Blog 9. Kathleen's ordeal

September 22nd 2004

The university was again in full swing. I'd started my research project, which was a continuation of the work I did for my doctorate. Now though I had a PhD student under me. He is a sporty type so we don't have much in common socially but he is fairly clued up on the work we have to do. Much of it is routine, mundane stuff. Setting up an experiment and seeing and recording the result on a database. Then repeating it twice to check the results only to find they were negative for our purpose. Life as a research worker is not all the glamour of finding new methods and drugs to cure all ailments. Much of it is real boring stuff and for weeks or months little progress seems to be made. Often it is only minor tweaks to the composition of the ingredients that makes all the difference. It is the rare occasion when something positive materialises that makes it all worthwhile.

Such is the life of a research worker, that I often voluntarily worked well into the evenings at the Uni but that had the advantage that I could use the cafeteria and the facilities of the faculty staff room. The disadvantage of the cafeteria was the noise level. Even without the ring, at busy times the general noise from the students talking make it difficult to think let alone hold a conversation in normal speech. Add to this the jumble of thoughts that came though the ring and the noise level rises to an unacceptable level. I did find that turning the ring so the stone was inside my palm reduced its effectiveness considerably. Even so I always tried to choose the least busy times to get a meal.

I have only been back little more than a week but in that time I seem to have grown adept at eavesdropping on the thoughts of individuals, particularly lone girl students. Mostly they are on prosaic things, lectures, washing, shopping, possible dates and such like, but sometimes they reminisce on the boys they have been with and what they might do together on a future date. I was amazed at the vulgar thoughts coming from what outwardly appeared to be innocent young students. I was also amazed at what they thought of their friends, friends they might well be walking along the path with.

At first I felt guilty at listening in to private thoughts but as the week wore on, I became less interested in them unless they concerned me, which wasn't very often. However twice already I've been able to anticipate suggestions from my superior and put them forward before he suggested them. Undoubtedly that added a few Brownie points to my credit sheet. He's a good guy anyway and I've already worked under him for two years. Yesterday evening though, the ring put me in a situation that I doubt I can handle but I am determined to try.

I finished an experiment early, had dinner in the cafeteria and went to the library to look up some references. It was almost empty. One girl I recognised as Kathleen McCogan, a PhD student a year below me who worked in a lab further along the corridor from mine, sat in a corner with her back to me, her head in her hands and an open folder on the desk in front of her. I was aghast at her thoughts.

<<"... that bastard Rowlandson! Just as I seem to be getting somewhere with my project he orders me to change course so I have to start over again. Just like last term. Pervert! He'll make it so that I have to fuck him in order to get a pass mark. And he'll make me do even more obscene things than last time, if that is possible. I'll be lucky to even complete a project. All these years wasted. Just to become his whore. It's not worth going on. Why should I suffer more spankings, more filthy fuck sessions? And now he's hinted that I will be hired out to his friends. No, life will not be worth living. Might as well go to my room and take those pills I've pinched from the lab. If they put the rats to sleep they should send me to a long sleep myself... >>"

I listened in to her thoughts for a while longer and debated what to do. I'd heard a vague rumour that Professor Rowlandson blackmailed a student when I was in my second year at university but hadn't heard anything since. Now it seemed as if it was happening again and to a girl I knew and liked although we only ever passed the time or day or spoke on work related subjects.

"Hi Kathleen," I greeted her and sat down at the opposite side of her table. Tears were running down her cheeks and she barely acknowledged me. "Heh, it can't be that bad. Tears like that mean either boyfriend of professor trouble." I waited for a response but it wasn't forthcoming but she did open her eyes enough to look at me. "Which?" I asked knowing she would have to reply.

"Rowlandson. I don't want to talk about it Derek. It will be over soon."

"He's making life difficult for you and demanding sex like he did for that other student I suppose," I commented and she nodded but looked surprised that I even knew anything about it. "You do need to talk about it Kathleen otherwise your life will be wasted."

"I could never tell anyone. It's too disgusting. I'd be too ashamed to speak the words. No one can help now."

"Oh yes they can." I stated more confidently than I felt, "He mustn't be allowed to get away with it. First though we need to find out the facts and that does mean hearing the full story and from what I suspect it doesn't just involve normal sex. Is that true?"

"Yes," she murmured quietly.

I reached out and took one of her hands in mine. "Kathy, this is not the place to discuss this. Come home with me and we can talk it out there. I don't want to come in tomorrow and find them taking you away in a body bag. That would be too horrible to contemplate. You don't have to worry that I will do anything to you except get you to talk, in fact I will ask my girlfriend Sarah to be with us. She's our age and isn't a gossip. Come, bring your book and we'll go." Her mind was full of doubts and she still wanted to just end it all. "Kathy, give life another chance. Give me a chance to help." Slowly she nodded her agreement.

