_CADRE_
Magistrate
~ A Crux Fantasy ~
A breath. A small breath. Small, but painful. Her head was craned backwards upon her thin and delicate neck. Her mouth open, and longing for air. The warm breath came, and it coursed through her dry and chapped lips, over her parched tongue, and then down into her strained lungs. Her eyes rolled back into her head, and her vision transiently blurred. Her chest expanded and her thirst for air was transiently quenched, albeit with much pain. But that was not even the worst struggle for her. The struggle was vacating her lungs of that spent air. The muscles of her chest and diaphragm had since been overextended and spent; the condemned had little strength left to force the spent air out. In such a way, she struggled to breath. In such a way, she would slowly and painfully suffocate. Her struggle came with much agony, and she fought the pain simply to breath....
Up until she was subjected to this unimaginable torment, Barb would never have thought that breathing could ever be so excruciating. Such a simple thing. Drawing breath had always been a second thought to her. It had been less than a second thought - she had never even thought about it. Yet now, as she endured her torture, Barb could think of nothing else except finding a way to draw another breath. That, and the pain. Any position that she could writhe herself into only shifted the pain from one part of her body to another. There was no escape from the pain. The cross that Barb was nailed to was doing its wicked work very well...
- - - -
Barb had just gotten home from her classes on campus. She dropped her keys and her bag on the chair, and then sat down on her couch in her small studio. She ran her fingers through her lush hair, and sighed. She had a lot to think about. Not only was she physically tired from walking around campus all day, but she was mentally spent too. She still had work to go to shortly. But she could not get one particular thing out of her head.
Sareed's offer had been tantalizing, and intriguing. He was in her advanced photography portfolio workshop, and it had been her last class of the day. After she had met him a few months ago, Barb had begun to come out of her shell a little. She told him about her goal of becoming a model, and her interest in the photography industry as well. Barb had tried, several times in the near past, to ease her way into the modeling business. But it was more difficult than she had anticipated. The first time Barb had attempted to enter a modeling contest, she had waited in line for the better part of the day, and never even had a single photo taken of her. That had been some three to four years ago. Now, Barb was twenty-three years old, and only halfway through her studies at university. She worked on the side as a part-time yoga instructor, but that was not enough to pay her bills while living in southern Cartisonia. Moreover, Barb was significantly in debt. That's where Sareed's intriguing offer came into play.
After getting to know him a little better, she had learned that he had been born overseas, in Morokka. Not only did Sareed come from overseas, he also came from money. His entire family was wealthy. Wealthy enough to send him and his three brothers to prominent universities in southern Cartisonia. His father was a relative to the king of that nation. As such, Sareed was never hurting for money. But what he had offered Barb was not money. He had not offered to pay her bills, nor to pay off her car. He had not offered to pay her rent, nor to pay her tuition. Rather, he had offered her a guaranteed chance at entering an amateur modeling contest that was being hosted back in his home country of Morokka. The only catch, was that she would have to leave her home for three weeks in the summer, and travel overseas to enter the contest.
Barb had never been able to travel when she was a child, nor as a teenager; her family had been too poor. A road-trip here and there, or a visit to a cousin's house just across the state border. Nothing more. Even when she left home to go to university, Barb had been unable to accompany all of her friends as they went on expensive spring break trips where they lent themselves fully to a carnal sort of bacchanalia. Yet even now, when the opportunity presented itself, the prospect of venturing outside of her bubble troubled her a little. But then again, this could just well be the breath of air that she needed. And Sareed's family had influence. What was more, he had said that his father was owned the largest marketing company in Morokka, and that company hosted such prestigious events ranging from international polo matches, to royal parades. In fact, his father's company was hosting this amateur modeling contest, among other things, as a stint to try and boost the country's pro-western image to the world. She and Sareed got along well. He had also told her that he went home every summer anyway to visit family, so he'd be going along with her if she decided to take the plunge. What could go wrong?
