Almost Chance

Jen woke and was immediately lost, unsure of where she was. She'd always been a slow riser, someone who took a while to go from ending sleep to being fully awake and her normal morning confusion was added to by waking in an unfamiliar bed. She was in a large bed, under white sheets in an unfamiliar room, the bright light of the day outside filtered in through white net curtains over the solitary window in the room. She could feel that she was naked between the sheets, the soft cotton wrapped round her body, holding the sheet to her chest as she sat up, feeling a stiffness in her muscles as she moved.

Slowly, as she looked around the room, her memories of the day before came back to her. The train journey, Mistress, the tormented pleasures she had experienced and finally the blissful lovemaking they had shared in this bed. She smiled as the memories came back to her, her presence in this room a physical reminder that all she had experienced had not been a dream. Almost unconsciously her fingers moved to her neck as she thought of Mistress, looking for the collar she wore, that permanent reminder of how she had willingly chosen to bind herself to Mistress and all she represented.

It wasn't there. Her neck was as bare as the rest of her body. She looked around the bed, around the room, desperately hoping to see it there, thinking that maybe Mistress had removed it to let her sleep safely without it pinching her neck, but it was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Mistress, the room totally empty, the candles that had lit it so enchantingly the night before all burnt away, the door closed.

Jen knew that this was the bed she had shared with Mistress. She could still sense her presence there, see the indentation beside her where Mistress had lain as they feel into sleep, Mistress' armed wrapped around her, holding them together close and tight. Her scent was still lingering there beside Jen, a few auburn strands of her hair left behind, vivid against the white of the bed. As her fingers ran across the skin of her neck, Jen could still feel some faint marks there, a lingering trace of the collar, already fading into memory. She remembered Mistress' promise to her yesterday, that she would set Jen free this morning, allow her to go back to the journey she had been on when chance had thrown them together. When Mistress had first made that promise to her, Jen had accepted it happily, not knowing the heights to which Mistress would take her, not knowing what she would experience in that house. At that time, she thought she'd just leave this house after a passionate few hours with an interesting tale of an exotic one-night stand, a uniques excuse to give Kelly for her lateness, but she had discovered something more, desires she hadn't thought existed within her, a part of her that could not be silenced with mere memory and fantasy.

She was fully awake now, rubbing her eyes to remove the last of the murk of sleep and saw something she hadn't noticed before in her frantic look around the room. Something was hanging on the back of the door, long and white, with what looked like a piece of paper fixed to it. She climbed out of the bed and walked towards the door, almost oblivious now to her body's nudity, totally used to being like that in this place. As she approached, she saw that it was a silk robe hanging from the door, and the paper, fixed to it with a matching white ribbon, had writing on it, ornately curved handwriting in deep red, almost black, ink. She took it and read:

'Sweet Jen,

'I trust you have slept well. I would have woken you when I rose, but you were sleeping so peacefully, looking so beautiful, that I thought it best to let you continue resting and to allow your body to recover from yesterday.

'As I promised, I have removed your collar to give you back your freedom this morning and you are now free to leave at any time you wish. If you want to go now, you may. You will find your possessions outside this room and a ride to wherever you wish to go will be arranged for you. However, if you wish to see me again, you may dress in this robe and come to see me. I shall be waiting in the garden at the rear of the house.

'Choose carefully, my dear Jen.

'Kate'

At the bottom of the page, there was a faint pattern in red, the soft outline of Mistress' lips where she had clearly kissed the paper before leaving it for Jen. She looked at the name - Kate - whispering it to herself, almost silently, as though she were testing it out. It had never occurred to her that the woman who had done so much for her, to her, had a name other than Mistress, but as she thought on the name, she realised that Mistress had shown her a deeper intimacy, a brief revelation of the true self that was encapsulated within her. It reminded Jen that Mistress wasn't merely the beautiful creature that had taken her on such an intoxicating journey during those few hours yesterday, but also the real woman who she had made love with on such an intimate level in the room she was now standing in, whose essence still lingered there. More than that, though, Jen felt it revealed something deeper. There had been no sense of revelation to her when she read that name on the paper as though, even though she had not been told it, she already knew that Mistress was also Kate, that this was something she had already learned on a deeper, subconscious, level.

Realising that made the choice easy, even though she had been almost certain as to what she was going to do before. Jen knew that everything about her time in this house felt right, as though she was meant to be there, and she knew she didn't want to leave and even if she had to, she would not go without seeing Mistress - Kate - one last time. She slipped into the robe, feeling it fit almost perfectly around her as it went on, and opened the door.

Walking out of the room, she saw her bag sitting there, the clothes she had been wearing yesterday neatly folded on top of it, another note beside it along with a phone. She ignored them, their presence not tempting her to reconsider for even a moment, and headed across the landing and down the stairs.

