by Paul Preston
“Charles, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry, I think I had too much to drink.”
“That’s OK, Charles. Don’t worry about it.”
“Would you mind driving?” I asked.
“Sure.”
Cassandra drove us safely home and helped me back into my apartment. As soon as I got home I threw up again in my bathroom. She spoke to me through the closed door.
“Charles? Are you OK? Can I get you anything?”
“No thanks. I’m fine now,” I said, embarrassed for not holding my liquor.
After brushing my teeth and cleaning up, I came back out. Cassandra changed into the white bridal lingerie she had worn on our first night together and was reclining in my bed. I sat near her on the edge of the bed.
“I’m sorry I got sick, Cassandra. I’m not used to drinking.”
“That’s OK. I’m sorry you got sick too.”
“And… what happened in the car… that’s never happened to me before.”
Cassandra sat up and put her arm around me.
“It didn’t matter to me at all. Please don’t worry about it, Charles.”
Cassandra gave me a tender kiss. She was so nice about the embarrassing incident. It made me love her even more.
“You look very pretty in the lingerie,” I said.
“Thank you, Charles. Are you still feeling nauseous?” she asked, turning off the lights on the bedside table.
“A little. The room is spinning a little.”
She went into the bathroom for a moment and came back with two Tylenol and a glass of water. She was taking care of me the way I always fantasized my wife would one day.
“Here. No more Scotch for you, baby. Take these. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
Cassandra was leaving in the morning, so I highly doubted that. I swallowed the pills and drank the glass of water.
“Let’s lay down together. We can hold each other. Women like this the best, you know,” she said.
“They do?”
“Mmmm…”
I put my arms around her and felt Cassandra’s head on my chest. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes and never opened them again until morning.
That night I had strange dreams. In one, I was a soldier in Afghanistan and was encountering enemy fire. I was behind an armored vehicle, standing next to another soldier. There was a lull in the shooting. One of the soldiers in my unit lit a cigarette and showed me a picture of his girlfriend he kept in his pocket. It was Cassandra. When our Commander ordered us to look for enemy combatants, our unit started running toward an abandoned building. As we experienced sniper fire from above I took the opportunity to shoot the soldier in the back. He fell to the dust clutching the picture in his fist. I called out for help and went to the soldier’s side. He knew I was running directly behind him and the shot came from me. I took his hand and removed the photograph from it.
“Why?” the soldier uttered in his last dying breath.
“Because I’m in love with her…”
The second dream was even better. It was Wednesday morning and I woke up feeling as good as new, despite soaking my liver in alcohol for the two days. In fact, I felt more powerful than ever, as if I had gained forty pounds of muscle overnight in my sleep. In the dream, I looked handsome, older and more composed. I held my back stiff and spoke with command and confidence, as if I possessed a regal bearing. I was the man I always desired to be.
Before Cassandra awoke, I tightly chained her wrists and ankles to the bedposts. I leaned over her and kissed her tenderly on the lips. She opened her eyes and attempted to get out of bed, but couldn’t move. The clock on my dresser showed the time as 12:01.
“Oh my Lord, I overslept. I have to meet my boyfriend at the airport. Let me up, Charles. I don’t want to be late.”
I slowly shook my head no.
“Charles! Please! Let me out of the handcuffs. Our contract is over now.”
“No,” I said.
“What? But you have to let me go! We signed a contract.”
“I’m breaking the contract.”
“Please, Charles! Be fair! Let me go!”
“Don’t you realize, Cassandra? I’m in love you now. Whether you like it or not, you’ll never leave this apartment. I will keep you chained to my bed for the rest of your life.”
“Charles! You can’t do this! You won’t!”
“Oh I am and I will.”
“The police will come again! I’ll scream!”
Before she was able to yell for help, I placed a ball gag firmly into her mouth. She tried to shout out, but only a soft whimpering sound was heard.
