interrupt me!" interrupted her father, "Now where was I? Oh, yes. We can't have you falling behind on your piano lessons, so we'll find a place where we can take you for your lessons until our piano is fixed. You may not have much opportunity to practice, but it's better to start learning sooner than later."
"Won't it be fun?" her mother joined in, "A piano class! It'll just be one-on-one with your tutor, and you can practice right there in the lesson! Eventually, we'll get our piano fixed up, and by then you'll already be able to play a little bit! Doesn't that sound great?"
Allison did not think it sounded great.
----------
At school the next day, Allison tried to share her misery with Gabby, someone she felt would surely be a kindred soul. Unfortunately, Gabby's name was much more apt than her parents would ever have guessed.
"Wow, you have to go to piano lessons outside of your house? That sucks! It'll probably take, like, twice as long!" Gabby babbled, "I know how you feel. My tutor just unexpectedly quit, and now I have to go to one of those places too! It'll probably be horrible! Ugh!"
"Wait, I thought you hated your tutor!" Allison managed to slip in while Gabby took a breath.
"Oh, you mean Mr. Kensington? He was sooo mean! But then he got a job as a private tutor for some rich family, and moved away. I haven't had him for a few months. My new tutor was this high school boy named Chris, he was pretty cool! But then my mother ruined everything, she was talking about how I wasn't "progressing" enough with him, and the next thing I knew he quit!" Gabby paused to breath, but had done so before Allison could even open her mouth, "So he was gone, and my mother was like, 'Time for a change of scenary, missy'" Gabby giggled at her own imitation of her mother, "And just like that, boom! Today I'm having my first lesson at the Piano Academy for Piano Academics! It'll-"
"Really? Me too!" Allison interjected with shock, "We're going to the same place!"
"No kidding? What days are you going? Maybe we'll be in the same lesson!" Gabby squealed cheerfully.
"Tuesday and Saturday." said Allison, with a grimace.
"Rats!" exclaimed Gabby, "I'm going on Monday and Wednesday. Really tough luck getting Saturday." she added sympathetically, "But hey! I'll be going today, so I'll tell you all about it tomorrow!"
----------
When Gabby didn't come to school the next day, Allison turned to the only person who remained that she thought could help her, Harvey Henderson.
"It'll be great!" Harvey said with so much enthusiasm it was scary, "I'm going to the Piano Academy for Piano Academics too! I hear that it's the absolutely best school for young pianists! Also, my tutor sent my parents an email saying that she had a schedule conflict and couldn't teach me anymore, so I had to find another tutor. It'll be great, though! What days do you have?"
Fortunately for Allison, Harvey was going on Thursdays and Sundays.
"That's a darned shame," Harvey grinned eerily, "Well, at least we have the same teacher! I can't wait for you to have your first lesson; then we can discuss together the wonders of music!"
The bell rang just in time.
---------
Allison tried every trick in the book to convince her mother she wasn't sick, but they all failed miserably.
First, she tried to get her mother to take her temperature, planning to run the thermometer under hot water. Unfortunately, the thermometer looked nothing like the TV show she watched had led her to believe it would, and her mother just stuck it in her ear, pushed a button, read the temperature and declared "You're fine.".
Next, she had tried to stick her finger down her throat to make herself puke, but she chickened out every time she retched.
Finally, she buried herself under her covers, hoping the heat would raise her temperature.
It didn't.
It was a very miserable Allison who rode silently in the back seat as her mother drove her to the Piano Academy for Piano Academics. It was a long ride, but Allison was so busy sulking and bemoaning her miserable life that she didn't even think to ask "Are we there yet?" the obligatory million times. Her mom made several early efforts to make conversation, but when they all ended up with her talking to herself, she gave up and they continued the ride in silence.
"We're here!" Mrs. Fisher declared with fake cheer as they pulled into the parking lot of a huge campus.
Initially wowed by how many huge buildings there were, Allison forgot to sulk and asked "Is this all for one teacher?"
"No silly!" her mother laughed, "This is an academy! Many teachers teach here, we just have to find the building your teacher teaches at, and we'll be ready to go!"
Allison then remembered to be mute, and silently stepped out of the car and followed her mother grimly.
After a short but awkward walk, they found themselves in front of a building titled The Right Honorable Joseph H. Keller Memorial Piano Center, where Allison's teacher supposedly taught.
