Signed First Edition Ch. 03

"You ... you're ... testing me," she said quietly. "You're making sure I'm worthy."

I looked questioningly at her. "That's an odd comment. Worthy of what?"

"Of ... the book. Worthy of ... taking me ... taking my ... mind. Taking all of me. Worthy of letting me give you ... all of me." She turned her eyes to me. "I'll do anything, Rod. I'll do anything you ask me to do." She took a deep breath and lowered her eyes again to her hands. "You don't have to, if you don't want to, of course. Or you could do it just once ... just so I could experience it ... just once. Take me just once ... all of me. My body ... my mind ... all of me ... just once."

I sighed. "Elaine, fun is fun, but don't you think we're taking this a little too far?"

She regarded me out of the corner of her eye. "What do you mean?"

"Look, I like a little role-playing as well as the next guy. And maybe you DO really get off on discipline and bondage. The question is: Where did these ideas come from?" She looked at me suspiciously but didn't answer. "Pet, I'm not being critical. What did you think Reggie and I were talking about when we got together day before yesterday? Why do you think I went to see him in the first place?"

She frowned, considering this, absent-mindedly chewing the corner of her lower lip. At length, she gave me her full attention. "You think I've been manipulated. You think these feelings have been implanted, deep in my psyche, by a hypnotist. You think they aren't real."

"What do YOU think, Pet?"

She shook her head determinedly. "I think I've felt this way since I was a teenager. For as long as I can remember, I've wished I could surrender to a strong man. I used to think I was evil ... or that I was being tempted by the Devil. My mother has always been VERY religious. I've kept thoughts like that secret forever. I've never told ANYONE ... not even you. I was afraid you would think less of me. And then ... for the past twenty-four hours ... it was like you suddenly ... finally ... understood me; understood how I've felt all this time." She sighed and shrugged. "I can't remember WHAT I did while I was hypnotized that night. Maybe ... I don't know ... maybe he asked me. Maybe I told him. But it isn't something HE thought up, I can guarantee you that."

We were back on the 134 and about ten minutes from home. There was some construction in the center lane and I had to steer the car onto a temporary lane, across the rumble strip on the shoulder. Elaine suddenly gasped, shuddered and shivered. "Oh, gosh, Rod!"

"What is it?"

"I ... I mean ... with all of this ... the handcuffs ... watching people looking at my ... my ... breasts ... and then taking off my panties ...." The lane shifted back onto the normal surface again, back across the rumble strip, and she gasped again. "And now, the vibrations from the road ... Oh, Rod ... it's made me ... um ... wet. I'm afraid I'm going to leave a stain on the seat."

She blushed even more when I laughed. "Well, let me know if you can't clean it up," I told her. "I'll write a strongly-worded letter to the maker of the fabric guard they treated the seats with. Of course, I'll have to tell them exactly what the stain IS."

When we finally pulled into the garage of our house, I went around, held her door and helped her out. She couldn't stop herself from looking back at the seat, and yes, indeed there was a wet spot where she had been sitting. "Please let me clean it up," she begged, though she was unable to look up at me.

I chuckled. "Just come into the living room when you're done." And I went into the house and got the little cloth bag from my dresser drawer and waited for Elaine in the living room. Eventually, she came in clutching the bag containing the merchandise we had just purchased in her cuffed hands.

"The ... I mean ... I didn't stain the seat. It cleaned up okay," she stammered. "What do you want me to do with ... with this?" She held out the bag toward me.

"It's my gift to you," I explained. "I want you to put it with YOUR things. When I want you bound and helpless, I'll tell you to go and get it. Put it away, and then come back out here. I want to talk to you." She turned to leave. "Wait!" I ordered, and when she turned questioningly back toward me, I held up the little key the biker had tossed me after shackling her with the custom-made cuffs. "I want you to put THOSE away, as well." She looked very disappointed, but held out her hands toward me.

"You ... you don't have to ... I mean ... you can leave me like this if you ...."

"Do as you're told please, Pet."

"Yes. Of course," she muttered sadly. But after I'd released her and put the cuffs into the bag with the other goodies, she remained, shuffling her feet a little. "Can I use the bathroom?" she asked nervously, blushing, looking down at her toes.