Barb thought for a few moments on it, and then rose to go change into her gym clothes for work. He had said that the contest was not going to be hosted for another month after the spring semester was over, so she would have time to think on it. She rose from her couch, walked the short distance to her room, eased off her denim jeans, and let them tumble to the floor. She took both of her hands, and pulled off her shirt as well. She tossed it aside, and then reached behind her back and undid the strap of her brassiere. Barb walked over to her dresser clad only in her panties. She opened her drawer, and threw on her yoga pants. Next, a workout bra. Finally, a tight spandex tank top. She grabbed her keys, and her purse, and left.
- - - -
"And then..." Barb drew a deep yet calm breath into her nose as she spoke to her class. She flexed her back, and then moved herself.
"Relax your neck, plant your hands on your mat, and then push your chest forward." Barb sighed through her lips as she demonstrated the proper yoga pose. She let her head drift backwards steadily upon her neck. Her students all tried to follow suit, but none were as flexible as her. She was demonstrating the cobra pose to the class. True to the name, Barb's entire body moved like a lustrous snake as she twisted and contorted her body from perfectly into the pose.
"Breathe in through your nose..." Barb began as she let her head drift further and further back on her neck. Her shoulder were as far back as they could be, and her entire chest was thrust forward.
"Hold that breath for a few seconds..." She continued. Though most of the students in the class struggled with the exercise, Barb did not. Not at all. She was not even pushing herself to her most flexible limit as of yet. But still, she surpassed everyone else in the room.
"And then slowly let it escape through your lungs, and feel the release of tension." She said as she sighed slowly. She maintained her pose, while the rest of the class had since given up. Then, a few seconds later, she began to bend her arms, and lower her chest towards her yoga mat. The rest of the class tried to imitate her motions. After she had completed the cobra pose, Barb moved onto the next one.
"Now, slowly begin to push yourself upwards again..." She said to the class. She moved onto the next pose.
"Straighten your elbows, and this time don't let your hips or thighs touch the mat." Barb spoke slowly to her class as she moved herself into the upward-facing dog pose. She took almost the exact same stance as she had been in before, but this time only her feet were on the ground.
"Once your elbows are straight and your hips are off the ground, slowly begin to arch your back, and draw a deep but slow breath into your nose." Again, Barb arched her back in a way that seemed in-human to the students of her class. She coiled her spine much as a snake would, and thrust her chest and breasts forward as though she was a rubber band. Sweat covered her entire body. It glistened on her taught and exposed skin, which there was a lot of given that she was only wearing her tight spandex yoga pants and her sports bra. Barb retained the pose for many seconds, while the rest of her class could not. She knew this, but she remained in place all the same because she could. She knew that there were other women in this class that wanted to look like she did. They all wanted to be as sleek and desirable as she was, but they could not. Barb knew this, and she held the position almost to taunt them. They were her students and sycophants at the same time, and this thought pleased her.
"And breath in slowly through your nose." It was the nth time that Barb had said that in this class. But where most people drew in strained and chopped breaths, Barbs was full and smooth. They could not stretch their bodies like she did. When Barb lent herself fully to yoga, her spine seemed to vanish and her body moved like water. Sleek. Serpentine. Slender. Sweaty. Sexy. Barb was the acme of feminine beauty.
Thirty more minutes passed of Barb moving her entire body like a wisp of smoke. The few men who had been in the class found themselves wanting her; the other women in the yoga class wanted to be her. When the class was over, and Barb was rolling up her yoga mat, she could only think about the offer that Sareed had proposed. She fished for her phone from within her purse, and found that he had sent her a message while she had been instructing her class that read:
' Just booked my ticket. It'll be an adventure you'll never forget if you come!
'Barb smiled to herself as she tucked her phone back into her purse. It would be fun. She had never traveled overseas before, and this would certainly be something for her to remember. Barb felt her stomach churn a little, but her mind was set. This was going to be her first real adventure. Moreover, Sareed promised to help her not only enter the amateur modeling contest, he was going to try and help her to win. This trip may just end up being her break. She did not immediately respond to his message, but she knew that her answer would be yes. What could go wrong...?
To be continued...
