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Video Queen
Steven
js (at) smilingwithteeth (dot) com
Category: 1000 Words

Anna Leone sat in her room and stared at the TV set.  She had an old VHS system and she was watching her favorite spanking video.  In this tape, her favorite spanking star, Tyler Heinz was giving a spanking to another beauty who went by the name of Heather O.  Tyler and Heather had starred in many enjoyable spanking videos during the 1980s.  But by 1990 Heather had turned 40 and had married a man she met at of all places, a supermarket in 1987.  She was keeping her video spanking star life private and separate from her lover and soon to be husband.  During their marriage she confided in Stan that she enjoyed being spanked, but Stan rejected that part of her sexuality and after several failures, she never brought the subject up again.  She wound up buying spanking videos that contained Tyler but videos he made with other girls.  She seemed to watch them more and more now and Stan and Anna had grown apart through the years.  She missed Tyler and she missed that life.  She would sit for hours on end in her room, watching those videos and dreaming of what might have been.

Narrator says:

Submitted for your approval, Anna Leone, formally spanking model and video queen Heather O.  Anna longs for the past, a time when she was happiest.  It's been almost 20 years now since Anna made a video and she's going to try to go back to those times. This is the Twilight Zone.

"Are you just going to sit there watching that perverse stuff," asked her husband Stan, who was clearly annoyed at all the noise coming from her room.  Years ago Anna had moved into her own bedroom and since then the couple rarely slept together. Still, Stan felt that things were OK.  All marriages lose there magic at some point ,he would think to himself.  Despite it all, he had a good job, a really lovely home and he was married.  In other words, he was content.

Anna, however, was anything but content.  Her entire life had been making Stan happy.  She never worked because Stan made enough to support them both, so she would be the dutiful housewife and take care of his needs.  She at first loved this life, but as time wore on, she felt a longing for the past and that always means you cannot be happy with the present.  "What is with you and these crazy spanking movies?" Stan said, with a terse voice that he used because he knew how much it irked his wife.

"If you don't mind Stan, I just want to be left alone right now."

"You always want to be left alone Anna.  "What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me?" Anna answered, "What is wrong with me is YOU Stan. "All I do is sit around here all day while you are off working and my only function is to stay here and wait for you to return.  "That is what is wrong with me, Stan."  Anna stood up and faced her husband and said, "Sometimes I just want to end it all" Stan took a few steps back and felt his heart rate quicken a bit.  Anna had never spoken of suicide and this had him very concerned.  He still loved his wife and in his own mind he never realized just how unhappy Anna was.

"I am sorry honey," Stan said as he attempted to set a more relaxed tone to the conversation.  "Maybe we can go out tonight and…." Anna didn't let him finish.

"No Stan, like I told you a minute ago, all I want is to be left alone!"  Stan took a deep breath and just gave his wife one nod of the head and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

He decided at long last that he needed to try and learn more about Anna's spanking desires, so he took the subway into the city and went to an adult video store.  He viewed many spanking DVDs trying in vain to learn what it was about being smacked on the ass like a child that had his wife in such a choke hold.  He viewed this as an illness and he wished he could find a way to cure her.  Prior to leaving the house, he had went online and printed out a list of adult video shops and he visited each one. The last one on his list was called, "The Vintage Video," and he walked in.  He stepped into a viewing booth and decided to watch a bit of a movie staring two nuts jobs named Tyler and Heather.

During his commute back home, Stan was shaking.  His Anna was Heather O.  Why hadn't she been honest with him and told him about her past? His mind was racing as he tried to figure out a way to deal with this.  When he arrived at home, Anna was still in her room, watching that same video as when he had left.  He could hear it still playing and he heard his wife's voice talking.  "Oh please Tyler, take me back.  Let me come with you!!"  The pleas went on for a few minutes and then Stan began knocking on the door.

"LET ME IN ANNA! "YOU OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!" There was only silence.  Stan got the extra key and entered the room.  There was no sign of Anna, anywhere.  She was gone.  But how?  He turned on the video and almost fainted from fear: There was Anna on the screen with Tyler.  From the other side of the screen, Anna looked right into Stan's eyes and then, the two of them walked away.

Narrator:

Anna Leone, formally Heather O and now Heather O once again.  It's been said and rightly so, that the past can never return, only it did return, in the Twilight Zone,
Readers Comments:
Alex:  alexbirch (at) blueyonder (dot) co (dot) uk

OK my first observation about the story is that it is in the 1000 word bracket, though it doesn't say so in the headings and ,as these are rationed, maybe it should?  Now for the story itself and it had some terrific ideas.  I won't spoil it for anyone else but the ending was unexpected and reminded me of an old song.  I feel the problem with this tale was really over-explanation and the use of the narrator and the 'Twilight Zone' to do just that.  I know its heresy to re-write someone else's story and I hate people doing that to mine but I really feel that with a little bit of editing, leaving more to the readers intelligence, this could have been a remarkably good 500 word story with no loss of impact at the end. There was just a bit too much detail for me, slightly taking away the crisp posisbilities of this tale - but some very good ideas indeed.
Kris:  worsci (at) webtv (dot) net

This strikes true in that Anna chose to hide an important part of her self, as so many of us often do, and twice as sad because her husband failed to even take an interest in an important part of her sexuality when he had the chance, denouncing it as perverse.  An interesting Twilight Zone twist.
Jess:  peaceluvnbooks (at) clovermail (dot) net

This story was well-written, but I had almost no idea what was going on as I read it through the first time.  There seemed to be too many names and the Twilight Zone references threw me off.  I did finally get that Anna was Heather, but I was then confused as to whether Anna had left with Tyler and that was why she was on the screen, or if that had just been part of an old video.  And the possible suicide attempt made the story seem even more jumbled.  While I happily gave the story a second try, it may have been more effective if certain parts were clarified.

Upon second read I enjoyed the story more.  I especially liked the line that read "He viewed many spanking DVDs trying in vain to learn what it was about being smacked on the ass like a child that had his wife in such a choke hold."  I think this segment really encapsulates what it can be like for someone who is trying to understand spanking but just can't.  I think that demonstrates a great deal of insight on the part of the author.  I also thought the piece really conveyed the intense emotions of the characters.  This enables readers to identify with the characters more easily and thereby can make it more enjoyable to read. I think that this emotion-portrayal ability is also a sign of a good writer.
Hal:  janhaltn (at) gmail (dot) com

I wonder how many of us have wanted to turn back the clock and relive at a different time in our lives.  There have been a lot of stories, with some sort of time machine in them.  I must admit that I would love to know what I know today and be sixteen again.  There is a lot that I would do the same as I did but there is also a lot that I would like to do different.  It took me a minutes to figure out who was who in this story.

Beside the time machine in this story we have the kink marring the straight husband/wife.  Does it ever work?  This writer answer to that age old question was no . He has Anna/Heather transported to another place/time.

After you got all of the characters straighten out, the story flows nicely.  I hope this writer continues to write for our enjoyment.  This was an interesting story.