Academic Dreams
by Van
© 2002
Chapter 5
To see the actresses the author would cast in ACADEMIC DREAMS: THE MOTION
PICTURE, follow the link below, and use your browser's "Back" feature to return.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
OUR STORY CONCLUDES

All was darkness.  Mummified and helpless, Sally was sealed in a coffin-sized void, sealed in stone, encased by stone.   Of course all is darkness, Sally thought.   All will be darkness forever... forever.

Suddenly a voice spoke.  "Don't be silly, Little One.  Open your eyes."

My eyes are open.  Then she realized... they weren't.  Her eyes were clinched tightly closed.  She opened them... and beheld a field of stars.

"I'm over here," the voice announced.

Sally wiggled her mummified form... and realized she was floating... floating in space... The star field drifted before her.  Constellations of countless suns and vast multicolored nebulae of glowing gases passed before her eyes.  That voice... Sally realized, I... I think I recognize it.

More stars and nebulae drifted into view, then Sally's pattern recognition sense clicked—and she found herself staring in the face of the goddess, the face of Nuit!

"I've changed my mind," the goddess muttered.  "Don't even think about me using that name.  There's waaaay too much cultural baggage.  That whole soap opera with Osiris, Isis, and the others... forget it!  Just call me... 'Goddess.'

Sally mewed through whatever Minerva had packed in her mouth before mummifying her head and twisted in the layers of cotton bandages and the net of cord swaddling her body.   I must look like a caterpillar wiggling in its cocoon, she thought.

The goddess laughed.  "Oh, you do , Little One!" she said.  "You look just like a tiny silkworm wriggling on the end of a thread.  You're so very cute like that, my Little Worm."  Sally struggled and mewed again.  "Oh, alright.  Don't get cranky."  She lifted her colossal hand and gestured towards the helpless, insignificant speck that was Sally.  "Butterfly!"

Instantly all the bandages wrapped around Sally EXPLODED outwards in all directions!  Simultaneously, the cotton cloth crammed in her mouth vomited forth!  She found herself totally free... free and floating weightless in space... nude and free.

Free...  "I'm free!" she shouted.  "Thank you!"

The goddess laughed again.  "You're welcome, Little One.  I disposed of the plugs and the herbs Minerva stuffed in your innards, by the way... discretely. "

"Minerva!" Sally blurted.  "She's trying to use me to gain some sort of magic power, and—"

"I know, I know, don't worry your pretty little head." The goddess waived her hand again and Sally's hair suddenly plaited itself into a neatly braided ponytail.  "There," the goddess grinned, "that's better for void walking than a loose, drifting, frizzy cloud, isn't it?  Especially for someone with all those pretty curls, like you.  Now, back to Minerva... I don't do selfish sadistic hedonists.  I certainly don't let them tap the power of the Underworld."

"You mean—"

The goddess' smile turned slightly feral.  "The next time Minerva dreams, she's in for a nasty surprise.  I do nightmares too, you know."

Sally drifted in space, and tiny spherical tears began drifting with her, spilling from her eyes.  "C-
Cassie... and Bibi.  Can you help them?"

The goddess' smile turned to a kindly grin.  "That's why I love you, Little One.  All Minerva knows is ego... self.  For you, ego is more than self.  Minerva has a lot of growing to do, to catch up to her student."

"Please, my friends!"

The goddess sighed.  "There are forces that must be balanced, Sally.  Quantum entanglement can only take you so far, you know."

"Huh?"

"Never mind.  I can fix it... but things won't be like they were."

"Help them!" Sally responded.  "I don't care what happens to me.  Just help them."

"Okay..." the goddess sighed, and her smile turned slightly... coy.  "I warned you.  Forces must be balanced."

Sally drifted... and waited.  "Uh... is there something I should do?"

The goddess laughed.  "No, you've done your part, Little One.  Now all you have to do is... WAKE-UP! "

ACADEMIC DREAMS-5
Sally snapped awake.  The lecture hall was still dark, save the pin spots focused on the podium, but except for Cassie (sprawled in blissful slumber at her side), and Professor Ross (casually packing her lecture notes and slides into a leather and canvas satchel)... the hall was deserted!  (Sally experienced a sudden intense wave of déjà vu... but just as quickly it was gone.)