It was then that I realized that I could take this thing as far as I wanted ... and, in fact, that I was the only limiting factor in this little game. I would have to give it some serious thought. She, given the opportunity, would sink so far into emotional "slavery" that she would seek permission for the smallest of acts. I didn't want a wife who begged my permission every time she needed to go to the can. I needed to establish a set of rules. Still, her meek innocence melted my heart, and so I resolved to give her the control she sought for now. "Yes, you may," I said gently. "But hurry. Come back here to me quickly."

"Yes, M ... uh ... Rod. I'll hurry."

She'd almost called me "Master." I sighed. I had the urge to look through the book once again, but I chided myself for my indecision and ... yes ... lack of originality. I didn't want to be a slave myself to Reggie's "script." I felt that I understood now ... both what he had done to her when he had her in a very deep trance, and what he was trying to tell me in the bar. I DID love her enough to give her what she secretly wanted in our relationship, and I was now resolved to do it. But it had to be on MY terms, not Reggie's ... and not even Elaine's.

She was back, standing in front of me, her hands clasped (but unfettered) uncertainly in front of her, her gaze submissively lowered. I patted the couch beside me. "Sit here," I ordered. She quickly obeyed. There was little room in the space I had indicated, and she was blocked snuggly between me and the arm of the couch. "Do you know what this is?" I asked, holding up the little green velvet bag.

She had to turn toward me a little to see it properly. "No."

"Can't you guess?"

Her brow furrowed. I was surprised. Elaine is remarkable bright, but she didn't seem to have a clue. "Um ... no. Did you get me some jewelry? You didn't spend a lot, did you?"

I reached inside the bag with a thumb and forefinger and found the end of a thin silver chain. It dawned on me suddenly that I'd never actually looked at this thing myself, and I found myself fervently hoping that the little fake gem was still there and attached to the other end. I slowly, dramatically lifted the thing up and up and finally clear of the velvet bag, then kept lifting it until it was dangling a few inches above her eye level, at the height the book had suggested. As soon as it came into view, Elaine's breath escaped in a soundless exclamation, followed by a sort of shallow gasp that seemed to leave her incapable of speech altogether. Her eyes were locked onto the little object, and she was obviously unable (or she lacked the desire) to look away.

I took the opportunity of her frozen state to examine the little trinket myself. It was shaped a little like an hour glass with a thick middle ... or perhaps two ovals that had somehow managed to merge, one atop the other. However, it was cut with hundreds of facets, so that light seemed to refract and reflect from both halves simultaneously, sending sparkling shivers of color scattering willy-nilly in every direction. I had to admit that it was apparently unique ... at least, I'D never seen anything like it, and so it probably fit the requirement for something that could easily be used to trigger a hypnotic suggestion without fear of a subject accidently stumbling across a duplicate.

"Do you know what this is, Elaine?" I asked quietly but firmly.

"It's ... it looks like ... I mean ... it's ...."

"Stop and take a deep breath," I ordered. She halted her attempts at speech and obeyed me. "Okay," I continued. "Tell me what it is."

"It's the gem that hypnotized Cathy," she replied without emphasis. "It's the gem that hypnotized me."

"And what happens to you when you see it?"

"I get sleepy," she answered matter-of-factly. She paused, awaiting my next question, when, after about ten seconds, she suddenly realized what she had just said. Her shoulders slumped. Her eyes blinked slowly, struggling to reopen after they'd closed.

"And ARE you getting sleepy, Pet?"

"Oh, Rod ... I'm so ... um ... SO ... sleepy. I'm .... Rod, PLEASE make me ... uh ... make me ...."

"Make you WHAT, Pet?"

"Please make me sleep, Master. Please. I'll be a good girl, I promise. I'll obey. Please, Master. Please make me sleep. Please ...."

This was going pretty much the way I'd expected, after reading the book. I was more than a little dismayed by the whole "Master" gig, but she was following the script that I'd been given ... approximately. "Will you really obey me, Pet? Will you obey everything I tell you to do?"

"Oh, Master, please. I promise. I'll be a good girl."

"Wait until I tell you, then. Be sleepy for me, but wait until I let you. Just be sleepy. So sleepy."

