Tara was bristling with excitement as she opened the doors of the barn. She had heard a lot about these hanging poker games and had always been fascinated to try it out. She had been too nervous to go for a while, but when her friend Maggy went to one a week before and came back raving about how exciting it was, Tara knew she had to try it. Tara asked Maggy to let her know the next time her hanging poker group planned to meet, and Maggy told her that the group met every Saturday night as long as they had at least five players. Coincidentally, the group was looking for a new fifth because their had been five members at the beginning of the previous game, but weren't by the end.

As Tara strolled confidently into the barn, she looked to the far end, where a single noose hung from a beam. Between her and the noose, was a poker table, with four other women already sitting around it. "Well hello new blood," a red headed woman in a strapless red dress said, "Maggy's told us so much about you."

"All good things I hope" Tara replied.

"She told us how much you wanted to join our little game" the red head said, lighting a cigarette.

"Yeah" Tara said, taking a seat across from her, next to Maggy.

"Alright," the red head continued, "well I'm Carrol. Did Maggy tell you the rules?"

"Yeah, it's a game of strip poker and the first person to get to fully nude hangs"

"Did she explain how betting works?" Carrol asked.

"Not Really" Tara replied.

"Each round a person can bet a certain number of articles of clothing, you are only wearing four by the way?" Carrol asked.

"Yeah, just my dress, my shoes, my bra and my panties, like Maggy told me" Tara answered.

"Good" Carrol continued, taking a drag from her cigarette, "well every round you ante up with one article of clothing, then bets are made with as many articles as you feel confident betting. When you win a round, you take the clothes in the pot. If you want to put them on, you can, but that either way that adds to the amount of clothing you have to gamble with"

"Oh, okay" Tara said, surprised. She didn't know the game would work that way, she had thought that when an article of clothing was lost, it was just permanently gone. This way, the game would last longer. Tara was happy they chose to play this way, it would let her savor the thrill.

"Then, if someone bets more articles of clothing than you have, you can bet with your life. If you loose at that point..." Carroll said, letting her voice drift off and dramatically waving her hand toward the noose behind her "and whoever has the most articles of clothing left handcuffs you, and gives you a little nudge if you refuse to do the honorable thing." Tara smiled a bit.

"What if more than one person bets with their life and they both lose?" Tara asked.

"Then we have more rope" Carrol replied with a devious smile.

"It'll never happen to me, not on my first game ever" Tara thought, "besides, I'm pretty good at poker."

"Okay, so the game is five card draw" Carroll said, dealing the cards and taking another drag from her cigarette. Tara was ecstatic as they began playing. She had a huge smile on her face as the first hand was played. She kept smiling even as she lost her dress and her shoes to Maggy, who won the first round. She smiled even more when she won the second round and put on another woman's dress. The game continued like this until finally, Tara was down to nothing but her bra and panties. She sat at the table half naked. "I'll still be fine, there's no way I'll lose on my first game" Tara thought again.

Tara anted up for the next hand, putting her bra in the pot. She sat in nothing but her panties, still smiling wide as the next hand was dealt. She lifted her cards to find two jacks, a queen, a three and an eight. "Ha," Tara thought, "I knew I'd get a good hand."

"Alright, let's have the first round of bets" Carrol said.

"One article" the woman to her right said, tossing what had been Carrol's bra into the pot.

"I'll see you're one article," the woman to her left said, tossing in what had been Tara's shoes. All eyes at the table turned to Tara as she looked at her cards.

"I'll match" Tara said, getting up, taking off her panties and tossing them in the pot. The others clapped as she sat back down, and Tara blushed.

"I'll match too" Maggy said, tossing her dress into the pot.

"I'm out, let's have the first round of exchanges" Carrol said. Each of the women, in dealing order, dropped their desired number of cards and refreshed their hand from the deck. Tara dropped her three and her eight, then picked up to knew cards from the deck. She tried hard to conceal her smile when she saw she'd been delt another queen and another jack.

"Alright, next round of betting" Carrol said.

"One article" the woman to Carrol's right said, tossing in her own dress.

"Match" the woman to her right said, tossing in her shoes.

"Check" Tara said, waiting to see how the others played. She wasn't quite ready to commit her life to this hand.

"Two articles" Maggy said, taking off her bra and her panties and tossing them in the pot.

"I fold" the two women to Tara's left said simultaneously.

"Tara?" Carrol asked. Tara looked at Maggy suspisciously. Maggy had just tossed in her last article of clothing to make this bet, which meant she had to be fairly confident.

"Or maybe she just knew the others would fold rather than toss in another article of clothing, and she thinks that because the steaks are higher for me I'll fold easily. Besides, I bet she can't beat a full house" Tara thought, staring at Maggy, looking for any sign of emotion in her face.