“When you are a good girl again and promise not to yell, I’ll take that uncomfortable gag out of your mouth. Now please stop pouting and listen to me, Cassandra. I’ve tried to be a sensitive Dom to you over the last few days. I’ve given you the erotic spanking you always dreamed of, took your bra away, bound you in chains, and even shared you with Mr. Jefferson, just as you wished. I’ve fulfilled all your fantasies, as well as many of my own. You’re a part of me now, Cassandra, and I cannot go on living without you by my side. I know you made a vow to be there for your boyfriend when he returns, but that can’t be helped. I know I signed a contract to let you go today, but I’ve decided not to honor it. Perhaps you’ve misjudged me. I’m not the shy innocent man that I appear. And if the truth be told, you don’t want to end the contract with me either. I’ve never met a woman in my entire life like you, Cassandra. If you put aside your misguided guilt, you want to be chained up in this bed for me, just as much as I want you here, perhaps more. So, I’m sorry, but your boyfriend will have to call a cab to get a ride home from the airport. Your Dom is about to take advantage of you once again.”
I gazed down at the glistening wet lips of her vagina and she squirmed at my touch. I parted her thighs and slowly licked and kissed her outer and inner folds. I buried my face inside her and kissed as deeply as I could through the walls of her sheath. Spreading the middle and index fingers of my right hand in a V-shape, I enter her vagina and pressed firmly upwards, while licking and sucking on the nub of her clitoris. I turned on a wand-shaped vibrator and placed it over her clitoris while sliding my fingers in and out of her. After several minutes of stimulating her with the vibrator, Cassandra suddenly pushed her pelvis forward and ejaculated a stream of fluid, as I remember she had done with Jefferson. It gushed out, soaking through the sheets and staining the mattress of my bed. I took the gag out of her mouth, took her face in my hands and kissed her passionately. Her torso rose and fell on the bed as she struggled to take in breaths of air. When her breathing calmed, she spoke.
“Master C, you’re right. I love you more than anything and there is nothing more I want out of life than to be chained to your bed and used for your continued pleasure.”
With the stab of bright light through my window, I woke up out of my dream with a throbbing erection and the worst hangover of my life. I shut my eyes but I couldn’t go back to sleep. The memory of my sexy dream dissipated like a puff of smoke. I could hardly move without the room spinning. So much for my liquid diet of Scotch. I looked at my digital clock on my dresser and it was already 11:35. Our contract was nearly over and she was leaving me in less than thirty minutes. The fight to keep her as my submissive left at that moment. I felt a heaviness pressing down upon my chest and a shortness of breath.
I heard Cassandra making noise in the kitchen. I tried to sit up, but my head was pounding. Cassandra came into the bedroom and brought us a tray of coffee and toast. She looked very different, conservatively dressed all in black with her hair tied up. Though her sexy clothes had already been packed away in her suitcase, she still had an allure about her, not matter how she dressed. She helped me to sit up in bed and then sat down next to me. She took a bite of her toast and sipped her coffee on her own. The sexual dependency we had during meals was gone. The dynamics of our relationship had completely changed.
She asked m
e how I felt and I lied, saying I felt better. It occurred to me we hadn’t made love on the last night together. The thought depressed me. I was a pretty sorry excuse for a Dom, getting drunk and sick, crying in front of my submissive, and having erectile dysfunction. I took a sip of my coffee but couldn’t eat my toast. I rubbed my temples as we sat on the bed in silence, not looking at one other. She got out of bed, took off her submissive collar and then put on the engagement ring and the tiny gold cross I had forced her to remove. I watched the chain and pendant nestle comfortably back between her breasts.
When it came time for Cassandra to leave, I walked her to my front door and opened it for her. She pulled her suitcase with one hand and carried her diary in the other. I handed over her car keys I had kept hidden in my dresser.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” she said, looking sadly up into my eyes.
