Chapter 3: A Friend Indeed

Kendra's Tale Continues

When I awoke, I was no longer in bed ... I was huddled on the floor of a hallway, outside a plain door. There was no one else in the hall. No one in sight. No one anywhere. No one at all. Somewhere, somebody was screaming. As I watched, the hallway began to lengthen, pulling away from me in all directions, even in the narrow axis, so that the opposite wall was soon a mile away. So much room. So much space. And no one there. No one anywhere. I decided the screaming was not going to stop. My greatest fear from the operating room had been my inability to breathe; and now, it was happening again. The hand that I had raised tentatively toward the door knob in front of me was diverted to my throat, clutching at the knotted muscles in my neck, trying to get them to relax enough to allow a single breath. There was no one to help me. No one at all. And I knew ... for absolute certainty ... that I was about to die ... all alone.

Then the door opened, and the screaming got much louder. Hands were trying to coax me into standing, but that feat was patently impossible. I had doubled-over in my fear and despair, and my stomach muscles would not relax. He tried to lift me under my arms, then used my breasts as handholds and picked me up, half dragging me back to the bed, where Janie lay shrieking. By degrees, as I was able to relax, I held her closer ... and closer. She was shaking like a leaf.

Maintaining my proximity to her, I rolled slightly and looked back over my shoulder at Dr. Arnold. "Please, sir," I said plaintively. "Please ... don't do that again. I ... I'll be a good girl. But, please don't do that to her again. Don't make her suffer. I'll do whatever you want, I promise, but please don't hurt my friend!"

He cocked his head and looked down at me quizzically. "Kendra ... I don't think I've ever met a girl quite like you. You defy standard categorization." He smiled almost sadly. "Here is your breakfast. There are no drugs involved, I promise. I will leave you two for awhile. When I return, we will continue your hypnotic conditioning." And he turned, and was gone.

Janie's arms were around me now, and her violent shaking had calmed, somewhat. We had never been in this position before, of course, lying naked while facing each other, our breasts pressed against one another's. She took a ragged breath. "What ... what the hell just happened to me?" she stuttered.

I didn't move, but held her comfortingly. I felt her fingertips begin to explore my back. "I can tell you," I said softly. "I know."

She pulled away from me slightly until she could study my eyes. "You did something crazy-stupid, didn't you?"

I gave her a brief smile. "I don't know how long we have. We should talk ... we should eat."

She kept gazing into my eyes. Her fingertips were tracing light little circles down my spine toward the top of my butt. "Ken ... have you ever thought about the two of us ... like this?" And when I didn't answer right away, she added " ... I have." I opened my mouth; then I closed it again. I didn't know what to say. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her right now. "No," she answered for me. "No, of course not. That's okay. Really. Thanks for being honest with me."

I grinned. "I didn't say a word."

"Oh yes you did." She sat up, then push-pulled me until we were able to sit on the bed's edge. It was a regular breakfast ... and regular portions. It tasted wonderful. Our daily pills were sitting beside our plates ... vitamin tablet, birth control pill, the supplements we always took, C, E, fish oil. As we began eating, I told her everything I could remember about the previous night (I assumed it had been night, and that this was morning, but there was, of course, no way to verify that). She stopped me frequently, asking pointed questions about very specific things that I often had to struggle to answer. To this point, she hadn't even noticed the small bandage stuck to the back of her head. She examined my story like she examined my bandage, with care for every detail, and eventually, I came to realize how much I relied on her. I didn't know what to do anymore; and so, like always, I was laying it all out for her and asking her to make the choices for me.

When all my words were said, when all the questions that could be asked had been answered, she looked at me compassionately, holding my hand. From the moment I had gotten in the bed, we had been touching. She took a breath. "When he hypnotizes you ... do you ... you know?"

"Do I cum? Yes. Unless chloroform is involved."

She nodded in thought. "He knew our psych profiles before we came. So, he was obviously looking for two submissive females ... and they were shocked because you loved me so much that you openly rebelled ... you knew I was too weak to ever do it myself." She thought some more and went on before I could comment. "We have to assume he wanted women who were sexually attractive ... young ... and I'm guessing intelligent, too. Our resumes don't make us sound like dummies, and we ARE grad students, after all. But WHY? Are we being conditioned to be Toddworth's whores? Most perverts get off on the ACT of breaking women ... but he's been nowhere to be seen. And ... why the hell haven't we been raped yet? It appears to be a plot hatched by men, so sex has GOT to be involved. But since they're conditioning us, then why aren't they conditioning us FOR sex? The orgasms I feel when he puts us under seem to be more as a reward." She glanced at me and I nodded agreement. Her face hardened. "Do you think we can take him?"