Sarah was a little annoyed when I asked her to come and said she was working on a dress but after I was able to explain the circumstances she finally agreed. I could hear her jealousy in her mind when I drove to her house and she saw Kathy in the front seat. This attractive student was in the seat she always occupied. <<"Is she his Uni girlfriend? Is he fucking her midweek and me at weekends?">> However, her attitude softened when she noticed Kathy was shaking and the tears streaming down her face.

When I introduced the two, the tears became sobs. <<"Why can't I find myself a nice caring boyfriend? Why do I have to submit to that dirty sod that's my boss?">> Kathy scolded herself. I could hear Sarah's mind gradually warm to the girl and, although neither of them spoke, Sarah leaned forward and put her hand on Kathy's shoulder.

Neither Sarah nor Kathy had eaten so I microwaved a ready pack meal and brewed some tea. In doing so I left them together in the lounge and heard them hesitantly talking to each other but by the time I returned they were talking more freely. We talked about general things until I cleared the plates away and had Kathy sitting opposite me.

I started my spiel. "Kathy, I think Sarah knows what I am going to try to do. I did it to her once and I know she found it a little traumatic at first but she will probably agree with me when I say it worked out for the best. At least now she doesn't have to hide behind her past." Sarah nodded her agreement. "What I will do is ask you to tell us what has been going on between you and Professor Rowlandson. When I ask that as a direct question, you will have to answer honestly and truthfully. You will be unable to avoid answering. Once we know what has been going on, then we may be able to see a way of preventing it happening again. I must emphasise that once I ask the question you will have no will power to evade answering. No way at all. Sarah will confirm that."

"It's true Kathy. I don't know how he does it and he doesn't seem to know either, but no matter how embarrassing it is, and mine was really embarrassing, you will have to answer truthfully. He gets inside your mind somehow. A kind of hypnotism thing. I kept trying to keep my mouth shut but it kept opening and my tongue told him everything about my past that I wanted to hide from him. If you are afraid of us hearing your story, then you'd better leave now." Sarah gave her opinion.

"But think Kathy," I went on, "If I hadn't happened along you'd be in a coma now after swallowing those pills." <<"How did he know about that?">> she wondered, <<"I never told him about the rat pills.">>. "We can only help you Kathy if we know what's been going on, no matter how perverted and disgusting it may seem to you. It may be traumatic for you Kathy but it's not nearly as final a death."

"My previous life was pretty disgusting too Kathy and I told him everything but he took it without condemning me and did all he could to help me get over it." Sarah added her two pennyworth.

I could hear the thoughts going through Kathy's mind as she debated whether or not to allow me to ask questions. Still she half believed she would not be forced to reveal everything and thought she could part answer me. "Okay," she said finally, "What do you want to ask?"

"What hold has Bernie Rowlandson over you? And what does he force you to do when you are together?" I thought of how Joshua had got the juiciest information out of Annabelle but I was by no means certain that similar information from Kathleen wouldn't upset rather than titillate me.

Her face took on the mask-like look and her voice a monotone. "It started midway through last year. We were studying various common chemicals used in industry and their possible carcinogenic properties. I'd start the experiments and get the results from two and be partway through the third when he would order me to try something different. As you know each experiment has to produce a similar result three times in a row before any data from it can be used or thought conclusive. This happened four times so by the time of my assessment by him, I didn't have any data on which to base my coursework. He said he would have to fail me and I would have to go back two years and start a different course. I railed at him and he suggested we discus it at his house. He's always a smooth talker and while I guessed he might want to have sex with me I agreed. In fact I had little option but to do otherwise."

"You could have complained to the Bursar," I interrupted.

"It wouldn't have done any good. He and Rowlandson are buddies. Anyway I went thinking I could stave off any sexual attempts, but he told me bluntly that if I didn't let him fuck me, he would fail me and I could go home and start again with the new term or go out and look for a job. I cried, I pleaded with him that I had never done it before but that seemed to make him all the more determined. In the end I gave in. He undressed me in his bedroom and played with my tits for some time before he stripped off himself. I was made to look and play with his prick, which was already hard and he seemed proud of its size but I had nothing to compare it with. That first time he took a good deal of trouble to make sure I was aroused and ready for him, even so, his entry was painful and I remember yelling out when he burst my hymen. Later it became a little more pleasurable but I didn't really enjoy it. I just felt disgusted and dirty."

Kathy paused for a few moments. "I hoped I would be allowed to go after that but he brought in some wine and I had a glass and passed out. I've no idea what he put in it. I came to about midnight and found him lying alongside me with the bedclothes covering us. My movements woke him and he held me and fucked me for the second time. Next morning I was resolved to complain to the authorities but he showed me photos he'd taken with his digital camera and printed off while I was drugged and he threatened to publish them on the web and show them around at Uni. 'Like it or not Kathy dear, you are going to keep coming here and we will be taking our relationship to higher levels. In return you get to stay on at the university, ' he told me. He agreed that it was blackmail but said that if I complained it would be easy to convince people that I offered him my body in return for being given a pass grade."

Tears were falling down her face and I began to feel very guilty about putting her through this but I told myself that it was for her own good and somewhere in her story there would be some evidence we could use against him.