“Ladies, welcome to Covenant House.”

James Warner gazed at the five women who would be his guests this year.  How many, he asked himself, would find this the most memorable Halloween of their lives?

“If you’ll follow me,” he went on, “we’ll get you settled.”  So saying, he led the small group along the front walk.  As they followed, the women stared at the six sturdy posts set into the front yard, three on either side of the walk, noting the sturdy rings mounted in various places on each.

Inside, James showed each woman to her room, asking each to join him in the parlor once they’d settled in.  Once the small group had reassembled, James began speaking.

“As you know,” he began, Covenant House serves only female customers.  Other than myself, no man is allowed inside this building.  There is one other, very important rule, which I will get to in a moment.

“Tomorrow,” James went on, “is All Hallows Eve, better known to most people as Halloween.  Here in New England, and especially in towns like ours, we treat this holiday a bit different from some other areas.  I’m assuming that’s why each of you is here.  The festivities begin early, so I suggest you all get a good night’s sleep.

“Which brings me,” he continued, “to that other rule.  It may seem a bit strange, but we do insist that you follow it.  The rule is quite simple.  There is no nudity allowed in this building.  I hope you all brought appropriate sleepwear.  There will be an early wakeup call in the morning, followed by a light breakfast, after which you are of course free to go out and join the festivities.  If there’s nothing else, I wish each of you a good night.”

It was slightly before sunrise when James began the round of wakeup calls.  At the first door, Paula answered sleepily, dressed in flannel pajamas.  Nodding his approval, James moved to Jessica’s door.  Here, however, he received no answer.  Using his passkey, James entered, only to find the room empty.

“That’s one,” he whispered, moving to check Sandra’s room, which also turned out to be empty, as did the rooms assigned to Stacy and Wanda.  Turning toward his sole remaining guest, he saw the puzzlement in her eyes.

“Where’d they go?”

James frowned.  “I think I might have an idea.  Follow me.”  Quickly, he led Paula downstairs and out the front door.  The sight that greeted them stopped Paula in her tracks.

The four missing guests, all naked, knelt at the bases of four of the posts in the front yard.  Shackles encircled their wrists, the attached chains secured to rings high over their heads, holding each woman’s arms stretched upwards.  A second set of shackles encircled each woman’s ankles behind her post.  These, however, had no chain.  Instead, the shackles were attached directly to each other, holding the ankles close together.  With the post between her calves, this forced each woman to kneel with knees spread wide.

In addition to the shackles, a rope had been doubled and passed around each woman’s waist, the ends fed through the loop and passed down between her thighs.  Behind her, the rope ends were separated, passing on either side of the post before being tied to a ring on the back side.  The rope was drawn tight, forcing each woman to press herself back against the post to ease the sensation of the rope digging between her thighs.

The final item was a metal plate covering the lower half of each woman’s face, metal bars running around and over the head to join in back.  Over the plate, the four women’s eyes were wide, while only muffled sounds emerged from the plate over their mouths.

“What is this?”  Stunned, Paula stepped toward the women, only to feel James’ hand on her arm, stopping her.

“I’m afraid,” he said softly, “that these women broke the no nudity rule.”

“And for that you do this?”  Paula stared at him.

James shook his head.  “No,” he replied, “I didn’t.  Nor can I release them.  I’m afraid that’s all I can say for now.”  Still holding Paula’s arm, he pulled her back into the house.

“What was that on their heads?”

“That,” James explained, “is called a shrew’s bridle.  It was used in colonial times to silence women thought to be nags, shrews, things like that.  Basically, any woman who said something the men of the town, in particular their husbands, didn’t want to hear.”

“And you’re just going to leave them like that?  Naked, bound, exposed in public?”

James sighed.  “I have no choice,” he said softly.  “Nor can I allow you to try to help them.  I’m afraid you’ll have to stay in here all day.”  He shook his head.  “Don’t ask me to say more.  I can’t.”

For the rest of the day, Paula was forced to remain inside.  Through the windows, she could see the other four women bound to their posts, in full view of the locals.  To her surprise, the locals paid the four women hardly any heed.  Those few outsiders who moved to help the four were quickly pulled away, with much hushed talk.

As the sun set, Paula, still not allowed outside, went to her room.  Through the window, she could see the four women in the yard.  Turning out her light, she sat in silent vigil, watching the vague shadows that were all she could see.