"Sorry honey, but I have a meeting to go to with your principal, so I won't be able to sit through your lesson with you" her mother began ominously, "This is the building, though, I'm sure of it. Do you want me to walk you in?"
Allison stood there, silent and unmoving.
"I said, do you want me to walk you in?" her mother said, louder, and, still not getting a response, finally gave up and grabbed Allison's hand, practically dragging her into the building.
Allison was dragged into the building, more or less dragged up the stairs, and finally dragged to a door labeled "Victoria Chu, Piano Teacher". Allison's mother rapped on the door in a fed-up kind of way, and almost immediately the door opened.
Allison had expected her teacher to be an old lady with gray hair up in a bun, the kind who wore a skirt that would reach her shins, wear spectacles, admonish her pupils severely, and would hit frequently with a ruler if displeased. Only two of those preconceptions had any truth to them.
Her teacher was, not unexpectedly, a woman. However, she was rather young, probably in her mid-twenties. She was Asian, slightly below average height, and somewhat... substantial. She wasn't fat, but neither was she a stickwoman. She was wearing a short-sleeved semi-formal white buttoned shirt, as well as a skirt, albeit one that didn't go down to her shins. Her black hair was somewhat pinned up in the back, but not quite into a bun.
"Hello, Mrs. Fisher is it?" she asked, smiling pleasantly and reaching out to shake Allison's mother's hand, "Excellent, excellent! Just in time too! And is this Allison?" she paused to smile at Allison, "I'm Miss Vicky, and hopefully together we can learn a thing or two about music!" she said, grinning again as she reached to shake Allison's hand.
Allison limply shook her hand, somewhat numbed by shock.
"Oh, come now! That simply won't do!" said Miss Vicky, suddenly gripping Allison's hand tightly, "Shake like you mean it!" she ordered, giving Allison's hand a firm, brisk shake.
Allison grudgingly tried to give a shake that would satisfy her new teacher, while simultaneously not appearing to be caving in completely.
"Still not right! SHAKE!" commanded Victoria.
Allison shook.
"We're going to have a great time together!" Victoria smiled, glancing at her watch, "I'll start the lesson now, shall I? Would you like to stay?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, but I have a meeting with Allison's principal." Allison's mother said hastily and apologetically, "Wonderful meeting you, I'm sure you'll be a great teacher for Allison, but I've got to dash!"
"Alright then, she's safe with me Mrs. Fisher!" Victoria said, smiling widely again, "Bye!"
As Allison's mother left, closing the door, Allison surveyed the room curiously. There was a door on one of the walls that looked as though it lead into a small office, and there was also a large grand piano up against another wall. Against that same wall, there was also a shelf of piano-related books.
"Well, then, let's get started." said Victoria briskly, "We have a lot of material to get through, and not that much time. Sit on the bench."
Allison sat on the bench, staring at the keys. They were in much better condition than the-
"Your posture needs work," Victoria said, cutting over Allison's thoughts, "Back straight, like this" she added, straightening Allison's back, "head up" she said, pushing Allison's chin up, "hands on the keyboard like this" she said, putting Allison's hands on the keyboard like that.
Allison was shocked and uncomfortable, but a little bit too scared of Victoria to say anything, so she did her best to keep the new form. Victoria stalked around her menacingly, finally deciding it was acceptable.
"That'll do," she finally declared, and Allison, with immense relief, relaxed back into her old posture.
"What do you think you're doing?" Miss Vicky said sharply, "Do you think that posture is only for fun? You must remain it in whenever you play the piano."
With a mental groan, Allison tried to pull herself back into the posture, but she obviously wasn't doing it right.
"Wrong, wrong, wrong" Victoria said, making corrections to Allison's posture, "Your head should be like this, your back isn't quite straight, that's not where you hands go, did you even pay attention to what I showed you? 'Learn' is a active verb. You learn. I try to teach you, but you won't learn unless you decide you want to learn."
Allison nodded nervously, and tried to remember the position. However, Victoria made her stand up, then sit down with proper posture ten times before she was satisfied.
"That's still not very good, and I'm sure if I tested you on this at the end of class you'd get it all wrong again." Victoria announced, "But it will do for now. Let me see if I have a book that should be around your level."
As Miss Vicky turned away to take a book off of her shelf, Allison heard an audible *glorp* sound come from her teacher, but before she could give much thought to it Victoria was shoving a book on the piano stand and dragging a stool over to sit down on. The book was titled "Expert-level Compositions by long-dead Russians".