Cassie emitted a loud, echoing snore.  Under other conditions this might have been hilarious, but Sally was too embarrassed to laugh.  Sally kicked her roommate and began quietly packing away her notes.  Cassie bolted upright in her chair, blinked, realized their situation, and began packing her pens and notebook as well (all the while blushing bright crimson, evident even in the dimly lit lecture hall).

"The Sleeping Beauties awake!" Ross observed, smiling up at her distressed students.

Sally and Cassie exchanged a horrified glance, then turned to the front.  "Uh..." they said in unison.

Ross laughed and shook her head.  "By way of apology you can help me carry these term papers," she said, indicating the tall stack of slim, colorful, plastic and paper binders on the table next to the podium.  "And I assume you both have something to add to the stack?"

Sally and Cassie reopened their backpacks and produced their papers, then hurried down the aisle to the front.  Sally's curly brown hair bounced as they bounded down the stairs.

"I... I'm really sorry," Sally said, a blush coloring her cheeks.

"Me too!" Cassie chimed in, running one hand through her short, auburn mop.

Minerva Ross looked them up and down, obviously enjoying their embarrassment  Her full lips were curled in one of her characteristically withering mocking smiles (the one usually reserved for idiot students), but the affectionate twinkle in her striking, blue eyes softened the effect.  "You are both usually attentive and well prepared contributors," she purred.  "We'll chalk this... transgression... up to the lateness of the day and your eagerness to begin the long weekend, shall we?"

Sally and Cassie (still blushing) mumbled their thanks, added their papers to the stack, then divided it into two equal halves and loaded them into a pair of empty cardboard boxes.  By the time they had shouldered their backpacks, Ross had shouldered her satchel and was turning out the remaining lights.

They were turning to the door, ready to depart for Ross' office, when the door opened and Tabitha entered, pushing a lab cart.  "I got 'em" she muttered, and relieved first Cassie and then Sally of their box burdens, setting them on the cart.  Apparently in a hurry, the diminutive TA departed without another word.

"Thanks Tabby," Ross called after her, then turned back to Sally and Cassie.  "So, what plans do you two have for the next three days?"

Sally opened her mouth to answer... and found she couldn't.  Perhaps she was still half-asleep, but suddenly she had an overwhelming sense that things were... somehow... different.  She couldn't say what had changed, exactly, but...   It's probably that sick dream I had, she decided.

Meanwhile, Cassie was providing an answer.  "We're moving out of the dorm and into Dr. Knudsen's house this weekend," she said.

"Oh yes, I heard about that," Ross said with a smile.  "You two will be house-sitting for her while she's consulting on that dig on the Isle of Lewis.  Near Amhuinsuidhe, isn't it?"

"I guess," Cassie muttered.  "The Outer Hebrides is all one big continuously storm-tossed moor as far as I know.  Why someone would want to go there to scrape the frozen ground with a dental pick..."

Ross laughed.  "I prefer the desert, myself.  See you next Wednesday, and please try and stay awake in class from now on!"

Sally and Cassie blushed again and mumbled apologetic farewells as Ross departed.  The roommates turned to depart themselves and Sally whispered in Cassie's ear.  "I had the strangest dream just now.  Wait 'til I tell you."

Cassie grinned.  "I'm listening."

ACADEMIC DREAMS-5
They grabbed a burger at the Student Union then headed back to the dorm to finish packing.  The place was practically deserted, most of their fellow residents having already taken advantage of the long weekend to skip campus.  There wasn't much left for Sally and Cassie to pack.  They'd already moved most of their stuff to Bibi's house.  (Dr. Knudsen insisted they call her Bibi.)  All that remained was one bag each, the stripping of their beds, and the final sweeping of the floor.

"I still think we ought to finish moving tonight," Cassie said, continuing the amiable argument she'd been having with her roommate since breakfast.

"And I still think we might as well do it in the daylight," Sally countered.  "Besides... I'm bushed.  I'm gonna take a shower and call it a night."

"You party animal," Cassie laughed.  "I'm gonna read my new de Lint book."