She whimpered softly. Her head began nodding forward and jerking back upright as she fought hard to stay awake until I gave her the go-ahead. After fifteen seconds, her neck began wobbling slightly from side to side, as well, and her eyes struggled to remain open even a slit. At last I gave her the command she yearned for: "Sleep!" And she heaved a great sigh and fell against my shoulder, her eyes now sealed shut. This was why I'd wedged her in between the arm of the couch and my body ... I hadn't been sure how she'd react when I finally let her trance overtake her, and I didn't want her toppling over onto the floor. I let her slumber for a long minute before moving to the next step. "Elaine?" I asked tentatively.

Immediately, she sat upright and opened her eyes. "Yes, Master?" This shocked me. The book hadn't said anything about her opening her eyes, and for a moment, I thought I'd done something that had forced her to lose her hypnotic state. She was staring blankly straight ahead at the center of the room, however, and I finally realized that she was, indeed, in a deep trance.

"Tell me what you are thinking, Elaine."

"I think that I've finally gotten the better of that prissy bitch," she said, smiling. I decided that I didn't like that smile.

"What do you mean?"

"She's always so calculating," she explained, still staring at nothing in particular. "She's so goody-goody and sophisticated! She's SO worried about her appearance and what people will think about her! She's constantly worried about EVERYTHING! But we showed HER, didn't we, Maser? We showed HER that she's just a submissive little harlot, isn't she? She just wants to be tied up and used and abused. What a slut!"

"Um ... Elaine ...." I stammered.

She turned to face me, and her eyes focused on mine. "And you, too, Rod. Now I've got YOU right where I want you!"

I suppose it's time for me (the narrator of this saga) to explain things to you (the reader) regarding what I had read in my signed first edition. What I have failed to explain up to this point is that my new drinking buddy, Reggie, actually had a professional system with regards to his secondary vocation in the field of hypnotherapy. From what I could ascertain through a bit of online research, his methods were actually rather unique, if perhaps unorthodox.

When Reggie hypnotized a perspective "slave," he worked to deepen the subject's trance state through a series of awakenings and sleep inductions, each time intensifying his level of control and dominance ... each time taking her to a deeper and deeper state of submission and obedience. When she was sufficiently susceptible to permanent suggestions, he convinced her that while she was hypnotized, her subconscious self had actually separated from her "aware" self, and could now communicate freely while her logical side slumbered. His hypothesis was that, given proper emphasis, a person's subconscious would be easily swayed through hypnotic suggestion, and then would eventually overcome the constraints, restrictions and propriety that govern everyday life, so that she would finally become the type of individual that she truly wanted to be.

I had assumed this was working with Elaine, at least to some extent, since in a few short days, she had developed a side to her character that I had never seen before. This, however, was obviously the first time I had ever seen Reggie's induced "split personality" in action, and I was more than a little surprised that one "side" of my wife might exhibit contempt for the other. I was also having trouble keeping up with her thought processes, though with her "logical self" suppressed, I suppose I should have expected that to some extent.

"So, you've got me where you want me, Elaine," I told her, returning her triumphant gaze. "And just where, exactly, is that?"

"I noticed the way you leered at me while I was wearing this outfit, Master. I felt your desire for me. So did she. I felt her blush and stammer, and she was SO embarrassed when her pussy got sloppy wet and drippy. Oh God, it was delicious. When you went over those bumps in the road, she almost lost it. I think we came ... just a little bit. And you're acting so STRONG and sure of yourself! And you make me feel so sexy and feminine and submissive and ... and ... THAT's where I want you, Master. I ... I want you to ... to make me DO things, and FEEL things and ... and make me be who you WANT me to be. I want you to make me BELONG to you!"

I sat back on the couch and contemplated this for a moment, but she kept going. "And I LOVE it when you call me your 'pet!' It makes me feel like a little baby kitten, so helpless and reliant on you." I grunted without comment. "And Miss Sloppy-Cunt loves it, too. But, of course, SHE would never come out and tell you ...."

"Shut up, Elaine," I muttered.

"Yes, Master." And she turned and stared blankly at the center of the room while lapsing into silence.