"Today please" Carrol said, growing impatient.

"I'll match" Tara replied.

"And you understand that means you're betting with your life?" Carrol asked.

"Yeah, now let's do this" Tara replied, "full house, what've you got?" Tara said, confidently laying her cards on the table.

"That's a good hand" Carrol said, then looking to Maggy.

Maggy was frozen for a moment. "Oh god...Tara, I'm so sorry" she said with a look of shock. The excitement disappeared from Tara's face.

"Why? What do you have?" she asked. Maggy slowly laid her cards down on the table, to reveal a three, four, five, six and seven of hearts . Tara sat completely frozen, staring at the cards for a moment. "Oh" was all she could finally bring herself to say.

"A straight flush beats a full house" Carrol said, turning to look at Tara, who sat catatonic for a moment longer.

"Tara, I am so sorry" Maggy said.

"No...no it's not your fault" Tara said, slowly getting up from the table, still staring at the cards. Finally, she walked slowly to the noose, the four other women following close behind. Tara stared up at the noose in silence for a moment, as Maggy walked up beside her, still wearing only her bra and panties.

"Do you want me to give the dress and shoes to your family or something?" Maggy asked.

"No, you won them fair and square, keep them as a memento" Tara replied. She then stood staring at the noose a moment longer, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Today please" Carrol repeated herself, taking another drag from her cigarette. Tara gulped nervously, then climbed on top of the stool, and turned to face the others. She took a deep breath, then grabbed the noose and put it on. "So," Tara asked, voice shaking, body quivering, "who's gets to handcuff me?"

"After winning that last hand, Maggy had the most clothes at the end of the game" Carrol said, handing her the handcuffs. Maggy had a look of terrible guilt on her face as she walked behind Tara, and snapped a cuff on each of her wrists. She then stepped in front of Tara and joined the others.

"Well? Are you going to do the honorable thing? Or will Maggy have to push you?" Carrol asked, taking a long drag from her cigarette.

"I'll do it, I just...give me a moment" Tara replied. She took a few deep breaths, and looked to Maggy. "Please don't blame yourself for this Maggy, I wanted to come here tonight, and it's my fault I lost, if this is anyone's fault, it's mine" she said. Then she closed her eyes for a moment, and tried to jump off the stool. Tara tried with all her might to jump from the stool herself, but found that every time she was about to, her muscles tensed and she was completely unable to move.

"Maggy, please help me" Tara pleaded.

"I can't Tara," Maggy said sadly, "you lost, fair and square."

"I know, I mean...help me finish this" Tara replied. Maggy stood nearly catatonic for a moment, taken aback by her friend's request.

"Okay" she finally said, stepping forward. Maggy put her hand on Tara's knee briefly to comfort her, then wrapped her fingers around a leg of the stool on which Tara stood. "Do you want me to count down or should I just do it?" Maggy asked.

"Just do it. Please just do it" Tara replied, voice shaking.

"Okay...Goodbye Tara" Maggy said, looking up at her.

"Goodbye Maggy" Tara replied, then closing her eyes and breathing deeply. Then, Maggy yanked the stool out from under Tara, and stepped back. Tara let out a feeble yelp, before being cut off by the restriction of the noose. Then, she choked loudly as her legs began to flail. Her eyes shot open again, and she looked down at the four other women. They all watched with devious smiles, even Maggy. At first Tara felt hurt that Maggy would enjoy watching her die, then she admitted to herself that if the situations were reversed, she would be having fun too. Tara continued to kick and choke at the end of the rope, and the other women continued to watch. To Tara's surprise however, she began to be overcome by a sense of euphoria toward the end. As the edges of Tara's vision grew dark and the world grew hazy, Tara looked down to see Maggy with her hand in her panties. "I hope she's enjoying herself" Tara thought, then looking around and realizing that the others were doing it too. "I hope they're all enjoying themselves" she thought next. What surprised Tara about this was that she genuinely meant it, she really hoped they were all taking pleasure from watching her die.

Then, Tara's legs, feeling like they were filled with led, fell limp, and even her choking and sputtering fell silent. Tara hung motionless for a moment, watching as Maggy, hand still between her legs, threw her head back and closed her eyes. Tara knew she had just come to orgasm. Tara's head began to dip, and her eyes began to close when suddenly, her back arched, her head lifted again, and she too was overcome by an incredibly intense orgasm. She let out one final groan, that the others would never know was from pleasure, not pain, then fell limp. A moment later, Tara was not conscious to feel it as her left leg twitched, and her bladder released on the floor.

"Sorry about your friend," Carrol said, staring up at Tara's still twitching corpse, "but she sure put on one hell of a show."

"Yeah, she certainly did" Maggy replied, as the remaining women gathered their things, and left the barn, leaving Tara to hang their a while.