Sally stripped, then wrapped a towel around her torso.  

Cassie had already changed to her usual pajamas: panties and a tank-top.  By this time the freckled redhead was sprawled on her bed, her upper body centered under the pool of light provided by the built-in reading lamp.  "So..." she purred, "Tabby-cat and Ross want us for their love slaves...  I wonder if we'd get extra credit if we volunteered?"

Sally laughed, in the process of tucking her hair under her shower cap.  "You were the love slave, although there didn't seem to be a lot of love involved.  I was a sacrifice to Nuit... only she didn't want to be called Nuit... just 'Goddess'."

"I wish I was on a first name basis with the sky goddess," Cassie grumbled.

Sally smiled.  "Maybe she'd make all your perverted dreams come true and you'd be the one with a harem of love slaves," Sally suggested, then grabbed her toiletries kit and headed for the showers.

"Maybe..." Cassie mumbled to herself, grinning at the closed door, then bounded from her bed and unzipped a side pocket of her overstuffed duffle.

ACADEMIC DREAMS-5
Sally shuffled back to her room, refreshed from her shower, the towel wrapped around her body damp and cool.  She opened her door... and was surprised to find the room completely dark.  From the light in the hallway she could see a large lump under the covers on Cassie's bed.   And she calls me a 'party animal,' Sally mused, and eased the door closed.

Three things happened very rapidly: the lights clicked on, Sally was pushed across the room and slammed face down on her bed, and her hands were pulled behind her back.  "Hey!" she protested, but a quick series of ratcheting metallic clicks and a tug confirmed that handcuffs were already locked around her wrists.  "Not tonight!  You promised!"

Cassie flipped Sally onto her back and grinned down at her tan face.  "I lied."

"Dammit, I'm tired," Sally mumbled, tugging on the cuffs again.  Soon after their purchase Cassie had padded them with thick rubber tubing when Sally complained about the hard edges.  They were comfortable, but Sally wasn't in the mood.  "You promised."

Her weight pinning Sally to the mattress, Cassie grinned evilly and straightened her roommate's hair, tucking errant strands behind her ears and away from her face.  "I've been planning this all week," she said, "and since when does what you want have anything to do with anything?"

Sally's frown turned to a hurt pout.  "You meanie, I ought to—m'mmpfh!"

Her knees and legs pinning Sally's shoulders and head, Cassie was busily stuffing no less than three pair of panties into Sally's complaining mouth.  "During the week I masturbated in each of these, while you were out," she explained, then held her prisoner's mouth closed with one hand while she reached for the first of several strips of wide black tape she had already tacked by their corners to Sally's headboard.  She stretched and smoothed the strips over Sally's lips one by one.  "Like I said... I've been planning this."

Sally shuddered in disgust (and arousal).   Why do I let her do this stuff to me? she mused.  The growing moisture and frisson of pleasure between her legs provided the answer.

The collar came next.  It was leather, but with a stainless steel band riveted over the outside.  It closed with a locking rollerbuckle and hasp in the back, which was secured with a tiny heart-shaped padlock.  There was also a one inch steel ring on a swivel mount on the front.  Cassie had bought it months before via the internet, supposedly as part of her "goth-chick" Halloween costume (but really as a "gift" for Sally).

Next Sally was flipped onto her stomach, and she felt something being snapped to the center link of the short chain separating the cuffs.  She squirmed and mewed through her gag, but could do nothing to prevent Cassie from wresting her cuffed wrists up until her fluttering fingers brushed the top edge of the towel, just below her shoulder blades.  A second snap and a pathetic tug confirmed that a chain now linked cuffs to collar.  It was a stainless steel choke collar, two rings and a length of ribbon-like links.  The shortest such collar sold at the local pet store, it was designed to control toy poodles and other dangerous beasts of similar size.  It was thin, but more than strong enough to defeat Sally's struggles.  Secured with a tiny padlock at both ends, the cuffs-to-collar arrangement was inescapable.

"Here's something new, just for this occasion," Cassie announced, and held something small and shiny for Sally's inspection.  "Thumb cuffs!"