Unable to control myself, I awkwardly kissed Cassandra one last time, undoing the top buttons of her blouse before she could stop me and burying my lips in her soft fragrant cleavage. I held her captive against the inside wall of my apartment, pressing my face firmly into her bosom and kissing the warm pale flesh of her breasts. I could feel the pointed metal of the cross sticking me painfully in the cheek, as if Christ Himself was fighting off my sexual advances. I kissed up her neck and found her lips. I kissed her roughly and closed my fists in her hair. We were both breathing deeply when she managed to push me back a step away from her.
“Please! I’ve got to go, Charles. I’m sorry; I’ll be late if I don’t leave right now.”
“Why can’t you love me, Cassandra? What’s wrong with me?”
“Charles…”
She held her hand to my cheek for an instant and handed me the diary she had written. She opened it to her last entry.
“Read this…”
I looked down at her elegant handwriting.
When you read this, Charles, I will be gone. Despite what you may think, it was hard for me to let you go. You will always be precious to me. I’m sorry for the emotional turmoil I put you through. I wish I had met you before I made my vow to my boyfriend so I could have been free to remain with you. I’ll always remember the moment you took control of me and gave me such a long, hard and erotic spanking. It was the sexiest thing that ever happened to me. One day you’ll meet a woman who will discover what a virile man you are. I’ll always remember you, Charles. Please remember me too and this gift of submission I have bestowed upon you. I pray one day you’ll find a woman who loves you with all her heart, in a way I was not able to do.
Forever your submissive, Cassandra.
When I looked up, Cassandra was gone.
Chapter Ten
The Funeral of Cassandra
I called in sick to work, saying that I had food poisoning. I reached for the bottle of Scotch, but came to my senses at the last moment and drank some orange juice instead. After popping a few more aspirin in my mouth, I went back to bed.
I woke up in the late afternoon, feeling somewhat better. The heavy weight pressing into my chest was gone and the pounding in my head had subsided. Despite the promise I made on the contract, I desperately needed to see her again. I thought if I could just talk to Cassandra one more time, perhaps I could convince her to stay with me. I’d tell her how much I loved her and if things didn’t work out with her boyfriend I’d be there waiting for her. I know it was a pathetic move, but I had no other options left. I had to give it a shot.
I turned on my laptop and tried to find an address for her. I wasn’t able to find an individual listing for Eloise Madsen in the White Pages online, but when I did a Google search on the name, something very disconcerting came up. There was an announcement on the obituary page of a local paper announcing the funeral of a Chicago woman named Eloise Madsen. I downloaded the full article. The memorial service was to be held today, Weds. Sept. 4th at 5PM at the First Assembly of God, the church Cassandra talked to me about in the coffee shop, presided over by Pastor Ric Orman. Next to the article there was a picture of an attractive young woman who looked nearly identical to Cassandra, but without the beauty mark under her left cheek. The woman was dressed in a long flowing skirt and a tie-dyed T-shirt. She was quite beautiful, with long hair the color of honey and a face cocked to the side in a carefree smile. The sun was shining on her face. She looked happy. The obituary said she was a Props Master for various small theaters in Chicago and had passed away at twenty five due to complications from AIDS. The article mentioned Eloise was from a deeply religious family and her Mother had been the Sunday school teacher at First Assembly of God for many years. It said Eloise left behind two loving parents and a twin sister named Grace.
The woman I had just spent the last four days with was actually named Grace Madsen and Eloise was her twin sister. Why was Grace impersonating her sister with me? I remembered her reaction when I made the suggestion for her to talk to her sister about her sexual conflicts. “I can’t… She’s gone…” she said. Her sister must have passed away just last week right before we met.
Cassandra was not the person I thought she was, obviously. It was 4:15 and I had just enough time to shower, get dressed, throw on a suit and be at that funeral. I wanted to speak to her now more than ever and comfort her in the loss of her sister. I hoped I’d have the opportunity.
