Story

“You don’t have to have sex with any man you don’t want, ” I explained to the girl on the other side of my desk. “There’s plenty of other ways to pay off the loan. ”

“Like what?”

“Well, you can do strip videos where you just take off your clothes and dance for the camera, ” I said. “They don’t pay much, though. They’re so common, they’re a glut. The whipping videos pay better. ”

“The what?”

“Whipping videos. There’s a price list. $3 for every stroke from a riding crop, $5 for bullwhips and $10 dollars for a full – size cat o’nine tails. You’re nude, of course. You’re in restraints, too. We don’t expect you to just stand there and take it. The minimum session is twenty stokes and the max is forty. A paramedic stands by. If he stops the session, you still get paid. You get $2 extra for every red stripe on your flesh, and $5 for every stripe that bleeds. There are some videos where you dress up in chains or other fetish gear. I can email you a price list for those. The best – paying are the snuff videos. ”

“Snuff?” The girl recoiled. Well, after all, she was only 18. I think she was named Juniper. Or something like that.

“You don’t actually die, of course. For example, we do a lot of videos where the masked executioner walks you up the gallows steps and nooses you. You’re naked, of course. There’s a close – up of him pulling the lever. The trap doesn’t even work, so you’re safe. The shot of you dropping through the hole and your neck breaking is a deepfake. Decpitation videos are also popular. Y’know, guillotines, chopping blocks, etc. We use a deepfake for the scene of your head dropping in the basket. Or the blood spray at the end of a firing squad sesh, or the last moments of a strangulation. Whatever. Snuff videos are the best – paying, and some of the quickest. The easiest, too. You actually spend more time posing for the raw images used to create the deepfake than you do getting noosed or waiting to get shot or whatever. You can usually be done in ninety minutes. You get $500 for a snuff, double for a scene where you have sex with the executioner. The plotline is usually that you’re poor and don’t have tip money. To make sure your death is quick, you give him a blowjob before he puts your on the trap, or you let him do anal as you kneel at the chopping block. But you said you didn’t want to have sex with anyone. ”

“Not with some stranger, no, I don’t. ”

Time to lay a little Truth Bomb on Juniper, or whatever her name was. (Look, I’ve been a loan officer at Templewood Bank for over twenty years. They blur together, alright? ) “Your parents don’t make much money. With them co – signing your loan, your eligibility caps at ten grand. Add the standard Federal guarantee, and that’s twenty – five. You want to attend some fancy university that costs $75, 000 year. We don’t give out loans like to a girl your age unless she guarantees the loan through the Erotics Department. You could always do something to come up with the 8% annualized interest payment on your own, but most girls let Erotics manage their market value. It’s a good system. If you sign with an independent bureau, they’ll take 12% off the top and keep shorting your hours so you never make your interest payment. That’s what’ll happen if you sign with most other banks, too. You’re here in Templewood. That means you did your research. We’re the most borrower – friendly bank in the business, especially for young women. Good rates, good treatment. ”

She didn’t say anything. I mean, I tried. I told her the deals she could get from us, and she still sat there with her smile turned upside – down.

“I know you didn’t want sex, but I have to tell you the repay rates anyway. It’s the law. You get $350 for an hour of p. i. v. or blowjobs.

$400 for anal. If a guy sees you five times, then you get a $20 bonus per sesh after that. Can’t ask better, now can you? All the men helping you repay are screened for STDs and the potential to injure you.. So what if you have to accept any man that wants you? Most of them aren’t fat and ugly. The coping pills are only $5 each. Believe me, they take away the borrower’s concerns. Stalking behavior is always negotiated — you get half. Electro is not allowed except for company – inspected cattle prods, which carry a $10 bonus per contact — clitoral contact is an extra $5. Piercings only with approval in advance using company – provided equipment. We don’t charge you for it, he pays. Restraints meet all Federal and state standards. All borrower complaints are arbitrated by a panel that includs one non – Bank employee. We only ask a $2200 indemnification against infections, and we offer 50% coverage for repay related medical care. up to 50%”

Silence. She wasn’t even making eye contact with me. Time for a little marcomm.

“A college education is an investment in your mind, ” I said. “Our borrowers make that investment, knowing that what they do with their bodies doesn’t affect their minds. If you’re worried about how long it will take you to pay us back, consider this. A snuff video with sex brings in $1000. You need to repay $75, 000. Five scenes a day is feasible. If you start on August 1st, and you work until the day before classes, then you could pay off your whole semester in two weeks and one day. Over the Christmas Break, you could pay for your second semester. Where are you going to find a deal like that?”

“Some girls die. I know that. ”

“The only borrowers who have to do snuff – to – conclusion videos are the ones who default. You can make some extra money off snuff deep – fake videos. Most of the executioners are actors working for the company. Hell, I’m one. Not supposed do this, but if you like, I’ll pull strings to get you exclusively assigned to me. That’ll make it alright, won’t it? After all, we know each other. But the other thing is, if we get a civilian executioner paying to participate in a scene, you get to keep half his tips, up to $100. ”

Reader, I tried. I’ve signed a loan with almost every woman who ever set foot in my office. But not Juniper. When she walked out not saying anything (that was rude), I was sure she’d be back to sign the papers the day before the university had to have her check. Instead, I received a Google Alert the next week that she hanged herself the hard way — stepping of a foot ladder after noosing herself. And the awful part is, she did it on the Internet for free! Whaaaat? If she wanted out for some totally bizarre reason, any competent erotics vendor could have gotten her half a million.

At Templeton Woods, we don’t do defaulter’s snuff – to – conclusion videos that often, not more than one or so a year, but we can’t complete against free. We, and our colleagues, had Juniper’s freebie video removed from every corner of the Internet in eight hours.

I swear, I’ll never understand women.