Sally mewed and squirmed, but Cassie easily overcame her attempts to prevent the steel clamps from capturing and joining her thumbs together, like a tiny stock.  Cassie had passed the thumb cuffs between the neck chain and Sally's back, so now her thumbs were not only locked together but her hands were pinned.

Cassie grabbed the towel and snatched it from Sally's body, then rolled it into a rat-tail and snapped Sally's right buttock.  "Get up!" she ordered.

Sally yelped through her gag and scrambled to her bare feet, then turned to glare at her gloating roommate.  She stamped her right foot in complaint (causing her breasts to bob).

Cassie chuckled.  "Yes, I'm a real bitch.  Get your naked ass under the pipe."
 
Sally favored her captor with her best gagged pout, but followed her orders and stomped to the center of the room, near the window.  Overhead, above the suspended tiles of the drop ceiling, a two inch pipe passed through the room, emerging from the wall inches from the ceiling and passing into the wall opposite.  It was anchored to the actual ceiling by a steel bracket embedded in the concrete and was part of the dorm's fire suppression system.  A sprinkler head dropped from the pipe near the bracket and through a ceiling tile to protect the room below.  Cassie had found a turnbuckle and double-ended clip at the hardware store that clamped to the ceiling bracket.  One end of the clip just poked through a discrete slit cut in the ceiling tile, and a brass ring was snapped in the clip.  The cover story was a spider plant that had since been relocated to Bibi's bungalow, but the arrangement was over-engineered.  The ring could easily support a dozen spider plants (or one captive coed).

Sally waited patiently (affecting her best indifferent pout) while Cassie dragged a desk chair over, stood on it, and threaded the end of a coil of braided nylon rope through the ring. The chair was dragged back to the desk, and Cassie looped the rope around Sally's chest, above her breasts and under her armpits, then tied a tight knot between her shoulder blades and around the chain, between the thumb cuffs and the collar.  Smiling sweetly, she hauled in the slack and tied a quick-release knot around one of the legs of the desk.

Still smiling, Cassie went to her closet, slid open the door, and lifted from its brackets the wooden dowel that usually served as the means to hang her clothes.  She carried the pole back to Sally, knelt, and began lashing one end to the captive's right ankle with more rope.

Sally made a half-hearted effort to interfere with this process by kicking out with her left foot, but Cassie would have none of it.  She grabbed the offending foot by the ankle and stood.  "Perhaps you'd like to spend the weekend balanced on one foot... or more precisely, on the toes of one foot?"  Sally mewed through her gag and struggled, trying to pull her foot from her grinning roommate's grasp (without success).  "Or maybe you'd like me to tickle this pretty little ped with my nails for an hour or two?" Cassie ran her right index finger down the length of her prisoner's captive sole.  Sally shuddered, then sighed through her gag, stopped struggling, and sadly shook her head.

"Poor Sally," Cassie teased and released the foot, then knelt, lifted the pole, and pulled Sally's left ankle to the side, until her feet were nearly a meter apart.  She then lashed the ankle to the pole, stood, took a step back, and smiled at her captive, her hands on her hips.  "Poor Sally," she repeated, then stepped to the desk, pulled the quick-release knot, and hauled on the rope until Sally had no choice but to go up on her toes.

Cassie tied off the rope, stepped back, and resumed her dominant pose.  Sally mewed and squirmed and glared at her gloating friend.

Cassie stepped forward, cupped Sally's sex with her right hand, and took a tight grip on the prisoner's tousled curls with her left.  "Poor Sally," she said yet again, slid her fingers between Sally's moist labia, and pulled the captive's face forward.  "You wet little slut," she purred, "you're loving every minute of this, aren't you?"  She kissed Sally's gagged lips, then nuzzled the captive's ear and neck.  

Sally squirmed and pulled on her bonds, her cheeks burning with embarrassment (and delight).  Cassie's fingers had captured her clitoris, and were giving it a gentle (and delightful) massage.  She moaned through her gag (and her tormentor's musk soiled panties), but the sound emerged more as encouragement than protest.

Cassie laughed and licked her prisoner's neck.  "Sally's so proper and polite, such a goody-goody," she teased, "so sweet and virtuous..."  Her manipulation of Sally's sex intensified, and the captive brunette began writhing in rhythm.  "...such a dirty little whore."