I arrived twenty minutes before the service was scheduled to start and nearly drove by the place, since it looked more like a large corporate office building than a church. Even though I was early, the parking lot was packed. A huge crowd of people were jammed into the sanctuary. I went up the stairs to the upper level and had a bird’s eye view over the congregation. There was a brown casket on an altar in the front of the church, surrounded by flowers. A large photo of Eloise was displayed beside the coffin. The service began when Reverend Orman climbed into the raised pulpit. He looked more like a used car salesman than a minister, choosing a three piece suit over the more traditional robes of a Pastor.
“Let us pray,” the minister said.
Reverend Orman lifted his hands in the air, palms out, and started speaking in gibberish. I had heard of this kind of thing in Pentecostal churches. Orman was speaking in tongues, a Heavenly language, and only those who had the Gift of the Holy Spirit were able to understand what he was saying. The person next to me in church had his hands raised as well and was babbling along with the minister. Everyone had their eyes closed, so I took the opportunity to scan the crowd. I spotted Cassandra/Grace in the first pew, standing with her grieving parents and next to a man in a full military uniform, who I assumed was her boyfriend, Patrick. When the praying in tongues stopped, a male voice in the crowd spoke up in a clear voice, interpreting the meaning of the tongues in a kind of mixture of English with biblical expressions thrown in.
“Our Lord sayeth to the believers and non-believers assembled here that our Sister Eloise Madsen has been embraced in Heaven by God the Father. She was saved by the Blood of the Lamb as a child, and despite the fact that she turned away from the Path of Righteousness, God wants Mr. and Mrs. Madsen to know and be comforted by the fact that their daughter that thou raiseth is right now in the bosom of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. Due to His Everlasting Mercy, Eloise Madsen has been given the gift of eternal life. So let not thy hearts be troubled. However, Our Lord sayeth that AIDS is a curse sent by His Father in Heaven to punish the wicked for their licentiousness. The wages of sin is death, sayeth the Lord! Our Lord is a Loving God, but He is also a Just God. This is the message from Our Heavenly Father.”
Several other people in the church shouted out their interpretation of what the Holy Spirit was trying to teach them from the tragedy of Eloise’s death. I stopped listening after the first few minutes. I found it rather offensive, frankly. I wondered if anyone else felt the same way. Reverend Orman gave the eulogy for Eloise Madsen in a rambling, long-winded sermon with numerous bible quotes. I tuned him out as well. At the closing of the service, Orman asked Grace
to come up to the pulpit. In a voice quivering with emotion, Grace read Psalm 23 while the pallbearers picked up the casket and carried it out of the church. My heart clenched at hearing her soft, trembling voice. Then the Pastor asked Grace’s boyfriend to come forward and join Grace on the altar.
“Though this is a sad day for us all, there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of sorrow hanging over us on this sad occasion. Patrick Johnson, our brother in Christ, has just returned safely from his three year tour in Afghanistan, Praise God. What’s more, in just a few months’ time, Patrick Johnson and Grace Madsen will be joined in the bonds of Holy Matrimony!”
There were loud cheers in the church, but I couldn’t see how Grace was reacting to the public announcement of their planned marriage. She stood as still as a statue, with a black veil covering her face. The minister gave the location where Eloise would be put to rest and the address of the Madsen family, who would be accepting friends in their home to mourn with them for the loss of their daughter.
I followed the long line of vehicles with their headlights on to the burial site. I wanted to make eye contact with Grace to let her know I was there, but with the throng of people I never got close enough to her. After Eloise Madsen was put to rest, I drove to the Madsen family residence.
Their home was very crowded and several people were congregating on the porch and in front of the house. There was a long line to greet the Madsen family and offer their condolence. I eventually made it inside the home and inched through the visitors. Finally I was within a few feet of Grace and attempted to get her attention. I was a little nervous that it would disturb her to see me, after I promised in the contract that I would have no further contact with her. I don’t think she recognized me at first. I gave her a wave with my hand and smiled. Then she gave me a friendly wave back and nodded. She didn’t appear to be mad at me for breaking the contract and showing up at her sister’s funeral uninvited. She greeted another guest with an embrace and didn’t look over at me again. I disappeared into the crowd.