"You mean, attack him?" I was shocked. "I ... I never even considered it."

"I'm sure we've been conditioned NOT to consider it. But those were positive reinforcements. They can be more easily overcome."

I squeezed her hand gently. "You've just experienced their rendition of negative reinforcement," I whispered.

She thought again, then nodded definitively. "Then that settles it. THAT'S what we face if we try to escape. That's the stick that we'll get if we don't accept the carrot. I can't take that again. And, if you feel the same thing I just felt, I know you can't, either." She patted my hand in both of hers. "I know that this goes against your personal creed, Ken, but we're defeated. Completely and utterly. There's no recourse but full surrender." She shrugged. "It happens, from time to time, to the best-intentioned of armies. And now, it's happened to us. But, as long as we're together, we'll get through whatever is coming and ... we'll be okay."

Having reached the same conclusion, I nodded. "Then the next big problem is ... bathroom."

The solution to that one was simple, but unpleasant ... at least at first. When you begin to see the necessity in a situation, you start to accept the outcome with no comment. We held hands. While we were in there, and seeing fluffy towels laid out for us, we decided to shower together, wearing shower caps to keep the bandages dry. We always touched. We were never apart ... even for an instant. When we emerged, Dr. Arnold was standing there, waiting for us.

"Ready, ladies?" he asked, smiling.

We stood facing him, the towels wrapped around us, holding hands. "Yes sir," I said softly. "We're ready to surrender now."

Things moved very swiftly after that. Well, actually, since time had little meaning for us, I don't know that's true ... but it certainly seemed like it to me. When we awoke, we were always in each other's arms. When we GOT up, it was usually either to eat or to be immediately put back to sleep. I never fought, I never resisted, I never argued ... and we never had to deal with another crippling panic attack. I always surrendered and slept when he ordered, and I was always rewarded with a nice orgasm.

The next night (I assumed it was night), I awoke lying on my back, my right arm around Janie. The side of her face was pressed into my right breast. I remembered our conversation from the day before, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd really let her down. Why hadn't she TOLD me she had those sorts of feelings for me? I tried to decide if I was disgusted by the idea, and I had to admit that I wasn't ... I just wasn't particularly turned on. But ... obviously she was. How long had she kept it from me?

"Janie? You awake?"

She snuggled into my breast a little more. "Mmmm. Yes. What do you need?"

"You're on my arm, and I need to scratch an itch."

"Sure. Where?"

"Between my legs." She hesitated, then slowly reached down. I spread my legs wide for her, and she started gently scratching my right thigh. "Higher," muttered. When she started scratching my lower tummy, I moaned. "Make me cum, Janie."

She raised her head, and I assume she was looking at my face, but it was too dark to see. "Oh, no you don't, Ken! I'm not going to be responsible for you going all lez against your will. I've never done it myself. I was just wondering what it felt like, that's all."

I smiled. "Liar."

"What do you mean?"

"You love me, dummy! Why didn't you tell me?" She started to respond, but stopped herself. I decided to try a different tack. "Please don't make me do it myself, Janie. I need it so bad. Do it for me ... please?" When she hadn't answered in more than a minute, I reached down with my left hand and began stroking myself. THAT made her move. She gently slapped the offending fingers away, and began rubbing my slit with long, slow rhythmic strokes that slid lightly over my clitoris with every upstroke. "Holy cow!" I groaned, shuddering. An intense shiver spiked through my body.

"You're sopping wet," she commented.

"I ... I can't help it. Oh, God, Janie. I can't believe ... I'm going to cum already! Suck my nipple. Please ... please suck my..." And that's all she wrote (as they say in the writing biz). It was glorious. I saw stars. No shit.

Then, of course, I had to do her ... which she steadfastly refused to let me do. So I kissed her. Nice kiss. It went on for awhile. I reached down and touched her while it was happening. And she was mine. I sucked on those long, hard nips of hers, and she went off like the Fourth of July.

And so now, when we spent time between "conditioning sessions," holding each other isn't the only thing there was to do anymore. It felt great ... and, it felt good to be in love. We talked about it. Neither of us had ever cum so hard ... or so quickly. It was Janie that first mentioned it ... that this whole thing could have been a result of the hypnosis ... of the conditioning. I'd thought about it, but I didn't want it to be true. Now that we'd discovered it, the last thing either of us wanted was for it to stop. Should we just ignore the prospect? No, she answered firmly. But ... we should accept it. Whatever it was ... conditioning, a natural course of events between us or a divine gift from heaven ... it was OURS now, and nobody was going to take it away from us!