The massage continued, and continued, as did Cassie's kissing, nuzzling, and licking... and finally the helpless captive pulled with all her strength on her bonds, squeezed her eyes tightly closed, screamed through her gag... and came.

ACADEMIC DREAMS-5
Helpless and nude, still in a post-orgastic daze, Sally hung in her bonds and watched as her captor, torturer (and lover) packed the last of their possessions.  The two bags were dropped beside the door, the beds stripped, University-owned blankets and pillows neatly folded or fluffed and stacked on the closet shelves, and the dirty sheets stuffed in one of the pillowcases and dropped beside the bags.  Cassie then swept the floor.

Sally noted with alarm that all of her things had been packed: toiletry kit, towel, clothes, her one remaining pair of shoes... even her shower slippers. She watched as Cassie pulled on her jeans and zipped them up, then stepped into her sneakers and laced them up.  The nude captive mewed an inquiring complaint as Cassie turned off the lights, opened the drapes and blinds (!!!), donned her jacket, and hefted the bags.  

Cassie smiled.  "I'll be back," the gloating redhead announced, then left, locking the door behind her.

Full night had long since fallen, but the nearest harsh bright sidewalk light of the campus bathed the not-quite deserted dorm room with nearly enough light to read by.  Sally squirmed in her bonds and watched her shadow move on the far wall.  She knew no one could see her nude, helpless condition from outside, but it was still embarrassing to be tied up, gagged, and naked in front of the window (which was why Cassie had opened the drapes and blinds, of course).   Bitch!  

Time passed... then more time passed... Sally heard someone pass down the hallway outside the (thankfully) locked door.  Whoever it was, they didn't stop (thankfully).  Sally's toes began to ache.  The rope was taking much of her weight... but her toes still ached.   Bitch!

More time passed... A loud group of students (probably drunk) passed outside.  Sally watched over her shoulder as they faded into the night, never suspected their progress had been noted by a nude, bound, gagged, and helpless classmate (thankfully).   Bitch!

Even more time passed... Footsteps sounded again in the hallway, a key rattled in the lock, the door opened, and the Bitch in question had finally returned.  "Oh... you still here?" she asked coyly.

Sally glared at her roommate and growled through her gag.

Cassie laughed, entered the room, and closed the door behind her.  She had a dark bundle under one arm which she dropped on her bed (her former bed), then walked to the window and closed the drapes, "accidentally" brushing her cold hand across Sally's left breast in the process.  "Sorry," the grinning redhead muttered, and turned on the light.  The roommates locked eyes.  Blue eyes stared into green for several seconds.  "Did I ever tell you you're beautiful when you're tied up and helpless?" Cassie whispered.  

Sally smiled above her gag (she couldn't help herself), then reasserted the outrage appropriate for a much put-upon damsel-in-distress and turned her gagged head to the side with a disdainful sniff.

Cassie laughed again, then stepped forward and untied her prisoner's ankles, released the semi-suspending rope, and pulled it through the overhead ring.  Sally sighed with contentment as she flexed her tired toes, stretched, and shuffled in place.  Cassie returned the spreader bar to its much more mundane role of closet hanger bar, then turned and began using the rope still tied under Sally's armpits to bind the captive's arms tightly to her sides.  Next, the ankle ropes were used to hitch and tighten the arm bondage.

Resigned to her fate (whatever it was) Sally sighed and stood passively during this process.  She gazed to the side and recognized the bundle her captor had dropped on the bed as Cassie's wool cloak.  Long and hooded, the dark hunter green garment was Cassie's favorite cold weather wrap.  Sally knew she'd look ridiculous venturing into a snowstorm with the cloak draped over her shoulders, but somehow Cassie pulled it off with flair, probably because of her Celtic coloring... the ethnic factor.

Soon Cassie's task was accomplished and tight bands of rope dimpled Sally's flesh and pinned her arms tightly to her sides.  The prisoner twisted her upper body (a "courtesy struggle") and confirmed that her Evil Captor had done her job well.  Cassie unrolled the cape, and a pair of shoes were revealed.

