Free Submission by Ella Ardent Page B

back against the door.
    It was an invitation, another one
with the top of a peacock feather tucked into the parcel. Saturday night. There
was a card with writing on it.
     
    4 x 12 yards wide
ribbon
     
    Joanna stared at the writing, then
across the room. She was supposed to bring her own bonds. Go shopping for them.
She leaned back against the door, her knees unsteady.
    There was something else in the
box, also wrapped in turquoise tissue paper. She crouched down in the foyer,
put the box on the floor and tore away the paper.
    It was hood, a dark purple satin
hood. She turned it in her hands, her pulse leaping that she held a fetish
garment. It was designed to enclose someone’s head, leaving the face exposed
from the middle of the nose to the chin.
    A hood and blindfold in one. There
was a crisscross of black elastic down the back, so it could easily be put on
and removed.
    Just looking at it made her sex
throb. The hood would close around the neck below that hole and she could
imagine how secure it would feel, how the elastic would pull it snug. There was
fur inside it, luxurious soft fur that would cover the eyes.
    Her eyes.
    Joanna crouched there, staring at
the hood with mingled awe and excitement. Her panties were wet. Her heart was
pounding. It was too easy to imagine the Master smoothing this over her skull,
constraining and containing her.
    For his own pleasure.
    The phone rang twice before she
moved to answer it. She scooped it up, the hood still in her hand. “Hello?”
    “Put it on,” the Master said, his
voice as low and commanding as she recalled. How did he know she was home? How
did he know what she was doing? Joanna’s lips parted and she couldn’t make a
single sound. “Put it on, then pick up the phone again.”
    Joanna swallowed. She put down the
receiver and glanced at her reflection in the mirror. She lifted the hood and
slid it over her head. It encased her head perfectly, closing over her eyes
like a luxurious cocoon, fitting as snugly as she’d imagined. The fur was
smooth against her eyelids, the feel of the satin surrounding her head making
her dizzy. She fumbled on the table, trying to find the receiver, then picked
it up and held it to her ear.
    “Yes, Master,” she said, as
submissive as she’d ever been.
    He chuckled, obviously noticing
the meekness in her tone. “Do you like it?”
    Joanna swallowed. “Yes, Master.”
    “Wear to bed, with nothing else,”
he instructed and she thrilled at the prospect. “Touch yourself, but don’t
finish. I forbid you to come. Understand?”
    “Yes, Master.”
    “And the ribbon must match,” he
added. “It should be at least two inches wide.”
    Joanna’s mouth opened. She had a
heartbeat to imagine herself carrying this hood into a store to check the match
of the color, to feel her blood rushing at the prospect.
    Then the line clicked and he was
gone.
    She heard the dial tone, listened
to it for a minute, imagining herself trussed in purple satin.
    Gift-wrapped for the Master.
    There were footsteps in the hall,
Louise returning, so Joanna hung up the phone and peeled off the hood. She
gathered everything up and raced to her room in the nick of time, kicking the
door shut behind her. She was stuffing everything into her closet, her heart
pounding, when Louise shouted hello.
    She caught a glimpse of herself in
the mirror, flushed and agitated as she never was.
    “You getting sick?” her roommate
asked, dumping groceries on the counter. “You look like you’re getting a
fever.”
    Joanna was certainly on fire
– but she told herself that getting the story would see her cured.
     
    ***
     
    It seemed to take forever for
Friday to arrive. Joanna went to bed naked Thursday night, wearing the hood
just as instructed, and felt both wicked and excited. She didn’t think she
slept a wink. She was terrified that Louise would look in on her – even
though she never did – and demand an explanation.
    Joanna found the ribbon in the
first shop