The stairway was empty as she descended it, but she could still easily recall how it had looked the night before, remembering the glow of the candles as they guided her from the cellar to the bliss of Mistress' bed. There were no directions for her now, but she didn't need them, some pat of her knew exactly where she was going, even though so much of this house was unfamiliar to her. That presence of Mistress she had felt within her before was still there, but different now, Jen not feeling the acute pain of her absence, but knowing where she was, feeling her calling to her, her position marked like a beacon, letting Jen find her way to her.

She turned right at the bottom of the stairs, away from the room where Mistress had first bound her, past the stairs that led down to the cellar, past the bathroom where she had rested before entering the cellar, and into the living room she had glimpsed earlier. It was a large, long room, sumptuously decorated like the rest of the house, a perfect mixture of antique and modern but Jen's attention was focused on the full length windows that ran down the back of it. Through them she could see out into the garden behind, a large expanse of perfectly kept grass that slowly merged into the woods that surrounded the house. The windows at the end were a set of sliding doors, left open, the cool breeze from outside sweeping in through them. Jen headed through them, onto the wide stone patio. Looking around, she saw Mistress sitting alone at a wooden table in the deep shade at the end of it, looking away from Jen and over the garden.

Walking towards her, Jen saw that she dressed simply, wearing loose black Indian-style cotton trousers and a matching top. Her hair was loose, deep red strands falling down her back, brushing the back of her chair. She turned, smiling, as Jen approached her.

'So, you do not wish to leave me just yet? I'm glad to see you again, my dear Jen. Please, take a seat.'

'Yes, Mistress.' Jen sat down at the other chair by the table, sitting just around from Mistress.

'No, my dear. There is no need to call me Mistress now. I have returned your freedom to you, so you can call me Kate while we're out here. After all, I did only tell you to call me Mistress within the house, didn't I?' Her smile was warm and friendly, her tone reminding Jen politely of the subtle change in their roles removing the collar had made.

'Yes, Mis- ... Kate.'

'Good. Now, you obviously slept well, my dear, and your presence here must mean that you enjoyed what occurred yesterday, otherwise you'd be busily leaving right now, yes?'

'I did, yes. It was amazing. I hadn't imagined it was possible to feel like that. Thank you, Kate.'

She smiled again, her hand reaching out to rest on Jen's arm, holding it lightly. They sat like that for a while, in silence, watching the wind move the trees, listening to the sounds of the countryside around them. There was so much Jen wanted to say, so many things she wanted to declare to Kate, so much she wanted to ask for, but she wasn't sure if this was the place, if her requests would be brushed off, leaving her desolate and alone.

Kate's hand began to stroke the underside of Jen's arm, the soft touch reminding her of how it had felt yesterday, the strange magic she had felt when her skin was touched by Mistress. She knew she wanted that touch again, wanted that feeling, wanted to give herself to Mistress completely, totally, eternally. That thought fired her courage, telling her she had to speak, had to ask for it herself.

'Kate?'

'Yes, my dear?'

'I- I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you. At all.' She rushed through her statement, her heart beating hard, her stomach filling with butterflies as she spoke, hoping she hadn't gone too far, praying that her plea wouldn't be rejected.

Kate turned to look at her, still smiling but with an intensity in her eyes. 'I knew that from the moment you came out here, my sweet. But what's important is not what you don't want, but what you want. Tell me that. Tell me what you desire.'

The words came from Jen in a rush. 'To be yours, to be your slave. I want to give myself totally to you. I want to surrender everything I am and give it willingly to you.'

'And why do you wish to do this?'

The answer came almost instinctively to Jen. 'Because I know this is where I am meant to be. With you. Always.' That was it. She didn't think it, or feel it. She knew it. From somewhere deep within her she knew that this was where she should be, had to be.

'I know it too, my sweet. From when I first laid my eyes on you, and even before then, I knew you were destined to be mine, as though fate had brought us together.' She reached down by the side of the chair and lifted something from the floor. Jen saw it was her collar and her body ached to wear it again, to never remove it once she had fixed it on again. 'You would willingly take this and wear it again?'

'Yes, I would.'

'I had hoped you would say that. But before you can make that decision, your final decision, you must be aware of all that has led you here. It was not chance that brought you here, my dear. Almost chance, perhaps, but fate had a helping hand.' She turned away, looking to the corner of the house. 'I think you should come out now.'

What? Jen thought. She was confused now, her mind trying to work out what Kate - Mistress - had just said to her. What she had said about knowing before they had met that they would be together had triggered something like a memory, some reminder of something deep within her that had told her she would be here, as though they had met before elsewhere. But what now? Who was she talking to?

From around the corner of the house, someone came. She was in the darkest part of the shade, hard to pinpoint and identify, but Jen could tell from her silhouette who it was. A tall figure, short bobbed blonde hair now becoming clear as she came into the light, those familiar curves, that lazy walk.

Kelly.