Sally shook her head and mewed in complaint.  They were Cassie's "fuck me pumps."  Six inch heels (at least) with straps that went around the ankles, they were downright dangerous, both to walk in and because of the male reactions they provoked.

"Oh yes," Cassie purred, and knelt to put the shoes on her prisoner.  Sally stamped her feet and continued shaking her head.  "I take it you want a spanking?" Cassie inquired.  "You're going to wear them, before or after I paddle your behind.  It's too cold for you to go barefoot.  Now... which will it be?"

Sally sighed, and stepped into the right shoe.  Cassie buckled the strap and held her captive steady as she stepped into the left.  "Good thing we're the same size," Cassie muttered as she buckled the left strap.  "Less painful for you that way."  She then stood, picked up the cloak, and held it by the shoulders for Sally.  The captive, teetering on her unaccustomed heels and mewing in complaint, shook her head again.

Cassie grinned evilly.  "You want to walk to the parking lot nude? "  Sally glared at her captor and stamped her right foot (nearly losing her balance in the process).  "Careful there!" Cassie hissed, then her smile returned.  "C'mon.  Be a good damsel and let me cover your brazen nakedness."  Sally sighed as the cloak was draped over her shoulders and the hood raised.  Cassie then secured the top button, just below Sally's collared throat.

Sally waited for Cassie to secure the rest, but the grinning redhead simply walked to the door and turned out the light.  "Don't walk too fast," she admonished her captive, "or the cloak will flutter open, and we wouldn't want that, now would we."  

Sally mewed in embarrassment.  Bound as she was, she could do nothing to preserve her modesty but follow her roommate's advice.   Bitch!

Cassie opened the door, looked both ways down the hall, and motioned for Sally to come.  The prisoner clattered through the door, furiously blushing above her tape-gag.  The cloak swirled and parted, then closed immediately.  Cassie locked the door and started down the hall.  Sally twisted in her bonds and watched her depart.  The redhead stopped and turned.  "Well... you coming or not?"

Her cheeks even redder, Sally hurried after her roommate, then quickly slowed to a stately walk when her cloak fluttered open, as predicted.

Cassie laughed quietly and preceded her prisoner through the brightly lit hallway and to the side door.  She held it open for Sally, the captive minced through, and she pulled it closed.  She then put her arm around Sally's shoulder and pulled the hood even farther forward, putting Sally's face in deep shadow.  "You aren't too hot in that thing, are you?"

Sally fidgeted in her bonds.  She was too hot.   Bitch!

"Well..." Cassie continued as they began walking.  "We don't have that far to go, only to the Library parking lot.

Sally faltered and nearly tripped.  The Library parking lot was on the far side of the campus!  Bitch!  The prisoner mewed in complaint.

"Maybe I should sprint on ahead and unlock the car," Cassie teased.  "Let you walk there on your own?"  Sally shook her head (causing the cloak's hood to bob).  Cassie chuckled.  "Let's just stroll from pool of light to pool of light, shall we?  I'll pull you into the shadows if we meet anyone and we'll look like any other couple sucking face at one in the morning."

ACADEMIC DREAMS-5
They made it to Cassie's car without incident.  The gloating redhead buckled her prisoner into the front passenger seat, carefully arranging the cloak so that only a tantalizing (and embarrassing) sliver of ropes and naked flesh was exposed from throat to lap.  They even made it through the drive-thru of a Wendy's, where Cassie bought herself a small vanilla milkshake.  (Sally cringed in her sheltering cloak, turning her gagged face to the right as her Bitch of a roommate paid for her drink and they pulled back onto the main street.  Finally, they made it into the garage of Bibi's Bungalow.  (Their new landlord/hostess had loaned them an extra garage door remote.)

"Bibi's Bungalow" was, in fact, a genuine example of the bungalow style.  The shades were down and the drapes pulled, so Sally felt safe from prying eyes as she was led through the kitchen and up the back stairs to the roommate's designated bedrooms.  She was pulled into Cassie's bedroom and waited patiently as the smiling redhead removed her jacket and Sally's "borrowed" cloak and hung them in the closet.  Sally then sat on the bed while Cassie retrieved her pumps (sighing in contentment as her feet slid free and she could wiggle her toes and stretch and twist her arches).