"This is the most basic book I own," Victoria said, sitting down on the stool, "So I expect you to be able to master at least intermediate level pieces from it. If you can't do that, well-"
Just then, another audible gurgle, followed by a groan came directly from Victoria's stomach. She burped quietly, and rubbed it gently.
"Excuse me, I ate something yesterday that didn't really agree with me."
Allison stared, fascinated, at Victoria's stomach. She hadn't noticed it at first for some reason, but Victoria had quite a gut. Her shirt was very tightly stretched over it, and it was constantly putting out sounds of digestion. Allison couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before.
Victoria followed Allison's eyes to her bulging midsection, and smiled viciously at her. Nervously, Allison looked back.
"I suppose, Allison, that now's as good a time as any to teach you about... punishment." Victoria smiled ferally, "I expect nothing but top quality work from my students, that is, work of much higher caliber than anyone else's students can possibly produce. And how can I get my students to this level?"
Allison's merely stared silently with wide eyes.
"People are most motivated by punishment." Victoria said softly, "And I offer my students very harsh punishment indeed. Observe."
Victoria slowly unbuttoned the bottom part of her shirt, displaying her distended tummy.
"My students can pick; they can excel beyond even my expectations, or they can fail. This is one of the failures." she said, poking her stomach which gurgled gently in response, "Her name was Gabriella Rodriguez, although I doubt anybody but us know that now. She didn't try hard enough; she stumbled halfway through Chopin's Etude Opus 10 Number 2, which, considering that she came to me with prior knowledge, is thoroughly unacceptable. She had to be punished for her negligance, and she was. She's being thoroughly liquified and forced through me as we speak." Victoria said, sticking out her belly and massaging it gently, "So tell me, Allison. Do you want to be a success or a failure? If you succeed, you can be one of the greatest musicians the world has ever seen. If you fail, you can still be one of the greatest musicions the world has ever seen, or at least part of one anyway. I expect you to show me your choice by your efforts."
Allison, panicked, straightened herself up into what she hoped was a good posture, placed her hands as she thought she was supposed to, and looked at the book.
Victoria absently patted her stomach as Allison fumbled herself into good form, "You know, Gabby's probably taking so long to pass because of all the competing music tutors I've had to introduce to my poor little stomach here. It's been nonstop digestion ever since I started up this business, and it's kind of clogging me up." she glanced at Allison, "Looks like Gabriella's getting some company soon!"
Even though Victoria hadn't moved an inch, Allison screamed "Please don't eat me!" then burst into tears.
"Oh, are you scared?" mocked Victoria, "If you can't stop crying, my tummy will be more than willing to comfort you."
Allison fell silent almost at once, sniffing and wiping her face with her sleeve.
"Now, since you don't have the musical background Gabby did, you will start by learning to read music. You must be able to perfectly sight-read music by next class, as well as be able to read and play unfamiliar songs with a single glance. Failure will result in... I think you know what failure will result in." Victoria concluded, buttoning up her shirt with a satisfied smile.
Before long, the lesson had ended. Allison was trembling with fear the entire time, but she somehow made it through without any failures that doomed her. That didn't stop Victoria from taunting her the entire time as she gurgled Gabby out of existence.
"My, my, you've got a lot of work to do," Victoria concluded at the end of the lesson, "You barely squeaked by this time, and it'll be much harder next time we meet because I'll probably be hungry, so you'll have to impress me. At the very least, you should have sight reading down, your posture down, and the first few songs from this book memorized. I suppose you'll somehow have to buy a copy of this book," she said, waving "Expert-level compositions by long-dead Russians", "However, I don't think any stores around here stock it. And another thing; don't even think about telling your parents about this. Every now and then some kid thinks they can outwit me, and what's always ended up happening is that their parents don't believe them and the next time we meet, I get an extra-large meal."
Nodding nervously, Allison got up and moved quickly towards the door. Victoria watched her leave with a predatory smirk on her face.
----------
Although her mom had tried to make conversation with her, Allison remained silent during most the car ride home. Only at the end did she work up the courage to speak.
"Mom?" she began, her voice quivering.
"Yes, sweetheart?" her mom responded.
