The Shortcut, by Bedaine

I knew not to take the short cut, a path by the creek from the pool to my house, but it was late and I needed to hurry for dinner. It passed by the tracks next to the apartments where the poor kids lived and there was always some kind of trouble going on in that neighborhood. Just this once I figured it wouldn’t matter so I pulled my towel up over my shoulders to cover my bikini top, slipped on my sandals and started down the path.
I was about halfway through, on the part closest to the tracks, when I heard the other girls’ voices They sounded friendly enough so I went on. I came to where a small bridge crossed the creek next to the tracks and there were girls splashing around in the water. They were teens, maybe a little younger than I was. All three wore very short cut-off jeans and they had stripped to their bras. They were all thin and toned. They were black.
I got a sick tingling feeling in my stomach. I pulled my towel tighter around my shoulders and decided to walk by and ignore them. I was half way over when the tallest girl spotted me. She whispered to the others and they all turned to look.
“Hey white girl, what ya doin' on our bridge?”
I ignored her and kept walking, but the smallest of the 3 was already climbing up the bank, getting ready to stop me at the other side.
I turned to go back but the last girl was moving that way and would cut me off too, so I stood there and waited. The big girl made her way onto the bridge and stepped up to me.
“Gimme your towel!”
I peeled it off reluctantly and handed it to her. She snatched it and wiped her face with it then let it drop. “You gotta baby?”
“What? No!”
“You got a big white belly.”
I tensed a little and tried to suck it in. The muscles beneath my ribs tightened but my lower belly still bulged out.
“How old are you?”
“ 17, Just let me go, okay? I won’t come back this way.”
“ You can go when I say. First you gotta pay me.”
‘ I don’t have any money.’
“Then you can pay me some other way”
“What? Wait!”
“I’ll have some fun wichu – you gotta fight me.
“No,” I said, “just let me be.”
She made to slapped my face – “Put your fists up and fight me girl!”
She raised her hand again. “I said put your fists up white girl.”
I lifted my arms as she faked another slap. I braced for the sting but instead she stabbed her other fist deep into me right below my belly button. My eyes bulged and my jaw dropped. Then she did slap my mouth hard and before I could react her fist jabbed above my navel. A deep croak came from deep in my throat.
“Girl sound like a frog.”
They all laughed as I doubled over, hands on my belly.
“Get her up!”
The 2nd girl grabbed me by the hair and pulled my head back “Stand up!”
I stood slowly and she turned me around, locking her arms behind my head with my arms up.
“Here she go”. She turned me to the big girl. Thump, thump ,whump! Her fists popped left-right into my sides then her knee plowed deep into my middle.” N-n-nooo!” I groaned.
“Now give her a lesson,” she said.
The smallest girl stepped forward and snatched the front of my bikini top. She yanked & it came apart. My tits popped out & nipples stood up in the cooling air. The big girl smirked. “Show her yours then give it to her” The smaller girl removed her bra . Her breasts we small and smooth. She pressed her chest against mine rubbing her hard nipples and bony chest against my tits.
“Now ima beat the shit out of you!”
She worked my belly like a punching bag throwing jab after jab into my chubby guts then coming in hard with an uppercut to my stomach. I belched and grunted. Spit shot from my mouth over all three of them and slobber dripped from my lips. She finished with a huge upper cut into my belly button that drove my guts up under my ribs. She left her fist there & twisted her knuckles into me.
“Feel my black fist in your white belly? You like that?”
“Nnnnnnnnnnnn.’ Was all I could manage.
“You really gonna like this.”
She spun me around and the second girl had her turn. She took her time with slow hard punches. She punched my belly then watched as my face contorted in pain. She scrunched her face up like mine and mocked my groans. She wound up and drove another punch home, deep into my paunch. She liked working my guts, punching on either side of, then down & hard into my belly button. After about 20 punches she spat on her right fist and planted it on my navel. She forced it into me until I gasped and felt her knuckles on my back bone.
” You’ll remember this if you come back this way.”
She slowly eased the pressure and just as my belly relaxed her left fist came in hard to the same spot all the way through into my back bone. I grunted and doubled over.
“Now I’m thru. But not you...”
The 2 smaller girls stood me up and held me the big girl removed her bra an stepped up to me. She spat on my face.”That’s for spittin' at us. Now I’ma send you back where you came.”
She reached back and drove her fist deep into my guts, one, two, three, four, five times. The girls kept me standing but each punch forced me back a step until I was at my end of the bridge.
Then she slapped my tits until they were red orbs of fire. She swung hard with left and right crosses that cracked across my cheeks and then threw an uppercut beneath my chin that snapped my head back.
“Now get on your way, “she said.
I never saw the final punch coming but her fist drove under my ribs deep into my solar plexus. I dropped to my knees coughing spit and puke. A swift foot thumped right above my pubic hair and I went face first into the dirt. A second kick lifted and flipped me to my back where I lay in mute agony, white belly up to the sky. As they left, each girl stomped hard on my punched and bloated middle then bent over to slap my face.