"Let's get you to your room, shall we?" Cassie inquired.

Mildly disappointed that Cassie apparently wasn't planning to take her to bed, Sally stood and stepped out into the hall.  She turned towards her designated bedroom, but Cassie gave her a tug on the arm.

"Not that bedroom, Sally dear," Cassie cooed, "your other bedroom."

Sally stared in confusion as Cassie led her back down the stairs.

"You've never been in Bibi's Basement, have you?"  Sally shook her head.  "I didn't think so.  C'mon.  I know how much you love surprises."

ACADEMIC DREAMS-5
The basement didn't seem especially surprising for an old bungalow: thick beams overhead, walls of poured concrete, a couple of tiny windows (with anti-burglar bars) set high in the walls... then they came to the back wall.  A steel door with a steel frame was set in solid concrete.  Cassie slid back a very solid steel bolt, produced a key, and turned the door's very modern and apparently new dead bolt lock.  She clicked on a light.  (The switch was on the outside wall, Sally noticed.)  The room beyond was roughly forty feet square.  There was a large wooden (padlocked) cabinet against the back wall.  Four thick upright posts were embedded in the concrete floor and bolted to the ceiling joists, a pair evenly spaced on either side side of the room.  A wooden "X" frame leaned against the left wall.  A timber frame with stocks and a pillory was to the right.  And bathed in the harsh light of an industrial fixture was the room's centerpiece.

It was a bench... a narrow bed... a rack!  As Cassie moved aside and Sally got a better look a thrill of delicious dread passed down her spine.  Cassie placed her left hand in the small of Sally's back and thrust her into the room.  The thing under the light was about nine feet long, three feet wide, and three feet in height.  A thin mattress or pallet was atop the rectangle of heavy timbers, and at one end was a heavy timber frame with two small deep holes... Stocks!  At the other end was a heavy windlass!

Sally flinched as the door clanged shut behind her.  She turned to find Cassie standing close.

"Isn't your new bed wonderful?" Cassie asked, stepping around her shivering roommate and demonstrating the "bed's" features.  She lifted the top half of the stocks.  "Well padded to protect your delicate ankles."  Next she stepped to the windlass and lifted a wide, heavy, leather cuff clipped to a thick rope.  "Also padded," Cassie purred, "and designed to grip your forearms, wrists, and the sides of your hands... so you'll be comfortable... even if the rack's cranked tight enough to suspend you in mid air."  Sally took an involuntary step back.  "Well, okay, 'comfortable' is something of an exaggeration," Cassie admitted.  "And here's my favorite feature."

Cassie grabbed the edge of the padding and tossed the pallet aside, revealing a row of closely spaced, thick iron bars.  She inserted a key in a lock on the far side of the rack, drew back a heavy bolt (with difficulty), heaved, and the entire top opened like the lid of a very solid box.  The "lid" had a frame of thick timbers and the rectangular cavity revealed was roughly the size of the inside of a coffin!  Sally backed again until her bound hands came in contact with the door.  

"Don't worry, Sal," Cassie purred, "it's a lot better than being entombed in stone like in your dream... isn't it?"  Sally shook her head as Cassie stepped towards her.  "Will you be cooperative, or do I have to tie your ankles and drag you?" Cassie inquired, then pinned Sally against the door with her body.  Sally shivered as Cassie's hands roamed over her breasts and caressed her sex.  "You might as well be a good little slave," Cassie whispered, nibbling on Sally's right ear.  The gloating redhead then grabbed a handful of her roommate's curls and dragged her towards the rack.  "In you go."

Why do I play along with this crap? Sally asked herself, but lifted one leg to step into the box as ordered.  Her captor's hand in her hair acted as all the encouragement she needed.  Sally settled to her knees, then lay down on the hard narrow floor of the box.  The inside was disturbingly coffin-like, the walls of the long narrow space smooth, polished wood.  

"No padding for you tonight," Cassie purred, leaning close to grip Sally's left breast and give the prisoner's forehead a quick kiss.  "I'm in a bitchy mood."