"Victoria... Victoria..." Allison trembled, then burst out crying, "Victoria said she would eat me", she gasped, "And she said she ate Gabby", gasping again for breath then, "And she said she'll eat me if I don't be perfect!" With those words having been spoken, Allison burst into uncontrollable sobs.
"Don't be so melodramatic, dear, it can't have been as bad as that." Mrs. Fisher said, trying to sooth Allison, "Maybe you just didn't connect with your teacher, but she sounds like a perfectly marvelous young woman. You'll get used to these lessons in time, even if she is maybe a bit strict. All you have to do is try, you can do anything you set your mind to!"
Allison was unconsoled, as her mother was reacting exactly as Victoria predicted she would. Despite her fear, she began to come up with a rudimentary plan. Her mother was probably right: she could do anything she set her mind to. What if she set her mind to eating Victoria? If Victoria could do it, how hard could it be? Probably not that easy, or she would have heard of someone else who could do it. She would only have a week to figure it out. Also, if she failed to figure it out, the time spent would detract from her time to practice the piano, which would lead to her being devoured for sure. No, practice was certainly the safest route, even if it was much less satisfying.
----------
Before her Saturday lesson, Allison studiously practiced her posture, her hands, reading music, playing freshly read music, and even managed to obtain a copy of "Expert-level compositions by long-dead Russians" from Harvey. Harvey apparently had not been threatened by Victoria, and he thought Allison was exaggerating her claims, although he couldn't come up with a satisfying explanation for the absence of Gabby.
"Allison," he said pushing up his glasses in a way he only did before starting a lecture, "That's ridiculous. Humans cannot eat other humans; Victoria simply could not possibly fit Gabby into her stomach. This is already assuming she would be willing to do such a thing, which I doubt as she seems a good teacher. Your problem is just that you don't like discipline, so you're exaggerating what she said far beyond what actually happened."
And having said that, he refused to be convinced no matter how much she argued with him. He was, however, completely willing to give her his copy of the book, as he was willing to believe Victoria was making a complete beginner learn it.
Despite all her efforts, however, the best Allison could do was get her posture right and manage some poor sigh-reading. She simply couldn't play new songs as she read them without messing up, and she didn't even have a clue how to start with the Russian music. As Saturday drew nearer and nearer, Allison grew more and more fearful.
----------
Allison's mother tried to convince her to go to her second lesson with a positive attitude, and to be confident that all her hard work would pay off. Allison herself wasn't quite so sure. Her hard work, though much more than she had ever heard of anyone doing before (except possibly Harvey), was still not all Victoria had wanted, and hadn't Victoria said she wanted to be impressed? Not even meeting expectations wasn't likely to work out.
Allison had tried to convince her parents to let her not go, but nothing worked in any way but to make them more adamant. They felt Allison had an "irrational fear" or a "phobia" of the lessons, and were convinced the best way to break it was by making her go. Allison decided, therefore, that the only way to get out of it was to trick them.
When Allison and her mother were in front of Victoria's building again, Allison turned to her mother and said "I remember the way, mom. I can go by myself."
"Good for you, Allison!" said her mother, beaming, "I'm glad to see you getting used to this idea! Well, don't let me stop you, I'll be headed back to the car."
Allison marched into the building, then closed the door and peeked out of it until she was sure her mother was gone. As soon as her mother left, she planned to make a run for it, then come back to the building just before her lesson ended to meet her mother outside.
Unluckily, just then, Allison heard the unmistakable sound of a stomach growling. She turned around, and found herself face-to-face with Victoria, today wearing a black top, who was scowling at her.
"Well? What do you think you're doing? Your lesson started almost a minute ago! You know the term 'Three strikes and you're out'? Well, consider this stike one."
Again completely shocked and caught off guard, Allison obeyed Victoria unhesitatingly, instead of making a run for it like she would have done if not flat-footed. Slowly, Allison trudged up to Victoria's room, Victoria following behind her.
"Thanks for coming in without your mom." Victoria said once they were both in her room with the door shut, "Now there won't be any loose ends to tie up if you mysteriously disappear. I had to pull some strings to convince the police that Gabriella's parents had something to do with her disappearance, and trust me that case is passing by even slower than Gabriella did." Victoria grimaced, rubbing her lower belly, "Luckily, you'll be an easy one. No one saw you go into the building, so you never went in. You must have tried to skip the class, gone somewhere else, and then been kidnapped or abducted. How unfortunate."