This new entity, "Subconscious Elaine," was an air-headed bimbo, I decided. This entire situation was something outside the comfortable world I had built with my wife, and I wasn't sure I liked it. When I faced a problem that I had no ability to solve (such as almost any problem that dealt with emotions), I could always ask Elaine. However, THAT Elaine wasn't here at the moment. She was being suppressed by this ... this vixen who had replaced her. Ah, but THAT wasn't true either. This girl was Elaine, too, of course. She was just an Elaine with whom I had seldom had contact.

"Pet?" I asked.

She turned to me and smiled brightly. "Yes, Master?"

"I want to ask you some things about the Elaine who is asleep right now."

"The silly little slut," she said, shaking her head in pity. "She just doesn't understand ...."

"Enough!" I snapped, and she instantly stopped her tirade. "I don't want you to comment on her further. I just want you to answer my questions. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master," she said humbly.

"Tell me what she wants in life. Tell me what she desires," I ordered.

"She wants the same things that I want," was her answer. "She just doesn't realize it sometimes. She longs to be restrained, and dominated, and forced to submit, and to please you in any way you want us to."

I desperately sought the words I wanted. "If SHE was alert and responding to my questions, and YOU were asleep right now, how would she answer me? What does she want?"

She struggled for a moment before replying. "Most people want to be loved," she said slowly. "But SHE only wants to GIVE love. She loves the feeling of loving you. THAT is what she wants ... to feel the love for you that she felt when she first met you ... that she felt when she married you. Right now, she's just mainly scared. She's afraid she's going to lose you."

"Lose me?"

"She's afraid you're going to die ... from all your problems with the radiation exposure. She's afraid that if she lets herself feel that same degree of love, she's not going to survive losing you. And she desperately wants to experience the love for a child ... YOUR child. She's afraid she's never going to have that."

I was stunned. My mortality was just something that was part of our lives at present. We almost never spoke of it. There really was no reason to do so, since there was nothing else that could be done. We were already jumping through all the medical hoops that we needed to. All we could do now was wait and see what happened.

"And that's why you need to put ME in charge," Elaine continued.

I smirked. "And just what do you mean by that?"

"She also wants what I want," she explained. "She LOVES feeling submissive and helpless. She LOVES being your slave, just like I do. When you embarrass her, we get SO wet and excited! And when you take her, you make us come SO hard! You might not be able to be healthy for her, but you CAN give her what I want ... because SHE wants it, too!"

And that's when it hit me. I might be able to give them BOTH what they desired. Well, up to a point, anyway. It was a bit of a revelation, actually. I needed to study things a little ... needed to set things up ... arrange things. But suddenly, I KNEW what I had to do. I smiled and turned to her. I'd settle with the bimbo first. That part was easier, and it could be done right away.

"Pet, I want you to stare straight ahead of you ... yes ... just like that." I positioned the gem in front of her again. "That's right, just watch the gem dangling in front of you ... sparkling and turning on its chain. That's it. That's a good girl. And now, I want you to go deeper for me. Deeper and deeper. And I want you to let all of your thoughts just go away."

"You're going to empty me," she said in a flat monotone. "You're going to empty my mind and fill it up with the thoughts you want me to think."

"No more talking, Pet. Be quiet and relaxed ... and go deeper and deeper. Let go of your thoughts and think of nothing. Deeper. I want you to tell me when you've gone as deep as you can go ... when you have no thoughts at all."

"I'm there, Master," she replied almost at once. I studied her carefully. Her expression was identical to that of Cathy's in the book.

"What are you thinking about, Elaine?"

"Nothing, Master. I have no thoughts at all."

"Stand up," I ordered. Slowly, mechanically, she stood. "I want you to take off all of your clothes, Pet. Be careful, but do it now."

She didn't actually hesitate, but she moved very slowly, removing first the peasant blouse and then the push-up bra. She never looked down as she did this ... and her eyes remained fixed ahead, unfocused, blank. While she worked with the skirt in the same manner, I left her and went into my study to retrieve my digital camera.

When I returned, she was sitting again, removing her sandals, and then her panties. After she was through, she placed her hands at her sides and simply stopped moving. Her blank gaze was unsettling, and she reminded me just a little of a corpse. Everything that made her alive seemed to be absent from her eyes. Her mouth hung slack, her lips slightly parted.

"My words are your thoughts," I told her, reciting lines from the book from memory. "My words are true. You KNOW them to be true. Don't you?"

"Yes," she replied dully.