Suddenly there was the sound of the room's steel door opening.  Cassie looked up and gasped (but from inside the rack/coffin Sally couldn't see who had arrived).

Cassie was nervous.  "Uh... hi!  Shouldn't you be in the UK by now?"

A voice answered that Sally recognized, a voice with a delightful hint of a lilting, sing-song, Swedish accent.  "The contingent from Cambridge had to delay their participation in the dig, so I have changed my plans."  It was Bibi Knudsen!  "I will now be traveling next Friday."  The beautiful, tan, blonde, Assistant Professor of Ancient Studies stepped into view, her angelic face and big blue eyes gazing down at Sally.  She lifted her eyes to Cassie and her smile faded.  "In Sweden it is considered very impolite to play with people's toys without permission."

"Sorry Dr. Knudsen.  We didn't expect to see you 'til next month and—"

"The gag," Bibi interrupted, pointing at Sally.

Her freckled face bright red, Cassie leaned down and began peeling the tape from Sally's lips.  "She's okay.  We're only playing."

The last of the tape came away and Sally spit out Cassie's panties.  "Help!" the squirming captive gasped,  "She's crazy!  She tied me up and tortured me and—m'mmpfh! "

Bibi had her right hand clamped over Sally's mouth.  "Are you ready to tell the truth?" she asked pleasantly.  

Sally nodded and Bibi released her hand.  "We're playing," Sally admitted, blushing prettily.  "We do it all the time."

"That's better," Bibi said with a chuckle, then looked at Cassie.  "When I showed you this room I told you not to come back in here until I had a chance to discuss the house rules also with Sally, did I not?"

Cassie swallowed guiltily and nodded.  Her face was now beet red.

"Strip your clothing," Bibi ordered.

"Strip?" Cassie asked.

"To the skin," Bibi confirmed.

Sally watched as her roommate did just that.  Soon Cassie's tennis shoes, jeans, tank-top, bra, and panties were a heap on the floor.  (Sally assumed they were a heap.  Still inside the rack/coffin she couldn't see anything below Cassie's waist.)

Bibi gestured towards Sally.  "Get in," she ordered.

Her hands coyly shielding her breasts and sex, Cassie gazed down at Sally.  "Uh... is there room for two of us in there?"

"With a little squeeze maybe,' Bibi answered, "now get in!"

Cassie stepped into the box and began to lay down beside Sally.

"The other way!" Bibi barked.

Cassie stopped and repositioned herself.  She lay down and now the roommates' heads were at opposite ends of the box.

Bibi closed the lid (it was heavy for her too), then threw the bolt and turned the lock.  Snuggled together in the cramped space, their chins resting on each other's knees, Cassie and Sally gazed up through the bars at the Mistress of the house.  "You girls have a nice sleep," Bibi said, a gloating smile on her tan face.  "Tomorrow we stay in and discuss the house rules... and I demonstrate some of my other toys.  I take you out for brunch on Sunday.  Pleasant dreams."

"Uh... would it help if I said I was sorry?" Cassie asked, but the roommates heard the door close, the bolt slam, and the lock turn.  Bibi was gone.  "I guess not," Cassie sighed.  A few seconds later the lights went out.

"The least she could have done is untie me, Sally grumbled.  "Hey... hey!  Watch the hands!"

"I'm just seeing what I can reach.  Now let's try for a lip lock."

Sally squirmed in her bonds.  "You can't possibly reach my lips from down there—oh!  OH!  Those lips!"  Sally giggled as Cassie craned her neck, pulled her fellow prisoner's body as close as she could, and settled her lips over her sex.  "This isn't fair," the squirming brunette complained.  "Even with us both locked in a coffin I'm still tied up and helpless and you get to do what you want."  

Cassie paused in her labors.  "You may be tied up, but you're not gagged."

"As if I'd do anything for the pleasure of a selfish sadistic Bitch like you," Sally huffed, then yelped when Cassie slapped her left buttocks.

"You'll do as you're told," Cassie gloated, and resumed licking and probing her fellow prisoner's sex.

"Goddess help me!"  Sally sighed with a delicate shudder.

THE END of ACADEMIC DREAMS , Chapter 5
THE END of
Academic Dreams

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