"Now, I don't want anyone to accuse me of being unfair, so you will have the chance to present what you've learned. I've recently taught a truly brilliant pupil, one Harvey Henderson, now HE is a good student. Maybe even a little too good. So, Allison, I expect you to perform at his level, if not higher."
Victoria grimaced again, and patted her stomach which growled again, even louder.
"Thanks to Mr. Henderson, I haven't eaten for quite some time, so you really better have something good up your sleeve. Begin!" Victoria commanded.
Allison, shaken, sat down with perfect posture. Victoria grunted, annoyed, but spoke no words of approval. Nervously, Allison asked, "What should I start with?"
Victoria stared at her for a second, then said "I think you should start by helping me play 'Digestion'. It's a difficult piece, but I think if you cooperate with my stomach it should be within your capabilities."
Allison turned pale.
Glaring, Victoria said "You haven't gotten your three strikes yet, so you're safe for now. But this is strike two, you should be able to figure out what to do without me telling you. Start with something from that book I showed you last lesson."
Fingers trembling, Allison took the book off the shelf, and opened it to the only song she had even managed to understand any of. Nervously, she corrected her posture and begin to play.
Her playing was very jerky and with gaps as she struggled to find the next keys. Victoria yawned, and her stomach growled the loudest growl yet, distracting Allison and causing her to mishit a key.
"Strike three and not a moment too soon!" Victoria said, leaping to her feet, "Don't bother trying to salvage it, you've already made a mockery of this wonderful composition by your horrible playing. But don't worry, you won't have much time to dwell on that, you'll be facing a much bigger problem shortly."
Allison screamed as Victoria advanced on her, and backed up against the wall. Victoria approached, salivating slightly as her stomach rumbled discontentedly.
----------
With a lazy hiccup, Victoria struggled to her feet. No matter how many times she ate someone, she was still unbalanced by the extra weight around her midsection.
"Hic! Oh, she hit the spot!" Victoria moaned, sitting down on the piano bench which creaked under her weight, "Abso-hic!-lutely delicious!". Victoria patted her bulging stomach gluttonously. Her stomach churned violently for an instant, and she belched.
"Comfortable in there, hic! Allison?" Victoria asked her stomach, "You don't seem to hic! be enjoying yourself too much. If it's company you want, I think you still might be able to catch Gabby somewhere in my large intestine."
Allison was crying, kicking and thrashing inside Victoria's gut. The limited space inhibited the success of her attempts, however, and although Victoria's belly bulged violently again, Victoria just burped again.
"Ugh, you're certainly hic! a fighter, Allison." Victoria sighed, massaging her slightly aching tummy, "Everyone else gave up once they were safe inside me. Stop moving hic! around so much, you'll give me a stomach ache."
Trying to escape, Allison looked around Victoria's churning gut. It was very disorienting, but she thought she spied what looked like a closed opening. Desperately, she tried to shove herself up it.
Victoria retched as she felt Allison trying to force her way back out, "No, no Allison!" she gagged, "That's a one way street!" and with that she swallowed hard.
A sudden contraction squeezed Allison back into Victoria's stomach. In a last attempt, Allison tried to kick and punch her way back to the opening and force her way out again.
As her stomach shook violently, Victoria decided it was time to put an end to all this nonsense. She burped three times, and with that Allison's air was gone.
Allison slowly stopped moving, and Victoria, smiling with the look of sated gluttony, let out one last "Urp!" of satisfaction. Her stomach was throbbing fairly painfully, it had never taken a pounding of the order Allison had visited upon it. Even full-grown adults had passed through Victoria from mouth to bottom without doing so much damage. Against her will, Victoria was slightly impressed.
"Ooohhh, Allison you certainly were a firecracker." Victoria groaned as she tried to massage her belly, "HIC! I hope you decide that's enough for now, and continue your journey uneventfully."
Victoria usually liked to nap after a meal, but her stomach was aching too badly. Absently, she tried to button her shirt back up only to find that Allison's thrashings had broken the buttons off.
"Goddamn, Allison!" Victoria exclaimed suddenly, "How many people have I eaten while wearing this shirt? A lot; Caroline, Samantha, Chris, Gigi, and they were all bigger than you. All of them passed through without this kind of trouble. If only you had applied that kind of effort to your music, maybe you wouldn't be churning in my gut."