Shortly after full dark, it seemed to Paula that one of the shadows began moving.  At the same time, soft moaning sounds drifted up to her open window.  Motion and moaning slowly increased, only to abruptly end.  Seconds later, one of the other shapes began moving, the moaning sound returning.  This strange behavior was still being repeated by one or the other of the shapes in the yard when exhaustion overcame Paula.

Next morning, Paula went downstairs to find James dressed in something that looked like it came right off the Mayflower.  Motioning for her to follow, James stepped outside, moving to stand before the four helpless women.  Standing beside him, Paula noticed that each of them looked completely exhausted.

“Know,” James said, “that each of you has been charged with the crime of witchcraft.”  Pointing at Jessica, kneeling at one end, he demanded, “How do you plead.”

Soft, muffled grunts came from behind the plate covering Jessica’s mouth, at which James nodded.  “Guilty,” he said, causing Paula’s eyes to widen.  The process was repeated with each of the other women, each being accused and pronounced guilty of witch craft.

“Since each of you has been found guilty of the crime of witchcraft,” James said solemnly, “you will be taken to the village jail, there to await punishment.”  With these words, he stepped forward and placed a second set of shackles around Jessica’s wrists.  As he did, her other bonds vanished, leaving only the shrew’s bridle in place.  Moving quickly, James shackled the other three women’s wrists.  With each, once the shackles were in place, their other bonds vanished, except for the bridle.  Gathering up chains attached to each woman’s shackles, he led them out of the yard and onto the street.

Following, Paula noted that none of the women resisted this, each seeming too exhausted to fight against being led naked and shackled through the center of town.  Several blocks away, James led the women through the door of an ancient looking building.  Once inside, the bridles vanished, as well.

As Paula watched, stunned, James removed the shackles from each woman’s wrists, afterwards helping each woman don a robe.  When all were covered, he settled them on a bench, then turned toward Paula.

“I’m sure,” he said, “you’re wondering what’s going on.”  At Paula’s nod, he continued.

“Are you aware,” he asked, “of the history of the witch trials?”  Paula nodded.  “We had our own trials here,” he went on.  We also had our own dedicated witch hunter.  His name was Jonas Walker.”

James frowned.  “Jonas,” he said, “was a fanatic, with a whole list of things that, to him, proved a woman to be a witch.  One of those things, strangely enough, was nudity.  Any woman who would willingly remove her clothing for any purpose other than bathing or procreation, to him, was a witch.  He was eventually removed from his post, and died shortly afterwards.  Problem is, Jonas is still patrolling the town.”

“But how…..”  Paula watched as awareness slowly began returning to the eyes of the four on the bench.

“Obviously,” James replied, “these four disregarded my words about nudity.  They slept nude, or perhaps they took a bit too long getting dressed after bathing.  Either way, Jonas saw them, and decided they were witches.  So he arrested them.

“It was Jonas,” James went on, “who secured them to the posts in the yard.  Once he had them, there was nothing we could do to release them.”  James frowned.  “It was tried,” he said, “many years ago.  The results…..weren’t pleasant.

“It was tradition,” James continued, “to leave witches displayed in front of this building for a day before being tried.  This, by the way, was the court house at the time, as well as the home of the chief magistrate.  I actually hold the title of chief magistrate, though it really doesn’t mean anything these days.”

“So,” Paula said slowly, “your only choice was to follow the traditions.”

James nodded.  “That’s the only thing that would placate Jonas, and convince him to release them.  Once here, the witch hunter turned witches over for punishment, so Jonas’ job ended at the door.”

“Last night,” Paula began, only to stop as James raised his hand.

“One of the other items on Jonas’ list,” he said, “was sensuality.  The more passionate a woman was, the stronger a witch he believed her to be.  So, during the night, he would test each woman’s passion.  The more often he could make them cum, the more he saw proof of witchcraft.”

“I came three times,” Jessica whispered.

“Four,” was Wanda’s response, to which Sandra nodded.  Stacy’s eyes dropped, her face reddening slightly.

“Seven,” she whispered, causing the others to stare.

“My,” James said with a soft grin, “you really are a witch.”  Stacy said nothing, but the blush on her face deepened abruptly.

“What now?”

“Now,” James said in response to Paula’s question, “we go back to Covenant House.  Jonas has been placated, so we’ll see no more of him until next year.  I’m sorry none of you got to experience the holiday as you had hoped, but, for four of you, it’s really your own fault.

Later, the five women loaded their bags into waiting taxis.  Watching them from the door, James waved goodbye with one hand.

In the other, he held a reservation for one room, dated for All Hallows Eve the next year.  The name on the reservation was Paula’s.