Eventually, Victoria did manage to fall asleep, but she woke up every few minutes to a sudden pain somewhere in her large stomach.
Finally fed up, Victoria got up and went to her small office, where she had a couch and some medicines. She took some sleeping pills, and lay down on the couch.
"Ooohh, you really endure to the end, don't you?" Victoria gasped as she tried to rub the ache in her belly, "Even as a lump of meat in my gut you're still bothering me." With those words, Victoria fell asleep.
----------
By Sunday, Victoria was feeling much better. The bulge in her tummy had shrunk slightly, and although she still felt like she had a perpetual stomach ache, the pain was much more bearable. She dressed in her favorite white shirt, and although she had to struggle to button it over her gutful of Allison, she managed to fit it on.
"Good morning, Allison!" Victoria said cheerfully, looking at her barely contained stomach, "How are you today?". She waited for her belly to make a sort of gurgling rumble in response, then smiled and said "I see you're digesting nicely. Let this be a lesson to you; it's futile to fight the inevitable. My tummy has made mush out of every single person to pass through it, and I'm glad to see you're no excep-URP!"
Victoria covered her mouth, surprised. "Well, you may be giving me some gas and bloating, but we'll see who has the last laugh when my digestive system finishes with your remains. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some preparations to make before my lesson."
Heading to her office, Victoria opened the bottom drawer, and carefully slid out a false bottom. Reaching inside, she took out a black notebook and box. Opening the book, she wrote "Number 46: Allison Fisher. Predicted: Number 47: Lindsay Fisher. Number 48: Mark Fisher.", and sighed contentedly.
"Well, Allison," Victoria said, poking her softening stomach then wincing as it hurt, "We don't have a souvenir for my souvenir box yet. Hopefully, something of yours will survive its journey through me, although I wouldn't count on it, as nothing has yet."
With that, Victoria turned on her computer and checked her mail.
"Hmm... A Megan Clark wants lessons, and I do seem to have an opening, as one of my students became my dinner last night, and I can't very well teach some sludgy leftovers in my bowels how to play piano... Let's see if Miss Clark will be my student, or, failing that, another meal."
Number 46
By I_Cant_Write -- Report
It's been forever since I uploaded anything.
I was going to call this "The Piano Teacher", but I decided to be a little less obvious. The opening is really, really, really long, and the quality deteriorates instantly as soon as vore is introduced. I also wrote this in notepad, so there may be tons of typos, please notify me of any you find.
This is probably my longest story ever, and so I'll probably reuse the main character. There are some plotholes/illogical and irrelevant nonsense, but try not to look at that so much.
Oh yeah, almost forgot, there's no actual vore in this story. That is, I never actually describe someone literally being swallowed.
But, it's implied. And digestion.
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Posted by Gypa 14 years ago Report
I thought this story was pretty cool, although I couldn't help it but think it was an intresting story althogh I did like to see story were the vore is prize rather than punishment.
Posted by I_Cant_Write 14 years ago Report
Thanks.
I generally don't see the average person as desirous of being vored ("Stop the heretic! He's trying to insert logic into a fantasy!"), so that's why I generally write the way I do.
Posted by rugli 13 years ago Report
I have to agree with you, but to pick up on what the other user said, then I think if vore is going to be a prize then it must be none-fatal or fatal were the prey is reformed, other wise I think it doesn't work at all.
Posted by Bright 14 years ago Report
I like this story. It got a good buildup and some nice descriptions of the character.
I can definitely recognize the "know-it-all" third-grader.
Posted by I_Cant_Write 14 years ago Report
Thanks.
I put specific effort (especially in the beginning) into building up that impression, so I'm glad it worked.
Posted by Scorpi 13 years ago Report
This was a very nice story i think. I like how the teacher was teasing her and how she was acting. I thought i would miss the actual vore scen. But the before and after part was so well writen that i didn't mind it. Although the scen probobly would have been a nice spice to the story. But i didn't mind.
Posted by Cridel 13 years ago Report
Well I was expecting it to be the mother who ate the child from the beginning, but oh well.
Posted by Cinquint 13 years ago Report
I believe this is one of my favorite stories on here... and I can't help but hate Allison's parents, lol.
Posted by J44 13 years ago Report
very interesting failure policy
and no one ever finds out where the "brats" disappear to?
Posted by pendingingdelet329234b9 8 years ago Report
Good